My heart skipped like it wanted to jump right on over into his arms, but I swung open the door, grabbed my work bag, and got out of the vehicle instead. Jay spoke like he could be the perfect one for me, like he knew what being faithful to someone meant.
Our kiss, that kiss, had wrecked my body. Now, whenever I saw Jay, it reacted like a friend never should. It sped up, danced around, and dipped to the ground for him.
I shook off the feeling and stared at the white-stained wooden sign with the words “Lorraine’s Little Lodge” painted on it. The bed and breakfast was no wider than the length of the SUV that was leaving us behind. I almost ran after it, but a woman who I guessed was Ms. Lorraine herself sat in a wicker rocker on the white porch, smiling at the both of us.
Jay walked right up to her and scooped her up from the chair. He lifted her off her feet and spun her around until she cackled and whacked him on the shoulder.
I stood back, one hand gripping my bag like a lifeline, and dug my shoes farther into the gravel drive. When Jay set her down, her chocolate brown eyes glanced my way. She was a small woman, hunched a bit by the years that aged us all. Her gray hair was curled, and the floral dress she wore was bright with reds and yellows.
“So?” She looked at me as if I should say something in reply.
Was I to introduce myself?
Hug her? Oh, God.
I hoped she didn’t want me to hug her. I didn’t do hugs with strangers and I wasn’t sure how to talk to an elderly woman who had lived in that quaint little house all her life. Did I discuss the trees with her? They were big—that was about all I knew. The flowers that hung from intricately curled hooks above her porch? They were bright like her floral dress: reds and pinks and whites to match the home.
I stuck my hand out as she continued to study me. “I’m Mikka Chang. I work with Jay.” I glared at him. He stood there silently with his arms crossed, like he enjoyed making me uncomfortable. “We’ve known each other since he’s been in LA.”
“Right. You’re his gatekeeper for the month, I assume?”
Wow. That was a bold statement for a woman I thought looked cute and sweet. “I’m his PA. I work to make sure he stays on task for the agency so that we can deliver the best entertainment within the film industry as possible.” It was a canned line, one I used when I was being assessed, and she was definitely doing just that as she eyed me up and down with a curled lip.
“Didn’t do such a great job of that back in LA, did you? The boy flew off the wagon into drugs, sex, and alcohol.”
My jaw dropped and I dug my nails into my shoulder strap to stop myself from mouthing off. The audacity and complete lack of respect for Jay’s private life left me speechless. And then she’d gone and dragged my job into it, making me out to be incompetent.
Jay chuckled and swung his arm around my shoulders. “Lorraine, go easy on her. She’s new to town.” He turned to whisper in my ear. “She’s the best, isn’t she?”
I eyed him like he was deranged, and Lorraine blew a little air out at his comment. She waved us in and I let Jay’s arm around my shoulders lead me.
Walking up onto the white wood porch and into her home felt like being in a movie. The woven mat at our feet read “Welcome Home,” and as I walked past the screen door—something LA homes didn’t have—I was overwhelmed by the smell of fresh flowers. The walls were painted soft pastels and each room had decor to match. In every room of the first floor, she had placed freshly cut flowers, big beautiful ones that I definitely couldn’t name, in glass vases atop wood tables.
She pointed up the wooden stairs. “Both of you will stay up there. The first two rooms on the right.” She waved us on. “The dining room is this way. I’ll make breakfast at 8:00 AM sharp every morning. Do you like coffee, Mikka? Jay drinks tea and I’ll brew it just the way Nancy does for him if you want that.”
“Huh,” I said out loud, a little baffled. “I’ve never seen you drink tea.”
“No one in LA makes chai tea like they do here in Greenville.”
Lorraine patted his back like he’d made her day. “That’s right. Remember where to get the best of everything, boy. It won’t be at some party sniffing God knows what.”
Jay’s shoulders tensed, and I knew she’d struck a little too close to home.
I stepped in front of him and changed the subject. “I’d love to try the tea tomorrow.”
Lorraine glanced between us. She was assessing again. This time, I must have passed her test. She nodded. “Great. I’ll order dinner from Bob down the street tonight and leave that out for you both. I’ll probably be at Ray’s for a drink later. Jay, call them if you need anything.”
With that, the tiny woman disappeared down the hall, not at all concerned that she was leaving us to fend for ourselves.
Jay rolled his head around and shrugged off the tension and most likely the comment before he went and grabbed both of our bags to lug them upstairs. “Good to be back,” he said as I followed him.
“Is it really?” It seemed like everyone was already in our business and this place was much too small and quaint to hold three of us.
He set my suitcase down in a room full of yellow. The color alone should have made me smile. Yellow was supposed to do that. But the handmade quilt and the fresh sunflowers, no doubt cut from the garden the window overlooked, made me a bit itchy. Everything was too connected, too meaningful, and too real.
I spun to tell Jay this wouldn’t do, that I should stay at a hotel, that I was fine driving twenty minutes into town every morning.
He shook his head at me as I opened my mouth. “No, Meek. Remember what your planner said. Some things ended. Now, we start our new beginning.”
With that, he disappeared into his room.
I wanted to support him. I wanted to like his childhood town. A friend could do that. I just didn’t know if I was that friend.
He had so many others. He was home.
I definitely was not.