My kind of perfect, p.11
My Kind of Perfect, page 11
The actors spent a few brief moments talking to Griffin before sitting at the table, and my delight quadrupled to see that Jayden was facing us. Long gone was the calm, cool, unfazed-by-celebrity facade I’d been—mostly unsuccessfully—holding together since our encounter at the gas station. I was stupid with anticipation. This was the real deal. I was about to see Jayden Pierce in action. No pun intended.
“Places, everybody! Quiet on the set!” Griffin called, and suddenly all the crew seemed intently focused on their tasks at hand. A man with a furry microphone connected to a long pole moved forward and lowered it just above the table, while another stood between the camera and the table with one of those black-and-white clacker things used to mark the scenes.
“‘Eternal Embrace.’ Scene twelve. Take one!” He clapped it down and moved quickly from the shot.
Griffin scowled and leaned forward in his chair, as if about to spring. Whatever extracurricular activities he and Rashida were dabbling in had clearly done nothing to calm him down or brighten him up. He seemed as tense as a man with a lit stick of dynamite up his backside who was just waiting for his ass to explode.
“Places. Mark. Camera . . . and action!” he called out.
The moment was like riding a roller coaster.
All morning we’d been tick-tick-ticking up the steep, steady incline, anticipation building, and now at last we’d been released into the satisfaction of free fall. I watched, mesmerized, as Jayden’s expression changed and he morphed into a man wildly in love with his dinner companion.
As they moved through the scene, he stared deeply into Skylar’s eyes. He held her hand over the table, caressing the back of it with his thumb, occasionally pulling it to his lips to kiss her fingertips. I felt my own hand twitch as I wondered what it might be like to have that be me. Not me as an actress, but me, Lilly Callaghan, having Jayden Pierce gaze at me with such longing in his eyes. Like every person in that dining room right then, I thought it would be incomprehensibly marvelous.
Really, to have any man look at me like that would be heaven. Tag and I had been madly in love, but even when our relationship was at its finest, he’d never looked at me that way. Like the sun rose and set and all the planets aligned just for me. That’s how Jayden was gazing at Skylar.
Then Griffin yelled “Cut!” and Jayden dropped her hand like it was unpleasantly hot and leaned back in his chair with a big, casual stretch, and every extra in the room let out a collective sigh.
After a dozen or so takes of the scene, with cameras moving all around and Griffin pacing and murmuring to Jayden and Skylar and Rashida, and with lines of dialogue being said and resaid until even I was starting to lose interest, Rashida held up her arm. “Okay, everybody, take thirty. There is food set up in the Grand Ballroom. Everybody be back here at twelve thirty sharp.”
“Oh my gosh, I’m starving,” Chloe said as we left the dining room and headed toward the ballroom. “I’ve been smelling that roasted chicken all morning, and my stomach’s been growling so loud I was terrified the microphone would pick it up and they’d kick me out.”
I grabbed us each a turkey sandwich while she got us bags of chips and bottled water, and we were halfway to a table when Jayden walked in. Cue the applause.
He laughed and took a slight yet theatrical bow. “You guys don’t have to do that every time I walk into a room,” he said to the crowd. “I mean, I like it, but it’s really not necessary.” He spotted us and came forward just as we’d reached a table and set down our food.
“Hey there, Chloe. Chevette.”
I wasn’t sure if he was being clever or just couldn’t remember my name, but it gave me a thrill either way because I’d just spent the better part of the last hour and a half imagining it was my hand he was fondling. I knew it wasn’t real and didn’t mean anything special, but it was fun to be singled out, and I could feel lots of eyes on us. Most were just curious, but Vera VonMeisterburger was blatantly scowling. April, May, and June Mahoney were whispering behind their hands, and Dmitri Krushnic was working his way through the crowd, no doubt to better listen to our conversation and report back to anyone willing to listen.
“Um, I don’t think we’re allowed to fraternize,” I said to Jayden. “The assistant director was pretty emphatic about not talking to the actors.”
His expression told me not to worry. “I’ll try not to get you fired on the first day, but I think it’s okay, since we’re not technically on set right now. And because I’m an executive producer.” This was said as more of an offhand, throwaway comment rather than a boast, but it elevated him in my assessment even further. “So what did you think of your first day? Are you having fun?” This he directed to Chloe.
“Oh my gosh, Jayden, you were so good. It was all so romantic, and I really believed you were eating during the scene,” Chloe said.
He leaned forward and spoke softly, as if he was about to impart an invaluable secret. “I was really eating. I didn’t have breakfast, so I was hungry. The trick is to get your dialogue out and not let it look like you’re talking with your mouth full. Plus, it annoys Skylar, and I enjoy trying to throw her off her game.”
Chloe giggled and he winked at me over her head.
“So are you full in that case, or are you here to have lunch?” I asked.
“Still not full,” he said, eagerly eyeing the food-laden craft services table. “I have to grab something, though, and then go talk to Griffin, but hey, I wanted to ask you something.” He tugged casually on the satin sleeve of my teal gown as if we were those kind of pals. The kind who casually tugged on each other’s sleeves.
“Me?”
He looked around as if to indicate of course you, because there’s no one else around.
“Yes, you. I keep hearing about this infamous bike ride, or some bike path or something that everyone says you have to do while you’re on the island. Do you know anything about that?”
I laughed at the classic touristy inquiry. Next he’d be asking me if the fudge shops really did direct their air vents toward the street so that everyone could smell the fudge, or if we really did ride snowmobiles over the Lake Huron ice bridge during the winter. “Yes. We have a road that follows the shoreline around the entire circumference of the island. It’s about eight miles long, and technically it’s a highway, but since we have no cars, it’s the only highway in the United States that’s never had an automobile accident.”
He seemed duly impressed by my bit of Wenniway Island trivia. Just wait until I told him about the ice bridge.
“And you can just, like, borrow a bike and ride it all the way around the island on this carless highway?” he asked, saying carless highway in the same suspiciously disbelieving tone with which one might say are you sure that rash is not contagious? At his question I was struck yet again by his complete lack of understanding about how commoners arranged their transportation.
“Well, usually you have to rent a bike, unless you brought your own, but my guess is that any of the bike places in Trillium Bay would gladly loan you one, especially if you promised to post something about it or let them take your picture.”
He nodded. “Cool. Do they have those double bikes? You know, those . . .” He snapped his fingers as if to jar his memory.
“A tandem bike?”
One more loud snap, with excitement this time. “Yes! That’s what I’m thinking of. Are there any of those on the island?”
Jayden Pierce was simply too precious for this world. “Lots of them,” I answered.
“Perfect. Then will you go with me?”
“Me?”
He made a big show of looking around again, even grabbing Chloe by the shoulders to look behind her. “Yes, you,” he said, laughing.
“Um, sure. I could do that. Don’t you want to go with, like, Skylar or somebody from the movie?”
Chloe was making faces at me like I was a lunatic for arguing with him about who he should take on his bike ride.
“Skylar?” He laughed again. “God, no. I’ve already had enough of her, and we’re only on, like, day six of this shoot. I was hoping to go with somebody from around here. So you can, you know, tell me all about the island. I like to learn stuff about new places. I did get cornered by some lady named Vera Von something-or-other who offered to show me all around, but she had kind of a predatory vibe that made me very uncomfortable.”
I laughed at that because he was obviously not uncomfortable, even though pretty much every woman in the room, and several of the men, for that matter, were having illicit, if not predatory, thoughts about Jayden Pierce. Myself included, not that I could, would, or should act on them. The rejection would be far too humiliating.
“Yes, Vera is our librarian. She has some issues, and don’t let her get started talking about our fruit bat shortage or you’ll never get away from her.”
“No Vera. No fruit bats. Okay, so great. You and me, then? A tandem bike. Sunday afternoon?”
“Sunday?”
“Yeah, Sunday works, doesn’t it? I don’t have that much free time.”
Chloe glared at me at my hesitation. What are you waiting for, dumbass? that glare said.
“Um, yes. Of course. Sunday would work, but could we go in the morning?”
Chapter 13
“So, for those of us keeping score, Lilly-vanilli went from having no boyfriend at all last spring, to having a rich sugar daddy who showed her the world from the deck of his yacht; then she dumped him; and now, two weeks later, she’s dating not only the island’s sweetest, sexiest yoga instructor but also ultra-mega-movie-star Jayden Pierce. Who had that on their bingo card?” Gloria Persimmons-Kloosterman was all about embellishment. Not just with her wardrobe and her home décor, but with her words.
We were sitting in her turquoise kitchen along with Emily, Brooke, Eva Culpepper, and Marnie White. Officially it was our monthly Drunk Puzzle Night, but since neither Gloria nor my sister could drink, and because I didn’t want to, what with my big day tomorrow, it had been—for the evening—redubbed Boring, Sober Puzzle Night. For the first time in ages, we were actually doing a puzzle.
“Gloria, that is not at all what I said,” I admonished her as I took a sip of my boring, sober lemonade. “First of all, Tag was not my sugar daddy, and he doesn’t have a yacht. And second, these aren’t dates tomorrow. They’re . . . excursions. Jayden just wants to see the island with a local, and Matt and I both like kayaking. It’s not more complicated than that.”
“Uh-huh,” Eva said. “So, in that case, you’ll be telling Matt all about your bike ride with Jayden? And telling Jayden you have to cut your ride short so you can go meet Matt?”
She kind of, sort of, had me on that. “Well, I won’t make a big production of telling either of them anything, but it’s not as if any of this is a secret. You guys are trying to turn this into something scandalous. Honestly, I feel like I’m talking to five Dmitri Krushnics.”
Even unimaginative Brooke wasn’t going along with me this time. “Is Jayden on your sexlebrity list? I’ve seen him. He should be on it.”
“Oh, for sure,” Marnie agreed, nodding so emphatically that her glasses nearly fell off her narrow face and everyone laughed except for Emily. She’d been uncharacteristically quiet for the past few minutes, and I wondered if her allegiance to Matt was influencing her ability to see this for what it was. A big goofy set of circumstances that no one could have predicted. But since she’d assured me her matchmaking days were over, maybe it was something else.
“Of course he’s on it,” I said. “But let’s be serious. Do any of you really think him inviting me to go for a bike ride is Jayden Pierce’s roundabout way of getting into my pants?”
They all nodded emphatically this time, and a chorus of yeses filled the tiny kitchen. Even Emily, that time.
“You are all being ridiculous. I never should have told you.” As if that would’ve made any difference. Even though I knew that none of this was newsworthy, people were bound to speculate, and hypothesize, and surmise. Maybe I should get a T-shirt that said WE’RE JUST FRIENDS.
“What time are you going biking?” Brooke asked.
“We’re going at the super-illicit hour of eight thirty tomorrow morning. I told him I had plans in the afternoon that I had to be back for.”
“You seriously told him that?” Eva said, eyes rounding with awe. “You didn’t just say, ‘I will clear my social calendar for you from now until the day you leave Trillium Bay?’ Because that’s what I would’ve said.”
“Yes, that’s what I said because it’s the truth.”
“That must mean kayaking with Matt is pretty important to you, too, then,” Gloria said, stroking her chin as if deep in thoughtful contemplation—which was impressive because I seriously doubted she was ever truly in deep, thoughtful contemplation about any subject at any time unless it had to do with how adorable and squishy and love-buggy her husband was. Her words. Not mine.
I found a side piece to the puzzle and slid it into place. “Well, since I’m the one who invited Matt, it would’ve been rude to cancel, and Jayden said he was glad to bike in the morning anyway, because it would be less crowded and because he has stuff in the afternoon, too. You guys are making way too much out of this. Can we talk about weddings or babies or something?” Like a laser pointer and cats, I thought for sure this would redirect their attention.
“Do you want to borrow Leo’s bike?” Brooke asked. “He’s about Jayden’s height, and his bike is way better than anything you’ll get from one of the rental places.”
Not exactly a redirect, but at least it wasn’t about me having two dates, um . . . excursions, in one day. “Thanks, Brooke. That’s a really nice offer. I’ll ask him in the morning.”
“Do you think he’d say no?”
“Well, um . . . seems like he kind of has his heart set on getting the whole Trillium Bay experience. He wants to ride a tandem.”
As suspected, this triggered another round of laughter and teasing and innuendo. Emily seemed caught up in it as well, at last, and I was glad her mood had lightened. I wasn’t glad that they were all ganging up on me, of course, but all things considered, having your friends and sisters tease you because you had plans scheduled with a movie star and a sweet, sexy carpenter on the same day wasn’t such a bad way to pass the time. Fortunately, after that the conversation turned to Emily’s upcoming wedding shower and Gloria’s approaching due date.
“I think it’s a boy,” Gloria said, “on account of how I cannot get enough peanut butter. According to Delores Crenshaw, boys make you crave peanut butter, but Tiny is sure it’s a girl because this baby makes me burp all the time, and Vera said that meant it’s a girl. Then again, Vera told me not to raise my arms above my head because that would get the baby all tangled up in the umbilical cord, so I’m beginning to think both of those ladies are full of Cracker Jacks and don’t have any idea what I’m having. Either way, Tiny and I will be thrilled. We still have a bit of organizing to do in the nursery, and he needs to assemble the crib and the changing table, but after that, all we have to do is wait for the stork to arrive.”
“You haven’t put the crib together yet?” Eva said. “Isn’t that cutting it a little close?”
“Oh, it’ll be fine. That stuff will only take him a couple of hours to assemble. He’s planning to finish up everything next week because we’ll be relocating to the mainland once I hit thirty-eight weeks, just to be on the safe side.”
The Trillium Bay Medical Center was staffed by two general practitioners and a handful of other medical staff who were well versed in dealing with basic illnesses and injuries, but the facility wasn’t set up for labor and delivery. They could handle things in a pinch, but most pregnant women from Wenniway Island chose to spend their last few weeks of pregnancy in Manitou or Michlimac City, since no woman in labor wants to climb into a tiny airplane or take a twenty-minute ferry ride to get to a hospital. The pilots and ferry captains weren’t too keen on the idea of having them as passengers, either, which was why the coast guard usually stepped in during emergencies.
“I’ll be staying with my cousin,” Gloria continued. “But you gals better come and visit me a lot while I wait for the bambino to arrive, because my cousin drives me batshit batty. I shouldn’t complain, because she was nice enough to offer me a place to stay, but she’s in cosmetology school and always wants to make me over. I’ve spent a lot of time cultivating my style, and let me tell you, she’s not going to mess with it. Anyway, enough about her. Want to come see all the cute baby stuff we have? The nursery is going to be totes fabuloso and so frickin’ cute you’re all going to want to have a slumber party in there.”
When someone asks if you want to come see their new nursery paraphernalia, the answer is always yes, so we filed in, one by one, and nodded adoringly at the pale yellow walls and gingham curtains on the window. The nursery had framed watercolor drawings of fluffy bunnies and playful puppies leaning against a white chest of drawers, and a wicker basket full of cuddly, pastel-hued stuffed animals. Considering the garish colors that usually surrounded Gloria, all this was very subdued and very sweet-baby appropriate. And she was right. I kind of wanted to take one of the super-soft blankies off the shelf and curl up in it. I also wanted to have a baby. Like, right now.
Damn it, Tag. I could have been halfway to motherhood right now if he’d just wanted more kids. But instead, I was single and years away from having a family of my own. For now, I’d have to settle for being an honorary auntie for Gloria’s baby and a real one for Emily’s baby. Of course, I was already Chloe’s aunt, but she was well past the snuggle phase and solidly into the teen-girl phase. Fun, but a bit too knobby and not nearly as sweet.
Our Boring, Sober Puzzle Night ended much earlier than our typical Drunk Puzzle Night, in part because the pregnant gals were tired, and also because Brooke had an early-morning meeting and I had a bike ride to prepare for. My sisters and I walked home together through the dark, quiet streets of Trillium Bay. I’d always loved strolling along the sidewalks after the tourists had left and only a few pubs and restaurants were open. You could see the lights of Michlimac City and Manitou twinkling far away, with the vast expanse of dark water between them and us. This was when the island felt like home.
