Chaz"s dark-rimmed eyes narrowed with hostility. "Bram doesn"t like strangers in his office. You shouldn"t be here."
"I"m not a stranger. I"m his wife." Words she"d never expected to hear coming out of her mouth.
"He doesn"t even let the cleaning people in here." Chaz lifted her chin. "I"m the only one."
"You"re very loyal. What"s that about, anyway?"
She pulled a broom from a small closet. "It"s my job."
Georgie couldn"t snoop through his computer files now, so she began to leave, but as she got up, she spotted a video camera sitting on the corner of the desk. Chaz began to sweep the floor. Georgie examined the camera long enough to discover that Bram had erased whatever tawdry s.e.xual encounter he"d last filmed.
Chaz stopped sweeping. "Don"t mess with that."
Georgie impulsively turned the camera on Chaz and hit the record b.u.t.ton. "Why do you care so much?"
Chaz pulled the broom handle to her chest. "What are you doing?"
"I"m curious about your loyalty."
"Turn that off."
Georgie brought her into sharper focus. Beneath the piercings and scowl, Chaz had delicate, almost fragile, features. She"d pulled one side of her chopped hair away from her eyes with a small silver barrette, and the other side stood out in a spiky tuft above her ear. Chaz"s hostile independence fascinated Georgie. She couldn"t imagine having that kind of freedom from caring what other people thought. "I guess you"re the only person in L.A. who doesn"t love a camera," Georgie said. "No ambitions to be an actress? That"s why most girls come here."
"Me? No. And how do you know I haven"t always lived here?"
"Just a feeling." Through the viewer, Georgie could see tension tightening the corners of Chaz"s small mouth. "Most twenty-year-olds would be bored with a job like yours."
Chaz gripped the broom tighter, almost as if it were a weapon. "I like my job. You probably think housework isn"t important."
Georgie quoted her father. "I think a job is what a person makes of it."
The camera had subtly altered the relationship between them, and for the first time since they"d met, Chaz looked uncertain. "People should do what they"re good at," she finally said. "I"m good at this." She tried to return to sweeping, but the camera was clearly bothering her. "Turn that thing off."
"How did it happen?" Georgie edged around the corner of the desk to keep her in the frame. "How did you learn to run a house at such a young age?"
Chaz jabbed at a corner. "Just something I did." Georgie waited, and to her surprise, Chaz went on. "My stepmom worked at a motel outside Barstow. Twelve units with a diner. Are you going to turn that off?"
"In a minute." The camera made some people clam up and others talk. Apparently Chaz was one of the latter. Georgie took another step to the side. "You worked there?"
"Sometimes. She liked to party, and she didn"t always get home in time to go to work the next day. When that happened, I skipped school and went in for her."
Georgie zoomed in on the girl"s face, taking advantage of having the upper hand. "How old were you?"
"I don"t know. Eleven or something." She went over the same place she"d just swept. "The guy who owned the place didn"t care how old I was as long as the work got done, and I did a better job than her."
The camera recorded facts. It didn"t offer an opinion about an eleven-year-old doing manual labor. "How did you feel about missing school?" The low-battery light came on.
Chaz shrugged. "We needed the money."
"The work must have been hard."
"There were good parts."
"Like what?"
Chaz continued poking at the same spot on the floor. "I don"t know." She leaned the broom against the wall and picked up a dust rag.
Georgie gave her a gentle prod. "I can"t imagine there were too many good parts."
Chaz slid the rag over a bookshelf. "Sometimes a family checked into a room with a couple of kids. Maybe they"d order pizza or bring burgers back from the diner, and the kids might spill something on the rug. The place would be a big mess." She concentrated on dusting the same book. "Trash and food everywhere. Sheets on the floor. All the towels used up. But by the time I left, everything would be neat again." Her shoulder blades slammed together and she threw down the rag. "This is bulls.h.i.t. I"ve got work to do. I"ll come back when you"re out of here." She stalked away just as the camera ran out of power.
Georgie released the breath she"d been holding. Chaz would never have told her so much without the presence of the camera. As she pulled out the tape and slipped it in her pocket, she felt the same kind of rush she used to experience after she"d nailed a challenging acting scene.
That night, she found the world"s most disgusting sandwich waiting for her: a towering monstrosity constructed with slabs of bread, thick wedges of meat, rivers of mayo, and half a dozen slices of cheese. She pulled it apart, fixed herself a simpler sandwich, and ate alone on the veranda. She didn"t see Bram for the rest of the evening. found the world"s most disgusting sandwich waiting for her: a towering monstrosity constructed with slabs of bread, thick wedges of meat, rivers of mayo, and half a dozen slices of cheese. She pulled it apart, fixed herself a simpler sandwich, and ate alone on the veranda. She didn"t see Bram for the rest of the evening.
The next day Aaron handed over the new issue of Flash Flash. One of Mel Duffy"s balcony photos graced the cover along with blaring headlines:
The Marriage That Shocked the World!
Exclusive Photos of Skip and Scooter"s Honeymoon Bliss
In the picture, Bram held her in his arms, her gauzy white skirt draping his sleeves, the two of them gazing deeply into each other"s eyes. Her wedding photo with Lance had appeared on this same cover, but the genuine newlyweds hadn"t looked nearly as love-dazzled as these phony ones.
She should have felt good. There were no pity headlines, only rapturous copy.
Georgie York"s fans were stunned by her shocking Las Vegas elopement with former Skip and Scooter Skip and Scooter costar, bad boy Bramwell Shepard. "They"ve been secretly dating for months," Georgie"s BFF April Robillard Patriot said. "They"re delirious with happiness, and we"re all overjoyed." costar, bad boy Bramwell Shepard. "They"ve been secretly dating for months," Georgie"s BFF April Robillard Patriot said. "They"re delirious with happiness, and we"re all overjoyed."
Georgie sent a silent thank-you April"s way and skimmed the rest of the article.
...publicist dismisses stories of a bitter feud between the Skip and Scooter Skip and Scooter costars. "They were never enemies. Bram cleaned up his act a long time ago." costars. "They were never enemies. Bram cleaned up his act a long time ago."
What a lie.
Friends say the couple has a lot in common...
Other than mutual hatred, Georgie couldn"t think of a thing, and she tossed the magazine aside.
With nothing productive to do, she wandered into the living room and picked some dead leaves off the lemon tree. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bram go into the kitchen, probably for a refill. She didn"t want him to think she was deliberately avoiding him, even though she was, so she pulled her cell from her pocket and called him. "You won this house in a poker game, didn"t you? It explains so much."
"Like?"
"Great decorating, beautiful landscaping, books with words and not just pictures. But, never mind...Skip and Scooter need to make another public appearance today. How about a coffee run?"
"Okay with me." He wandered into the dining room, his phone cupped to his ear. He wore jeans and a vintage Nirvana T-shirt. "Why are you calling me as opposed to talking to me directly?"
She switched her own phone to the other ear. "I"ve decided we communicate better from a distance."
"Since when? Oh, I remember. Since two nights ago when I kissed you on the beach." He leaned against the doorframe and eye-smoldered her. "I can tell by the way you"ve been looking at me. I turn you on, and that scares the h.e.l.l out of you."
"You"re gorgeous, and I can be something of a s.l.u.t, so how could I help myself?" She cradled the phone closer to her ear. "Fortunately, your personality totally cancels out the effect. The reason I"m calling you-"
"Instead of walking across the room and talking to me face-to-face..."
"-is because this is a business relationship, and-"
"Since when is a marriage a business relationship?"
That made her mad, and she flipped her phone shut. "Since you conned me into paying you fifty thousand dollars a month."
"Good point." He pocketed his own phone and wandered toward her. "I hear the Loser didn"t give you a penny in the divorce."
Georgie could have gotten millions in guilt money from Lance, but for what? She hadn"t wanted his money. She"d wanted him. "Who needs more money? Oops...You do."
"I have some calls to make," he said. "Give me half an hour." He reached into the pocket of his jeans. "One more thing..." He pitched a ring box toward her. "I bought it for a hundred bucks on eBay. You"ve got to admit, it looks like the real thing."
She flipped open the box and saw a three-carat cushion-cut diamond. "Wow. A fake diamond to go with a fake husband. Works for me." She slipped it on.
"That"s a bigger stone than the ring you got from the Loser, the cheap b.a.s.t.a.r.d."
"Except his was real."
"Like his wedding vows?"
Some self-delusional part of her still wanted to believe the best of the man who"d left her, but she suppressed the urge to leap to Lance"s defense. "I"ll treasure it always," she drawled as she slipped past him and went upstairs.
She consulted April"s three-ring binder and chose cotton poplin pants and a ruched, moss green top with small puffy sleeves. She added Tory Burch ballet flats but bypa.s.sed the three-thousand-dollar designer purse April recommended. Fans didn"t realize those obscenely expensive purses their favorite celebrities carted around so carelessly were freebies, and Georgie had gotten fed up with being part of the conspiracy to make ordinary women overspend on an "it" bag that would be replaced by another "it" bag before their credit cards came due. Instead, she dug out a funky fabric purse Sasha had given her last year.
She did her hair, fixed her makeup, and had to choke back her resentment when she went downstairs and saw Bram standing in the foyer wearing exactly the same jeans and Nirvana T-shirt he"d had on earlier. As far as she could see, he hadn"t done one thing to get ready for the photographers, and even more aggravating, he hadn"t needed needed to do anything. His beard stubble was as photo worthy as his crisp, rumpled hair. Another sign of Hollywood"s conspiracy against its female celebrities. to do anything. His beard stubble was as photo worthy as his crisp, rumpled hair. Another sign of Hollywood"s conspiracy against its female celebrities.
He fingered the card tucked into an extravagant flower arrangement sitting on the credenza. "How did you and Rory Keene get to be such buddies?"
"Is that from her?"
"She wishes us the best. Correct me if I"m wrong, but she seems to take a special interest in you."
"I barely know her." That was true, although Rory had once phoned Georgie to suggest she avoid signing onto a certain project. Georgie had taken her advice, and sure enough, the film had run into money problems and shut down halfway through. Since Vortex hadn"t been involved, and Rory didn"t have anything to gain from the tip, Georgie had been puzzled by her interest. "I guess she feels some kind of connection with me because of the year she spent working as a P.A. on Skip and Scooter. Skip and Scooter."
Bram flicked the card back down on the credenza. "She doesn"t feel any connection with me."
"I was nice to her." Georgie barely remembered Rory from those days, but she did remember Bram"s habit of making life hard for the crew. was nice to her." Georgie barely remembered Rory from those days, but she did remember Bram"s habit of making life hard for the crew.
"Lowly P.A. to the head of Vortex Studios in fourteen years," he said. "Who"d have guessed?"
"Apparently, not you." She gave him her most annoying smile. "Payback"s a b.i.t.c.h."
"I guess." He slipped on a pair of devastatingly s.e.xy aviators. "Let"s go show off your ring to the American public."
They posed for the paps outside the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Beverly Boulevard. Bram kissed her hair and smiled at the photographers. "Isn"t she beautiful? I"m the luckiest guy in the world."
After her h.e.l.lish year of public humiliation, his words of phony adoration felt like balm to her bruised soul. How pathetic was that? She stepped on his foot to retaliate.
Chaz was coming back to the house from cleaning Bram"s office when she saw Georgie"s lardo a.s.sistant standing by the swimming pool, gazing down into the water. She marched over to him. "You"re not supposed to be out here." back to the house from cleaning Bram"s office when she saw Georgie"s lardo a.s.sistant standing by the swimming pool, gazing down into the water. She marched over to him. "You"re not supposed to be out here."
He blinked behind his gla.s.ses. The guy was a mess. Wiry brown hair exploded from his head, and whoever had picked out those big nerd gla.s.ses must have been blind. He dressed like a fat sixty-year-old man with his stomach hanging out over his belt and a checked sports shirt that pulled at the b.u.t.tons.
"Okay." He stepped around her to go back to the house.
She brushed off her hands. "What were you doing anyway?"
He shoved his fists in his pockets, adding to the bulk at his hips. "Taking a break."
"From what? You"ve got an easy job."
"Sometimes. It"s a little busy now."
"Yeah, it looks like you"re real busy."
He didn"t tell her to f.u.c.k off, which she deserved for being so rude, but she hated having all these people running around her house. And that whole thing yesterday in Bram"s office with Georgie and the camera had thrown her off. She should have walked right out, but...
She tried to make up for being a b.i.t.c.h. "Bram probably wouldn"t mind if you used the pool once in a while, as long as you don"t do it too much."
"I don"t have time to swim." He pulled his hands from his pockets and walked away from her toward the house.
She didn"t swim anymore, either, but she"d loved the water when she was a kid. He was probably embarra.s.sed about the way he looked in a suit. Or maybe only women felt that way.
"It"s private back here," she called out. "n.o.body would see you."
He went into the house without answering her.
She retrieved the net from behind the waterfall rocks and began to skim for leaves. Bram had a pool service, but she liked making the water all clean and smooth. Bram told her she could swim whenever she wanted, but she never did.
She tossed down the net. Until Monday, she"d been so happy here, but now, with all these strangers invading her s.p.a.ce, the bad feelings were coming back.