Page 13 of Love Unexpected
“What has you so engrossed?” Bridget said, leaning on my desk right next to my chair.
I looked up. I hadn’t even heard her come in. “Oh. Nothing. Just some artwork done by a fan.”
“It’s so cute that they send it to you,” she said. “Can I see?”
I turned off my phone and lay it face down on the desk. “Don’t worry about it. It was nothing too impressive.” That was the farthest thing from the truth, but weirdly, I didn’t want Bridget to see Ana’s artwork. She wouldn’t get it.
Bridget scooted a bit closer. “So I hear the Drake Martinson interview is officially on the books. So glad you decided to go with it.”
I clenched my jaw. I still wasn’t excited about the interview, but Alex had insisted I only had to commit to one, and the numbers he and Jade had presented about how it might boost the show’s ratings had been compelling. I just hoped I wouldn’t get flack from my tried and true fans over it. “Yeah. We’ll see how it goes,” I said.
“Way to sound excited, Isaac. You should be thrilled Drake Martinson even agreed to come on your show. He’s like, the hottest thing in Hollywood right now.”
“Well, why don’tyouinterview him, Bridget?” I said, suddenly weary of the conversation. “You guys would probably get along great.”
“Whoa. What’s with the hate? I just want your show to be successful. You know that.”
When Alex and Jade had made the argument in favor of bringing on Drake, I’d believed they had the best interests of the show in mind. But with Bridget? I wasn’t half as convinced. “Actually, I think what you want is whatever is going to frameyouin the best light.”
She scoffed. “What’s so wrong with that? Of course I want to look good. My followers count on me always looking my best.”
“Is that even real, though? Always looking your best? What about bad days when you feel horrible, and you just want to stay in your pajamas? What about when you’ve got food poisoning, or your dog just died?”
Bridget rolled her eyes. “I don’t even have a dog.”
I was picking a fight. And that wasn’t fair. Bridget didn’t deserve to be chastised for things which ultimately didn’t matter. Not when we actually needed to have a much bigger conversation.
One I’d seen coming for weeks.
One I’d been putting off for just as long.
Bridget and I had grown too different over the past couple of months. Her presence rarely did anything but make me feel more stressed, more out of touch with who I wanted to be. It was time to end things. But here? Now? In my office where my entire staff could watch through the glass walls?
“I need to get back to work, Bridget. Did you come by for a specific reason?”
“Only for a selfie,” she said. “It’s been a while. I want to remind my followers how cute my boyfriend is.”
Oh, geez. Her timing couldn’t be worse. “You know what? I’m not feeling it today.”
“Seriously? I came all the way down here. I have full make-up on right now. Do you know how long that takes?”
I did know. I’d waited for her to armor up plenty of times.
“I know. But I’m not feeling great. And I have a lot to do before filming, and that’s scheduled to start in less than an hour.” I stood up and pushed my chair into my desk. “But let’s do dinner later, okay? I think we ...” I almost told her we had some stuff to talk about, but that would have made her ask questions. Questions I wasn’t ready to answer.
“You think we what?” she said, as if sensing the weight of what I’d meant to say.
“I think we could get a table at Husk,” I said casually. “I’ll call and see what I can do.”
“Oh,” she said, mollified. “Fine. But wear something nice because I’m definitely taking a selfie then.” She blew me an air kiss then turned and left, walking through the warehouse with the confidence of an Avengers star on a Hollywood red carpet.
Tonight was not going to be fun.
I ran into Rosie in the elevator on my way down to the second-floor studio, her arms full of...boxer shorts? Theywereboxers. In at least ten different colors.
I shot her a sideways glance. “Going someplace special?”
She rolled her eyes. “Very funny.”
