Gamble on Engagement (18 page)

She shrugged. “He said he would, but it’s
not like he’s around that much. He said he didn’t want to give up
his career.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” I said, shoveling
the ice cream. “But he didn’t say he wanted nothing to do with the
baby, right? So maybe he just needs to get used to the idea.”

Jen shook her head like I was nuts. “He just
should have been… more supportive.”

“I know,” I said, going in for another hug.
“But I think this is maybe what guys do. Even when they’re married
and it’s all planned. They just totally freak at first. Maybe it’s
not as bad as you think. I mean, he wanted you to stay here,
right?”

“Yeah.”

“And he’s paying for the room?”

“Yeah.” She wiped her nose. “But he didn’t
want to pay for another room. I made him.”

I tried my best not to roll my eyes. “That’s
probably because he wanted you to stay in the same room as
him.”

“So why did he need to “go for a walk” to
think things through?” She air quoted the “go for a walk” part,
like she was totally pissed over it.

“Okay, so let’s just get this straight
though. And totally, totally remember that I’m on your side no
matter what, okay?”

She nodded.

“Okay, so… what did you do when you first
suspected you might be pregnant?”

She thought for a second. “I barfed.”

I made a face. “Nice. Okay, so… was that
because of morning sickness?”

She shrugged again. “No, I don’t think so. I
haven’t really been sick at all. Except that first day.”

“So it was probably nerves then right?”

“Maybe.”

“And, how long ago was that?”

“Like, two weeks?”

My eyes flew open again. “You’ve known about
this for two weeks? Have you told anybody?”

She shook her head.

“Okay, so you’ve been mulling this over for
two weeks, probably just spending a lot of time thinking and
stuff.”

“Yeah, so?” I could tell she was starting to
get a bit annoyed with me. I needed to get to the point.

“Well, did you go for any walks? Any long
bubble baths? Just taking time alone to get used to it?”

“Of course.” She sighed at me.

“Well, since this is the very first day that
Dave has even known about this, maybe he just needs a little bit of
time to get used to the idea. You know, just like you did.”

She looked into her ice cream, like it had
suddenly become super interesting.

“And he did say he’d be supportive of
whatever you decide, right?”

I suddenly felt really bad for thinking such
bad things about him. “I mean, you probably scared the shit out of
him. Honestly, wasn’t the shit scared out of you when you found out
for sure?”

Her eyes welled up all over again. “Yeah…”
she said, and fell into my arms all over again. I barely had time
to shove my ice cream onto the table. “It’s gonna be okay, Jen. No
matter what, it’s gonna be okay. Even if Dave doesn’t come
around—though I really think he will—I’m here, okay? We’ll figure
this all out together.”

She pulled back from the hug. “We will?”

“Of course. We just have to find a place to
put the crib, that’s all. Maybe we could take the doors off the
giant closet in the hall or something.”

Her eyes were still filled with tears, but
something in them changed. Like maybe she had a tiny ounce of hope
back in them again.

“Besides, you really don’t know what Dave is
thinking. You need to give him a minute to process.”

She laid her hands down in her lap,
defeated. “I just thought… God, I don’t know what I thought.”

“You hoped he would be ecstatic and make a
bunch of promises right there on the spot.”

“Yeah,” she said, the tears coming again.
“Is that so much to ask?”

I smiled. “No, it’s not so much to ask. But…
how many women do you think hope for that?”

“Probably all of them,” she said
bitterly.

“Exactly. And how many do you think actually
get it?”

She thought about it for a while. A defeated
smile passed her lips briefly. “I guess you’re right. I’m living in
a fairy tale again, aren’t I?”

“Yes, yes you are. But I don’t know what you
mean about again? You’re the least fairy tale kind of girl I
know.”

“Really? Man, maybe on the outside, but
seriously, I’m full of mush and gush and rainbows and unicorns on
the inside.”

“Shut up,” I said, shoving her a little.
“You are not. You’re just emotional because of all the
hormones.”

“Well, I wish it would stop. It’s really
annoying. I’m like that five-year-old princess I hated in
kindergarten.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “There you are. I
thought I lost you for good.”

She promptly punched me in the arm.

I couldn’t be happier.

“So, maybe you should talk to Dave again,” I
suggested.

Jen gave me the glares. “You may have
convinced me that the whole situation isn’t as awful as I first
thought, but that does not mean I am ready to talk to him yet.”

I nodded once. “Fair enough. Just let me
call Jake and then we can have a girl’s night. I left him a message
that you were in trouble, so I should let him know everything’s
okay.”

“Josie, thanks for rushing over here like
this and talking me down off a ledge, but seriously, everything is
not okay right now.” She sighed, her eyes welling up again.

“I know,” I said, sitting beside her again.
“But it will be, I promise.”

She nodded, wiping her eyes. “Seriously,
thanks for being here. I don’t know what I would do without
you.”

I squeezed her hand and got up to call
Jake.

I got his answering machine. Again.

God, it seemed like forever since I’d talked
to him. I mean, I got his machine a lot, but he always called me
back and it had been, like, three days since I’d talked to him.

My stomach started to churn. I mean, it was
churning already, hating what my roommate was going through, but
now the sick feeling was starting to feel a little more
personal.

Something was wrong.

“So how’s the book coming?” Jen asked when I
came back into the room.

It was obvious she was more than ready to
change the subject and think about something else for a while. Not
that she probably could.

I sighed. “Not so good. I’ve barely got
anything written.”

“What?!” she said, nearly spitting out the
water she’d just taken a sip of.

Sadly, I realized wine was probably out of
the question for the evening. And it was really too bad too, since
I could have so gone for a glass right then. Like, a really big
glass.

“Ugh, I know. It’s awful. It’s just that
there hasn’t really been any time to get anything done.”

“Josie! You’ve had almost two and a half
months. And the deadline was three months!”

“I know, I know, but it’s just that at first
there was really nothing to write about, I mean, I didn’t even know
the guy. And then there was one drama after the other, and then I
thought Leo was like, all into me or whatever, and then there was
all the adrenaline rush stuff, which I think I have to do again
tomorrow, and….”

“Whoa. Hold up! Did you just say he was all
into you or whatever?”

I shrugged. “I know, it’s stupid. I mean,
come on, what was I thinking, that a Prince would ever think of me
that way, right?” I chuckled what was perhaps the dorkiest chuckle
of all time.

“Says the girl who is dating the world’s
most famous movie star,” Jen said, and actually had the nerve to
roll her eyes.

“Which has to be a total fluke.” I said,
quickly adding, “not that I’m complaining or anything, I’m really,
really lucky.”

“Josie, the Prince could be into you. I
mean, you’re adorable.”

I snorted. Which was decidedly not adorable.
“Um, thanks, but really, we need to get back to real life here. I
wasted like, two weeks worrying about the flirting when I should
have been writing.”

“Okay, so, let’s break this down. How much
time do you have left?”

“A week and a half.”

A look of panic flashed over her face. I did
my best to ignore it. “Okay… and how much do you have written.”

I paused, wondering if I should lie.
“Um, like ten pages.”

“
Ten pages?!
What
the hell Josie? You’re supposed to write a whole book!”

I buried my head in my hands. “I know,” I
whined. “But I just can’t seem to get started. I mean, Leo wants to
go gallivanting all over the friggin’ UK doing stupid,
life-threatening stuff, and he knows I need time to write, but he
doesn’t seem to care if this book is any good or not. I mean, he
just wants to make sure he ends up looking like a big hero who
bungee jumps and goes deep sea diving for a living.” I threw my
hand up, defeated.

And I really did feel defeated. I mean, if
the past couple weeks of death-defying stunts hadn’t worn me down,
then the stress of the book certainly had.

And all I had to show for it all was ten
measly pages of not even very good rough draft of a stinkin’
biography. And even that was mostly about my own experiences doing
the kamikaze crap, it wasn’t even really about Leo.

“Aren’t we a fabulous pair?”

Jen laughed. “At least we have our
health.”

I raised my eyebrows in half-hearted
agreement.

“Maybe we just need to clear our heads. Go
for a walk or something.”

I shrugged. “Or maybe I need to get my ass
in gear and write some of this damned book.” I smiled
sheepishly.

She nodded. “Probably a good idea. Look, I’m
gonna get out of your hair for a while, I actually do think a walk
in a beautiful foreign city might do wonders for me. You stay here,
it’ll be nice and quiet.”

“Jen, I don’t want to kick you out of your
own hotel room.”

She rolled her eyes. “One of these days
Jose, you’re going to realize that it’s okay for other people to do
nice things for you too. It doesn’t always have to be the other way
around.”

I smiled. Was I really like that? Had I
become so jaded that I couldn’t even let my friends do nice things
for me? “In that case, stay out as long as you like?” I said,
smiling.

She punched me in the arm again and we both
cracked up in giggles.

But as soon as the door shut behind her, I
felt like my entire world was crashing in on me. I mean, I should
be thankful that I wasn’t having to make a huge life decision like
Jen had to, but still, I was in so far over my head with this
bloody book, I couldn’t even see light anymore. Not to mention my
boyfriend hadn’t called in days. We had never gone this long
without talking. Sure, he might just be held up working late nights
or whatever, but even then, he always called to let me know how
things were going.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that something
was definitely wrong.

I tried his cell again, but, as expected, no
answer.

There was nothing left to do but dig deep
and write like I’d never written before.

~ 16 ~

And I did. I wrote. Like really wrote.

My hands flew over the keyboard, barely
keeping up with my thoughts.

I wrote nearly twenty-five pages before the
door to the suite opened again and Jen walked in, her nose pink
from the chill outside.

I beamed a smile at her. “I’ve written so
much, you won’t believe it.”

But she didn’t smile back. In fact, she
looked somewhat terrified.

“What is it? Did you see Dave?”

She shook her head. I sincerely did not like
the way she looked all pale, and was obviously having a bit of
difficulty figuring out what to say.

Then I saw them.

A pile of tabloids in Jen’s hand. She was
fidgeting with them, almost like she was wrestling with whether she
should show me or not.

“Oh shit,” was all I could say.

Jen just nodded.

I sighed. So much for my good mood, thinking
I’d actually accomplished something. One step forward, two steps
back.

Jen took off her coat slowly, careful to
keep the covers of the papers hidden from my view.

I sat at the large dining table, which was
big enough to seat six, but only had two chairs.

Jen sat in the other one.

“How bad is it?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. You’ve talked to Jake lately,
right?”

My blood ran cold. “Um, sort of.”

“Sort of?”

I rubbed my forehead. “I haven’t talked to
him in three days.”

I swear, I didn’t think it was possible, but
she got even paler.

“Okay, well, that could be nothing,” she
said, but I knew she didn’t really believe it.

“God, how many am I in?”

The stack looked like it was ten papers
high.

“Um. A few,” Jen said, shuffling them around
like a deck of cards.

It was like she was putting them in some
sort of order or something.

“Just don’t panic,” Jen said, though it was
clear she was panicking, so what were the chances I wouldn’t? “But
things seem to have gotten a little… sticky.”

“Just show me,” I said, not sure how much
longer I could take the suspense. I mean, usually I liked
surprises, but over the past six months or so, surprises seemed to
come at a seriously high price.

“Okay, well, most of them are actually about
Leo, you know, and his new girl du jour.”

I rolled my eyes. “Right.”

“And you look totally badass in most of
them. Bungee jumping,” she said, setting down a magazine,
“windsurfing—you look totally hot in a bikini by the way—,” she set
down another, “and, well, you get the picture.”

I had to admit, I did look totally badass in
most of them. Not that anyone would ever know it was me. In fact,
none of them even seemed to realize it was the same girl in all the
pictures. They kept saying what a playboy Leo was being lately.