Page 27 of Love Unexpected
Greta groaned. “Seriously? Right now? What on earth could you possibly need to say to people right now?”
“It’s the name of the game,” he said dismissively. “I speak when inspiration strikes. It isn’t always convenient, but it’s paying your salary, so...”
“Fine,” Greta said. “But I’m still going to whine about it. I hate it when you invite ten million friends to dinner.” She glanced at me. “You better take the baby back to the bedroom. Diedre and Jade won’t let the kids be in any of the videos.”
“Oh. Okay. Got it.”
“I do need someone to be in it with me, though,” Isaac said. “Rosie? You game? I just got Drake Martinson’s answers back from the viewer-submitted questions that came in after the show. I need someone to read the questions so I can respond with the answers he sent over.”
I paused at the hallway that led back to the bedrooms, Nora resting against my shoulder. “Me? I...I don’t think so.” I’d never actually considered the possibility of putting myself on camera with Isaac. But it stood to reason that if I struggled to keep my cool when it was onlyhimin the room, I for sure shouldn’t be trusted with ten million viewers watching.
“Are you sure?” Isaac said. “You don’t even have to say anything on your own. You just read the questions right off the email. It’s pretty simple.”
The look in his eyes made me want to say yes. I could channel my inner actress and read questions off a card. And even though I claimed I wanted to avoid face time with Isaac, the reality was, he was pretty hard to resist. But it wouldn’t just be face time with Isaac. It would be face time with Isaac...and millions of his fans. “I don’t think so,” I said. “You want me to send Jade down?”
Something that almost looked like disappointment flitted across Isaac’s expression, but it was gone so fast, I wondered if I’d imagined it. A tiny spark buried deep in my heart flamed to life. It wasn’t much, but it was something. And I was desperate enough to cling to anything.
“Sure,” Isaac said. “Jade will probably do it. Or Vinnie, if she isn’t up for it.”
I turned down the hallway but paused after only a few steps when Isaac called my name again. “Hey, Rosie, what about acting as camerawoman? Total behind the scenes work.”
I nodded. “Okay. I can handle behind the scenes.”
He smiled. “Great.”
Greta raised an eyebrow as we turned into Nora’s room. “Sounds like someone wants to spend a little time with Rosie.”
I rolled my eyes. “He’s just being nice.”
She hmphed. “Maybe. Or maybe he likes you.”
“He does not like me. He likes Ana.”
She shot me a dry look. “Oh. Right. That’s entirely different.”
I lowered a sleeping Nora into her bed and set the empty bottle on the dresser beside the crib. “Does he do this a lot?” I asked, my voice low so as not to wake the baby. “Random live streams when you guys are all hanging out.”
Greta rolled her eyes. “All the time, though less so now that baby Nora is here. We don’t hang out as much as we used to because so much revolves around the baby. It’s the nature of his business, though. It’s important he stay connected to his fans.”
“But on a Friday night? Do people really care that much?”
She huffed a laugh. “Someonealwayscares. And he probably wants to do the question/answer follow-up tonight since the Drake Martinson episode just aired today. I swear his typical viewer has an attention span of about fourteen seconds. If he doesn’t strike now, interest will wane, and the video won’t get as many views.”
I shook my head. “I cannot imagine having to think about all of those things all the time.”
Greta shrugged. “Isaac could probably think about it less. But he didn’t buildRandom Iinto what it is today by doing things halfway.”
I couldn’t stop thinking about Greta’s words for the rest of the night. While holding Isaac’s phone as I filmed his live stream, marveling at his easy on-air demeanor. While I hugged all my friends goodbye and drove the short distance to my tiny house in Park Circle.
I’d never really spent much time imagining whatRandom Ilooked like from the inside–to his friends, his family members, the people who were around it every day, constantly accommodating Isaac’s filming. I’d been pining after Isaac for a long time. But somehow, the impossibility of our relationship had always kept me from imagining what it would be like to actually date someone who lived his life in the public eye. I loved the limelight about as well as I loved the thought of getting a Pap smear. I didn’t want people—especially the nameless people on the internet—to care about me at all.
Of course, it hadn’t been a big deal to just say I wasn’t interested in being in the video. The only person obligated to be on camera was Isaac. And he definitely wasn’t the guy who was going to pressure anyone. But still. A little bit ofRandom Imagic had dimmed. And I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel about that.
Chapter Ten
Isaac
Jade was sitting at my desk when I showed up to work on Tuesday morning. And she did not look happy.
