Actually Love - Jessie & Zach (13 page)

“H
i, sweetie!” Anna’s entire face lit up as Zach walked into the room. “How did the move go?”

“Good, Mom,” Zach assured her as he leaned down and kissed her cheek.

“Hey, Zachy boy, you gonna knock the piss out of Reynolds?” Mr. Alvarez yelled from the couch across the room that sat opposite a large flat-screen television.

Zach lifted his hand in acknowledgement. “That’s the plan.”

“He’s got no stamina. He’s all show. You’re the real deal, kid. Just watch out for his left hook,” Mr. Alvarez advised.

“Will do, sir.”

If Zach had a dollar for every ‘friendly piece of advice’ he received from people, he wouldn’t have to worry about making the payments for his mom to be here or for the medical bills that were piling up, that’s for sure.

“So…” Anna’s thin hand covered his. The difference between the two of them was so dramatic now that she’d lost so much weight. “Tell me everything. How was your first day with a
fake
girlfriend?”

Zach’s mom leaned forward and whispered the word ‘fake’, her hazel eyes sparkling brighter than he’d seen them shine in a long time as she looked around to make sure that none of the other residents were eavesdropping.

Zach felt a great sense of relief that he’d found this place. It wasn’t like the other care homes he’d visited. This place reminded him of a resort. Seriously, Sandals had nothing on it.

They were seated in the great room, which was basically just a place for the residents to hang out when they weren’t in their rooms or participating in one of the many activities that were scheduled daily, and it was decorated to rival the five-star hotels he’d stayed in. Some of the residents were elderly people, but some, like his mom, had health conditions that required round-the-clock supervision.

It had been hard for Zach to finally agree with everyone that it would be better for his mom to move into this place. He had fought it like he’d been in the ring going twelve rounds. The idea of her being in an institution had made him want to throw up and punch a hole in the wall at the same time. But he had to admit that she was thriving here. And she seemed happier than he’d seen her since her diagnosis.

Zach loved hearing about her art classes, pottery classes, movie nights, and all the other activities she loved. Then there was also the added bonus of hearing his mom, who he had always maintained should be nominated for sainthood, get wrapped up in all the gossip and scandals that this place seemed to be overflowing with.

“It went good. Her entire family… Well a lot of her family showed up, which she wasn’t too happy about.”

“She doesn’t get along with her family?” his mom asked with concern lacing her voice.

“No, she does.” Zach had watched her interact with them all day and he could see how close the Sloans were. “I think that she is a fairly private person. Also I think she’s a control freak, and usually people like that don’t appreciate surprises.”

“Ohhhh.” His mom nodded in understanding.

“She wanted me to leave when they got there, but I stayed.”

“I bet she didn’t like that.” Anna’s large eyes widened even further.

Zach understood why his mom might think that, considering what he’d just told her. But that hadn’t been the case at all. Zach shrugged. “Actually, she seemed fine with it.”

“Ohhh.” This ‘oh’ had a much different meaning than her first ‘oh.’ This one was filled with I-know-exactly-what’s-going-on-here.

“Mom, nothing’s going on.” The last thing he wanted was his mom to get the wrong idea. She’d taken the whole we-lied-to-get-the-place thing better than he’d expected. But that was all it was.

For the last couple of years, she’d been dropping hints about wanting him to settle down. Saying things about wanting grandchildren. Talking about how she’d never had a daughter and she would love whoever he ended up with like her own.

Subtlety was not Anna Courtland’s strong suit.

As she lifted her hands, an innocent smile spread across her face. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Yes. You did.”

Shrugging one shoulder, she lowered her hands, her smile still set firmly in place. “So what did you think of her family?”

“They were great,” Zach replied immediately.

At first, when he’d opened the door, he’d been a little concerned. Of course, Zach knew he could hold his own one on one, two on one, maybe even three on one. But he’d been seriously outnumbered. He hated to admit this, but Jessie’s cousins and Eddie were a little intimidating, especially as a group.

“Was it her brothers and sisters or her parents or…?” His mom leaned forward again, clearly wanting all the details.

Zach was used to being in the gym. Guys didn’t want details. Unless you were talking about random hook-ups, where details were imperative, most guys he knew were like Joe Friday. “
Just the facts, ma’am
.” But his mom liked to know everything. When he’d told her about his new living situation, she wanted to know every detail about his new roommate.

“Two of her three sisters were there, Krista and Haley, and also Haley’s fiancé Eddie. She doesn’t have any brothers, but she has five cousins who she grew up with. Three of them were there with their wives. Riley and his wife Chelle, Jason and his wife Katie, and Alex and his wife Jamie and their son Joey, who had me cracking up all day. That kid is hysterical.”

His mom was staring at him for a moment, not saying anything, her face blank. His chest tightened in fear that she might be about to have a seizure. Sometimes she got a faraway look in her eye before one hit.

“Mom?” Zach reached out and covered her hand.

Anna shook her head and smiled. “Sorry. That’s just…wow. When you said her family showed up, I was thinking three, maybe four people tops. That’s…a lot.”

Zach smiled from relief that his mom was not about to have an episode and also because, even though she hadn’t been there today, he was still able to share it with her. “Yeah, and one of her sisters is in California. She is pre-med at Stanford. Her other two cousins and their wives couldn’t make it because they had things to do they couldn’t get out of. And her sister Krista’s fiancé is on tour.”

He threw that last part about Chase in to see if his mom would pick up on it. This was the part he’d been dying to tell his mom about since he’d found out earlier today. Not only was his mom a huge Midnight Rush fan, but their biggest hit, “Saving Me,” was her favorite song. He remembered that it had come out right after she was diagnosed and she’d played it on repeat for six months. That song had saved her. And Zach now knew that it had been written about Jessie’s sister Krista.

“On tour. That sounds exciting. Is he a musician, a comedian?”

“A musician.” Zach knew he was dragging this out, but he couldn’t help himself. Seeing his mom happy was what he lived for, and he knew that the buildup would make her reaction that much sweeter.

“Have I heard of him?” she asked.

“I think so,” Zach said nonchalantly.

“Well?” She splayed her hands out in question. “Who is he?”

“He used to be in a band called Midnight Rush, but now he’s solo. Chase Malone.”

Zach had known that his mom’s reaction was going to be one for the record, but he hadn’t expected her to scream like a teenager at a One Direction show. Every eye in the place was now on them, and his mom’s hands flew to her mouth. Her eyes were wider than saucers as she shook her head in disbelief.

A few of the staff immediately rushed to his mom’s side to make sure that everything was okay. It took some convincing, but they finally were appeased and left Zach and his mom alone again. Zach was glad that they didn’t leave until they felt comfortable to do so. It made him feel even better about the care his mom was receiving.

“Okay.” His mom took a deep breath. “How did you sit here all this time and not say anything?!”

“You can’t lead with that,” Zach joked.

“Good point,” his mom conceded. Then her excitement returned full force as she asked, “Are you going to meet him? Can you get him to sign something for me? No, never mind. That’s weird. I’m
way
too old for that.”

“You are not old.” Zach knew that his mom’s illness made her feel decades older than she was. Even though he knew that she’d meant that she wasn’t a star-struck teenager, he still hated that she said things like that. “I have no idea if I’ll meet him, but I’m sure Jessie can get you some swag.”

Zach’s fans were so important to him. People he knew and friends of people he knew were always asking him for shirts or signed pics, and it never bothered him. Fans were a huge reason that anyone who had success, whether it was an actor, musician, or even a popular athlete, were in the position that they were. He didn’t know Chase personally, but even though he’d only spent part of one day with Krista, he knew there is no way she would be with a douchebag.

“Only if it’s not too much trouble,” his mom said excitedly.

“I don’t think it will be since I’m in a fake relationship with the sister of the girl that the song ‘Saving Me’ was written about.”

“Shut up!” His mom kept her reaction in normal audible range, but he could tell that it was taking every ounce of self-control she possessed. Her hands covered her chest. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. I spent the day with the ‘Saving Me’ girl.” Zach couldn’t help smiling from ear to ear. Not because he’d spent the day with Krista, but because this was one of the best visits he’d had with his mom in a long time.

Sometimes he felt like he was living in his own version of Groundhog Day. His life was a lot of the same all the time. Training. Eat. Sleep. Training. Eat. Sleep.

It got a little varied closer to fights. There were press junkets. Travel. And of course, the main event. But considering he averaged a fight every nine months, those times were few and far between. But since Jessie had come into his life, he’d had a lot more to talk to his mom about, and she loved hearing all of it. It was as if his life were one of her soap operas and she was hanging on every minute of it.

“Wait a minute!” she exclaimed as she snapped her fingers.

Reaching down, she grabbed her large floral bag that held what, he had no idea, but she always had it with her. Her hands furiously dug in it and she was mumbling to herself as she searched.

After pulling out a magazine, she pushed her treasured bag to the side like it was a piece of garbage and began flipping through a copy of
Hits
.

“I knew it,” she said as she pointed to a page and then slid the magazine across the table to him.

He looked down and saw a black-and-white picture of Chase beside a river.

“He talks about Krista in this article. You met
the
Krista?” Her voice sounded like she almost couldn’t believe that it could be true.

“Yep. Krista Sloan,” Zach confirmed.

“What’s she like? Is she sweet, funny, nice? I saw some pictures of her that were taken after the article came out and the paparazzi were following her around like sharks circling blood. She’s a nurse or something, right? There were a lot of pictures of her in scrubs going into a hospital.”

Zach couldn’t help but find it amusing that, even though his mom knew that eighty percent of what those “entertainment” magazines printed wasn’t true, she still read them every week. Any time he asked her about it, she would say that she only got them to see the pictures, but she always knew a lot of details that she couldn’t have been deducing from a photo. He guessed those magazines were the female equivalent to guy’s Playboys. Both sexes were lying about why they had them. Men said they got the nudie mags for the articles, while women said they got the trash mags for the pictures.

“I didn’t get to spend a ton of time around her, but I definitely wouldn’t call her sweet. Jessie’s oldest sister Haley seems like a sweetie, but Krista is…” He smiled as he tried to think of the right way to describe her. One word came to mind. “She’s a firecracker.”

His mom nodded with an approving expression on her face, “Good. That means she’ll keep Chase on his toes.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Zach had to laugh at how his mom acted like she knew Chase and what was good for him. “Another interesting fact that came to light today, although not quite as exciting as the six-degrees-of-Chase-Malone development, was that Margie and Mabel live directly upstairs from us.”

“What?!” His mom’s hands flew to her mouth. She seemed just as surprised as he had been.

“Yep. I guess Frank, who was Margie’s husband, renovated the upstairs floor into its own separate living space so that Mabel could live there after her husband passed away thirty years ago. Now, they both live up there and Margie rents out the lower half,” Zach explained.

“What are you going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

His mom looked at him like he wasn’t the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. “I
mean
they think you and Jessie are a couple. Don’t you think they’ll figure out that you’re not if they’re living above you?”

“Why would they? It’s not like they’re going to do bed checks.”

Jessie had had the same reaction that his mom was having when she’d learned the news. During the few minutes they’d been alone after breakfast, he’d said the same thing to her that he’d just told his mom. From the looks on both of their faces, neither of them thought his logic was solid.

Both brows arched as his mom leaned forward. “Maybe not bed checks. But don’t you think they’ll be able to pick up on it?”

His mom’s tone was the same one she used to get when he’d want to watch TV before doing his homework and she would say, “
Wouldn’t you feel better just getting it done now
?” Anna Courtland’s parenting technique had always been less about ironclad rules and more about steering him in the right direction and then not bailing him out if he made the wrong decision. If he chose to live his life “
irresponsibly,
” then he lived with the consequences.

“I think it’ll be fine,” Zach assured her even though now he was feeling less and less sure of that fact himself.

He hadn’t known Jessie that long, but she did not seem the like the kind of girl who was prone to overreactions and drama. She was smart, resourceful, and from what he’d seen, pragmatic. His mom was also smart, and she’d always been an observer of people. In fact, people-watching was one of her favorite activities. If both women thought that there could potentially be a problem, then he had to take that seriously.