Page 69 of One Life to Loathe

“You mean you don’t want Sabrina pulling your hair out because she’s foaming at the mouth with jealousy,” he said on a grin.

“I would prefer that not happening,” I agreed. “Plus … if you’re just coming back for an episode or two next season, that means I’ll get all the ‘poor Sam’ looks, and I don’t want to be the pathetic one. Being pitied is not fun.”

“I don’t want you being pitied. I just think it might be hard to keep this under wraps.”

“I would like to try.” We were being honest, right? I had to tell him how I felt. “I’ll be the one left here. You’ll be the one out making blockbuster movies, and you’ll move on right away.”

“Sam—”

I cut him off with a shake of my head. “I get it, Leo. You and I need to burn out on each other. It’s entirely possible, in a couple of weeks, that we won’t even like one another.”

“Or we could still be tortured at the idea of saying goodbye.”

“Let’s not go there.” Hope was a terrifying beast, and I didn’t want to even consider that. “Let’s be realistic. You’re going to be a big star. This is my big chance to do something before it’s all over for me.

“Besides, I really like Salem,” I continued. “If I can get five seasons on this show and put some money away, I might be able to parlay it into something here after the fact.”

“Like what?” He looked genuinely curious.

“I don’t know. Have you seen some of these stores? I would love to own a magic store, maybe run some tours out of it. I freaking love Daisy. I can see settling here and being happy.”

“And if the show is a hit and you get five to seven seasons on it, your store will be popular,” Leo supplied. “It makes sense. Would you really want to live here, though?” He seemed baffled by that revelation.

“I like it. The town isn’t too big. It has personality. The restaurants are great. It’s right on the water. I already love the people.”

“Yeah, but coming from LA, this place is tiny.”

“Boston isn’t that far away, and I’ve always preferred the East Coast to the West Coast. I could still do theater productions in Boston if I wanted to keep a foot in the acting world.”

“Wow.” Leo shook his head. “You have it all figured out.”

“Not even remotely. It’s an idea, though. Since I’ve been floating the past two years, it feels good to have an idea at least.”

“What will you do if the show isn’t a hit?”

“That’s harder to figure out. I’m an optimist, though, so I’m going to hope for the best. If it’s bad, then I will have to adjust my expectations.”

“I don’t want you to have to adjust anything.” He hugged me tight. “I want you to be happy and have everything you’ve ever wanted.”

That wasn’t possible. Being held by him was proof of that, because in an ideal world, I would get him too, and we both knew that wasn’t going to happen. “It’s going to be okay.” I managed a bright smile when I pulled back. “We’ll just keep this a secret between us. We’ll act normal on the set, keep up the flirting, and we’ll follow through on the outings that we promised Miles we would participate in. He doesn’t need to know that they won’t be completely fake.”

“I guess that would work.” Leo turned thoughtful now. “You can’t date Miles while we’re … doing this.”

“I don’t plan on dating Miles.”

“I’m not saying it to be a douche,” he added hurriedly. “I don’t plan on dating anybody either.”

“I only said yes to Miles because you were going out with Sabrina.” It was hard to admit, but we’d agreed to be honest. “I was jealous. Then I was mad at myself for being jealous.”

“I only said yes because I thought, maybe, it would be a distraction.” Leo’s smile made him look years younger. “Sabrina is not my type, but … I thought maybe…”

“I get it. I was angry at the time. I thought I might even Hulk out. You don’t owe me an explanation, though.”

“If we’re going to do this, I want all our cards on the table.” He was matter of fact. “No dating anybody else. We won’t let the cast know what we’re doing.”

“I guarantee Jax and Daisy already know,” I said. “Daisy saw us by the cemetery the night before last. That’s why they left. She accused me of climbing you like a tree.”

The laugh Leo belted out was loud and quick. “You did kind of climb me.”

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