“I hope that comes sooner rather than later for us,” Jax said. “And Tompkins will be here in a few hours. He really wants you to sign on the dotted line so he can start planning next season’s filming schedule.”
“What happened between ‘Let’s talk about it’ and ‘Sign here’?”
Jax just grinned.
“Jax opened his big mouth,” Wes told Zach. “Couldn’t shut up about you at dinner.”
“Nothing I wouldn’t have done for any of you guys,” Jax said. “I put together a contract I’d want, but included a lot of what the studio will be looking for as well.” He picked up a file folder from the corner of the bar and slid it across the granite toward Zach. “Here’s a rough. If you want changes, just say so. I’ve got it on my laptop.”
“Man.” He shook his head, grinning at the folder. “I can’t believe this is real.”
“Oh, it’s real.” Jax slapped him on the back. “Welcome to the big time, bro.”
The big time. Something he’d been working toward for five years. Yet, when his gaze lifted and focused past Jax on Tessa where she stood in the pool, her arms outstretched for Sophia to jump, his chest felt tight—and not in a good way.
He refocused on Jax and smiled. “Thanks, man. Really. This is…” He looked down at the folder again. “Really amazing.”
Jax grinned and nodded. “Anytime.”
He and Wes went outside to join the group. Josh stayed behind with Zach.
“You don’t look excited,” Josh said.
“I am. I am.” He gazed out at the sight of Tessa and Sophia splashing in the pool. “I just…” He sighed and shifted on his feet, leaning his hip against the counter. “They’re leaving soon.”
From the corner of his eye, Zach saw Josh lean back against the opposite counter and cross his arms. He remained silent, and Zach lost himself in thoughts he hadn’t been allowing until now. But with this part, an all-but-sure thing, he had to come to terms with the fact that he would be living a full day’s flight away from his daughter—and Tessa.
“This part will give you the stability and money you need to help raise Sophia,” Josh told him.
“It will give me the stability and money to help raise her in DC.” He turned his gaze on Josh. “Did you know it takes me almost as long to fly from Maui to DC as it does for me to travel from LA to Melbourne?”
“Huh,” Josh said, nodding slowly. “I never considered that. Already looking into flights?”
“Anywhere from fifteen to twenty-four hours—one way—for both trips, depending on number of stops.” Zach hated the idea of being so far away from them both. “We may as well be living on different continents.”
“Is she open to moving to the West Coast?”
“It didn’t sound doable for her. She’s choreographed her life around Sophia’s needs, and her job in DC can accommodate those. Moving could put that off indefinitely. In the legal profession, it’s evidently a privilege you work up to.”
“We all have to make sacrifices,” Josh said. “It’s a tough call.”
Hell of a tough call. And Zach’s alternatives weren’t numerous.
“The upside would be,” Josh offered, “that you’re only committed to these crazy filming hours six or seven months out of the year. You could be with them the other five.”
That might not sound like such a bad situation under normal conditions, but he’d already missed out on three years. “I’m already dreading the day they leave. I don’t want to spend half the year without them.”
Josh tipped his head and narrowed his eyes. “Them or Sophia.”
Zach’s defenses prickled. “What difference does it make?”
“Might make a big difference if you could imagine a future with Tessa.”
The term “imagine a future” sounded so…permanent. “Man, I don’t know. I mean, I…yeah. I’m really into her. I love the way she is with Sophia, and we seriously click in bed. She’s a great person. But, long term? With a kid already in the mix? Fuck, this is an impossible situation.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “If she was here, hell yes, I’d keep seeing her. But she’s not. And it’s not exactly realistic to think we could make something work when we could only be together half the year. But if I give up on this job—”
“You’re stuck in the grist mill of competitions.”
“Which would mean travel. That and taking other gigs to make ends meet.” He shook his head. “What kind of father could I be with that kind of schedule? Taking the part lets me be more of a father than not taking the part in that I could provide financially, but it also removes me from her life.” And Tessa’s life.