Page 19 of The Marriage Narrative
He blinked his scarily intelligent amber eyes and Jordan scratched under his chin and behind his ears. Hair flew everywhere because the spring shed was doing its best to kill him.
Just like Zinnia.
Finding someone else half as suitable would take nothing short of a miracle. He didn’t havetimeto scroll on a dating app. He didn’t havetimeto go on dates. Hiring an escort might work, but Zinnia’s marriage-merger proposal was the literal answer to his prayers.
So, he’d make time forher.
JORDAN:I know a place.
Beta Carotene was now standing by the door and glaring him into oblivion. A true Zaffre at heart, his cat ran on a schedule. Breakfast was served within twenty minutes of Jordan waking up. No exceptions.
“All right, all right. I’m coming.” Jordan also ran on a schedule, albeit a much later one. He wasn’t really a morning person. Once he was up, he was up, but without alarms he was likely to sleep until noon.
Actually, it’d be until nine fifteen a.m. because that was when Sadie called. They talked every day at that time, without fail, even if it was only for ten minutes. She caught him in the middle ofdriving to the store. He needed to pick up seven months’ worth of Beta’s supplies for the cat sitter.
“Alfie.” Sadie’s snappy voice filled his car in surround sound. No one in his family ever called him Jordan. And anytime she used his name as a greeting was a warning that he’d fucked up and was about to get yelled at. “Maybe you forgot, but I’m onmaternity leave.Mom is the chief storyline officer now. This is a big moment for her.Don’tmake me pick sides.”
“You should automatically be on mine.”
“Oh, believe me I am. I just wanted to scare you with the appearance of fairness. It’s time to fall in line, little brother.” She laughed, brightly sardonic as ever. “Mom asked me to ask you to stop ignoring her calls.”
The last time he’d spoken to his mom was during a meeting with a network rep. Everything had been fine until they pitched their choice for his future wife—a close family friend who also happened to be animmensely popularandtalentedactress.
Beatrix. His ex-girlfriend.
He still broke out into a frantic, cold sweat every time he even thought about it. Because they’d have to drag him kicking and screaming down the aisle before he married Bea.
“Look, I know how badly things ended between you two—Iwasthere—but would it kill you to be reasonable?” Sadie asked. “I’m sorry, but youown your ownis not enough to sustain a storyline.”
“Aw, I love you too.”
“That’s not personal and you know it.” If she’d been there, she would’ve smacked him on the arm. Funnily enough, he felt the phantom pain anyway. “Bea has a loyal fan base already watching her every move. You two have history that’s perfect for content mining. I can’t say that Mom is wrong for thinking asecond-chance romanceandengagement storyline is a winning combination.”
Jordan knew the exact kind of person he needed to bring home—a woman was preferred, with the kind of personality that easily slipped into caricature. His mom didn’t trust him to make that decision for himself. She didn’t even want to give him options.
“Alfie, please calm down,” his mom had said. “It was always going to be Beatrix.”
No.No.He didn’t care how much their families wanted it to happen, but he did consider doing it for Sadie…and that consideration lasted one entire second becauseno.
“Be honest.” He swallowed hard, hands clenched on the steering wheel. “If you were in my shoes, would you do it?”
Sadie scoffed. “Idesignedyour shoes. I’ve done everything.”
“But it was always your choice. You controlled your storylines. You helped everyone develop theirs.”
“I’m on maternity leave with one foot in the retirement grave,” she firmly reminded him, and then softly added, “Are you asking for help?”
Jordan wasn’t supposed to have a favorite. He’d technically known Sadie the longest—hisentire life. One of his first memories was of her, carefully handing him an ice-cream cone and bossing him around.“Don’t make a mess.”
He wasn’t supposed to, but it was his big sister anyway.
“I don’t need help so much as…faith? I have a plan. I know what I want to do, and Mom isn’t going to listen to me. This has to stay between us, or it won’t work.” He paused. “I met someone really special—one of a kind. She’s willing to be on the show with me.”
Sadie’s line went quiet long enough to hear his other sister, Lulie, yelling about something in the background. “You’ve beenseeing someone? And you told them about us?” It sounded like an accusation.
“I’m serious about her, so yeah, I did,” he answered, willfully sidestepping her first question.
“How serious?”
