Chapter 70

Jesse

Jesse was perfectly comfortable resting her head in Hal’s lap, silently digesting the wonderful meal they had just had. She felt like a cat, and the feeling of Hal running his hand through her hair was certainly enough inspiration to make her purr. She was so comfortable and contented, in fact, that she soon found herself starting to doze off.

“Jess?” Jesse heard Hal’s voice just as her eyes began to drift closed.

“Yeah?” Jesse rolled over onto her back to look up at Hal, but her playful expression vanished as she saw the look of concern on Hal’s face.

“Hey,” Jesse frowned and sat up, turning on the couch to get a better look at him. “What’s wrong?”

Jesse was completely befuddled. She couldn’t fathom how he had so quickly gone from joking and smiling in the kitchen to something so much darker now.

“You said earlier in the kitchen,” Hal started, his words coming slowly, “that you were thinking about us.”

Jesse’s face fell slowly, and she felt her stomach sink a little. Somewhere in the process of eating her spectacular breakfast, she had forgotten about her worries and her cares. Now, though, that Hal had reminded her, she knew that this was something they did need to address before they could really move any further in their relationship with one another.

“Yeah, I was,” Jesse confirmed with a sigh.

“What were you thinking about it?” Hal pressed further, and Jesse could hear the tension in his voice.

“I don’t know,” Jesse shrugged and shook her head.

“Jess,” Hal looked down at her, his tone serious. “This is something we really need to talk about. I think we could be able to work it out together but not if you don’t tell me what it is that’s bothering you.”

Jesse sighed and couldn’t help agreeing with him. She knew these issues were not going to go away on their own, and it seemed that it would be far better to try and get a handle on these things right here and now rather than wait until some later time and let all of her stress and anxieties about it build up over time.

“It’s just the whole celebrity thing,” Jesse confessed. “I don’t want to be a topic for tabloid magazines. And I just feel like that’s going to be unavoidable if I’m in a relationship with you. Somehow, the press is going to have to be involved in our lives together. And that bothers me for my personal life, of course. But it also worries me that if I’m all over magazines, that future employees won’t take me seriously. I know that all this probably seems a little self-centered. But honestly, I don’t want to be known as the girlfriend of the famous Hal Roberts. I just … I don’t know. I think I can be a lot more than that.”

Jesse finished and watched Hal quietly, letting him process her words. She couldn’t help feeling a little guilty. She knew that Hal could hardly help his celebrity status and that even if he dropped out of the scene now, he was likely going to be remembered by the press for his achievements for the rest of his life.

Jesse didn’t want to hold that against him, but at the same time, she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life just trying to be known for anything but their relationship. It was already hard to escape obscurity. She couldn’t even imagine how hard it would be to escape fame.

Jesse looked up at Hal, and she could tell that he realized all these things as well. His brow was furrowed, and he seemed to be thinking hard about something. Jesse, too, was thinking hard. In spite of her reservations, she really was happy with him, and she didn’t want to leave him for that reason or any other. Still, though, they did need to come to some sort of agreement.

A long moment passed between them as they both tried to come up with a solution. Finally, Hal let out a sigh and shook his head.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Jess,” he said softly, his voice heavy. “I’m not going to lie to you. It’s not going to be easy, it’s just going to be a reality we have to face together. We could try to cover up our relationship for as long as possible. But the press would figure it out eventually, or worse, they would string along story after story of speculation, which would be even more annoying.”

Jesse frowned. She knew Hal was right. And if anything was worse than the simple truth, it was the wild stories that the media would spin about them. Aided by the photographs they were bound to collect over time, there would be little way to combat what they were saying.

“Well, you’re right about that,” Jesse finally agreed. “I think the best way to handle it would be to go ahead and tell the truth but only answer when there are questions asked.”

Hal raised his eyebrows and nodded.

“That’s a good strategy,” he said. “If we don’t make a big deal out of it ourselves, they won’t be as insistent about getting anything out of it. Surely, someone else will do something stupid at some point anyway, and then the media will be all about that. Man, if only we had met during an election year, then nobody would care about us at all.”

Jesse couldn’t help laughing. It was true. If everyone were focused on something else, they would hardly even blink at the news of some garden variety celebrity romance. Unfortunately, they were not quite so lucky as that.

“Well,” Jesse said, “other than that, we could just work hard to get as little attention as possible.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Hal nodded. “But I’ll be honest with you, Jess. I don’t want to stay holed up in my apartment with you all the time, or even at yours.”

Jesse knew, too, that that wasn’t a viable option. She would soon find herself going stir crazy if she felt the need to stay inside all the time. Plus, if she found another job, she would have to go to and from work no matter who was snapping pictures of her.

“And besides,” Hal said, “it’s not like we spend every waking moment together anyway. I bet it will take a while for the media to catch on to it at all unless someone tips them off.”

Jesse felt her stomach lurch. She hoped that nobody in her small circle of friends would do anything like that. She trusted Mark and Tony, but there were other people she had worked with that she was sure would be eager to throw her under the bus if it meant they got a good story out there. The world of journalism could be pretty cutthroat at times, and Jesse was not eager to be next up on the line.

“I know none of my people will let anything loose,” Hal assured her. “Or they know very well I would cut them loose without a second thought.”

Jesse nodded, but frowned.

“I know a lot of people I worked with would kill to be the first to know about a story like that,” Jesse said, her voice lined with stress.

“Hey,” Hal said softly, wrapping his arm around her. “You don’t even work with them anymore. And besides, even if it does get out, I have a lot of people that I can put out there that can either deny it or confirm it in such a way that it doesn’t draw much attention.”

Jesse nodded and released a tense sigh.

“I just …” she trailed off and shook her head. “I know this is going to sound bad, but I just wish you were … you know, not famous.”

Hal was silent for a moment.

“I don’t,” he finally spoke up. “If I weren’t famous, I would have never met you. I never would have even seen you. And honestly, I’d rather deal with managing the press for the rest of my life than have never met you in that little meeting room at The Edge. You know, I’ve never really liked Elaine. But I have to admit that if it wasn’t for her, or if it wasn’t for you having a job there, or if it wasn’t for me being famous enough to give an interview in the first place, we may have never met. And that’s something that I never even want to picture. Because just in the short time I’ve known you, I feel like my life has been changed forever. And I don’t know just what we’re going to do about this situation with the media, but I promise that I will do whatever you want me to do as long as you are right there by my side when I do it.”

As she listened to his words, Jesse felt warmth fill her. She could tell that Hal really meant what he said and suddenly she was no longer stressed. She knew that together they would work toward a solution and that while it may be hard for her to adapt to a new way of life, it would be worth it if she got to share her life with a man like Hal.

After a moment, Jesse smiled, sat up to place a soft kiss on his lips and then wrapped her arms around his strong torso.

“That’s what I want too,” she said simply and snuggled closer to him.