Husband Material (London Calling #2)(49)

“Or saying it,” Old Luc pointed out.

Which JoJo completely blanked, either out of politeness, indifference, or the strain of being genuinely upset in the office of a relative stranger. “It almost broke us up when I found out. I wasn’t sure I could trust somebody who could do something like that.”

“Probably too late to say this,” I told him, “on account of that wedding we were both at, but probably you shouldn’t trust somebody who can do something like that?”

JoJo gave a shrug. “Probably not. But Miles was the first person I’d ever met who really felt like he was interested in me for me, not for who I was.”

I sincerely tried to take that at face value and not assume that even if Miles wasn’t interested in JoJo’s YouTube celebrity, he definitely was interested in being married to a hot young twink.

“And the thing is,” JoJo was saying, “if I’d walked away from that, I know I’d have regretted it. So”—he flicked away a flake of glittery nail polish and met my eyes again—“I took a chance.”

What did he want, a medal? Congratulations: You Gave an Arsehole a Second Chance. “Better you than me.”

“Better me than you,” agreed JoJo quietly. “And he… I… It’s been a long time. I never expected you to forgive him. I don’t think he did either, really. I think he just got caught up in the moment.”

That was Miles. Of course, the last time he’d got caught up in the moment, it had been the moment when he was selling… Oh, for fuck’s sake, let it go. It’s not about you anymore. “Good because I-I don’t. I know I said I was sorry about your wedding, but I stand by everything I told him.”

“And that’s fine.” JoJo smiled at me. And it was weirdly comforting to be reassured by a man with no sense of irony. “You weren’t there for him. You were there for me. And you showed me that even if the worst happens, it’ll be…I’ll be fine.” He paused. And then added in a slightly vulnerable way, “You seem really happy, Luc.”

“I am really happy,” I replied, slightly too aggressively. “And look…” Was I going to let myself say this? Okay, apparently I was.

“As much as I hate to admit it, I honestly don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about. Like you said, it’s been a long time and Miles is a different person now.”

Of course, that person was still a prick. But details.

“Really?” JoJo looked at me with devastating hope in his eyes.

“I wish I could say, ‘Once a fuck-you-overer, always a fuck-you-overer’ but…” I sighed. Having to see your ex as a person sucked.

Having to see the man your ex married as a person double sucked.

“For the last couple of years I’ve been dating a wonderful guy, and he’d want me to say that everybody makes mistakes. And sometimes they make mistakes that hurt other people. But that doesn’t mean they should be judged by those mistakes for the rest of their lives.” I took a deep breath. This felt almost cleansing. “Then again,” I added, “fool me once bitten leopards don’t change their spots, so take your pick.”

JoJo laughed, and it sounded a bit…sad. And that made me feel bad because somebody that sparkly shouldn’t be sad. “I think I already have,” he said. “And I think, when it comes to love, it’s worth rolling the dice.”

I was about to try and say something wise—or at least come up with something wise I could then decide not to say—but the door opened and Rhys stuck his head in. “I say, JoJo, I was just thinking.

You wouldn’t want to do a collaboration, would you?”

To his credit, JoJo somehow managed not to tell him to fuck right off. “What sort of collaboration?”

“Well.” Rhys had a wild eureka light in his eyes. “I’ve got a You Tube channel. You’ve got a You Tube channel. We could do a You Tube together.”

“Like what?” asked JoJo, who seemed to be giving this proposal far more time than it probably objectively deserved.

“I don’t know. What do you You Tube about?”

JoJo gestured at his face. “Makeup.”

“Oh, right. I suppose not everybody is as lucky as me.” Rhys indicated his own face. “Would you believe I wake up like this?”

Once again, JoJo demonstrated that he was far more polite than I am by not commenting.

“I believe it,” I put in.

“Tell you what,” Rhys continued undaunted, “how about we see if we can work on some dung-beetle-themed makeup tips.”

“That”—JoJo gave Rhys a surprisingly warm smile—“sounds like an interesting challenge.”

To my amazement, JoJo Ryan took Rhys’s details and promised to be in touch to talk about the collaboration. Of course promising to do something and actually doing it were two very different things— just look at my dad and his marriage vows or, for that matter, any other promise he had ever made—but I had a perhaps naive sense that JoJo might make good on the offer.

I left work that day not confused exactly but a bit shaken, with something JoJo had said buzzing around my head like the tune to an eighties disco classic whose name I couldn’t remember.

It’s worth rolling the dice.