Ready to Run (I Do, I Don't 1)

Jordan took another sip. It was slightly more tolerable, but not much.

“So what’s our plan?” Simon asked.

She appreciated the solidarity expressed in his use of the word our and tried to smile, but she couldn’t muster much more than a strained twitching of her lips.

She kept seeing the coldness on Luke’s face when he’d pushed her away.

Not that she’d expected him to declare undying love or anything, but after the decidedly sensual morning, she thought she deserved more than what had basically been a screw you and get out of my town.

What bothered her more than anything was his reluctance to talk about Eva. She’d told him about her family—the hardest thing that had ever happened to her. But he’d brick-walled her on something that obviously caused him pain.

Then shut her out altogether.

Simon poured himself a glass of lemonade, took a sip, then winced. “Screw this.”

He went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of sauvignon blanc and got down two glasses.

“Um, it’s one o’clock.”

“Yes, love, but you also just told your boyfriend that you’re bringing his ex-girlfriend into town for a confrontation on camera.”

“Did you know?” she asked Simon, keeping her voice as non-accusatory as possible. None of this was his fault.

“Found out this morning,” he said, meeting her eyes. “Must have been a recent decision, because just yesterday afternoon Boss sent me an email to book a flight back to New York, but then this morning he called and said never mind, because this nightmare was going down.”

“So you think it’s a bad idea?”

Simon blew out a breath. “Look, I like your hot firefighter. A lot. I think he’d have been an absolute doll if we could have talked him into Jilted, but…didn’t happen. So do I think what this Eva chick is doing is sort of sketchy? Absolutely. Do I think it has the potential to make for good television? Absolutely.”

“Well, you’re allowed to think that,” she muttered. “You’re not half in love with Luke.”

Simon reached across the counter and held her hand. “Shit. I was worried it was love.”

“Half love,” she corrected, taking a sip of the drink. It was five o’clock somewhere, right?

“Mmm-hmm,” he murmured. “And how does being half in love with him mean you’re going to deal with the bosses bringing his former fiancée into town?”

“I don’t know,” she groaned. “As my bestie you’re supposed to have an answer.”

“Well, my first thought was that if you cared about him even a little, you couldn’t let him be blindsided, but you’ve already taken care of that.”

“Right, but now that I’ve warned him, he’s got it in his head that he wants it to happen.”

“Well, then, perhaps you should let it,” Simon said gently.

“You mean actually help Raven in setting up a meeting between Luke and Eva?”

“It’s your job, Jordie,” Simon said quietly. “And babe, this thing is happening with or without you. You’ve just got to decide whether to get on board or get out of the way.”

He was right. Jordan hated that he was right. Hated even more that she didn’t know what the right course of action was.

“Do you know anything about this Eva chick?” she asked Simon.

Simon looked away, and her eyes narrowed. “You do.”

“I may have been sent a picture,” he said hesitantly.

“And?”