“Called my agent. Told him I’m out. Finished.”
“And now you’re in what? Geneva?”
“Yep. Because where else do you go when your dick quits on you and your career’s in the toilet?”
“Well…” Jason’s grin stretched through the line. “India’s the gold standard for finding yourself. Switzerland? More like finding cheese.”
Nate groaned but couldn’t hide a smile. “Asshole.”
“Love you too, little brother,” Jason said softly. “You gonna be okay?”
Nate leaned back. “I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, I met someone.”
“Oh,” Jason said immediately. “There it is.”
“We really clicked,” Nate said, plowing on before his brother could ruin it. “And she’s just… normal.” His mouth quirked into a smile, the image of Ella flooding his mind. “I know that sounds stupid. Like, wow—you hung out with a real human woman, and she didn’t have a porn name? But it’s not that. She’s lived, you know?”
“Sounds dangerous,” Jason said dryly.
“Sounds easy,” Nate shot back. “Not that kind of easy. Easy like someone you’d want to go home to. Someone to bitchto about life’s dumb stuff. Wi-Fi going down. Or why the dishwasher wasn’t unloaded.”
He scratched under his chin, suddenly hyperaware of how lame it sounded—and how much he wanted it anyway. “The kind of stuff that doesn’t matter, but somehow does.”
“Oof. Never thought I’d hear Mr. Big Shot Actor wax poetic about the joys of domesticity.”
Nate groaned, tipping his head back. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. But I’m not kidding. You take this stuff for granted. The moment I tell her what I do—what I did—she’s gone. We won’t even get to try.”
“So, you’re going to ghost her?”
“What? No. Hell, no.” Nate sat forward so fast he nearly dropped the phone. “I want to see her again. Like, really want to see her.” The words tumbled out, racing to escape. “She’s clever. Funny in this sneaky way where it takes a second to land, like she’s telling the joke just for you. And she does this thing with her nose when she’s thinking.” He mimed it, scrunching his own nose, and immediately felt ridiculous.
“Okay, slow down, Romeo,” Jason said. “You met her when?”
“I know,” Nate said, wincing. “I hear it too. But I’m telling you, Jason, she’s different. And yeah, it’s probably nothing. Except it doesn’t feel like nothing. Which makes dropping the porn-bomb feel unfair.”
Jason hummed. “Still doesn’t make it optional. She’s going to find out. You get that, right?”
“Yeah.” Nate exhaled through his nose. He paused, words backing up behind his teeth. “I just want her to meet me first. Not the Google results.”
Jason was quiet for a beat. “You sure that’s a great plan? Because when she does—”
“I’m not claiming it is,” Nate cut in, jabbing a thumb into his eyebrow like he could press away the headache forming. “It’s the only one I’ve got.”
Jason let out a disbelieving laugh. “Wow. You’re actually in trouble.”
“Uh-huh.” Nate groaned.
Jason shifted the topic. “Well. Offer still stands. TriaPulse could use you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Nate said. His brother’s tech startup had been an ongoing conversation for the last year, one he’d kept dodging out of stubbornness. And a low-grade fear he’d discover he wasn’t good at things people were allowed to put on LinkedIn. Besides, this exact moment was crowded with thoughts of melted cheese, cool air off the lake, and an Austrian art student.
Nate said goodbye and let the call die. The phone slid onto the arm of the chair, face-up, as if waiting for further instructions. He stared at it, the room suddenly too quiet for the noise in his head. Jason was right. Of course he was. The internet existed. There was no universe in which Ella didn’t eventually connect the dots.
He stood, crossed the room, changed his mind, crossed it again. Eventually, he thunked his head against the window. A train whooshed past outside. Maybe he should just call her. Rip the Band-Aid off. Pray for minimal bleeding.
Except, how? Hi, Ella, had a great time today. Quick question: ever accidentally watched Big Booty Beach 9 while scrolling at 2 a.m.?
He groaned aloud, the sound muffled against the glass. Nope. She’d hang up and block him. Anyway, she was heading back to Austria soon. He had a return flight too. Whatever this was, it came stamped with an expiration date.
