Lainey’s eyes flicked down and back up again, obviously taking in Jacinda’s yoga pants, faded Green Day t-shirt, and makeup-free face.
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” she asked.
The concern in her voice was entirely fake.
“No.” Feeling the height disadvantage, Jacinda stood a little taller. Lainey was famous for her persistence—she’d broken some of the biggest music industry stories for Meltdown, the magazine she worked for—but coming all the way to New Zealand was ridiculous. Jacinda could only wish she was newsworthy enough to be worth the trip. She held her chin higher. “Actually, yes. I’m busy. Can’t it wait until I get back to LA?”
Lainey tipped her head, the light catching the diamond in her nose. “You look so different. Almost different enough that no one would recognize you.” Then she smiled. “Almost.”
Jacinda gritted her teeth. Don’t bite. Don’t give her anything to write about. “You’re just the same though,” she replied.
Lainey’s gaze was level. “Yep, same old, same old, still just doing my job.”
She decided not to ask why the hell Lainey had endured a twelve-hour flight just to pursue a delayed interview with her. But now she knew who the figure on the beach had been—Lainey, apparently doing her job.
“I’m sure,” Jacinda replied. “Well, as you can see, I’m not doing my job right now, but Hannah will let you know when I’m back in LA.”
With a thin smile, she wondered whether closing the door was worth the risk of an even more negative article next time round. But then she noticed Jess coming through the gate toward the front steps.
“Jacinda,” she called as she approached. “Someone’s—” She stopped as Lainey turned and stepped out from behind the clematis that hid one side of the porch. “Oh.”
“Hi,” Lainey said to her. “Finished work?”
“No, actually,” Jess said. “And I thought you were on your way to the airport.”
She shrugged. “Change of plans.”
Jacinda looked from one of them to the other. “What’s going on?”
“Some interesting things have come to light,” Lainey said. “I’m here to see if you’d like to comment on a story.”
Oh, shit. Maybe there was a reason why her nemesis had endured that flight after all. “What story?”
“The story about you and Ethan and the baby. And Liam.”
Jacinda’s stomach dropped. Her deepest secrets, in the hands of none other than Lainey Kingsley. How the hell did she find out? Her pulse racing, she looked at Jess, who shook her head.
“My source is very reliable,” Lainey added. “But I’d like your perspective, for balance.”
Source? She mentally counted up the people who knew the full story. It was a short list—Danielle, Riley, and, as of only a few minutes ago, Hannah. And Liam.
Obviously, it wasn’t Hannah. And Danielle or Riley would have told her if someone had been asking questions.
Liam, though…what would he have done?
Lainey was watching. “So, would you like to comment?”
Looking down, she could see that Lainey was holding her phone in her hand. She’d bet money it was recording their conversation. Don’t bite. “There’s nothing to comment on.”
“Is that what you want me to run with?” Lainey raised an eyebrow. “Because you know people will fill in the blanks.”
Inside, Jacinda was a tornado, but on the outside, she maintained a poker face, and a steady voice. “People will believe what suits them, whether a story is true or false. I have no comment.”
“Well, okay,” Lainey said, putting her phone in her pocket. “But don’t say I didn’t give you the chance.”
When Jacinda didn’t reply, she shrugged and went down the steps, bypassed Jess on the path, and went out the gate. Jess came up and stood next to Jacinda, and they watched as she got into a rental car and drove away.
When the car turned the corner, Jacinda grabbed onto the porch railing, her heart pounding, her mind going a million miles an hour.
“So she’s a reporter,” Jess said.
“Yeah. And she’s really good at it. Unfortunately.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t get here before her,” Jess said. “I was stuck at work, and I didn’t have your number, so I was texting Riley, but she didn’t reply.” Her words were tumbling over each other. “Finally a friend of mine came in for a drink, so I basically shoved her behind the bar and came over.”
“That’s okay. It’s not your fault,” Jacinda replied. She was still trying to think whose fault it was. “Let’s go inside.”
“Will this ruin your career?” Jess said as they went in.
Jacinda stopped and looked at her. “My career?”
“Yeah. Everyone knows you have an alter ego. A famous alter ego.”
“Everyone?”
“Pretty much. After you got up and sang, it wasn’t too hard to figure out. Even with the hair.”
“Oh.” So Riley was right. Everyone did know.
“Which I really like, by the way,” Jess added. “The blonde was a bit overdone.”
For a second, Jacinda was almost offended. Then she screwed up her nose. “You know what? I thought so too.”
They went into the living room, and Jacinda collapsed on the couch, trying to process the day’s latest surprise. None of them had been good.
Danielle came in. “Was it not the groceries? I need milk for my coffee.” Then she noticed Jess. “Oh, hi. I’m Danielle.”
“Hi, nice to meet you,” Jess replied. “I’m Jess.”
“It wasn’t the groceries,” Jacinda said. “It was a reporter wanting me to comment on the story she’s running. About Ethan and Liam and me…and everything.”
Danielle’s mouth dropped open. “How did she find you? And how did she get the story in the first place?”
Jacinda looked at Jess. “Maybe you know about that?”
Jess nodded. “I was working the bar at the double K today. And Liam came in.”
With a sinking feeling, Jacinda knew she’d found the source. But something else had her attention too. “Liam went to the Kelp and King?” He’d said he would never go there—that it was Ethan’s turf. But today, he went…after the drama with his mom.
“Yeah,” Jess said. “And he just about drank us out of Jim Beam.”
“And Lainey came in?”
“She made a beeline for him. At first I just thought she was interested in him. I mean, even all unshaven and disheveled, and half-lit, he’s so hot.”
Danielle looked at Jacinda, but she just gave a wry smile. It was true.
“When you’re behind the bar, it’s kind of like you’re invisible, so people talk like you’re not even there,” Jess continued. “Mostly just the usual bullshit, you know. But something didn’t seem right with their conversation. Like she was trying to get him to trust her, cozying up to him so he’d tell her stuff.” She frowned. “And then he did. He never said your name, but obviously she knew who he meant.”
Jacinda pressed her fingers to her forehead, rising anger offsetting her sinking heart. She’d never been less happy to be right. She should never have gotten tangled up with him—this was what happened when you let lust override everything else. Faced with his mother’s condemnation, he’d obviously gone full circle, back to the resentment, blame, and guilt they’d started with. And she couldn’t condemn him for protecting his family, if it came down to her or them…but it was beyond shitty of him to spill everything out to a reporter.
Jess looked at her. “What happened with you guys? He was a mess.”
She couldn’t decide if him being a mess was a consolation or not. Probably not. “His mom found us in bed together and freaked out. I guess he couldn’t handle it, on top of everything else.”
Jess gasped. “That’s horrific. I would die.”
“What are you going to do?” Danielle asked.
“Do?” She waved the question away. “Brace myself, I guess. Hope it blows over quickly. People go nuts over stuff like this.”
Now that her career was possibly heading for even shakier ground, she realized something. It was one thing to step away for a while, or think about making changes that would be unpopular with her label, and maybe with some of the fans she had. Even to consider walking away entirely, as her own decision. It was completely different to imagine it being snatched away by thin-lipped moralists and keyboard warriors, who’d revel in tearing her down for her youthful missteps.
“I shouldn’t have come back here,” she added. “I just wanted a break, to figure out how do things on my own terms. But you know, maybe that’s just naïve. Once you put yourself out there, it’s like everyone owns a little piece of you.”
“Not here,” Jess said. “Here you’re just you.”
Her words resonated in Jacinda’s weary heart, an echo of what Liam had said. You could be. She could be herself, here in the bay. And she had been, just for a short time, with him. That glimpse of herself would have to be enough to sustain her back in her real, unreal life, a seed that she’d grow into something true and strong.
As if to confirm it, Danielle spoke. “You’re right,” she said to Jess. Then she turned to Jacinda. “It’s a shame you can’t stay forever…but we know you have a life to get on with.”
Jess nodded, and Jacinda let out a breath. This had been an insane day. “Things come in threes, right?” she said. “Today it’s been Liam’s mom, my asshole manager betraying my best friend, and now Lainey Kingsley on my doorstep with probably the scoop of her year.”
“Your manager?” Danielle asked.
“He and Hannah are married. But he’s been cheating on her.”
“Bloody hell.” She shook her head. “It never rains…”
“Apparently.” Then she sat up. “I need to get back to her,” she said. “Can you manage without me?”
“Yes,” Danielle said. “I’ve got the job, and now Sam has friends he could stay with if necessary. And Nadia said she’d help out if I need anything.”
“That’s great,” Jacinda said. “You’re on your way.”
Danielle smiled. “I think so. And now you can get on your way too. Even though we’d rather have you here.”
“Thanks.” She looked at Jess. “And thank you too.”
“I don’t need thanks,” she said. “After what I said that night…” Her cheeks reddened.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jacinda said. “You were only saying what everyone thought.”
And what the rest of the world will probably think now.
“But I can’t let this bring everything to a halt,” she added, standing up. “I have things to do.”