Page 10 of You Rock My World
“Hopefully my family won’t notice I’m missing. And I have no significant other, I’m unhappily single.”
I react with a selfishphew. “Unhappily single?”
“Yeah. Sometimes, people claim they’re single by choice, I’m not.” She sips from the bottle. “But I’ve also never found someone I wanted to spend forever with. Someone I’d want to share my fries with after they swore they didn’t want any.”
I laugh at her fast-food representation of true romance. “Or maybe you have incredibly high standards.” I grin.
“Nah, I’ve just been unlucky, never met someone who made me lose my mind. My love life’s been one long flatline. Meh relationship after meh relationship. I never felt the spark with anyone. I want to feel the magic just once, you know?”
Yeah, magic is great. At least until it turns into a memory so faded, you start to wonder if it was ever real. “Suppose I wasn’t married, would you date me then?”
“No, you’re also too hot and too out of reach,” she declares, still chewing an almond.
“Too hot? Is that… a thing?”
Josie shrugs. “You’re the type women fight over. I’ve seen those Instagram comments. I’m not volunteering for the Hunger Games.”
“See, you have impossible standards.”
“No, it’s just that people like you are intimidating.”
“What? I’m not scary.”
“No, not like that,” she says, gesturing vaguely. “More… your life. Your fame. Everything about you.”
“Everything?There must be a little something you’d save.”
“Nope. Let’s say you were the best man on Earth—looks aside.” Josie brushes an invisible crumb off her dress. “You tour a lot, right?”
The question pokes at a sore reality. “Not every year.”
“No, but let’s assume you weren’t married.” She crosses her legs under her skirt as if settling in for a debate. “How could you date someone with a normal job? Would you put the relationship on hold?”
Her logic lands like little darts of truth, inching too close to the bone.
“I… I don’t know. I never thought about it. Maybe she could join me on the weekends?”
“Right. Hop on a flight to Tokyo for a two-day cuddle break. Super convenient.”
I study a spot on the carpet. “I hope that if she loved me, she’d still want to try.”
“She probably would. She’d quit her job and become a full-time groupie, which would make being dumped afterward that much more tragic.”
Josie means to be funny. But her words hit me like a chord played too sharp. The idea of being loved that deeply stirs something in me that I thought had dulled long ago.
But instead of saying any of this, I ask, “Do you always say everything that passes through your head?”
“No.” She stares at the elevator walls. “Must be a side effect of being stuck in a malfunctioning metal shoebox.” Josie grins, those freckles of hers turning me into a willing captive.
I should let it go, but I can’t. “And in this hypothetical scenario, why would I dump her?”
“Eh. Basic celebrity math. You and Billie Rae are the exception.”
Or we’re about to become another headline no one will be surprised by.
“Can’t argue with that,” I say, struggling to keep the bitterness out of my tone.
“You two are one of my favorite celebrity couples.”
