“Don’t be upset, Seth,” Joy soothed, looking regretful about his agitation. “We’re just trying to help. Really.”
“I know it. But it’s not as if Gia and I haven’t discussed all this. We’ve been through it, and as you can see, we’re apart.”
“You told Gia about Zoe Lindsay?” Joy asked, amazed. “When you never even told me?”
He exhaled. “And it didn’t make any difference, in the end. Zoe isn’t the reason I don’t think Gia and I would work out in Hollywood together. Gia is no Zoe Lindsay.”
He blinked, hearing the bald truth of his spoken words more clearly than his private thoughts.
“I just don’t think Hollywood romances work out. For me. I’m not talking about for you,” he assured, glancing from Everett to Joy. “Everyone is different. You guys have obviously made things work, and I’m happy for you. You know that, right?”
They both nodded.
“This is about me, and I’m trying to take ownership of that. I don’t want to have my privacy invaded. I don’t want to share Gia with the world when I want to have a private moment with her,” he suddenly said emphatically. “There. I’ve said it. I’m a selfish asshole.”
For a moment, Joy just studied him. He felt prickly under her stare.
“You know,” Joy began slowly. “I didn’t think a relationship was right for me after what I went through with Mom’s cancer and Dad leaving, and then being diagnosed myself. It was a personal belief I felt very strongly about. I still believe it, in many ways.”
Not only Seth but Everett, too, gave Joy nonplussed looks at her admission.
“I’m sorry, honey,” she told her husband apologetically, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. “I just mean that a belief like that—or a fear—doesn’t just vanish over night. You take one day at a time, and make a vow to have faith with every new day. It still scares me to death,” she told Everett quietly, “the idea of the cancer coming back and you having to endure all that with me, like Seth and I did with my mom . . . like Seth did for me. I’ve learned I can control the worry, and my love for you is thousands of times stronger than the fear,” she assured him, her eyes glistening as she locked gazes with Everett. “But even so . . . there’s only one thing that could have made me take the risk and enter a relationship, given my misgivings.”
“What?” Everett asked intently, staring down into her eyes. Suddenly, Seth felt like a third wheel sitting there.
“You,” Seth said, standing abruptly.
Both of them blinked and looked up at him.
“It wasn’t just falling in love that changed your mind,” Seth said to Joy. “It was falling in love with Everett. Because of who he is, you took the chance.”
Joy nodded, her eyes shining with compassion.
“Yeah,” Seth muttered to himself, thinking. He started to walk out of the room. “There’s stuff to eat and drink in the fridge. Help yourself. I’m going to take a walk.”
“See you in a bit,” Joy called.
He walked out the front door and breathed in a lungful of fresh, bracing air.
Seth got what Joy was trying to tell him now. Every rule was meant to be broken.
Once, maybe . . . for a very good reason.
And only for the right person.
* * *
By the time he entered the house again after a long ramble in the woods, he felt better. Clearer and more resolved as to what he was g
oing to do, at any rate. It was time for him to return to Los Angeles. Gia had left him with the impression that things were over between them, so there was no guarantee of success in trying to see her again. But Seth knew one thing. A big part of the reason she’d agreed that things wouldn’t work is because he’d been leading her to believe he wasn’t willing to try.
His opinion on that had changed. He wasn’t exactly sure how they could make it work, but there had to be something they could manage. He had the time it took for the return road trip across the country to come up with something to say to convince her that they should take the risk.
The television was on. He came to a halt on the threshold of the living room. Everett and Joy were both still in there, their backs to him. Everett was kneeling before the stone fireplace, rolling up newspapers in preparation to lay a fire. Joy stood next to him, her arm partially extended with the remote control in her hand. Seth’s attention was caught by what appeared to be a glitzy celebrity entertainment show when he heard the female host say Gia’s name.
“. . . just hours ago, the mystery of Gia Harris’s location for these past few weeks was solved. But now, Hot Topics has the shocking exclusive story revealing how Gia’s choice of companion for her getaway may mean trouble for Madeline Harrington, the Los Angeles County district attorney, and her case against megabillionaire religious leader Sterling McClarin. As KBHT News revealed earlier today, Gia has been snuggled up in a wooded retreat with her secret lover . . .”
A tingling sensation of alarm started down Seth’s spine when he saw his own image on the screen—a shot from a documentary he’d been asked to do years back. He tensed into high-alert status.