Page 15 of Wallflower in Bloom

“Mum, for the last time, I won’t position myself as a bad boy. It’s utterly ridiculous.”

He wanted to make his mother proud. He’d been a natural at acting, like her, but any job he’d gotten in the last fifteen years was never enough for her.

He couldn’t disappoint her. Didn’t want to lose the relationship, however fractured, they’d built since he forgave her for leaving his father. The four years he didn’t talk to her still haunted him.

“You know I just want you to be happy.” Her accent had faded over the years as she’d been in LA for so long, but he still heard traces of the British mum she’d been.

“Look, I’ll think about it,” he conceded.

“That’s my darling boy,” she cooed.

He hated that all he wanted was for her to be proud of him. He was a grown fucking man with mummy issues. He eventually distracted her from the topic, and they said their goodbyes.

As soon as he set his phone down on the diner table, his screen filled with Shay’s face as she called him again.

And again.

He swiped to ignore the call. Shay would murder him, which was her right as his agent, but he didn’t want to talk about it yet.

Maybe she’d give up.

But his phone came to life again like an angry buzzsaw. He pressed the end button. Shay would chop his balls off if he didn’t devise a better plan soon.

PR Goddess

WHERE. ARE. YOU??

I swear to Dolly Parton, I will send TMZ on a bloodhound chase to find you.

You can’t keep ignoring the speculation swirling around.

The network has rented a vacation home UP MY ASS about all of this.

Jack

My most darling dearest of agents, I’m doing exactly what you told me. Lying low.

PR Goddess

I DIDN’T MEAN LIE LOW FROM ME!!!!

We need to fix your reputation before the network removes you from their roster.

His stomach soured at the thought of losing his job. He loved it at Wayridge. Shay was right; he needed to fix things.

But how?

Jack absentmindedly thumped his phone against the diner table as he waited for Gray.

The diner was a busy fixture of Fairwick Falls. Families, couples, and old-timers all buzzed about.

Fix his reputation. He looked around the cheerful, old-timey diner for inspiration and saw a couple obviously in love. The woman had a love-drunk smile as the man across from her fed her a bite of pancake from his fork.

Oof. People in love are absolutely ridiculous.

Wait. That was it. He’d just say he’d had a falling out with a girlfriend, hadn’t been in his right mind, and it wouldn’t happen again. They were now perfectly happy together.

It wasn’t the first time he’d had to apologize publicly for his behavior. He’d signed a morality contract promising his behavior wouldn’t reflect poorly on the network.

---