“This is different.”
“How?”
“It just is.” She was digging a deep hole here. Her dad was right. She was obsessed. It wasn’t healthy.
“Go for a jog. You used to run every morning until Tuck walked through the door.”
He was right about that too.
He sighed. “Look, I wasn’t born yesterday. I see the way you look at the man. I get it. You’re gaga over him. And I don’t blame you. He’s quite a package. But,” her dad lifted a finger to make his point. “No matter how real or fake that stupid show is, he’s still married. You watching a play-by-play of his daily interactions with his wife is going to give you an ulcer. He’s not yours.”
She took a deep breath. “I know that,” she murmured.
“He has two more weeks in his contract. I hate to see you spend all that time watching his every move on a stupid live feed. You can’t unsee that stuff. What if he does end up leaving her? How are you going to erase the visuals of the two of them together that will remain burned in your head forever?”
Jodi nodded. Why did her dad have to make so much sense?
“People have lots of relationships in their lives. Most of us don’t have the ability to watch a play-by-play of our partner’s previous relationships.” He shuddered. “It’s weird. I was married to your mother for forty years. I dated a few girls before we met. She dated a few guys. We didn’t discuss it. I never saw pictures of her previous boyfriends. I didn’t show her pictures of my previous girlfriends. I burned them after I met your mother. Thank God we didn’t have videos or internet or social media. Nothing was frozen in time. I can’t imagine how our relationship would have ever gotten off the ground if she had been able to sit all day and watch every detail of me with my old girlfriends. No one should be able to make those kinds of comparisons. It’s not natural.”
Jodi glanced down at the computer screen, chewing on her bottom lip. Tuck was standing at the door of his apartment. She didn’t need sound to know Katia, who stood a few feet away with her hands on her hips, was whining about something. She usually was.
Tuck looked like he was barely holding it together. Honestly, Jodi couldn’t figure out how he kept from throttling her most days. He was so damn calm. At least on the outside. She could tell by his grip on the door handle and the way his lips were tight and the stiffness of his spine that Katia was way under his skin.
He never looked like that when he was at the bar. Even unruly patrons didn’t get him as upset as his wife did. That alone should give Jodi the confidence to know he preferred being around her. Or was it just that he preferred not being around Katia?
“You’re right.” Jodi set her hand on the top of the computer, fully intending to shut it as Tuck walked out the door of his apartment. She didn’t need to watch what Katia did after he left anyway. That would be boring.
Before Jodi slammed the laptop closed, however, she glanced down again to see Katia scurrying around the living room. The only reason that was remotely interesting was because Katia didn’t scurry anywhere. The only part of her that moved with speed was her fingers when she was typing on Instagram or Twitter.
Today, she was in a hurry, her pace only picking up after Tuck left. Where ya goin’, you sneaky little thing? Katia entered the bedroom.
When Jodi’s dad sighed and stood from the table, Jodi lifted her gaze. “I heard you, Dad. I get it. You’re right.”
“But you’re still watching,” he pointed out as he sauntered from the kitchen.
Jodi shifted her gaze back to the screen.
A few minutes passed and then Katia returned wearing a tiny little white sundress and white sandals. Her hair was in a high ponytail, and she had on lipstick. She grabbed her purse and left the apartment.
Jodi so wished she lived in the same building as the little liar so she could follow her to wherever she went while Tuck went wherever the hell he went on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The fact that Jodi’s life had reduced to this level was maddening. She should get off this site, stop watching Tuck’s life, and go for a run. Maybe get coffee someplace. Read a book. Watch paint dry. Anything to keep her mind off Tuck’s private life.
She hated being so obsessed with a married man who starred on a stupid reality TV show. She didn’t even recognize herself anymore. All her thoughts centered around Tuck. His rock-hard body. His smile—the one he only used with her. His easy mannerisms. His serious side—the one that spent hours every night keeping a close eye on both the patrons inside the bar and Jodi herself. The look in his eyes when she caught him staring at her.
Jodi shook thoughts of Tuck from her mind. He wasn’t hers to want anyway. She closed the screen, pushed from the table, and headed for her bedroom. Starting today she would run in the mornings like she used to.
Before Tuck.
Five hours later, she was standing behind the bar, taking inventory with Liz, who had come in early to help.
“Have you been watching Tuck’s livestream?” Liz asked softly, as if the thought of doing so was a federal crime.
“Yeah.” No sense lying. “It’s a train wreck. Not sure why I do. I can’t help myself.”
Liz giggled. “Maybe because he’s hot and obviously into you?”
Jodi jerked her gaze to fully face Liz. “What makes you say that?” She immediately wished she hadn’t asked.
Liz rolled her eyes. “Girl. Come on. Everyone knows it. He should have whiplash from all the glancing back and forth between you and the door and the patrons. Stan smirks at you from
