"Waverly?"
I looked back at Jake and pulled him deeper into the crowd. "It"s Gary."
"Gary? What about him?"
"He"s-"
Before I could finish the sentence, I felt an arm around my shoulders.
"There"s my princess. I was wondering when you were going to arrive at the ball."
I looked to my right and saw Scotty and Tad standing there, both dressed to the nines.
"Hi, Scotty." I kissed him on the cheek, and then did the same to Tad. "You guys remember Jake?"
Scotty smiled. "Of course. How could we forget Jake?" Scotty and Tad had been instrumental in finally getting Jake and me together after a year of mishaps, or, perhaps more accurately, a year of my acting like a total lunatic every time I saw him.
Jake shook both their hands. "Scott, Tad, it"s good to see you. This is quite a party." He looked around the room, which was becoming more packed by the minute. "NBC knows how to celebrate the holidays, that"s for sure."
Tad raised his hand. "I"m getting a round. Who wants a drink?" We all put in our orders, including mine for a vodka tonic.
Jake looked at me. "Vodka tonic? You sure about that?"
I nodded. "Believe me, I need it."
Scotty gave me a strange look. "Everything OK, kitten?"
I smiled and nodded. What could I say? I certainly couldn"t go around telling everyone that Wendy"s husband was cheating on her-especially her executive producer, even though he was a good friend. What do they say-never mix business with pleasure? Apparently "they" are right, whoever "they" are. d.a.m.n them.
Jake gave me a strange look too, clearly wondering what was going on.
For the time being, I figured my best option was to change the subject.
I adjusted my necklace and looked at Scotty. "So I was thinking we should get the whole gang together sometime. You and Tad, me and Jake, and Shane and Kristina. What do you think?" I had barely seen Kristina since I"d moved to town, and I hadn"t seen Shane at all.
"That sounds lovely, my dear, but it will have to be after the holidays. Tad and I are running ourselves ragged with all the parties on our calendar."
"Hey, that reminds me, what are the plans for the show over the holidays? I know we"re doing a big show for New Year"s Eve, but do I need to be around for Christmas or Christmas Eve?"
He took a sip of his drink and shook his head. "I don"t think so. You planning to head out West to see your dad?"
"Maybe. But I looked at flights yesterday, and I wouldn"t be able to come back until the day before New Year"s Eve without breaking the bank. I"ve been so busy lately that I forgot to book a ticket earlier."
"Oh, sweetheart, you"d have to be back way before then. I"m sorry."
I shrugged. "That"s OK. I sort of figured the timing wasn"t going to work out this year, anyway."
Just then, Tad reappeared with our drinks. As he handed me mine I saw Gary several feet behind him, his back to me. I took a huge gulp of vodka tonic and stood as close to Jake as I could without stepping on his feet.
"What did I miss?" Tad said. "Is it time to do shots yet? Are we going to get jiggy tonight?" He did a little dance.
Scotty laughed. "We were just talking about the busy holiday party train on which you and I have once again embarked."
"Oh yes we have," Tad said with a wink. "I love December in New York."
Scotty held his drink up for a toast. "Cheers, everyone. Here"s to people who watch daytime television, or better put, here"s to the bloated advertising budgets of corporate America."
We all laughed and clinked our gla.s.ses together, although my laughter was mostly of the nervous kind. I stole a glance at Gary as I took another sip of my drink, then huddled next to Jake.
"Are you OK?" he whispered. "You"re acting really weird."
"Sorry, I know," I whispered back. "Would you mind if we got out of here?"
Before he could respond, Scotty picked up the conversation again. "So, Waverly, how is your dad doing? I haven"t heard you talk about him much lately."
I smiled. "Actually...he"s getting married."
Jake looked at me. "Your dad"s getting married?"
I winced. I"d been so busy that I"d completely forgotten to tell him. "I"m sorry, I just found out a few days ago. He"s getting married on Valentine"s Day."
Scotty, the consummate diplomat, immediately diverted attention away from my faux pas. "Valentine"s Day will, of course, be a big day for Honey on Your Mind, but you can"t miss your dad"s wedding. We"ll work around it."
I smiled at him. "Really?"
He nodded. "Of course. Don"t worry about it."
"Thanks, Scotty. That means a lot to me." One less thing to worry about.
He put his hand on my shoulder. "Waverly, you"re an important part of the show now. At this point Love, Wendy needs you almost as much as you need Love, Wendy, so don"t be so timid, OK? Try to believe in yourself a little more."
I nodded and eked out a smile. "OK."
"I"ve been telling her that for months, but she still doesn"t believe me," Jake said, putting his arm around my shoulders. "What"s your secret to getting her to listen to you?"
Scotty laughed. "I sign her paycheck."
I laughed as well and pointed at them. "Hey now, don"t you two gang up on me."
Tad sidled up on the other side of me and put his arm around my waist. "I"m next in line for this girl, so you two be careful, now."
I rested my head on Tad"s shoulder, the alcohol finally calming my nerves. "Yeah, you two be careful, or I may run off with Mr. Blondie, here."
Scotty excused himself to use the restroom, and shortly thereafter, Tad disappeared into the crowd to mingle. As soon as they were gone, Jake set his drink on a table and put both hands on my arms.
"Are you doing OK now? You still want to leave?"
"I need to tell you something," I whispered. "I"m sort of freaking out."
"About your dad?"
I shook my head.
He scratched his eyebrow, and then gestured toward the enormous terrace. "Want to talk outside?"
I nodded. "I"ve heard the view is amazing, but before I go anywhere I need to empty the canteen."
"Empty the canteen?"
"Work with me, Jake. I need to pee."
He laughed. "You"re nuts, did you know that?"
"Believe me, I"m well aware."
"How about I get our coats and meet you by the door leading to the terrace? It"s cold out there."
I saluted. "Sounds good."
I hurried to the restroom. As I washed my hands, I kept one eye on the door, afraid Wendy would walk in at any moment. Next to Gary, she was the last person on earth I wanted to see right then. I looked in the mirror and saw the confusion written all over my face.
Paige"s boyfriend is Wendy"s husband? What? How can that be?
When I emerged from the restroom, I spotted Wendy in a far corner, chatting with a few people I recognized from promotional posters lining the hallways of NBC. I didn"t see Gary. I headed toward the terrace, scanning the crowd for Jake. I was about halfway there when I felt a pull on my arm.
I looked up and saw Gary standing there.
Frick.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked.
I tried to pull my arm away, but he kept a firm grip on it. "I"m sort of busy right now."
"Just let me explain, OK?"
I put my free hand on my hip. "Explain?"
"I told you, it"s complicated." He glanced around the room.
"I"ve heard your wife talk about you, Gary. It certainly doesn"t sound complicated to me." I remembered how Wendy had bragged about marrying her high school sweetheart back when I"d first met her on the Today show. Her picture-perfect marriage was the ticket that had taken Love, Wendy from a hit relationship-advice column to a hit TV show, but now it turned out that her picture-perfect husband was sleeping with my friend.
"You don"t understand," he said, still holding my arm.
I yanked my arm away from him. "I don"t think I want to understand, Gary. Now please let go of me."
As I turned to go, I saw Wendy approaching us.
Oh, G.o.d help me.
"Darling, is everything OK? You two seem to be in quite a tiff over here." She put her hand on Gary"s arm.
I opened my mouth but couldn"t think of anything to say.
"It"s fine," Gary said.
"We"re fine," I said, nodding.
Wendy gave me an icy look. "You sure about that? Several people across the room seem to think otherwise."
I could feel my face turn the color of my dress.
"Really, it"s nothing. Listen, Jake"s waiting for me outside, so I really need to go, I"m sorry. Wendy, I"ll see you next week, OK?" I turned to Gary and nodded. "It was nice meeting you."
Before they could respond, I bolted. I walked as fast as I could toward the terrace, looking desperately for Jake. When I finally spotted him, I nearly broke into a trot.
"Whoa, slow down, girl, what"s the rush?" He held out my coat as I approached.
"We need to get out of here. Now."
"Waverly, what is going on with you tonight?"
"Can we please talk about it later? I just want to go home."
"OK, OK, we"re going." He helped me put my coat on, and we made our way through the crowd back to the elevator. I kept my head down until the doors closed behind us.
I didn"t even say good-bye to Scotty.
a a a "Wow, that"s quite a story. No wonder you were acting so crazy in there," Jake said.
I pointed my spoon at him. "See? Sometimes I have a good reason." We were sitting in a booth at Shake Shack, a popular diner on the corner of Eighth Avenue and Forty-Fourth, eating hot fudge sundaes.
"Only sometimes."
I shrugged. "I"ll take that. I think Paige is in love with him, Jake. She talks about him all the time, and they"re even spending next weekend in Vermont together. This is going to crush her."
"So you"re going to tell her?"
I sighed. "I don"t know. I guess I should, right? I mean, wouldn"t you want to know? I would."
He didn"t say anything.
"Well?"
He set his spoon down. "I don"t know, Waverly. His wife is a celebrity. You never know what"s going on inside a marriage like that. I see some crazy arrangements with NBA players."
"Arrangements?"
He nodded. "A lot of the guys are definitely cheating, but I think an equal number have tacit approval from their wives. For some women, it comes with the territory of being married to someone so high profile."