“Seriously, check the internet, would you?” Bella rebuked. “It’s front page news.”
I frowned and walked over to my laptop sitting on the kitchen table. “Alright, alright. I’m just checking now.”
“Type Jacob’s name into Google. It will come up.”
God, who were these people who spent their lives keeping tabs on the every move of the rich and famous? It was so weird. I did as instructed and reached out to steady myself on the edge of the table.
“Oh, and maybe sit down,” Bella added too late.
With shaking legs, I lowered myself gratefully onto a seat and stared in disbelief at the screen.
Romantic getaway for Swan and Martin in New York.
The headlines were all roughly the same. There were pictures too, but I couldn’t bring myself to click on them.
“It’s not true,” I said numbly.
“Ha! I knew it,” cried Bella. “You do have feelings for him.”
Her smug accusation was completely lost on me. “Well, yeah, I do,” I said still staring at the screen. Begrudgingly, I clicked on one of the links.
“I knew it. I mean, how could you not have feelings for Jacob Swan? I’m in love with him and I don’t even know him.”
I sucked in a sharp breath when the picture came up. It was Jake and Faith sitting in a cafe together somewhere in New York. Faith had her hand on Jake’s forearm and they were talking, their heads close together. Way too close together.
“Oh, yeah. There’s pictures. Pretty damning, huh? I guess you should have made your move on Jacob earlier,” Bella suggested helpfully.
“I did! I did make my move on him!” I sputtered, the reality of the situation finally sinking in.
“Well, maybe you should have made it more obvious, like Faith is in that picture.”
I ignored the sting of tears in my eyes. I knew it, I knew it, I thought somewhat fruitlessly, because what was there to be superior about really? I knew Faith had feelings for Jake all along. He was just too nice to see it.
“Ally? You still there?”
I cleared my throat. “I did make it obvious,” I said hoarsely. “On several occasions.”
“Not obvious enough, I guess.”
“Arabella, Jake and I have slept together! We’re in a relationship.”
There was silence at the other end of the phone, which was actually a nice change.
“Oh,” Bella said eventually, sounding a little shaken. “What a bitch. I can’t believe she’d try to steal Jacob out from under your nose like that.”
I sighed heavily. “You know not to believe the papers. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.”
“She’s touching him, Ally! Look at the way she’s touching him.”
I glanced at the screen quickly then away again. There was no point upsetting myself further. “I know. But he’s not touching her.”
“Yet.”
I blinked away some of the tears. “Thanks for that.”
“I’m sorry, Ally. I’m just so angry for you!”
“Bella, I appreciate it, but he hasn’t actually done anything. He’s had coffee in New York with Faith and the media has turned it into a major news story.”
“You need to talk to him straight away. He might be used to this sort of media attention, but you’re not. Surely he’s got to appreciate how this will make you feel.”
“I will. I’ll give him a call, Bella. I’m sure it’s nothing and it will all be fine.”
“I hope so.”
I hoped so too, but I wasn’t letting myself give in to any doubts. Not yet. I knew this was the main reason Jake had wanted to shield me from the attention. The speculation and the lies. I had to not let myself be swayed by it. It was unfounded gossip. That was all.
“Alright, Bella. I’d better go. Thanks for calling.”
Bella let out a strangled laugh. “Really? I’ve just given you shit news and you’re thanking me?”
“It’s better I hear it from you, than from someone else. Besides, it’s your job.”
“My job?”
“Yes. You’re my digital marketing intern, aren’t you?” I’d just made that up, but I didn’t want her to feel bad. I’d meant what I’d said about finding out this way being better than the alternative.
“Actually I’d probably say I’m a meddling cousin who’s a wannabe celebrity stalker,” she said. “But digital marketing intern sounds better.”
“There you go. Bye, Arabella.”
She said goodbye and I stared at the phone in my hand for a long moment. With a deep breath, I hit Jake’s number.
It rang and rang. Usually he picked up straight away.
It rang some more until it eventually went to voicemail.
I hung up.
*
By the next morning I still hadn’t spoken to Jake. He wasn’t answering. I’d left a couple of messages, but that was all. I was actually pretty impressed by my restraint. I could have left a lot more messages. Plus, I hadn’t said a word about Faith, only that I wanted to talk to him.
I pushed the bowl of cereal away in frustration. I wasn’t hungry. I’d finished Chloe’s dress but I still had work to do on my ready-to-wear collection, but I didn’t feel like it. I didn’t feel like running either. Being on a treadmill and getting nowhere seemed stupid to me right now.
I flopped down on the sofa in front of the television and looked at my phone again. Nothing. No missed calls, no texts, nothing. I threw it to the other end of the sofa, annoyed at myself for being so pathetic. I knew, deep down, there had to be a logical reason unrelated to the news story for Jake’s silence. Maybe his battery had died or his phone had been stolen, for instance.
Then why didn’t he use the hotel phone or someone else’s phone to contact me?
“Aargh!” I grabbed the TV remote and pointed it at the screen. I had to stop thinking about it. Jake would call soon and everything would be fine. “Oh, great,” I muttered, when E News came on. This was the last thing I needed to watch right now.
My finger hovered on the channel button when Jake appeared on the screen. “Crap.” Feeling sick and not certain why I was putting myself through this, I turned the volume up instead.
“Jacob Swan is reeling from the news his father passed away last night. He’s not been available for comment so far, but our sources say he’s flying from New York to his hometown in West Virginia to be with his family. We still don’t know if Faith Martin is traveling with him to attend the funeral. Given recent photographs of Faith and Jake captured together sharing intimate conversation over coffee, we suspect she’ll be there to support Jake during this very difficult time—”
I shut the television off. “Holy shit.”
His father was dead. That was why he hadn’t spoken to me. He was probably in shock or on an airplane or . . . or with Faith.
“No,” I breathed. Absolutely not. It couldn’t be possible.
Could it?
But maybe it could. He hadn’t called me. Something as momentous as this had occurred in his life and he hadn’t gotten in touch with me at all. Why?
Because you still don’t really know him, a voice in my head said traitorously, and maybe Faith does. Maybe she knows him a whole lot better than you.
I ignored the voice and tried to put myself in his situation. If it had happened to me, I’d want him there by my side to support me. Hell, I’d need him there.
Damn it, he had to need me right now. Then why wasn’t he calling?
I lunged for my phone, which had fallen down behind the cushions, and dialed his number again.
It rang out but I stayed on the line, waiting for his now familiar voice message.
“Jake. It’s Ally again. I’m so sorry. I just heard about your father. Call me. Please.”
Chapter 35
By lunchtime, I was climbing the walls, so I threw my exercise gear on and headed for the front door.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
My
sneakers squealed on the foyer tiles as Jay positioned himself between me and the door.
“Running.” I went to go around him but he stepped in front of me again, surprisingly quick for his impressive stature.
“Not outside you’re not.”
“Why the hell not?” I demanded.
He raised an eyebrow at my tone. “It’s not safe.”
“Oh, for God’s sake!” I went to go around him again but this time he placed two giant palms on my shoulders.
“Lena’s orders.”
I glared up at him but didn’t make any move to escape—not that I could have if I wanted to. I’d been avoiding Lena all morning, caught between spilling my pathetic sob story and trying to remain rational about the situation. She’d been doing some work on her computer so I’d left her to it.
“Why the sudden need to run outside?” Jay asked curiously. “What’s wrong with the treadmill?”
“I need fresh air.”
He nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll get Tim to show you the circuit around the property.”
“What circuit?”
“The property is over a hectare. You can do some laps and get a pretty good workout.”
I couldn’t care less about the workout. I just needed some fresh air. “So I’m a prisoner, then?” I asked.
Jay frowned, not used to my unfriendly attitude. “No. Why would you say that?”
“Because I can’t go for a walk outside!”
“I guess I could ask Tim to go with you for a lap around the block. It’s not like you’re Lena.”
I shot him a dark look.
“What?”
I held up my hands. “Forget it. The grounds will do. I want to be alone.”
“Suit yourself. I’ll get Tim. He can do one lap with you then leave you to mope.”
“I’m not moping!”
“Sure seems like it. Anyway, not my business. Wait there.” He walked off before I had the chance to argue, which annoyed me even more. I was in the mood for a good argument and Tim wouldn’t take the bait. He was practically mute.
I glanced at the driveway that led to the gates of the property. I could just jog off. They couldn’t stop me. My shoulders sagged in defeat. While I thought Jay was probably overstating the threat to my safety, I didn’t want to risk gaining any unwanted attention. Who knew? Reporters might be casing the streets waiting for random celebrity sightings.
Not that I was a celebrity, I reminded myself. I wasn’t even close. But I was involved with celebrities and right now that seemed to make me a celebrity by association. It was ridiculous, I mused. Is this how it felt every single day? Like people were watching you? I may have grown up under the intense scrutiny of my extended family, but their interest was due to love. The constant media interest was exactly the opposite of love. It was invasive and potentially malicious. And who was to say that reporters weren’t on the lookout for me? They could snap some footage of me running alone and write that I was recovering from a broken heart.
“Hey.” Tim came to stand beside me wearing shorts and a T-shirt, distracting me from my thoughts.
“That was quick,” I commented.
“It’s in the job description,” he said quite seriously, and I hid a smile.
He actually looked pretty fit in his running gear. I was used to him wearing trousers and long-sleeved shirts or a suit jacket, and it was kind of a surprise he had arms and legs. Muscular ones, no less.
He nodded in the opposite direction of the driveway and we set off at a comfortable jog.
“I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me before,” I said, referring to Lena’s sizable grounds.
He shrugged but didn’t say anything.
Gosh, he was a quiet man. In typical Ally fashion I felt the need to fill the silence. “Do you normally run?”
He glanced at me. “I thought you wanted to be alone?”
“Well, I’m not alone now, so we may as well talk.”
He didn’t appear enthused by the idea but answered my question. “I jog.”
“Where?”
“I have a treadmill at home.”
It was funny, I’d never really considered that Tim had a home. “Really?”
“My wife bought it.”
“You have a wife?”
He nodded.
“Kids?” I asked with interest.
“A little girl. Taylor. She’s three.”
It was the first time he’d willingly shared information with me and I felt strangely honored. “I bet she’s a cutie. You’ll have to show me a photo sometime.”
He nodded again but didn’t elaborate, obviously at the limits of his conversational abilities.
“Do you talk much to your wife?” I asked, then, realizing how abrupt and stupid that sounded, added, “It’s just that you’re kind of quiet. It made me wonder if you talk to her more than us.”
He frowned. “Some. I guess I don’t have a lot to say.”
“But she must know everything about you?”
“I guess.” He glanced back at the house. He was probably wondering when he could ditch me and this strange conversation.
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m not asking for your deepest, darkest secrets or anything.”
He paused, like he was considering something, then cleared his throat. “But you’re wondering if Jake has any?”
I tripped over something invisible but managed to stay upright. “Why would you say that?” I asked, my voice coming out higher than usual.
He shrugged. “The news of his father’s death.”
“You know about that?”
“I listen to the news.”
I didn’t think celebrity news was his thing, but then again he did work for a celebrity. “What has his father’s death got to do with anything?”
“You’re here, he’s there,” he said simply.
Before I could stop myself, tears welled in my eyes. Oh great, now I was the weeping crazy lady. I shot him an apologetic look and veered away to put some space between us, running to the edge of the property where the wall towered over me. “Sorry,” I sniffed, madly trying to wipe away the tears before I faced him again.
I heard him stop a few feet from me. “Nothing to be sorry for. Actors are hard to get to know. I’m easy. What you see is what you get. You never know what’s real with actors.”
I turned back to him, no longer embarrassed by my red nose and watery eyes. “Do you really believe that? Jake's very genuine.”
“I didn’t say he wasn’t.”
But Tim was right, there was more to Jake and I had no idea how to deal with that. “I don’t know what to do,” I admitted.
“You treat him like a normal person.”
“I have! I mean, I do!” I protested.
“At first maybe. What about now? Tell me that the celebrity isn’t getting in the way.”
“Maybe a little bit,” I admitted.
“And if it wasn’t?” he asked.
“I’d be with him at his father’s funeral. I’d want to be there to support him.”
“Then there’s your answer.”
“But how? I can’t get in touch with him.”
He didn’t respond and continued to watch me patiently, like he was waiting for something.
My eyes widened. “Are you suggesting I turn up at his father’s funeral?”
“If that’s what a normal person would do, then yes.”
“Isn’t that a bit rude? I mean, I never even met his dad.” And what if Faith was there? How awkward would that be?
“Maybe.”
“Plus, I don’t even know where he is,” I reminded him. “He won’t talk to me.”
“Funeral notices are usually in the paper.”
“Well, yes, but what paper? I don’t even know where he grew up.”
He shrugged again. “Google it.”
I threw my hands up in the air. “Why is that everyone’s answer to everything? Anyway, that’s insane. I can see it now: Fashion design
er stalks Hollywood actor at father’s funeral.”
“Or maybe he’s like a lot of men and he’s not dealing with his grief very well. Being an actor doesn’t make him immune to being a guy.”
“I can’t just turn up there,” I said. “It wouldn’t be right.”
“Fair enough.”
Fair enough? Maybe it was better that Tim didn’t talk so much; he was seriously confusing me.
Tim cast another glance at the house. “Anyway, I’ll leave you to it. You can see the path through the rest of the property from here.” Without another word, he cut across the lawn.
I watched him go then started jogging again, doing two more laps of the property before heading back to the house. By the time I pushed open the front door, I knew exactly where I was headed.
In my bedroom I closed the door quietly then booted up my laptop. “This is so very, very wrong,” I said to myself as I waited for Jake’s Wikipedia page to load.
I noted the town where Jake had grown up then scrolled down further. The words ‘Personal Life’ stared back at me.
I ignored them and opened a new browser window and typed in the name of Jake’s town and the words ‘funeral notices.’ It was a crazy idea, but before I rejected it I needed to know if it was even possible. To my surprise, it only took me a moment to find it. The family didn’t seem concerned about attracting publicity, which seemed strange. Unless they didn’t expect Jake to attend?
“Stephen Frederick Swan,” I murmured. He’d only been sixty-eight. And there were the details of the funeral service and the wake.
I clicked back to the other window, the word ‘Personal’ taunting me. This time I only hesitated for a moment before clicking on it. Surely the torture of not knowing couldn’t be worse than the truth? And Jake had never made a big deal about it. He’d mentioned on several occasions that he was surprised I hadn’t read his bio.
I scanned the text, my chest tightening. “Oh my God,” I breathed, then read the words again.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat transfixed by the glow of my computer screen. After a while the words started to blur together, which was when I realized I was crying. I didn’t bother to wipe the tears away. Instead, hands shaking, I typed in the address for American Airlines.
Heartthrob (Hollywood Hearts, #1) Page 25