Page 131 of The Hopelessly Bromantic Duet

4

THE ICE AGE

Jude

This is the first time I’ve seen TJ since the argument, but it isn’t the first time I’vetried.

A few days after he hit the road like an ex in a country song, my best friend, Olivia, arrived in Los Angeles from London for a voiceover job. Grateful to see a friendly face, I hugged her for ages on the porch of the Airbnb seconds after a Lyft dropped her off.

“You’re here for one reason,” I told her. “To make my life bearable again.”

“Dramatic much?”

“Dramatic always.” I sighed, letting all the air leak out of me, weighed down by sadness. I dropped my head onto her shoulder. “But with such a good reason. TJ broke it off.”

“Talk to me,” she said.

That evening as we walked along the surf, I gave her chapter and verse of what happened, how I woke up to a piece in the trades reporting that TJ had sold his book rights. How right after that, I learned from Holly that Webflix had tabled a queerromance with me in favor of TJ’s book. How TJ told me he’d done the deal while he was visiting me in LA and how it all reeked of him using me.

“You fucking idiot. You absolutely massive, incredibly ridiculous idiot,” Olivia said, verbally thumping me on the head.

But was I that ridiculous? The evidence added up, after all. “Doesn’t it seem like he came out here for work, though? He was busy wheeling and dealing with Webflix at the same time he was romancing me. And then when we talked about it, he said I wasn’t what he wanted. Translation: A relationship with me wasn’t worth the effort.”

She smacked my shoulder. “It doesn’t sound like youtalked, Jude. Sounds like you fought.”

I bristled. But then I peeked at the painful memories of our fight and my role instigating it. I grimaced, realizing her assessment was starkly accurate. “Yes, well, it was intense.”

“Exactly my point. You both have intense feelings for each other.”

“Had,” I corrected.

“Have and had. As in, I saw the way he looked at you in London.”

“I know we have chemistry. Chemistry isn’t the point.”

“I’m not talking about chemistry, you wanker. When you two were in London, you were all he wanted. He looked at you like he was crazy for you. Like he was more than infatuated.”

Those days and nights in London felt like magic, like we were the only two people in the city. “Fine, so we were into each other in London,” I grumbled.

“So into each other that you reached out to him seven years later and asked him to come to see you, and he said yes straightaway. He got on a plane. He got a hotel. He brought blueberries to your show. And now you honestly think this man who was utterly mad about you once upon a time simply flewacross the country tobothshag youandsniff out work-related deals to steal from you?”

Well, itseemedthat way at the time. But when she put it like that...

Perhaps I’d overreacted.

“I sort of did think that,” I said sheepishly.

“First, some tough love. TJ doesn’t have to steal opportunities. His newest book is a fucking number-one bestseller. Everyone wants a piece of it. Just accept that and be as happy for him as he is for you. Two, he was crazy for you in London, then he jumped at the chance to see you in LA. Ergo, you’re a fucking idiot.”

Maybe I was. Maybe TJ had touched a very sore spot, and I’d jumped to conclusions. “I will never need therapy as long as I have you.”

She laughed. “It goes both ways.”

But there was one little issue that nagged at me. “Except his last words to me were awful. He saidthis isn’t what I came to LA for.”

She dealt me a sharp stare. “Did you invite him to Los Angeles to fight with him?”

“No,” I muttered.

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