She smiled and hopped in. “Sure. Thanks.”
There was a long silence as he drove back to the hotel. Finally, he spoke up. “The tour is almost over.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry for everything, Liz,” he said hesitantly.
“You already apologized,” she reminded him.
“Yeah, but I feel awful. I almost ruined your relationship with your boyfriend, and I made you lose your baby, and I was such an asshole in general to you because of Andrea.”
“Come on, Nick. I don’t blame you really for any of that stuff. It was more Andrea’s fault than anyone else’s. Well, the baby thing was my fault, but – “
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Yes, it was.”
“Was not!”
“Fine, whatever. Anyway, you really don’t have to apologize. Overall, you’ve been a good friend to me, and that makes up for anything negative you’ve done.”
“So we’re all good, then?”
“Of course we are.”
They parked behind the hotel. Luckily, there were no fans waiting for them, and they got in without a problem. Since Liz had so many papers and files she was carrying that she needed for her story, Nick grabbed her purse for her and walked her to her room. As she watched him walk away, a strange feeling washed over her, followed by a sudden realization.
She was totally, completely, head over heels in love with him, and he felt the same way about her. Howie was right. God, how could she have missed it before? It was in the way he cared what she thought about him, the way he talked to her, the way he comforted her, everything about him. She could even see it in his eyes. She was in love with a guy who wasn’t her boyfriend, and she had to do something about it.
Without another thought, she picked up the phone and dialed Joel’s number. “Hello?”
“Joel, it’s Liz.”
“Oh, hey, baby. What’s up?”
She paused for several seconds, contemplating whether or not she should actually do it. “I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“I can’t do this anymore.”
“What can’t you do?”
“I can’t pretend I’m in love with you when I’m not.” She winced. That was really harsh, and she hadn’t meant for it to come out that way. “I’m sorry.”
“So you’re ending this.”
“Yes, I’m so sorry.”
“This is over Nick, isn’t it?”
“Of course not!” she lied.
“Are you sure? I won’t be mad.”
“Okay, so it sort of is…”
He sighed heavily. “It really sucks for me that I’m not what you want, but I guess it’s more important for you to be happy.”
“You really mean that?”
“Absolutely. Go get him, Liz.”
She smiled. “Thanks, Joel.”
“You’re welcome.”
She hung up the phone and took off toward the door, but her cell phone rang. Knowing she couldn’t ignore it, she pressed the talk button. “Hello?”
There was a hacking smoker’s cough, and she immediately knew it was her editor. “O’Leary, I have a wonderful story idea.”
“Yes, Mr. Gibson?” she replied.
“I was sitting in my office today, thinking about your assignment. Suddenly, it hit me that people don’t care about the good things celebrities do. They wanna hear about the scandals,” he stated in a gravelly voice.
“What are you implying?”
“I want some dirt on these Backstreet Boys. I wanna hear about the bad stuff.”
“But Mr. Gibson, they’re nice guys! I don’t have any dirt on them!”
“Then make something up!”
“I couldn’t possibly – “
“If you don’t, you’re fired.” There was a click, then a dial tone.