Page 46 of And They Had a Great Fall

“Yes,” she said, bringing her hand up to his face, mirroring his gesture to show that they were in this together. She wanted him to know that she was all in. She’d had a list of reasons why they shouldn’t be together, but now, none of them mattered.

“No more running?” he asked, more a statement than a question.

“No more running,” she said. She didn’t know what the future held for them, but she didn’t want to run from him any longer.

And with that, they embraced, Kat’s heart beating fast.

Walking back, she allowed herself the joy of just being two lovers, nothing more, enjoying the romance and beauty of the city. They were not Jake and Kat—two people with vastly different lives, stepping into something with more difficulties than they could yet imagine—they were Jake and Kat, two broken people who, in finding each other, had mended their broken pieces to become whole again.

chapter nineteen

“Got it. We can move on,” Garren said, flashing Jake a thumbs-up.

Today everything flowed with ease, and they were flying through the shots. The entire cast was starting to gel, and Jake could even tolerate Sloan. He was optimistic—about this film, about his career, and about Kat. He was acutely aware of every passing hour and the countdown until the day Kat would leave. Two days. Twenty-four hours. He looked down at his watch. Twenty-three-and-a-half hours to be exact. Every ounce of his being wanted her to stay longer, but he knew she needed to get home to Becca. He reminded himself they were still together, even when physically apart, and it helped to tame his anxiety about their future. Kat insisted they needed some sort of a plan, and Jake had promised that this evening they would discuss the inevitable.

The crew took a short break, so Jake had a chance to look at his script and reorient himself with the next scene. He’d been off book for a while, but Garren liked to jump around, and it helped to re-read the scene before and after. He looked up to see Savannah walking fast toward him, her face tight. Before she could reach him, Garren announced they would start again and asked for anyone not in the next scene to step behind the cameras. The next two scenes would be shot back-to-back, withminimal breaks, so everyone was to leave the principal cast alone. He watched Savannah’s face fall with a look of defeat. He gave her a curious look and shrug. He made a mental note to ask her when they were finished.

They made quick work of the next two scenes, or he thought as much. When Garren called the final “cut,” he realized they’d been focused for the past two-and-a-half hours.

Savannah scurried up to him, and he felt her hand on his back push him forward. “I need to talk to you, right now. Walk with me.” She started back toward his trailer. This was unlike her. Jake followed her and didn’t ask questions.

He was trying to read her face, but she stared straight ahead, eyes fixed in front of them. She was silent until they got to the trailer, but once they closed the door, she shoved an iPad in his face. “Read this.”

Jake looked down at the screen and saw what had prompted Savannah to get him away from the crew. He stared at his own face under a headline that read:TROUBLE ON SET: STUDIO LOSES $1 MILLION WHILE JAKE LAURENT HAS A MELTDOWN.

His ears started to ring, and stress rose in his throat. “What the fuck?” he said, his voice rising with anger.

He tried to keep calm as the fury surfaced, but every anxiety he had about never being good enough rushed back into his brain, firing multiple synapses at once. He opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t even form a sentence. He yanked open a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of bourbon. He slammed a glass on the table and poured himself a shot. He gestured to Savannah to ask if she wanted one.

She shook her head no. He tipped his head back, and the alcohol burned his throat and the fumes flew through his nose. For a second, the feeling was a welcome distraction from the panic he was fighting. He poured another, but merely sipped this round.

“I didn’t have a goddamn meltdown,” he said, mostly to himself.

“I know, Jake,” Savannah said. “It’s stupid clickbait. If you read the article, it’s all speculation and hearsay anyway.”

Her pocket buzzed and she handed him his phone. He scrolled rapid-fire through his mounting text messages. He counted no less than fifteen texts from Cindy and five from Roger. He hadn’t gotten anything more than a good luck text from Kat all day. He presumed that she hadn’t read it yet. He checked the posting time—roughly three hours ago. He threw his head back and laughed silently. So that’s why Garren hadn’t allowed them any breaks. He’d known this would derail the entire day. He saw Savannah had replied to Cindy and Roger, letting them know he was in the middle of shooting a scene.

“Savannah, who do you think is the leak on set?” he asked. He was trying to focus on anything other than the fucked-up situation in front of him.

“Sloan. I guarantee it,” she said, her voice confident.

“Why?” he asked. “I know she thinks I’m an asshole, but that’s not a reason to try to destroy someone.”

“Because she’s a horrible person. Does she need more of a reason?” Savannah said, scrolling on her phone and taking screenshots. She stopped scrolling and looked up. “Listen, I heard this all thirdhand, and you know I’m allergic to gossip.…”

“Spit it out,” he said, the irritation clear in his voice.

“She’s having an affair with Jude Yarly,” she announced.

He gave her a look and raised his hands indicating that he didn’t understand. This was no time to be cryptic.

“He’s one of the executive producers,” she explained. “His wife has late-stage dementia, so if it got out that he and Sloan were together, enter the cavalry of cancel culture. The entire crew has been talking about the affair since she got here, which is whyshe leaked the story about you and Kat. It would make Garren clamp down on any more rumors getting out.”

This was the most Jake had ever heard her break down the culture of the set. He reminded himself to ask her for information more often. “Why leak this?” he asked, resigned. He didn’t need to know, but it was calming him down to focus on the why, not just what had happened.

“No idea, but certainly sleeping with a producer would give her inside information on the production schedule and studio budgets. My bet is on her, that diva bitch.”

Jake sat back and just stared at the article, contemplating what to do, but also stalling a bit before his brain would bring him back to the nightmare in front of him.

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