Page 41 of And They Had a Great Fall

She rolled her eyes. “Jake, I know what an edible is. I don’t live under a rock. I wondered whether you wanted one because being in this room, I might.” She could hold her own with some of the best minds in technology and the most powerful business leaders, but she was out of her element inthisroom. “God, I’m nervous as hell in here.”

“Don’t be nervous,” he said, sliding his arm around her chair and leaning over until his lips were millimeters from her ear. He nuzzled her for a split second before whispering, “I think you’re the most impressive person in this entire room.” He picked up the orange package with his free hand and tossed it back to Sloan. Still whispering in Kat’s ear, Jake said, “No, I don’t want any. At least not right now. A very wise person told me to not cloud my mind.” He gave her a quick, soft kiss before leaning back.

His eyes sparkled and he gazed at her as if she was the only person in the room. Kat fought against the heaviness creeping into this moment. She only had days left and her brain would not reconcile with her heart. The brevity of this moment put her on edge, and all she wanted to do was kiss him right there at the table. Instead, she resigned herself to putting her chin in her hands and running her eyes across his face in an attempt to burn the image of this moment in her mind. He brought his hand up to caress the back of her neck and shivers ran down her back.

Jake moved his arm to the back of her chair, and Kat took a sip of wine. She rested her hand on his leg and relaxed into the moment. As if he could read her mind, he leaned over and repeated her own words back to her: “Stop thinking, just feel.” Finally, she allowed herself to lean into Jake.

Jake watched Kat relax into the moment as she leaned her body against his. It was the most at ease he’d ever seen her. She didn’t need to control, manage, or drive this moment and for the first time, he watched Kat just be. Kat was deep in conversation with Garren’s partner, and he caught snippets of their conversation as they discussed the best movies developed since the pandemic. He didn’t join the conversation, but instead found comfort in observing. He was used to being the absolute center of attention, but tonight he only wanted to lean back and take it all in.I want to be in the moment. Not be the moment, he thought. It was a unique freedom he hadn’t realized he’d lost.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by Sloan. It was an unwelcome intrusion. He didn’t enjoy her company, having worked with her on his last film. It hadn’t taken long to realize that although the camera liked them together, they didn’t work well together. During the press tour, they acted like close friends, maybe more, but only to drive further PR for the film. Fans shipped them like crazy, but the reality was very different. Jake could not stand how Sloan seemed to revel in making people’s lives difficult just to show her power. Despite her physical beauty, he found her ugly. He almost grabbed a drink—or an edible—just to make the evening with her tolerable.

He looked at her with a weary face. InZero Code, they were playing lovers, so they needed to get along, but he didn’t have to like her when the cameras weren’t rolling.

“Jake, we didn’t get a chance to chat earlier. How are you doing?” Sloan lowered her voice and leaned across the table. “Like, really doing?”

“Great, Sloan, never better,” Jake said with a forced smile, giving her nothing. He’d learned the hard way that Sloan always had an angle.

“I’m glad to hear that,” she said, her smile a little too big. “I heard there were some bumps early on. You okay?”

Jake paused and searched his brain for a response. “It was fine. I’m fine, Sloan,” he said. He knew better than to give her a centimeter of information.

He pushed the chair back and let Kat know he was going to the bar. He might need that drink after all. At least leaving the table would get him away from Sloan. He was unsettled to hear that she knew anything about the first few weeks of production. He’d put his terrible performance and the cost to the studio out of his mind. He breathed out slowly and stepped up to the bar inside their private room. He thought better of alcohol and ordered a club soda with lime. He took a long drink to calm his nerves and delay his return to the table. When he turned around, Sloan was right behind him.

“Jake, stop avoiding me. I thoughtat leastwe were friends, after, you know …” Sloan said, standing too close.

He hated himself for ever sleeping with Sloan. It had been a weak moment, after their last film wrapped. He had been basking in the euphoria of the end-of-shooting wrap party. It was the wildest party in his career with a cast and crew that knew no limits. Sloan and Jake had done cocaine together with the cinematographer—his one and only time doing hard drugs. Said drugs, fueled by expensive whiskey and chased with champagne, resulted in waking up in Sloan’s hotel room. He had never felt so physically wrecked and emotionally charged with regret. Thinking back, the last year, the person he’d been, throwing himself into a self-created black hole of destruction, felt distant to him now.

“I can’t see us ever being friends,” he said refusing to hide the bitterness in his voice. Sloan had been angry when Jake went to leave and had called him a shitty actor and a bad fuck. Later, she’d posted a blurry Instagram post of his shirt on her hotelroom floor. She refused to take it down. It had the fans chattering across every social platform for days. They didn’t need to be officially together for her to use him to boost her own public profile. Like everyone else, she cared very little about him unless he could help her stardom.

She let out a dramatic laugh, and Jake turned away from her. He glanced over at Kat, who hadn’t noticed. She was busy debating the artistic merit of the entire rom-com genre. Jake watched the scene unfold as Garren tried to argue against Kat’s well-thought-out and systematic reasons as to why rom-coms brought the world joy, and therefore did indeed have artistic merit.

He listened to her deliver a thoughtful counterpoint at every turn, making the entire table scream with laughter. They were delighting in the sport of watching her take theirseriousdirector to task on the subject of rom-coms, of all things. The conspiratorial glances between Garren and Kat told him they were both enjoying this debate, and each other. Jake smirked to himself. He’d been in debates with Kat before, and Garren had clearly underestimated her.

Sloan looked from Kat to Jake. “How long has this been going on?” she asked, dripping with fake sincerity. “Older woman. And a normie too. I’m surprised. How did you two get together?”

Jake gave her a long, hard look. He shook his head, conveying that he would give her nothing. “Sloan, I know it was you who leaked the rumor.” Honestly, he didn’t know, but it seemed plausible. What he didn’t know was why.

“I can’t believe you think it was me,” she said, feigning innocence, but her smug face told him he’d guessed right.

Discontinuing the conversation, he picked up his drink and walked back to the table. When he sat down, Kat did not look over from her conversation, but she slid her hand onto Jake’s leg and rubbed her thumb up and down his knee. It was a small gesture, but the feeling of her hand on him and the comfort of hertouch sent waves of calm through his entire body. He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and joined the conversation. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sloan lean against the bar, preoccupied with her phone. He didn’t know what she was up to, but he didn’t trust her.

It seemed impossible, but the dinner conversation got louder and rowdier as the evening went on, and Jake found himself getting hoarse from laughter. He leaned back and took it all in. This was his life, and he loved it. This environment filled with extroverted artists and boisterous personalities gave him energy, gave him life.Kat may not recognize it, but she fits into this life.My life. He couldn’t stop watching how easy it was for her to slip into this tough, loud group. She kept up beautifully with the conversation, and much of the table was enamored with her wit and ability to match even the quickest banter. What he saw was a woman who’d once told him she was broken, but out of her cracks glowed a confidence that drew people to her.

Kat turned to him, her eyes bright and her cheeks pink. He was reminded of their first kiss, and he felt as if his entire body was tingling. Like that night, he wanted to hold her face in his hands and kiss her like nothing else mattered, but unlike that night, he didn’t want to escape. He wanted to be in the present, with her.

She nuzzled the side of his face and whispered in his ear, “Thank-you … this is amazing … you are amazing … really … God, I don’t know how you are so fucking amazing.”

She was giggling, and he could tell from the drawl in her voice, she was sloppy from too much wine. He loved it and in his heart, he knew he loved her. His heart had known before his mind, and he believed that was why, in one of his darkest moments, he’d called her. She was his lifeline, his safe place, his soft landing.

He needed to get out of that room and just be with her. Asmuch as he liked leaning back and observing, he admitted to himself that he wanted her attention. He also realized that, given how much wine, weed, and who knows what else was flowing, the evening was going to get messy.

It was a new feeling to be the most sober and focused person in the room. He was no stranger to the out-of-control dinners and knew the feeling of regret when it tipped over into a state of debauchery. Kat had a core of control and order, and he didn’t want to completely challenge her in one evening. He leaned over and placed a kiss right behind her ear to get her attention. “Are you ready to get out of here?” he asked with a whisper. “I want you to myself.”

She looked over, squeezed his knee, and nodded. He wasted no time in texting Savannah, who kept a car on standby for him, especially for nights like this.

J: Hey, we’re ready. Can you send the driver and confirm when he’s here?

S: Yes, just texted him. He’s about five to seven minutes out.

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