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Jenna’s wine-flush deepened into embarrassment-flush.
“It did,” Billy said firmly. “I will love Jenna forever.”
“Right. Mother of your children and all.” Her snarky tone hit him wrong.
“Listen, Lacey.” He propped his elbows on the table and leaned toward her. “I love Jenna in all kinds of ways, none of which are your fucking business.”
Lacey’s expression was avid as she pushed her phone closer. He saw the red button blinking. Recording. Oops.
“Jenna, would you like to add anything to that?”
Jenna’s answer was short and to the point. She shoved her chair back and said, “I have to use the bathroom,” and fled the table.
“You shouldn’t have gotten her that wine,” Billy told the reporter.
“Maybe you should go after her. I can tell you want to.”
He squinted at her, wondering what the hell she was getting at. “What makes you think you know anything about us?”
“I’m good at reading people. It’s part of my job. And I’m pretty sure I’m reading a romance right now. Don’t worry, my readers will go crazy for it.”
Eight
Neither Jenna nor Billy said a word until Billy’s Tundra was safely out of sight of the restaurant. Then they both spoke at once.
“Oh my God, is she going to write about me throwing up all my wine?” Jenna said.
“She thinks we’re getting back together,” Billy blurted.
“What?” Jenna looked over her shoulder, as if the reporter might be following them. “Is that what she’s going to write? We can’t let her do that. It’ll be too confusing to the boys.”
“You think they’re going to read Love + Life magazine? Maybe in Zack’s treehouse along with all his manga comics?”
She had to admit that sounded unlikely.
“They might hear about it. People gossip.”
“Yes, especially in elementary school,” he said dryly. He drove with one hand on the wheel, the other resting on the door frame, in that casual way of people who were supremely confident in their physicality.
“Why aren’t you upset about this? Wait, let me guess. You think it would help your reputation?”
Her stomach twisted. Even though she was going along with this interview, she didn’t like her private life being used to support some kind of narrative. They had no control over what was going to end up in the story, or how people would react to it. To her mind, working with the media was like playing with fire.
But they were doing it for a good reason, she reminded herself. Japan. A big contract. Billy very far away. A chance to move on.
“I’m not upset because I like to pick my battles,” he said mildly. “That was just the first interview. We still have plenty of time to give her another impression.”
“Since when do you pick your battles? Remember the night we stayed up until midnight arguing about whether to floss or brush first?”
“I remember. Zack wouldn’t go to sleep and we were both exhausted and, I don’t know, it seemed really important at the time.”
“Dental hygiene is always important,” she said primly.
“Which is why we ended the argument with hot fudge sundaes.”
“Right…” She laughed as it all came back to her. “It made sense at the time.”
“Something about not going to bed angry, but both of us falling asleep on our feet, and next thing you know, I was getting out the whipped cream.”
