“Hello?” I shout into my condo. It’s a giant space, but I project my voice. If Jill’s here, chances are she’ll be baking, or in the living room watching her crappy shows.
“How’d today go?” comes her sunny reply from the kitchen. “You hungry? I was thinking of whipping up some muffins or something.”
“I just ate, but you know I can’t say no to your baking,” I admit, stepping into the kitchen.
Thinking of whipping up…I scoff internally, because Jill’s blonde hair is piled on top of her head in a wild bun, and her tongue is sticking out slightly as she furiously whisks together some mixture in a baking bowl I didn’t know I owned.
“Since when do I have a set of baking dishes?” I ask, looking at the muffin tins on the island counter.
“Youdon’t,Ido.” she says matter-of-factly before pouring some of the yellow batter into the muffin tin.
Jill’s baking skills are absolutely unmatched. If she weren’t also an actor, I swear she could open a bakery that would have people lined up around the block. Instead of bugging her about moving overher baking supplies, I lean over her shoulder and try to guess the flavor.
“Vanilla?”
“Vanilla muffins aren’t a thing, Roman. Those would be cupcakes. These are going to be lavender lemon poppyseed,” she says proudly as she sets down the bowl. “You uncultured swine.”
I dip my pinky into the bowl and take a quick taste. If the way the batter tastes is any indication, these are going to be fucking amazing. Jill swats my hand away.
“How’d today go?”
“Good, we got in some solid stunt practice.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it,” she singsongs.
I grab a bottle of spring water from the fridge. “It went fine.”
“Just fine?” She says, copying my intonation on the last word with impeccable accuracy.
I give her a glare. “Why are you so invested?”
“Because Clover and I are going to be friends,” she says simply as she places the muffin tray into the oven.
“Oh, really?”
“Yep,” she says, popping the ‘p’. “And you’re going to have to figure it out.”
Before I can respond, my phone gives off a series of beeps, and so does Jill’s. I open it up and see a series of notifications from Google Alerts that I’ve got set up with my name. This way, I’m in the know immediately if something comes out with my name on it.
My phone continues to vibrate in my hands as notification after notification rolls in. Skimming the headlines, I can see that it has to do with the little outing Clover and I just had.
I scan the photos, and one in particular catches myattention. The one where I put myself between the photographer and Clover, as I clutch her hand tightly behind my back.
“Wow, you really sold the whole overprotective thing there, huh,” Jill says as she scrolls.
What I don’t say is that I wasn’t trying to sell anything. In that moment, I wasn’t acting.
Chapter Twenty-Four
ROMAN
Jill
Good luck filming today!
James
Break a leg.
