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“Eh.” She shrugs and walks out of the room, running right into the cameraman before I can stop her.
I’m left with no choice but to follow her out. We have an appointment with my designer and I need to warn her about Nina. . . although, considering my mom’s penchant for embarrassing me in front of the cameras maybe I’ll let Nina introduce herself.
twenty-six
Joshua
Right now myfavorite time of the day is at night, or any time I can escape behind my closed bedroom door. It’s the only time when the cameras aren’t watching mine, or our, every move. The producers have even started asking us questions to incite a conversation or induce drama when we don’t need it. I’m starting to think this was a bad idea, but then I remember the bigger picture and the pay out at the end.
If Joey were to use a wedding planner or plan our wedding herself, she’d be stressed. Not that she isn’t now, but it would be more amplified because she’d worry about money. She doesn’t understand that I’d move Heaven and Earth to give her the wedding of her dreams.
It’s been almost two weeks since production started and, quite frankly, that’s nine days too long. I’ve heard them complain that we’re boring, mundane, and lacking the drama needed to bring in the viewers. On the inside I was smiling because that is the best way to be in my opinion. If they wanted the drama maybe they should’ve started when Jules was hanging around. There was plenty of it to go around.
Joey stirs in her sleep. Her head is rested on my chest with her arm draped across my stomach and I’m wide-awake, wondering how I got here. I’m not having cold feet or even second-guessing anything, I’m only having a hard time coming to grips with how everything changed. One drunken night and I signed my name on a contract that’s changing my life.
I used to think my life made sense until I met Joey, then what I thought I wanted went out the door. She makes everything seem so simple when my life was nothing but a complicated mess.
The house phone rings, jolting Joey in my arms. My hand runs smoothly down her arm, trying to lull her back to sleep. It’s too late for guests and honestly I’m surprised that security would call this late. I close my eyes once the ringing stops and try to get some shut-eye. Tomorrow. . . well, actually today, is going to be a long but fun day. We’re getting fitted for our tuxedos and Joey’s dad is arriving. I’m excited that he’ll be here before we leave for Hawaii even if he’ll be bored.
When the phone rings again I jump up out of bed and rush down the hall. It’s a good thing the cameramen are sleeping or they’d have a nice shot of me in my underwear right now.
“Hello,” I bark into the receiver, not worrying about the person on the other end.
“Hi, I’m looking for Joshua Wilson.”
“This is Joshua, who is this?”
“My name is Edna and I’m calling from Cedars-Sinai to let you know that Jules Maxwell is in labor and she’s asking for you.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose, a new habit that I’ve picked up recently from being on set with my last film, and sigh. “I’m not the baby’s father,” I tell the nurse. “She needs to call someone else.”
“She did, Mr. Wilson, and no one has shown up.”
“I’m sorry, but I won’t be there either.” I hang up before she can try and talk me into doing something I don’t want to do. Being there for Jules is the last thing I want. It’s the last thing Joey and I need. We are only a few of weeks away from getting married and we should be focusing on us, not her.
“Hey,” Joey says as I come back into the bedroom. “Who was that?”
“A nurse from Cedars. Jules is in labor and she called to let me know.”
“Why?”
I crawl back into bed, but sit up against the headboard. My mind is racing a mile a minute and I know that sleep won’t be coming for me anytime soon.
“Because no one has shown up for her.”
“She’s alone?”
I shrug. “I didn’t ask.”
Joey snuggles into my side, making sure to keep the sheet up over her bare breasts.
“We should go, Josh.”
“No, we shouldn’t.”
“If the baby was yours, you’d be there. I would, too, even though I wouldn’t be welcome, but she wouldn’t be alone.”
Joey has a good heart. It doesn’t matter what people are saying about her, and in this case, I mean Jules and my mother, all she sees is that a woman is alone and going through something important and probably traumatic.
