Chasing Rainbows

                “You did what? Are you out of your tiny fucking mind?”

Jacob leaned back against the headrest, and closed his eyes. It was so unlike his best mate Andy to be so derogatory, so angry, but he appreciated the stress he was under and how he’d only increased that by announcing his news as soon as he’d sat in his car. It wouldn’t go down as one of the greatest things he’d ever done, but done it was. Emma’s smile burst into his brain like an explosion of light and for that split second he couldn’t believe it was wrong. But she had disappeared, and he had NO idea where she was.  And with her went any opportunity to control that, he’d never felt so confused, and so out to sea.

Finally opening his eyes, he rolled his head to take in the angry face of his best friend Andy, the scowl so evident despite his eyes being fixed intently on the road. He was angry, and trying his best to keep it under control.

Jacob sighed, “Ok, it’s not ideal; I mean it was hardly planned!”

Andy shook his head, “we...you are on the verge of something massive, and you go and tie yourself to some stranger?

Jacob sighed, his head still pounded and he found it hard to believe he’d made it back to San Francisco feeling as he did. And he was doubly glad that Andy was able to collect him from the airport. Of course Andy was right, the whole situation was ridiculous, but there was nothing he could do to change the last twenty four hours. And he wasn’t sure that he wanted to change anything. Until she’d run away, Emma had been a breath of fresh air, refreshingly different. It had stunned him that she’d left.

                “How ironic that it was the night that you pocketed a cool half a million!” Andy was still ranting. “Gold digger much? I cannot believe you didn’t see it coming!” Frustrated at the lack of answers his friends starting snapping questions at Jacob, “so where does she live? What does she do? Have you arranged to see her again? Can you annul this shit?”

Jacob groaned, “she’s English...beautiful, and funny. That’s all I know! I have no idea how or where to find her, because she ran out on me this morning, ok?” He gulped at the sudden wave of emotion that hit him at the thought of ending the marriage. He had to talk to her, had to work out what they were going to do. Because she was all he described and more, and he was more than a little gutted that they hadn’t had the chance to speak this morning, make plans. But she’d run out on him, leaving him to nurse the hangover from hell.

                “At least you won the competition, but that was meant to be payment to your father NOT alimony to wife who’s miraculously appeared in the world! I mean come on Coren, you need to focus here. The next six months are make it or break it!”

Jacob groaned, it was alright for Andy, he’d done all that was expected of him, at thirty three he’d just become partner in a corporate law company. He’d excelled in all he did, achieving everything at a record young age; he even had the beautiful actress girlfriend and the house in the best postal district in the city. He was everything that Jacob’s parents wanted in a son, but didn’t have. In fact he was the epitome of the success the whole of the world seemed to want to instil in him.

But Andy wasn’t like the rest, he didn’t presume, he didn’t judge, and he didn’t think that the hotshot lawyer was too good to hang out with the skateboarding drop out. He was the only person from his Ivy League School that he still saw and spoke to. And he was never usually this judgemental or angry, no matter what happened in their lives.

Jacob pulled his baseball cap down over his still aching eyes and sighed, “Andrew French, you are being a complete bastard kicking me when I’m down. Can you get me home already?”

Andy groaned, and hit the gas. What a mess.

Jacob loved his grandmother’s house; it was more of a home than his childhood home ever had been. A brightly painted and well weathered clap board house overlooking a beach several miles outside town, across the road was a beach cafe, and flanking the beach was a promenade perfect for skateboarding - which was still his first love. Growing up near San Francisco in the nineties had been like a dream for Jacob, people from all over the world came to the city to skateboard, and he’d met SO many heroes doing just that. It was different now, it was frowned upon, blocked in most places, but in his quiet suburb, it was different.

As he climbed out of Andy’s sports car, pulling his back out of the back seat, some kids called to him from the walkway that skirted the beach.  “Jacob, you coming to teach us that tail slide like you promised?”      

He groaned, he was fit for nothing. “Benny, I’m bushed mate, can I do it tomorrow? After school maybe?” He’d involuntarily got himself into this months ago. The kids he’d watched trying their best to skate board along the prom, had one day spotted him busting the moves they were desperate to emulate. And very soon he was teaching them tricks, initially a couple of them, but the numbers were growing.

Benny looked sad, but nodded, “thanks Jacob.” With solemn faces and heads hung with disappointment, they strolled off down the road.

                “Come on loser!”  Andy was already at the front door waiting patiently to get inside and continue the debrief that had started in the car.

                “Andy, I wasn’t lying! I can’t do this today. Not now.”

Andy kicked the door closed behind them, “you don’t want to talk about your wedding, on your wedding day? Why the hell not?”

Jacob shook his head, “I won the money, I can appease my father. What more do you want from me?”

Andy walked straight to the kitchen and pulled a beer from the fridge, “what do I want? All I’m seeing is a series of screw ups that is making this huge LIFE CHANGING deal fly out the window! I mean what if this woman stakes a claim on the half a mill...then your father does as he’s threatened...losing this house will seriously fuck up your plans Coren, don’t you forget that!”

Jacob’s head was throbbing beyond belief, he needed sleep, a shower, some ice cold water...all of the above, what he didn’t need was a lecture, or to have to defend himself when he could barely fathom the last twenty four hours himself. “Can we please discuss this tomorrow?”

His friend shrugged, “It isn’t going anywhere! And I’m flying to Seattle in the morning, staying the night. So no, we can’t talk tomorrow.”

Groaning again Jacob offered all he had, “look when you get back I’ll shout dinner, steak, beer, the works...and by then I’ll at least have an idea of what happened, and what I’m going to do about it, ok?”

Andy studied him for a moment, then sighed, “I only get angry cos you seem so intent on blowing everything. All the time. This deal...”

To Jacob selling his concept, his game, was more than a deal, it was his life’s work, he had NO intention of screwing that up. “It’s more than that to me; nothing that happened in Vegas will threaten it. Ok?”

Nodding Andy drained his beer then left, leaving Jacob to rue the dangers of having a best mate represent you legally!

Exhaustion took over him not long later, and he was more than relieved to find some silence in sleep.

Jacob slowly came around from the deepest dream filled sleep he could ever remember. Though the dreams were strange, nothing was as strange as opening his eyes to see a wedding ring on the bedside table next to his phone and loose change. Suddenly with a ‘whoosh’ of emotion it all came flying back to his conscience. He was married.

To Emma White. Emma White who was an underachieving child like himself, temping somewhere in London. Like that made finding her any easier. As if to prove how ridiculous a challenge that was, he typed her name into Google. Over a billion hits...how could you narrow that down? Social networks threw up similar numbers. Who’d have thought it was so popular a name?

Guzzling strong black coffee, he paced the house and tried to plan what to do, he had to see her again, that was obvious. But finding her was looking a little daunting a task. There were more details on the marriage certificate, but he remembered putting that in her bag for safe keeping, at no point did he presume that she’d run away at the first chance, taking it with her.

Married! It still seemed unfathomable, but as his thumb ran over the gold band that was now in his pocket, he knew he couldn’t pretend it hadn’t happened. Because it had. Legally they were married. He couldn’t decipher what that meant to him, all he knew was that he was getting increasingly angry at the fact she’d run away. They were adults! Putting the Atlantic Ocean between them was hardly the right way to deal with this topic. He wasn’t the best at confronting his demons, but he knew that he wouldn’t have abandoned her like this. And as the day progressed he was getting more angry than anything else.

If he was going to find her, he knew that Andy was the most likely to help him do that. And that meant more humble pie! Would he ever be the person giving out that delight? He’d sure as hell spent a lot of time eating it!

The final prototype of his game system was up and running, so he headed to the office of another friend who was seeing it rigorously tested. He wanted to be on hand to problem solve and the best way was sitting it out...even if his heart wasn’t really in it today.

Four hours later and he was slightly more enthused. The serious game testers had found no issue with the format, if anything they were raving about it. It all meant that they could move to stage two of the launch ASAP. Rumour was Sony and Nintendo were willing to fight it out for the rights, if this became everything he hoped, the Vegas money would be pocket change, and he could throw everything back at all his doubters and knockers.

But as he cycled home on the customised BMX bike he’d ridden since his teens, back across the city it wasn’t his parents or anyone’s negativity that haunted him, it was the smiling face on a woman saying ‘I do.’

Eight boys were patiently waiting outside his house when he returned; he smiled at their earnest faces. The last thing he wanted was to do this now, but those kids hero worshipped him, and they were SO enthusiastic!

                “Give me five minutes; I just need to get my board, ok?”

They all grinned then moved across to the boardwalk to wait for him...and practice.

Two hours flew by and for Jacob it was the greatest two hours since he’d woken since he’d woken after his big win. It was a parent looking for one of the boys that alerted them all to how late it suddenly was. And once they’d left all desperately swearing that they would practice the tail slide and it left him to contact Andy to see if he’d managed to find Emma.

                “Emma White!” Andy’s voice was sarcastic as he spoke down the telephone. “How hard did you try? She wasn’t the most difficult to locate you know!”

Emma had officially three days left in work, and then she was heading on a whistle stop trip to LA for a screen test. It was an unnecessary trip in that she had already screen tested in the London audition, but it was really a chance for her to meet the team. She may only be in five of the twelve episodes, but her costumes were the most difficult to cast apparently. So she’d be measured, make up tests, and of course read-throughs with the cast. Then she was home for two weeks before the filming started.

Not that the two weeks would be quiet...anything but! Isobel’s wedding was all set to be quiet, understated, in a way that the sister of a catwalk model could keep it!

Shutting down her computer, she started to close her reception desk as she did at the end of every day, when the phone rang.

                “Hello, Carter Stationary, Emma speaking. How can I help?”

                “Well you can start by telling me why the hell you ran away before I woke up wife dearest!”