Sexy Ink!

by Jamie Collins

  “Right?” La Costa said smugly. “Do you know anyone who can take a serious look at it?”

  “I am working on that too,” Tess said, suddenly jolting forward as the cab came to an abrupt stop. “Shit! That was my coffee.”

  “Okay, I’m out,” La Costa said, unable to take the bobbing motion on the screen any longer. It was time to jump off of Tess’s crazy ride. “We will be up at Splendor Bay next weekend, so please be sure to text or call if you hear anything further from Bumpy Friedman’s people.”

  “Will do, girl. Happy revising!”

  La Costa was gone with a blip. Tess quickly reached for her cell phone as the cab slowed to a crawl, now in gridlock traffic. She dialed Henry’s mobile number, barely giving him a chance to say hello when he picked up.

  “Hey, Henry—it’s Tess. Is everything a go for this weekend?”

  Chapter Fifty-four

  Tess had contacted Henry a couple of weeks prior to suggest that they conspire to plan the perfect surprise party for La Costa. It would be a celebration in her honor for the new talk show signing, and Tess insisted that they host it at Splendor Bay.

  “It’s almost ready for bookings, right? It would also be a good test run of the facility’s new banquet room, and overall, a great way to showcase the venue for similar events.”

  Who was Henry to argue? All but the upstairs dorm rooms were finished, and he was quite proud to show off the new face-lift in the entrance lobby and grounds.

  Tess had deputized all of their tasks. “We can put out the word and invite as many people as possible to rally around La Costa as she takes on this bold new career move. I want her to walk in and be hit with the whole package—banners, balloons, the works!”

  It would be Louis’s job to get her there. Never in his life had he kept a secret from his mother, and it wasn’t going to be easy. It had been murder on everyone, working so hard to not let La Costa in on their planning.

  Henry was not only on board, but he couldn’t be more excited. He had arranged for a local photographer to shoot the venue beforehand, to get some marketing collateral of the décor, the event stage, and the beach-front gaming tables. It was going to be epic.

  “Everything is set,” Henry said. It was his hundredth call with Tess. “I will head up there on Thursday to meet with the event planner. Wait until you see it. La Costa is getting a full-scale Southern plantation and Hollywood premier theme party all in one. It will blow her away!”

  “Perfect,” Tess squealed. “I don’t know who’s more excited, Demitri and the family, or me. My Ella can’t wait to watch Gone with the Wind in the new media room and later hang with the older kids at the bonfire. Oh—it’s a go on the fireworks, right?”

  “Check,” Henry said assuredly. “It will be glitter, lights, and a red carpet reception for La Costa all the way. I’m telling you, it will be an evening she won’t forget.”

  “Great. Text me if you think of anything else. Just make sure that Louis gets her there!”

  When the weekend arrived, Henry could hardly contain his excitement. Mostly because he had a little surprise of his own planned to coincide with the festivities.

  On Friday, at mid-afternoon, La Costa and Louis pulled onto the driveway in a Town car from the airport, as planned, entering through the ornate front doors to a chorus of cheers. La Costa nearly fainted when Tess and her family, a bevy of industry colleagues, and a handful of super fans, all yelled, “Surprise!” Louis had to catch La Costa’s arm and steady her from the startling shock that nearly knocked her off of her Ferragamos.

  “What?” La Costa was incredulous. “How in the world did you ever pull this off?” she said to Tess, who was jumping straight up and down across the room. La Costa had thought that her usually chatty assistant, Florian, had been especially tip-lipped the previous few days. Now, there he was, tossing a handful of confetti, and snapping photos with his phone, much to his and the crowd’s collective delight. Never in her life had she ever been thrown a surprise party—let alone one as magnificent and audacious as this. The woman of many words was rendered speechless.

  Every room on the main floor was transformed into another place and time with movie posters, spotlights, and roving actors and actresses dressed as Hollywood icons. “Rhett Butler” and “Scarlett O’Hara” ushered the guests into the brand-new movie theater on the main floor with popcorn and confections for the taking on pushcarts and buffet stations throughout the house. The banquet room entrance was flanked with eight-foot-tall golden Oscar statues and a sea of round tables topped with floral centerpieces and cascading rolls of film and cut-out stars on each tabletop. Lush fabric framed the stage, on which was featured a video montage of La Costa taken from a collection of her appearances and media reels. A disc jockey was set up near the dance floor, spinning a collection of high-energy tunes from past to present beneath a laser light show-infused ceiling.

  The back of the property was a wonderland of carnival and casino games, face-painters, mimes, and fire-eaters. There even was a small petting zoo for the young children.

  It would take La Costa hours to take it all in. Someone handed her a cool glass of iced tea.

  “How did all these people get here?” La Costa asked Louis, who was beaming from ear to ear.

  “They parked their cars a mile away at a hotel, and we bused them here.”

  “We didn’t want to give anything away with all the cars!” Tess said, bounding forward and giving La Costa a bear hug that enveloped her in Chanel No. 5 and lasted two full minutes. “Hey, girl! Look who’s in the spotlight!”

  La Costa cried large, unstoppable tears that streaked her mascara and made her nose drip, but she didn’t care. Not today. It was like a dream that she never knew she had wanted.

  “Tess, did you invite the whole island?” La Costa mused, dabbing her swollen eyes with a wad of tissues that someone had handed her.

  “Just about! There are a ton of event planners, florists, and hospitality folk here to check out Splendor Bay, so you’re welcome.”

  La Costa’s head was spinning. “My word . . . where’s Henry?”

  She searched the crowd. Henry had waited for La Costa to catch his gaze, and in that moment, she knew that none of it would have been possible if not for him. He, no doubt, had been behind so much of what they had set out to do in bringing Splendor Bay back to life. And now this? It was just too much. She couldn’t have loved him more.

  The festivities ran all afternoon and into the night, when the entertainment moved onto the beach for a reenactment of an Old West shootout, and a large bonfire was only upstaged by the spectacle of bursting fireworks exploding in the sky, Disneyland-style. It was more than magical.

  By ten p.m., the crowd had begun to thin out, and La Costa had grown hoarse from talking and visiting with her guests, feeling blissfully exhausted.

  Tess and Demitri emerged with twelve-year-old Ella yawning widely and clinging to her father’s arm. “The kids are exhausted. I think we broke their fun meters! Imagine that,” Tess said. “We’re going to head back to the hotel.”

  “No,” La Costa said, rubbing her bare arms from the cool night air. “You all stay here with us. We’ll make up some beds and—”

  Tess shot Henry a knowing glance. “Well, we already checked in at the hotel in town with the large pool and the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet in the morning, so we are all set. In fact, Louis said earlier that he wanted to head back over there with us, so he and the kids can have a sleepover.”

  La Costa smiled. Who was she to argue? Splendor Bay was a beautiful wreck from the party, and it was probably best that she and Henry have some time to themselves to decompress from it all. “Sure, no problem,” La Costa said.

  “We’ll see you both in the morning, when we drop Louis back off on our way to the airport,” Tess said, as she planted a kiss on La Costa’s cheek. “It was a magnificent night, Bubbi. And in so many ways, I know, it’s only the beginning.”

  La Costa embraced her tightl
y, and then reached up to hug Demitri’s neck. “Thank you both, so much—for everything.”

  An hour later, Henry was still busy with the task of settling with caterers and prop company as they broke down the sets and hauled away the larger items back to their warehouses. He had been tending to something out back while La Costa took a soothing shower and changed into her comfy yoga pants and a simple T-shirt. She freshened her face and slipped into her favorite house slippers and padded around the main house, in all its post-party disorder, wondering where Henry had disappeared to. She couldn’t wait to collapse with him on the couch, and to go over every detail of the night, and especially to see some of the photos he had taken with his new phone.

  When she couldn’t find him anywhere, she decided to dial his cell number.

  He picked up on the second ring. “Hello? Is this the beautiful and amazing La Costa Reed calling me?”

  “It is. Are you even still here? On this property? I am beginning to worry that you might have ditched me like everyone else, leaving me to clean up this mess! Where are you?”

  “I’m right here, in the back. Waiting for you.”

  “For me? You want me to come out there?”

  “Yes, sweetheart. Come meet me outside,” he said. And then hung up.

  La Costa puzzled. What in the world? She grabbed her zippered hoodie and headed toward the front entrance. She kicked off her house slippers and, in her bare feet, stepped across the porch, down the wooden steps, and onto the cool grass. It was dark, and the only light she could now see was coming from the distance toward the beach. She could make out a series of small, flickering lights glowing along a stretch of the lawn leading to the water. The moon was half-veiled by a slow-drifting night cloud that, every few seconds, offered a bit more light as she ventured toward the image of Henry standing several yards from her with something in his arms.

  “What is going on?” she asked, as she made her way closer to him.

  Henry said nothing and only smiled.

  Finally, when she stood before him, she could see that he was holding a bouquet of roses.

  “These are for you, my love,” he said.

  “Thank you, babe, but—?” Suddenly, her heart began to quicken as he took her hand in his and led her toward the dock, which was also lined with small tea candles, leading a pathway to the edge of the pier, ending where a spattering of red rose petals were arranged in a heart at the edge of the slip. There, bobbing in the water, was a small utility boat that looked like a throwback in time. It had deep crimson teakwood edging that glistened in the moonlight. Henry motioned for her to take a look at the decal letters in script on the side of the hull, which read: SEXY INK.

  La Costa raised a concerned brow. “You bought a boat?’

  “Oh, this boat is not just any old boat,” Henry said, pulling her in close for a kiss. “It’s yours.”

  “Mine?”

  “It belonged to Georgia and Macklin Byrne. It came with the house. It was here all along, in the shed under a tarp. I had remembered how you told me that Georgia once said that Macklin loved restoring it, and well, I have made it my little special project these many weeks that I have been coming here.”

  “You restored it for me?” La Costa could not imagine that she had ever been shown such an incredible kindness, nor had she received a more meaningful gift.

  “Yep,” Henry said. “Do you like it?”

  La Costa simply threw her arms around him and squeezed. “I love it! And I love you, Henry Paige.”

  Henry held her close and drew in a steady breath, taking in the blissful cool and salty night air deep into his lungs. “One more thing,” he said, slowly lowering himself onto one knee, his weathered hands trembling.

  La Costa’s beautiful face froze in disbelief.

  Pulling a small ring box from his pocket, he lifted the hinged top and stared up into her eyes. They were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen and would ever need to know for the rest of his life. “Will you marry me?”

  La Costa’s tears and shock cumulated into a resounding, “Yes! Yes, Henry Paige, I will marry you!”

  She laughed and cried simultaneously as he slipped the ring onto her finger. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, somehow managing to outshine every star in the night sky. They shared a kiss that would seal the promise of a lifetime.

  La Costa’s whirlwind day could only be topped by the prince of all men asking her to share her life with his. What this would mean for her and the future was yet to be known. And that uncertainty suited her just fine.

  Chapter Fifty-five

  Panther awoke to the sliver of sunlight that peeked from behind the broken slats in the blinds that barely covered the grimy window panel above the kitchen sink. Her futon, which passed as a couch by day, was a tangle of threadbare sheets, atop which was left a book broken open at the spine, from a late-night read. It was La Costa’s memoir, No Secrets. The pages were tattered and dog-eared, some filled with endless sticky notes and highlights from a florescent marker.

  It was finally the day. It was time.

  Panther ran a hot shower, shaved her legs, and chose a floral sundress with spaghetti straps. She placed her hair in ringlet curls plastered close to her head, in order to slip on the snug silver-blonde wig that had blunt thick bangs and swept in an angle from the nape of her neck to her ebony shoulders. She went easy on the makeup and powdered her cheeks with a light blush and finished off the look with a sticky pink gloss.

  She stuffed the memoir and some paperwork into a canvas tote bag, grabbed a bag of Doritos, and left the apartment.

  Chapter Fifty-six

  La Costa’s first line of business when she got back to Los Angeles and to her desk was to Skype Tess and to relive the previous three days that had her head in the clouds, celebrating all the good news of late, not the least of which was Henry’s beautiful proposal.

  Tess had insisted on another live shot of the engagement ring, in spite of having seen it the morning after the party, when she and her family dropped Louis off.

  “You know I still can hardly believe that it is happening, girl. It’s stunning!”

  “Isn’t it?” La Costa beamed. “I guess I will have to keep up with the manicures again now that I’m hauling this thing around, right?”

  “Well, we knew that Henry was working on something, but Demitri and I couldn’t exactly figure out what. It was Henry who had asked us to take Louis for the night, and to say that it was his idea. Very crafty, that man of yours is!” Tess said, leaning in. “Hold it up closer to the camera. Oy! That’s beautiful! I’m just so happy for you, girl.”

  “Tess, the party was beyond anything I have ever seen. I just can’t thank you enough for helping to put all that together for me. I am seriously still in shock,” La Costa said.

  “Well, you certainly deserved it. Now, there is still much to be done before the group signing, which, by the way, will be on August 21st. Put that date into your calendar and circle it in red.”

  “I’m doing it now,” La Costa said.

  “In the meantime, I will definitely try to keep you busy with summer signings and appearances. If it’s up to me, you will be the queen of personal appearances—everything from podcasts to conference panels—anywhere we can gain visibility.”

  “Just leave me some time to write,” La Costa said. “If I could ever stop staring at my ring!”

  “Check that. Oh, I wanted to ask you. Have you decided on where you are going to have Louis’s graduation party next month? Reyce wants the works, like you just had. I put the kibosh on that right away with that one. He’s getting a backyard barbecue right here at Chez Kardamakis.”

  “Would you believe that Louis doesn’t want a party?” La Costa said, her mouth bending into a frown. “Says that he just wants to go to Yellowstone with Kayden and his dad for seven days. But get this—he’s asked Henry to go with him.”

  “That is really amazing,” Tess said. “I mean, that he feels that close
to Henry already.”

  “I suppose so, but I thought every high school senior wanted the big cap-tossing thing and all. He just wants a quiet dinner with us after the ceremony, and then to leave the next day for the camping trip.”

  “Yellowstone, huh? Well, now I’m thinking that will free you up for a potential week on London’s bookshop circuit. Perfect!”

  “Hey, slow down. I’ve got a wedding to plan here!” La Costa said.

  “Do you two have a date in mind?” Tess asked, shifting through a messy desk of files.

  “No idea. When life slows down long enough for either one of us to catch our breath, I guess we will figure that out. I promise, you’ll be the first to know.”

  “As long as I don’t have to squeeze into a God-awful bridesmaid’s dress or anything anytime soon, I’m good. Or, at least give me a thirty-day warning so that I can shed a few pounds.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” La Costa laughed.

  “Mazel tov, my friend. I just couldn’t be happier for you,” Tess said, signing off.

  * * *

  Panther pulled up to the address for the social welfare center that was scrawled on the torn piece of paper taped to her dashboard. The neighborhood was sketchy at best, so she reached over to the glove box and popped it open. A can of pepper spray rolled out onto the floorboard with a thud. She quickly snatched it up and tossed it into her tote bag. Then, she hesitantly opened the car door and stepped into the street. A carful of hoodlums roared past in a tricked-out Bronco, nearly clipping her as they sped by, shouting, “Hey, delicious. Give me some of that brown sugar!” and “Yo! Why don’t you put those lips around my cock!” gesturing obscenities as they leaned out of the open windows, with DMX blaring from the booming speakers.

  She hurried over to the nondescript building, littered with all forms of humanity leaning on the brick walls and skulking in the doorways. She pulled on the steel door handle and into a cheerless sterile office building with a glass door on the left and an elevator on the right. The name on the door matched the one on the piece of paper that she was now squeezing in her sweaty palm. She breathed a sigh of relief.