The Holiday Buddies (A Romantic Comedy)

Chapter 25

Sienna

The moment of truth.

At first I think Joe's going to deny it, pretend he doesn't know what I'm talking about as he freezes at my words. Then he clears his throat and looks away. "Patrick," he mutters eventually, defeatedly. "My middle name is Patrick."

He drags a hand across his face and chances a glance back in my direction. "How long have you known?" he asks.

"I only just worked it out before I came to join you in the water," I say. "Why the big secret?"

He ducks his head, winces. Surprisingly, bashful is a good look on him. "I - um - don't know. I was . . . embarrassed."

"You're a freaking bestselling author, Joe! That's something to be so proud of. If I was in your shoes I'd be singing it from the rooftops."

He sighs, sounding a bit frustrated, lying down on the towel again and throwing a hand over his face. "That's not really the reason I didn't tell you," he bites out. "If you remembered who I was . . . I didn't want you to see me like that."

"I do remember you though," I'm so puzzled at his reaction. "As soon as I realised you were J.P. Quinn, I remembered exactly who you were from back then. It's funny though, I always assumed your name was John Paul."

"It's a logical assumption," Joe shrugs, sitting up again. "And a common misconception I never corrected. It ended up being a kind of . . . personna for me, I guess." He frowns broodily. "When I was J.P. I could do what I wanted, or so I thought."

I need to know more. But I feel like maybe we need a bit of truth serum here. Because right now I'm still failing to see why this was such a big secret for him. "Will we go get a drink? An alcoholic one?" I ask.

He doesn't hesitate. "Yes. But can we take the car back first? And put this conversation on hold for now?" He looks at me, sea green eyes clear and honest. "I will tell you everything, I promise. Even though you're going to probably think I'm a giant arsehole."

I nod. "Deal. About putting the conversation on hold, not about the arsehole thing. I'll reserve judgement on that for now," I hasten to add and he can't help but grin.

I paper over what otherwise would probably have been silence on the journey back to Lassi, filling it with my inane chatter while Joe mainly wears a forced smile and engages when required. After we've dropped the car off at the apartments we head down to one of the beach bars and I order the biggest carafe of wine I can. "Right, spill," I demand after I've poured us both massive glasses of white.

Joe throws half the glass of liquid down his throat and leans forward, pinching the bridge of his nose, clearly wondering where to start. "Okay, so I already told you I didn't exactly have the easiest of childhoods. I didn't have many friends, it's not that I was shy, I was just quite awkward back then. I think because my folks weren't really interested in me, I thought I didn't really have anything to offer anyone, that no one would really care what I had to say." My heart breaks a bit at that. "Even now, old habits die hard. I tend to get information out of other people but withhold a lot of my own."

He sighs. "You may have guessed I don't talk about this very often so this is a bit difficult for me. I suppose I've kind of compartmentalised my life into the pre-book file, then the famous author file, and then everything that happened since, and I try not to dwell on the first two files."

I nod supportively. "That makes sense," I agree. Although it doesn't really. Not yet anyway.

"I started writing 'Thought Clouds' when I was close to finishing school. I always felt I was better at expressing my thoughts in writing, and I didn't have to worry about boring anyone because it was just for me. I'd been writing stories for years; I've even got a whole Lord of the Rings type story I spent most of my teenage years on." He blushes, which is adorable. "I think I really thought I was going to be the next Tolkien for a bit, it's got maps and appendices and everything."

I smile. "I'd like to see that." I genuinely would. I really like it when he opens up. I'm also a massive Lord of The Rings fan but that's unrelated.

"You're literally the only other person who even knows of its existence. I've never told anyone else," he admits. His eyes meet mine for a long moment before they slip away and I feel those butterflies inside me resurrect themselves. "So I used to wonder whether my life would be different if I could read minds, if my own reactions and personality would be different. And that's how 'Thought Clouds' came about.

"I worked on it for a good few years. My own experiences would inspire a lot of the events of the book, and they'd sometimes change the course of the storyline too. And my female main character Amy changed too; originally she'd started off based on a girl I fancied in high school who I knew would never be interested in me, but then she ended up turning into another girl I'd often spot from afar and was intrigued by. I eventually finish writing and editing it while I was still at uni, but I had no intention of actually doing anything with it."

"So what changed?" I ask.

His lips curl upwards but it's a sad smile. "Tale as old as time," he says quietly. "I fell in love."

Ah.

So we're finally starting to hear more of Joe's story . . . Why do we think he was trying to hide his identity though?

And doesn't "Thought Clouds" sound like a great book? 🤣

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