Page 101 of The Love Rematch
“Oh, and Jake?”
He meets Trish’s eyes over his shoulder, unable to quite read her expression. “Yeah?”
“If you need a reference, don’t call me for six months. I’m not saying anything until I see how this plays out on national TV.”
He laughs softly. “Will do.”
Then he walks to the front hall. Simple. Easy. Far easier than he ever imagined. Almosttooeasy. An eerie tingle drips down the back of his neck as he reaches for the door and swings it open. A sixth sense tells him to pause. He waits a moment and angles his neck back toward the shared living room, listening intently. One second passes. Then two. Right when he’s about to shrug it off and leave, Nick’s voice finally breaks the silence.
“Now that that’s over, can we get back to the task at hand? The sister is late. Her plane won’t land for another two hours. How in the hell are we going to make this call to the doctor’s office happen without her?”
Jake’s heart leaps into his throat.
He shuts the door and marches back inside.
“Call? What call?”
“Fuck,” Nick mutters.
Nina winces.
Trish offers him a hard stare. “You wanted out. You’re out, Jake.”
“What doctor’s office?” he demands. “What call?”
“We didn’t include you in this for a reason, Jake,” Nina says and stands before walking over to grab his forearm. “You can’t handle it. So turn around, let security escort you to the airport, and go home.”
“Nina.” He fights free of her hold. “What call?”
She clenches her jaw stubbornly. The show comes first.
“Fred,” he implores, turning to the one crew member he always thought put the people over the production. “What doctor’s office? What call? Please, if something’s going on you need to tell me. I have to know.”
The older man scrunches his face, as if fighting the instinct to relent, and remains silent. They all do.
“Please.”
Jake looks at each of them, these people he’s spent the past four years of his life with, living and breathing this show. And it hits him all at once. They’re not his friends. They never were. Despite all the time they’ve spent together scheming other people in and out of love, they don’t know him. He doesn’t know them. And nothing is more important to any of them than the almighty ratings.
“Please,” he desperately repeats. “She’s the love of my life.”
Nina sighs, the first crack he’s ever seen in her demeanor. Trish shoots her a warning look, but she ignores it to glance at him. The barest hint of remorse softens her gaze. “We don’t know, okay? Even if we wanted to tell you, we couldn’t, which is why we’re waiting on the sister. Health records are sealed. You know that, Jake. We have no idea what the call is about or who the doctor is. We’re working on a hunch here.”
“What hunch?”
She crosses her arms and turns her face to the side. That little peace offering is all he’s going to get, but it’s not nearly enough. With a sneer, Jake scans the couches and the tables for any clue, any sign as to where they think the storyline is going. But there’s nothing. All he knows is this—they were planning to use Sam to ambush Emily with some call from a doctor’s office, but now they can’t because her plane is two hours late.
Her plane, he thinks.Landing at the airport.
At the airport…
The airport.
“Fuck it,” Jake mutters and turns his back on the past four years of his life. The second he opens the door, two security guards take him by the arms and usher him down the boardwalk. He’s half tempted to make a mad dash for Emily’s door, but he knows it would only end badly, and he can’t afford to waste any time.
Every second is precious.
It’ll take him fifteen minutes to pack his stuff. The boat ride to the main island is about an hour and a half, and then it’s a short walk to the airport. If he gets through security quickly, he’ll have about five minutes to intercept Sam as she’s getting off the plane. Convincing her to talk to him will, of course, be another matter entirely, but it’s his only shot.
