Page 54 of Love Unexpected
I met Tyler’s gaze, willing him to continue, too tied up in knots to actually ask him to do so with words.
“You’re in love with Isaac, Rosie.”
I sighed and dropped my head into my hands, shaking my head back and forth. “You can’t know that.Idon’t even know that. I—”
“The way you watch him, the way you lean into his words, it’s like the two of you are tuned into each other in this weird, kinetic way.”
Ididfeel tuned in to Isaac; I could at least admit that much. But for Tyler to notice? Was I really so obvious? And did that mean Isaac had noticed?
“I still wanted to be sure though,” Tyler continued. “So I did some googling and found this.”
He handed me his phone, face up so I could see what was on the screen. “Ana Rose Crenshaw,” I read off the top of my resume. “Where did you find this?”
“The Computer Science program at the University of Kansas has it up on their alumni site.”
I swore softly. “But how didyoufind it?”
“When I thought about the observations Isaac made this morning about the similarities between you and Ana and then factored in all the stuff I observed all day, I took a guess. It took a few tries of googling the right name combination, but then the resume came up and it was an obvious match.”
I took a deep, cleansing breath. “Are you going to tell him?”
“Not if you give me a really good reason why I shouldn’t. But Isaac is one of my best friends, Rosie. I don’t want him getting hurt.”
It only took five minutes to give Tyler the condensed version of how I’d ended up on a road trip to meet myself. He laughed more than once and seemed visibly relieved when he discovered that Alex, Jade, and Greta were also in on the ruse.
“So we’re driving all this way so Isaac can meet someone who actually lives in Charleston and works twenty feet away from him every single day,” he said, his tone dry.
“We’re driving all this way so we can talk up taco joints and eclectic hotels and set up the road trip connections segment as something viewers will enjoy.”
“So the plan is to tell him when we get there? To make it all the way to Kansas City before he knows?”
I nodded. “Alex said because of all the promotional stuff he scheduled, it’ll be better if we finish the whole trip. Besides, Isaac needs the segment to take off. The show needs the boost.”
“That’s true, but Rosie, I’m not sure we’re going to make it all the way to Kansas City. The chemistry between you two is legit. And Isaac is already feeling it. You saw how weird he got about me calling you one of the guys. I did that on purpose just to see how he would react, and he was just as defensive as I guessed he’d be.”
“I thought it had something to do withyou,” I said. “Isaac told me once he thought you and I should meet. That I’d like you.”
“In any other circumstance, I’d be flattered to have you interested in me. But this thing with Isaac, it’s real for you, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “But it doesn’t matter. Isaac thinks he’s falling for Ana. His focus is on her right now. You know how single-minded Isaac can be. Even if he does feel something for me, he isn’t going to do anything about it. There’s no reason why we won’t make it to Kansas.”
“You’re missing the point, Rosie. Isaac has gone live three different times today on Instagram, and all three times you were in the video.”
“I wasn’t really in them,” I argued. “I was in the background. I barely spoke a word.”
He shook his head. “Still, there’s a...vibe. I’ve been filming Isaac for a decade, so it’s possible I’m more finely tuned to the guy, but he’s got fans who notice everything. I haven’t checked, but they could already be talking, trying to figure out who you are and why Isaac likes you so much.”
Why Isaac likedme.Not Ana.
The thought sent a thrill through me, but I’d be lying if I pretended the thrill wasn’t also laced with fear. The last thing I wanted to do was climb onto a roller coaster because it was exciting and fun and what I thought I’d always wanted only to have it throw me through a double loop to loop I wasn’t ready for.
“Hey.” We both looked up to see Isaac approaching us, his eyes darting uneasily from Tyler to me then back to Tyler. “I thought you guys might have bailed.”
I looked at Tyler one last time, willing him to keep my secret. He gave me a nearly imperceptible nod. We were on the same team. For now.
I stood up. “Just stretching our legs. Since there’s so much room in the Rabbit.”
Isaac didn’t even smile. He just handed us our room keys then turned on his heel and headed back toward the car.
