“Wait, don’t do that,” Val said. “Give me a few minutes, okay? I think I can work something out for you. Shit,” he mumbled, facing some internal battle. “I can’t believe I’m doing what I’m about to do.”
“Huh?” I could barely hear him through my bawling and my phone buzzing. Chris was texting me like mad, but reading his excuses was low on my to-do list.
“Just wait,” Val growled. “I’ll call you in a few. I can hook you up with something. Maybe.” He hung up.
I waited, thumbing down my screen, reading Chris’ text messages.Chris: Fuck, I’m so sorry you had to find out this way.
Chris: Nika, I swear, I thought I could quit him. I wanted to break up with him from the moment I met you. I really do love you. I will always love you. We can work it out.
Chris: Okay. Fine. Sorry. I’ll take care of everything with the landlord. I’m here if you want to talk.
Chris: Please don’t tell anyone about this, okay? This could ruin Johnny’s career…and mine. He has kids. A wife. A reputation.That was what he cared about? That I wouldn’t run my mouth to the tabloids? I shook my head as Val’s name popped up on my screen again. I answered.
“Good news,” I heard the tight smile in his voice. “You have a place to crash in the Hollywood Hills. It’ll give you time to figure things out, and it’s completely free. All you have to do is babysit a cat on and off, which I figured wouldn’t be a big deal, since you work from home most days.”
“Oh my God.” I laughed through my tears, wiping them. Relief washed over me. One less problem to worry about. “That’s amazing! Who is it for?”
“Adam. Adam Mackay. Remember him?”
I choked on my own breath. I thought I didn’t remember him, up until the moment Val said his name. But thinking and doing were two completely different things, because as soon as his name fell from Val’s lips, all the memories rushed back, crashing into me.
“Adam Mackay,” I repeated dumbly. “Didn’t you say he lives in New York?” I asked in my most casual tone.
“Yeah. He went to L.A. about six months ago, once his Broadway show was done. He is filming an action movie now, between L.A. and Mexico. His cat is super old. I think you know her. Betsy?”
Sure. I knew Betsy. From all the times I didn’t go to Adam’s house, because Val refused to let Adam and me develop any type of friendship on the grounds that his best friend was a manwhore. In other news—I had no idea who Betsy was. “Anyway, he mentioned something about needing a cat-sitter but not trusting anyone with his apartment, and I thought this would be a great fit. I didn’t want to tell you before he said yes, though. So I called and asked him.”
“And he said yes?” I asked doubtfully. I’d pretty much ghosted Adam to death after the way he’d treated me the last time we were in the same room together.
“Sure did.” “Does he know that it’s me?” I was trying to breathe regularly, a mission I couldn’t quite master.
Adam. Mackay. And. Me. Under the same roof.
It didn’t compute. It sounded crazy, and yet, I knew it was the logical, grownup thing to do.
“Of course,” Val said. “I told him you were in a pickle, coming out of a bad breakup. He said he’d be happy to have you. Why, do you have a better option? I’m sure he won’t mind.”
I didn’t. Unfortunately, Adam was my best shot. I probably wouldn’t have to outstay my welcome, but he was my chance at surviving this breakup without missing some major deadlines.
It had been a decade. I’d had several relationships, one of them a serious one. I was no longer the starry-eyed teenager who’d worshipped Adam like he were some kind of a titan. Except now he truly was a Hollywood god. I just had to put on my big girl panties and pretend he hadn’t broken my heart.
“Nope. No better option,” I heard myself mutter.
“All right. I’ll text you his address now.”
“Coolio.” Did I just say coolio? I was already starting to lose brain cells from simply thinking about living under his roof, before I even saw him again.
“Oh, and Nika?” Val asked before hanging up.
“Yeah?”
“I know it’s farfetched, but if you two screw each other, I’m done with both of you.”“I thought you were in New York.”
That was the first thing I told Adam Mackay when he opened the door for me, anger and pain lacing my voice.
No hi. No thank you. No how have you been this past decade? Sorry I kicked you in the balls. Did you ever check if you could reproduce?
I said it before I even got a good look at him, and once I did, my knees buckled and I remembered why I’d put an entire continent between us as soon as I was able to.