Chasing Rainbows
Part Thirteen

“What are you doing here?” Emma’s voice was a croak when she finally managed to speak. It took far too long for her to compose herself, all the while his eyes were on her, boring into her, and it was making her mouth as dry as the desert.

He took equally long to respond, his eyes never leaving her. “Well when I hear my wife...the wife, who won’t take my calls, is in town, then I’m going to replace her!”

“You live here?” She had no idea of anything about her ‘husband’, that was the mortifying truth, he’d put Sacramento California as his place of birth on the marriage certificate, but she knew that wasn’t close, but that was as much as she knew about him. She looked up at him then flinched, he had a way of staring at her that made her feel about one inch high. It had been less than three weeks since the night they’d married, and it seemed like forever. She had forgotten how he looked, not that she didn’t recognise him now, but until that moment when she’d tried to conjure up an image of him it was out of focus. In the flesh he had an angled jaw, an elegant nose, and those full lips, lips that she instantly remembered kissing, all topped off with the cleft in his chin that only made him more endearing. The whole time they’d been in Vegas he’d dressed casually, jeans, shirts, the odd jacket, and his hair had been a riotous tumble of blondeness, but today he was wearing a suit, well cut, with a dark shirt and tie and his hair was coaxed into behaving. If she didn’t want to run away, if she didn’t hate him as she did, she’d think he looked edible.

“I live in San Francisco. A couple of hours away...” he didn’t add that it was a rushed flight to get there, that he’d abandoned three days worth of plans to replace her, for this moment. But it was suddenly the most important thing in the world to him, more important than his life’s work. He’d never been more grateful to Andy’s girlfriend Selena, she’d found out about this night, and managed to get him on the guest list. What price friends? Saying that, Andy imagined that he was laying down the law, demanding that they separate legally and as quickly as possible. He couldn’t imagine what his best friend would say if he knew that wasn’t the immediate response in Jacob.

“So you’re stalking me now?” She spat the words at him, and Jacob could see how rattled she was. When he’d first walked in and seen her across the room, he’d had to stop in his tracks, the woman he remembered was fun, friendly and cute, but as he stared at her he was speechless, she was...all tall and elegant and curvy in just the right way, in her beautiful dress and those fuck-me shoes, the ones he’d bought her in Vegas, he’d been clean blown away. She was so...exciting. In a room full of over glamorous celebs and the wannabe hangers on, she stood out like a diamond amongst sand. And now as she stared at him with her eyes sparkling in fury, he swore he could never remember seeing so much passion in one person before.

Knowing she was waiting for an answer, he shook his head slowly, “you might think that ignoring things will make them go away, but they won’t, and we have to face up to this.”

She cocked an eyebrow and looked at him, “so you’ll agree to an annulment?”

Jacob wasn’t willing to show his cards this early, he was going around in circles, one minute he wanted to push her away and never set eyes on her again, the next her could see her sat on the sofa at his grandmothers, smiling as he came home from work, an integral part of his life. If he didn’t know what he wanted then how could his friend? And also, how could he agree or disagree with what she wanted? So instead he shrugged, “I think we need to talk, see where we want this to go.” He didn’t know why he was so reluctant to let her walk away, but he was.

“Talking? What the hell is there to talk about Jacob? We made a mistake...a drunken mistake, and from my investigations that is grounds for an annulment!”

Emma looked at his face and wanted to punch him, he was SO frustrating. And this was such an important few days for her; she couldn’t cope with him ruining her big chance. “I can’t see how you can even contemplate anything else! We had fun, celebrated too hard, and did something stupid. There’s nothing we can do to change the past, but we can end the marriage and get on with our lives.”

He shrugged, “maybe marriage is what I want in my life?”

“Why are you doing this? I go home tomorrow, and I live thousands of miles away, we have NOTHING in common...it won’t work, it can’t work!”

He gave her a knowing look and the depth of his stare unnerved her, “as I recall we had a lot in common, in so many areas. So no, I’m not ready to make a rash decision!” TO Jacob that wasn’t a lie, he’d never met a woman who literally overwhelmed her from the second he’d set eyes on her. And he’d dated some amazing women, there was the swimmer in college, perfect in EVERY way, or Selena’s friend a model, beautiful...but all of them lacked something, no one had ever enthralled him like she did...in fact it wasn’t until he saw Emma, spoke to her, spent time with her that he realised that all the other women had been so incomplete. Could he let her walk away? Live his life without spending more time with her?

Emma gritted her teeth unsure why he was doing this, but realising it was some sort of game, and one that he was determined to win. She had a feeling that him making the decisions was more important than what the actual decision was to Jacob. A stubborn awkward man. “So what do you suggest?”

“Come to San Francisco when you’re done here. Give me twenty four hours, give US twenty four hours, then we’ll see if there’s anything worth fighting for. If not I’ll sort out a split. Ok?”

Emma thought her head was about to explode. The cheek of the man! She was tempted to lash out, rain punches on any part of him she could connect with, but she was at an important party, letting her guard down wouldn’t be helpful. In fact it would be THE wrong thing to do. But it didn’t mean it didn’t drive her insane. He really wanted her to go to his home, spend time in his home, in his company...what would he do? Why did he want it? What was he hoping to achieve?

Not that she would ever agree.

Jacob looked at her and grinned, she was flummoxed...and angry, and damn sexy! “I know you won’t make that decision now. Think you need a little clarity!” He handed her a business card with his numbers on. “I think we need to think about this, see what we both want. If after a day with me you still want to leave, you think there’s nothing worth working on...well I’ll get the annulment, pay all the bills...everything. Otherwise we’ll stay married, I wonder what your parents would think about their new son-in-law?”

He gave what he hoped was a dazzling smile, then turned and left the club.

Emma watch the sunrise from her bed, she’d not slept. She had envisaged that it would be memories of the party that would stop her sleeping, dancing with a household name or drinking with a famous producer. Instead it was her husband...she still choked on that word, and that face, her husband who occupied her thoughts, and her visions.

Picking up her phone she called Isobel. It would be evening at home; she could only hope that her friend wasn’t out. In times of crisis her best friend had proved that she was able to cope with anything.

“He found me Is!” Emma blurted as Isobel answered.

“WHAT?” Her friend exclaimed, “I was hoping for stories of Brad Pitt! You mean Mr White found you?”

Emma appreciated her play on words, she was such a great friend and hearing her refer to the man in relation to her name made her smile in her deepest adversity. “No BP at the party I’m afraid, more’s the pity, though there were a few others. But yep, Jacob walked in. Slapped down an ultimatum!”

“So he’s agreed to the annulment?”

Emma laughed, “nothing is ever that simple Is, he wants me to detour via San Francisco, spend twenty four hours with him. If we don’t get on, then he’ll give me what I want.”

Isobel released the breath she was holding in, “phew! I thought you were going to say he wouldn’t agree to it at all.”

He hadn’t immediately agreed, but it was in sight, she couldn’t tell her friend that she feared her own response to being alone with him, feared that he’d break her down and ultimately get her own way. “Sort of...”

Isobel laughed, “look, it’s twenty four hours...then you get what you want...whatever that may be.”

Her response shocked Emma, “what do you mean?”

“If you get on, if you like him...”

“Isobel Prior! What are you suggesting? I have no desire to be linked to this man any longer than is necessary. Are you doubting that?” Her shock was evident. As much as she fancied Jacob, there was no way that it was more than that. No way at all!

Isobel laughed, “I think she doth protest too much!”

Emma was fuming when she hung up the call, how did Isobel spot that chink in her armour? She’d called her hoping she’d tell her that she should never agree to this man’s demands; instead her friend was suggesting that their marriage might be something worth keeping! Just because she was getting married didn’t mean that everyone else should follow suit. And her relationship with Nathan was just that - a relationship! She wasn’t marrying a complete stranger, and she couldn’t compare the two.

She had another day left in LA, was due to fly home the following day, Theo had told her that they were having a read through of the first five episodes to work out some nuances in their characters before they started filming in six weeks, it left the scriptwriters with some time to adjust and tweak the screen play. She had no job to come back to; she’d left the previous week. She’d intended to get have the next few weeks off as she’d be spending months in LA following that, so it was her time to tie up loose ends. She’d already decided to give up her rented home; it was cheaper to store her belongings. She had friends and her parents to put her up for odd weekends. It would save her money, and whilst this job was well paid, better than any she’d ever had, she had no idea when she’d next earn money, she had to be sensible - thought having sampled the LA life of your average actor, Emma wasn’t confident that she could do that.

Jacob’s business card sat on the desk of the lounge and it felt like a beacon flashing lights into the room ‘you can’t ignore me’ taunts. With a groan she crossed the room and picked it up, selecting the mobile number and calling it.

“Ah, darling wife!” He answered with a laugh, and Emma wanted to scream.

“Don’t give me that bullshit Jacob! I’ll agree to your blackmail as I have no other option.”

That stopped him in his tracks. “Blackmail? Emma you’ve got that all wrong. Look all I want is us to look at things rationally.”

She laughed harshly, “I AM rational, ALL the time! It’s you that is living in cloud cuckoo land! Now I’ll change my flight,” she grimaced at the thought; she was approaching bankruptcy, any advance she had was dwindling like water through sand. “Can you email me directions to yours?”

“I’ve already bought your tickets; they’re at the check in desk waiting for you. Eight am in the morning, ok? I’ll pick you up.”

Before she could protest he hung up, and seconds later her phone bleeped and she had the confirmatory email.