Page 10 of The Mayor and the Mystery Man

It was still weird dating an actress and having these lines blur. Maybe I didn’t need to know everything about her process.

“You know, it’s been almost six months since we got together.” I kissed her neck, moving her wild hair out of the way. “I’ve loved every minute of it. Have you given any thought to us taking the next step, moving in together?”

“That seems fast.”

“We’re both adults here. We know what we want.” Audrey was my clear, straight line. I’d known it ever since we flirted at craft services. My twisted, messed-up path had led me to this wonderful point.

“I don’t know, Dusty. People might find out.”

“And? It’s not like I haven’t spent the night at your place before. The paparazzi haven’t found out.”

“I don’t want to upset fans who are rooting for Adam and me.”

“On the show, though. Not in real life.”

Audrey got out from under my massaging hands and went to the far end of her trailer, the distance gaping between us. She had on a new face I hadn’t seen before, and after watching all three seasons ofOcean City, I thought I’d seen them all.

“What is it?”

“Dusty, this isn’t working.”

I stumbled back and sunk into her couch. “What? Where’s this coming from?”

“You’re a great guy.”

“Please don’t give me the great guy speech. I’ve heard it too many times.”

“This was fun, but you make it feel a lot more serious. And…” She gazed out the window. Was she acting? Did she rehearse this breakup? “There’s someone else.”

“Who?” And then it hit me like a cliched plot twist. “Adam?”

“It was totally unexpected. Our characters were never meant to get together, but the writers apparently saw us flirting during rehearsals and wrote that into the show. And as we kept filming those scenes…”

“So when you said you and Adam were practicing…”

“We’ve been having sex. A lot of it. At his house. At my house. Even on the couch where you’re sitting.” She hung her head, but there was a joyous glint in her eye. Of course, there would be. She was having great sex.

I hopped off like my ass was on fire.

“It’s not cheating because at first, we were running lines and then practicing blocking.”

I had to sit down, but I was afraid that Adam’s bare ass had tainted every hard surface in this trailer.

“It just happened. We’re falling in love.” Audrey twisted her hands together. I wished she was acting, that she was going method with rehearsing a scene.

“You’re falling in love?Wewere falling in love.”

“You were,” she shot back softly, but it was enough of a bullet to shred through me.

“What happened?” I asked. “I genuinely want to know.”

My string of ex-girlfriends was a pattern I couldn’t crack.

Audrey sat next to me, trying to be supportive. “I…wasn’t feeling it. I think I kept things going because you were trying really hard. I wanted to feel what you felt.”

Love wasn’t something we were supposed to try at. It was supposed to overwhelm, like this feeling that was unexpected, logical, and all-consuming all at once. Every time I thought I felt that, I was proven brutally wrong. Maybe I was meant to live life alone. Shoved in a crappy apartment with awful roommates.

She patted my back. “I have to get back out there.”

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