“That’s really nice,” Nora said softly. “She was lucky to have you too.”
“She never expected anything. Even when I scored the spot on Code Grey, which came with a million dollar bonus per year, she still didn’t want to move into my big house. Just wanted something small and cozy where she could live with her two cats. She loved those animals. Gotta admit, I’ve always had a soft spot for them too, because of her. If I didn’t work so much, I’d totally adopt five.”
“Ah, so there’s the fundamental difference between us,” Nora said. “I’m a dog person. You’re a cat person.”
I grinned at her. “No, I like dogs too. All animals, actually. I donate to a few animal charities every year in Mom’s name. And not just because it’s tax-deductible.”
“That’s really sweet,” Nora said, smiling back at me. “But so much for Hollywood’s resident bad boy. More like ‘animal lover extraordinaire’. Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, though, does it?”
“No, hence all the PR where they make me look like a total prick. Although I suppose I do a pretty good job of that on my own sometimes.”
Nora laughed. “Tell me about it. Although here’s an idea: you like cats, so you could be nicknamed ‘pussy lover’ instead. That sounds more bad boy-ish, and people don’t have to know it’s about cats and not the other… ahem …the other kind of ‘pussy’.”
I chuckled. “Yeah. Good idea. Anyway, what about you? I want to hear more about this incredibly boring childhood of yours,” I said.
She smiled. “Well, my parents got married when they were twenty-five. Had me six months later.”
“Shotgun wedding, huh?”
“Yep. Then they had my brother three years after that. Brian. He lives over in London now.”
“Cool. And you said earlier that you grew up here in Santa Barbara, right?”
“Yep. Always lived in the same house. Went to college here and everything.”
“And who got you interested in all the sports stuff?”
She gave me an embarrassed grin. “My father. I was a total daddy’s girl when I was a kid,” she said. “Dad loves sports, especially football, and he wanted to pass that love on to my brother. But Brian never cared. I did, though. So I became his little sports guru, and he taught me everything I know. We still try to catch games together when we can.”
“That’s cute. You’re lucky to have a dad like that.”
“Yeah, I am,” she said.
As I changed gears, I noticed she had goosebumps on her arms. “Cold?” I asked.
Nora looked down at her lap, but I didn’t miss the telltale blush creeping over her cheeks. “Oh. Yeah. We hardly ever have weather like this,” she said hurriedly.
“True.”
She looked back up a moment later. “Oops, we just missed my parents’ street,” she said, whirling her head around. “Can you make a U-turn?”
I pulled the car around and took a right onto Cresta Avenue, my pulse suddenly racing. Any minute now, I was going to meet Nora’s parents, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I was nervous. I tried to remind myself that it wasn’t real. It was just a fake relationship for Nora’s benefit. But try as I might, I couldn’t convince myself of that.
This was real.
All too real.
13
Nora
My heart raced with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation as Jacob pulled the car into my parents’ driveway. I felt bad for lying to them, but like I said to Jacob a moment ago, the lie had simply slipped out of my mouth before I could stop myself, and it snowballed from there. Mom was always harassing me about my love life, and it was like something inside me just snapped earlier.
If I’d admitted to her that I was once again totally single, she would’ve given me that sad motherly sigh which blatantly communicated all her longings for weddings and grandchildren which weren’t even on the horizon. Every woman knew that sigh, and I was damn well tired of it.
Maybe seeing me with Jacob would shock that sighing tactic right out of Mom.
“Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad!” I said, waving and dashing over to the front porch steps as my parents came outside.
“Hello, darling!” Dad said, wrapping me in a bear hug before letting Mom hug me too.
“You look tired,” Mom said, fretting over me. “Why are you here so late? We were expecting you earlier than this.”
“I’m sorry, we got caught up with work stuff,” I said. I gestured to Jacob, who was walking up to us now, sunglasses still on.
He removed them, and my mother immediately gasped. “Dr. Easton West!”
“No, Mom, his name is Jacob,” I said. “Jacob Archer. We met on the set of the sports movie I’m working on at the moment.”
“But you can keep calling me Doctor if you like,” Jacob said with a grin. “Makes me feel smart.”
He extended a hand to my father, who firmly shook it. “Jacob, nice to meet you. I’m Roy, and this is my wife Anne,” he said. “I’m sure Nora’s told you all about us.”
“She has,” Jacob replied. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. I hear you’re a big football fan.”
Dad nodded. “I am. You?”
“More of a baseball guy, actually. Nora has to stand there on the set and yell at me until I pass the football properly when we film scenes. I’ve got the coordination of a baboon, apparently.”
“I don’t yell,” I said, nudging him with my elbow. “I simply advise.”
Dad leaned forward and gave Jacob a conspiratorial glance. “She got that from her mother. Anne ‘advises’ me quite frequently too.”
Mom laughed and elbowed Dad. “Hush, you! Anyway, Jacob, please come in.”
“Wait, wait,” Dad said, holding his hands up. “He said he’s not much of a football fan. So I’m going to have to take him out the back and—”
“Shoot me?” Jacob said.
“That too, but I was going to say I could teach you some throws. My daughter might have less work to do on your set, then.”
Dad winked at me. I could tell what he was doing. He was trying to give me and Mom some time alone to gossip about how I’d met Jacob and ensnared him, and he also wanted some time alone with Jacob to gauge what sort of man he was and see if he was good enough for his daughter. A pang of guilt bit at my guts, but I pushed it aside and nodded.
“We’ll go get some drinks and snacks,” I said, linking arms with Mom, who was still sneaking disbelieving glances at Jacob.
When we got inside, she busied herself by setting some cookies out on a big plate. Then she gave me one of those faux-nonchalant looks that mothers are so good at. “So you’re dating a TV star, are you?”
I gulped. “Yes.”
“Why haven’t you mentioned this before now? You told me your boyfriend was an accountant.”
“No, I said actor,” I said. “Accountant and actor both start with ‘ac’, so maybe you misheard.”
She gave me a suspicious look. “Hm. Yes, I suppose I must have misheard. But why haven’t I seen or read anything about this in any of my magazines? Last time I read about Jacob Archer, he was involved in some sort of tryst with a bikini model and the host—”
I cut her off. “Mom, those are just rumors. He doesn’t even do half the stuff the media says he does.”
“So he does do some of the stuff?”
“Mom…”
“Sorry, sorry,” she said, waving her hand at me. “I just worry.”
“I’m fine, Mom. We’re trying to keep things quiet because it’s still pretty new. That’s why no one knows yet. So please don’t call or email any of your favorite magazines and inform them of my love life.”
“I won’t. But do you really…”
She trailed off and nervously tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear. I raised my eyebrows. “Do I really what?”
She sighed. “Never mind. I’m already your second favorite parent. We should wait to see what your father says.”
“Mom!” I said, slinging my arm around her. “You aren’t my second favorite! You’re my favorite mother and Dad is my favorite father. That’s how it is and you know it.”
She smiled. “Good.”
“Now tell me what you were going to say.”
“I just wonder if dating a guy like Jacob Archer is the right decision for you. I know you said the media likes to make up stuff, but he still does some of the things they report on. I’ve seen pictures of this man drunkenly spilling out of nightclubs and posing with women dressed like… well, you know what I mean. Wouldn’t you rather be with someone stable?”
I smiled. “You don’t approve of your daughter dating your favorite TV doctor?”
“It’s not that I don’t approve,” she insisted. “He seemed perfectly nice when you introduced him to us. I just worry because… well, I’ve never told you this, but I dated a man like him once, before I met your father.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You dated an actor?”
She waved her hand. “No, no. I mean a party kind of guy. Always up for a good time, and so on. He seemed so charming and fun at first, but he turned out to be… not so nice. I just worry about the same thing happening to you.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“Maybe, but a mother can’t just turn off her worries,” she replied.
I sighed. “Mom, I get it. On the surface he seems totally wrong for me. We’re so different in every way, and he has this crazy, larger than life personality and bad boy rep. But he’s actually a really good guy. And he’s a good boyfriend.”
I was technically lying because Jacob wasn’t my boyfriend, but I found myself genuinely meaning the words anyway. Jacob was a good guy. He did seem totally wrong for me at first, for obvious reasons, but now… now I didn’t think so. I felt like all his differing traits balanced me out. Being with him today had left me feeling more content than I had in a long time. With James, I’d always felt on edge, wondering when I’d discover his next lie, but there was none of that when I hung around Jacob. None of that at all.
There was just…happiness.
“That’s good to hear,” Mom said softly. “I’m very glad. Well, I’ll give him a chance. But if I see a photo of him with a stripper anytime soon, you can warn him that I’ll be paying him a visit.”
I laughed. “Thanks, Mom.”
The side door opened, and Dad and Jacob walked in a few seconds later.
“This young man has the worst spiral throw I’ve ever seen,” Dad announced as he grabbed a cookie. “You’ll need to train him better, sweetheart.”
I laughed. “I’ll try.”
Jacob winked at me. In that moment, my heart melted. I tried to remind myself that this wasn’t real, and he wasn’t actually my boyfriend, but I had great difficulty with that task for a reason which was becoming increasingly apparent by the second.
I still wanted him.
14
Jacob
“Nora, would you help me chop some vegetables for the salad? I was about to get started on dinner before you arrived. I assume you two will be staying for that?”
Anne looked at her daughter expectantly, and Nora nodded and headed over to the fridge to get out some salad ingredients.
“Would you like some help?” I asked.
“I’ve seen your coordination. Nora’s right, you’re a baboon,” Roy said with a grunt. “You’ll slice your hand open. Why don’t we go sit down with a beer instead?”
“But thanks for the offer,” Anne added with a smile.
Roy grabbed me a drink from the fridge. I went and joined him in the living room, where a football game was being televised on a big screen. Roy muted it, then turned to me and held his beer up. “Cheers, Jacob. Thanks for coming. Anne was starting to think Nora was completely making up this boyfriend of hers.”
“Well, I’m definitely real,” I said with a grin.
“That you are,” he replied. “So you’re a big movie star, huh?”
“I guess I will be once Fourth Down is out.”
“Yes, I’ve heard it’s going to be huge when it premieres. How’s Nora doing on it?”
“Very well. Your daughter is great at her job.”
He nodded. “We’re very proud of her,” he said, leaning closer. “And we’re very protective of her too.”
The message was clear: Don’t mess with Nora’s heart.
I didn’t intend to. I never wanted to hurt her. Ever.
“That’s good,” I replied. “Nora is very lucky to have so many people watching out for her.”
He nodded, seemingly satisfied with my response. “Want to come help me grill some steaks when the girls are finished making the salad and potatoes?”
“Sure. Don’t think I can injure myself too badly doing that.”
“We’ll see,” he said with a chuckle.
We sat and watched the game while we finished our beers, and then I followed Roy into the kitchen. It was a huge room with a large island counter and one side which seemed entirely devoted to barbecuing. I helped Roy season and sear some steaks as Nora and Anne set the table in the next room.
“Thanks for staying for dinner,” Nora whispered as she brushed past me with some utensils.
I winked. “No worries. Kinda had to, seeing as we got here so late. What’s happening with Oscar, though?”
“I texted Angie earlier. She’s got a spare key to my place, so she’s stopped by to feed him and let him out for a while.”
“Cool.” I missed that gorgeous mutt of hers. Almost as much as I missed seeing her in lingerie like I had that first night.
When the steaks were done, Roy and I took them into the dining room. Nora was clearing up the far end of the table to make room for an enormous salad bowl.
“What’s this, Mom?” she asked, holding up a white card with ‘A+’ printed on it. “You going back to school?”
Anne looked over at her, eyebrows raised. “What? Oh, no, we went to donate blood yesterday. Apparently that’s my blood type. Just give me that. I’ll stick it in the drawer.”
There was another card underneath the first one which read ‘AB+’. Anne quickly filed the cards away in a sideboard on the other side of the room before returning to the table. “Dig in, everyone.”
The evening passed at a leisurely pace. During our extensive conversation at the dinner table, I realized I was already totally comfortable in Nora’s childhood home despite the fact that we were tricking her parents into thinking we were together. I felt bad for that, but if I ever managed to get Nora to be with me for real, then it wouldn’t be a lie, and her parents would never need to know of the deception.
I could only hope.
“I hear you two got a dog,” Roy said as we dug into dessert later in the evening.
“Oscar? He’s Nora’s dog,” I said. “I love that boy. Sweetest little thing. But yeah, he lives with her. Not me.”
“Ah. So you’re not shacking up yet,” he said, flashing Anne a conspiratorial glance.
Nora threw a balled-up napkin at him. “You two are so obvious. You could’ve just asked us if we’re living together or not. We’re not, by the way.”
“I have my own house,” I added with a chuckle.
“Well, it’s getting quite late. Jacob, you’re welcome to stay here for the night, so you two don’t have to make the drive back to LA at this time of night,” Roy said.
Nora looked horrified. “No, Dad, it’s okay. It’s not that late. It’s only seven-thirty.”
“I don’t like these roads when it’s raining at night, and this recent weather has been godawful,” Roy said. “Your mother and I didn’t come down in the last shower, so we know you two will want to share a room. That’s fine. Your old room is all made up.”
Nora’s eyes were getting wider by the second. She looked like she was about to go into cardiac arrest. “But…”
“No buts. We don’t want either of you on the road while it’s raining. We’ve got new toothbrushes upstairs for any gues
ts. You know where it all is, sweetie. And your brother still has a lot of his old clothes here. They’re all clean, so Jacob can borrow something to sleep in.”
“Thank you,” I said. ”That’s very nice of you to offer.”
Roy looked satisfied and started talking to Anne about where the guest towels were. I leaned over to Nora. “Don’t worry, I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“No, I will,” she whispered back. “I’m the one who got us into this mess in the first place.”
“I will. I insist.”
She gave me a tight smile. “We’ll figure it out when we get upstairs.”
We went into the living room and watched a movie with her parents. By nine-thirty, Roy was yawning. “I think it’s time we called it a night. Been up since six,” he said, slinging an arm around Anne’s shoulder. “We’ll just go clear the kitchen up, and then we’ll see you two in the morning. Nora, show Jacob around upstairs, will you?”
“Sure.”
“All right. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” Nora and I replied in unison.
We trudged upstairs. Nora pointed out the bathroom before ducking into her brother’s old room to grab some spare clothes for me.
“I’m so sorry about this,” she said a moment later, handing me a small pile of folded clothes. “You must’ve had other plans for tonight, right?”
“It’s fine. Nothing special. Just some premiere event I was invited to. Probably wasn’t going to go anyway.”
“You didn’t have a date or anything?” Nora asked.
I grinned. She wasn’t exactly being subtle about prying for information on my love life, but I didn’t mind. I liked that she was curious about that aspect of my life. It gave me hope. “No, no date planned,” I replied. “Like I was saying, I probably wasn’t going to go anywhere tonight.”
She didn’t respond and simply led me farther down the hall. When she finally opened her bedroom door, I stepped in, grinning as I took it all in—the sports posters and memorabilia, the photos, the old stuffed animals sitting on a shelf.
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