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“Why do you look so stressed, Heartbreaker?” Gabe asks tenderly, drawing my hair back from my face. “Are you okay?”
I sigh softly. “I guess I’m just trying to get a handle on everything,” I admit. “It’s a lot.”
He brushes his mouth against mine, and a familiar jolt of shivers wash through me. “We’ll make it through this together,” he reassures me. “We’re getting to the home stretch.”
But what about the home stretch?I think worriedly.
“Don’t overthink it,” Gabe advises in his usual, nonchalant way. “I’ve got your back.”
He kisses me again, and I feel both reassured and more concerned simultaneously. How are we going to end this all gracefully?
Forrest finds me cooking dinner for all of us later that evening. Bennet and Gabe are outside tossing around a football like old college buddies, a surreal roommate quality befalling the cabin. It’s both natural and unnatural, but I want it to last forever.
“Need help?” Forrest asks me, joining me at the counter as I chop vegetables.
I cast him a sidelong look. “Do you know how to cook?” I demand dubiously. “Don’t you have a personal chef?”
He laughs and slides his perfect ass onto the countertop, folding his arms over his chest in faux defiance. “I resent the implication that I’m spoiled,” he replies. “You forget that I’m an army brat. But no… I have no idea how to cook.”
He’s joking, of course. I’ve seen him whip up all kinds of goodness on the barbecue, and his father was a military man who apparently demanded perfection.
I thrust my chin toward the salad fixings. “Surely you can manage the salad?”
“I think I can handle that.” He slips back off the surface and gets to work, eyes trailing toward the window where the other two continue tossing the ball around.
“It’s strange today, the day off,” Forrest comments. “I keep expecting to see the camera crew popping up when we least expect it.”
“Me too,” I titter. “Not that I’m complaining. We’ll see them soon enough.”
Only the clipping of the knives fills the kitchen for a moment as we fall silent, each of us temporarily focused on our task.
“Have you given any thought about what you’ll do after this all wraps up?” Forrest asks, breaking the quiet.
I raise my head and peer at him speculatively. “I’m really hoping that this opens some doors for me,” I answer. “That’s kind of why I did it.”
“No, I get that, but it’ll be a while before this airs, so the offers won’t come pouring in soon.” He eyes me pensively for a moment, and I inhale, sensing a deeper question coming up, one I’m not sure I’m prepared to answer yet. “Is that why you did this? For your acting career?”
I start to say yes, but stop. That’s not the whole truth, and I don’t want to lie to him—to any of them.
“In part,” I answer slowly. “If I’m being completely honest, I did it for the paycheck. I need the money. My mom can’t afford any more stalling.”
Forrest’s mouth purses. “Your mom?”
It’s too late to stop now, and Forrest’s kind eyes encourage me to keep going, even though I’m consumed with shame, spilling the secret that no one has asked me to keep. It’s my own deep, dark insecurity that’s kept me from being honest all this time.
I set my knife down next to the red peppers I’d been working on for the chicken stir-fry to look at him. “My mom has diabetes,” I blurt out. “Her insulin is crazy expensive.”
Understanding illuminates his world-famous blue eyes.
“Your family doesn’t have insurance,” he concludes.
“I am her family,” I explain. “Without me…” Trailing off, I pick up the knife to busy my hands again, not wanting to finish the sentence, which goes without saying. “I have to figure out a way to make a lot of money fast and ensure her future.”
Forrest’s hands cover mine before I realize what’s happening, stopping me from my nervous work.
“Is that the only reason you got into acting?” he asks. “To help your mom?”
My head jerks up, and I wave my neck vigorously. “No. It’s hard to make money in this industry. I’ve always wanted to be on the big screen, ever since I was a little girl. But I take jobs I don’t necessarily want sometimes, so I can take care of my mom, like she always took care of me.”
