Page 75 of A Crazy Kind of Love
Micah threw his hand out in front of me, like we were in a car that stopped short. “Jo.”
Jim tilted his head and appraised me. “You were the girl in the background, right? You’re Jo Wilder, the paparazza seen with Micah last week?” I didn’t have a chance to answer one way or another. Jim went on. “There were divided opinions about that. I thought it was you.” His hand drifted to his camera, no longer shaking. As he gripped it and turned it around, he asked, “So are you two dating?”
Micah moved toward the steps. “No.”
“Did you hire her as a personal paparazza?”
“We’re done here.” Micah shot me a glance, and I followed him up to the front door.
“Or Miss Wilder, are you looking for a breakout inside scoop?”
We ignored the question while Micah dug in his pocket for his house key. As he slid it into the lock, Jim threw out, “I guess I’m going to be forced to print that youarerude to your fans.”
The door opened, and Micah stood back to let me through. As soon as we had a wall separating us from Jim, I turned on Micah. “Why’d you say we weren’t dating? What happened to not keeping any secrets from the media?”
Micah pressed his lips together. “Jo, I didn’t mean—”
“You talk with them about all the other girls you date. Am I somehow not good enough?” I leaned against the wall and slumped. The whole encounter with Jim had stressed me out more than I’d expected it might. And he was pitiful compared to the real paparazzi. Yet still better than me.
Micah moved into my space and pushed my hair out of my face. “Don’t you know you’re different than all the other girls I’ve ever dated? I just want to protect this. Once we open up about this, it’s going to be like that all the time. For a while at least. And they’ll dig, Jo.” He laid his hands on either side of my face and looked into my eyes. “And I want to keep this for myself as long as I can.”
I relaxed. “I’m sorry. How do you deal with that all the time? It’s—”
“The price of fame.” He pulled me into a hug, and I forgot about Jim. “Hey.” He leaned back. “I bought season one ofSeinfeld. You owe me a sitcom.”
I laughed. “All right.”
“Feel like dressing up for it?” He held up the sack from the flea market with an eyebrow waggle.
“Maybe later.” The encounter outside had left me out of sorts. “I’d really love to just snuggle up. That okay?”
He lifted my hand and kissed my fingers. “Anything you want.”
Chapter 21
The drive to Micah’s parents’ reminded me of something out of theThe Sopranosuntil we got into Woodbridge where all the houses we passed had a similar weary look. His driver parked behind two other cars, and before we got out Micah stopped me for a second. He took my hand and winced. “This is going to be weird.”
Instead of going up to the front door, he walked around the side through a gate and into the backyard. As soon as we closed the gate, a woman screeched, “Micah’s here!” A tall blonde rushed over and grabbed Micah’s face in her hands, fussing over his weight and his lack of communication for a full minute before she seemed to even notice I stood beside him.
Clearly Micah’s mom. It was uncanny how much Micah took after her. After seeing him next to Eden, I didn’t know what to expect. Mrs. Sinclair looked like she’d stepped out of aBetter Homes and Gardensmagazine from the fifties. Hollywood sunglasses and an oversize sun hat shrouded her face. Maybe my reputation for shooting candid photos had preceded me, but I didn’t have my work camera with me. And if I had, Andy wouldn’t want any photos of Micah’s mom anyway.
I was glad I’d put on a sundress, ignoring Micah’s pleas for me to wear the piece of cloth he’d bought me at the flea market. I’d worn that for about five minutes the night before—five minutes before he’d peeled it right back off me.
“And who’s your friend?”
“Mom, this is Josie. Josie, Mom.”
I put on my sweetest meet-the-parents smile. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Sinclair.”
She waved her hand, “Oh, you can call me Peg.”
Eden had already arrived and sat on the patio next to an older man I assumed must be their dad. He was reading an actual newspaper.
Peg hollered over. “Look, Howard. Micah’s brought a girl with him.”
Micah’s dad folded back his newspaper. “I have eyes, Peg.”
Peg wasn’t having it. “Howard.”
