“Let me just say this, Epifania,” Hunter said with a gleam in his eye. “Julia and I only recently met, and tonight is our first time out together for reasons neither of us saw coming.”
“Oh!” Epifania said in exasperation. “I mean, the jig and the jam, and the fruit on the ham—what that even mean?”
He explained to her that Abby’s son was sick, and that I’d stepped in for Abby at the last minute so that he wouldn’t have to come here alone.
“Then it fate!” Epifania said with elation in her voice. “It the gods all the roiling and the toiling and the boiling and the coiling! It like me and my Rudsy,” she said as she turned to me. “Rudsy is my hunky stud of a fiancé, Julia! And since we just talk about the ham, me Rudsy have one major cerdo swinging between his legs!” She showed me the engagement ring on her left hand, and the diamond was so enormous, I just about choked on my martini when I saw it. “We haven’t set a date for the wedding yet, but let me tell you the both, a wedding is the coming! And if you two become an official couple, which Epifania hope you do? Then you both have to come to our wedding together, right?”
“Epifania,” Hunter said in a low voice. “You know, uh, first time out and all . . .”
“And here I go again, getting way ahead of myself,” she cried. “That probably why they call me the loose cannon of Park Avenue. I just get into my leetle, beety rocket ship otherwise known as me boca, I strike a match without thinking, I light the fuse, and then words just shoot out like a black cloud of confetti. I sorry if I put the pedal to the metal when it comes to you two, my precious leetle buttercups. But Epifania just see things, OK? Because here what you don’t know, Hunter. Only just the recently, I find out that me Mama Guadalupe has the power of the second sight. I no kidding! And she just told me! Ever since she was child, the poor thing knew her life was going to be totally in the sheet can until I met my first husband, the dead Chuckie, who gave her plenty of money while he alive. And now, because of mi madre, I’m starting to think that I have same power, which, by the way, is the only gift that beech ever gave me, that’s for the fucking sure. Well, that and my beautiful boobies, of course, which my Chuckie wanted to marry most of all before he go belly up on me. Because of my rack, Epifania inherit Chuckie’s five hundred million, and now she the super reech! But whatever! What you need to know is now I’m starting to think that I’ve inherited me Mama Guadalupe’s power of the second sight. I am starting to see things, and what I see for you two is something like a thrill ride! But that’s enough of that! Because Epifania no want to ruin any kind of budding mood!”
“Thank you for that,” Hunter said.
“Now, look, my precious leetle keety cats, Epifania need to go and find her Rudsy, because she miss him already, and it been way too long since he last had his beeg, beautiful hand on my ass. That man always talk the business when we come to these sorts of parties, which I can’t the stand, but since it make him happy, I let him have his piece of business the here and the there when we the out and the about. But enough time has passed, so Epifania is now free to break things up, reel him in, and have my handsome lover man back in my arms again.”
Before she left, she stopped short, she looked at me for a long moment, then she suddenly grasped my hand and took me aside before she addressed me directly.
“Looky, the cookie,” she said in a voice that was probably low for her, but not for those around her. “This none of my business—I know that, but I think it might be best for me to say what’s been the swirling and the twirling in my head ever since I first came over here.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“I sense something about you that is wrong, and it comes down to my Hunter. You hear things about him recently, right?”
I just stared at her, to which she just rolled her eyes.
“Right,” she said. “So, I leave you with this, my leetle doll cake. Yudge Hunter with untainted eyes. Forget the gossip. Base your future decisions on how he treats you going forward, and not on the things that people have tried to tell you about him before tonight, which I sense to be true. He deserve that now—and so do you. OK? OK. I know you going to fight me on that, but try not to do that. Instead, try your best to do just the opposite.”
Stunned that she’d tapped into my concerns about Hunter, I only nodded at her as this evening continued to become far more confusing, surreal, and complicated than I’d ever imagined.
After we hugged Epifania and wished her a good night, Hunter and I shot each other a glance before we both polished off our martinis and stood in silence as I tried to absorb everything Epifania had said to me, which Hunter clearly had overheard.
“Your parents,” I finally said to him. “We should go over and greet them—wherever they are. Have you spotted them yet?”
“With Epifania running her mouth? Not exactly. But before we go in search of them, may I get you another drink?”
“Hunter, you can’t get another martini in my hand fast enough.”
“I feel the same,” he said. “You know, I love Epifania, and I know that she means well, but I really wish she hadn’t said any of that to you.”
“Why?” I asked. “She pretty much just endorsed you.”
“That’s the thing,” he said. “I don’t need or want an endorsement from anyone when it comes to you. After our run-in with Immaculata and whatever Harper has said to you about me, I’ve decided that I’m just going to let my actions speak for themselves. Maybe one day you’ll believe what you see in me, Julia, because that’s all I can ask of you. Yes, I have a reputation. It’s dated, it’s real, and it’s out there. It’s likely something I’ll never live down. All I ask is that you see me for the person I am today.” He took my glass from me. “I’ll be back before you know it with two more, and then I’ll introduce you to my parents,” he said.
“I can’t wait to meet them,” I said, meaning it.
“Perfect,” he said. “Give me a second.”
And then Hunter walked away from me as my mind—which had already been blown several times tonight—had to consider yet another layer of Hunter’s life. Not just his past—but the man who very well could be done with it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
WHEN HUNTER RETURNED with our drinks, we touched glasses again, we sipped, and because he was so damned tall, he had no problem spotting his parents almost at once.
“My parents are just over there,” he said nodding somewhere behind me. “And they’re surrounded by people, not that that should surprise anyone given that tonight is my father’s night. We should go over and say hello to them before the evening becomes even more insane for them. This place is almost at capacity.”
“You think?” I said, looking around us. “Tonight, I think Tootie has tooted herself straight past the fire code. This place is a madhouse.”
“Let’s just hope that people are in the mood to open their checkbooks,” he said. “Because I know for a fact that, with a fat check in his hand after tonight, my father would be over the moon if he could help those women in Thailand through his foundation.”
“I plan on writing a check myself,” I said to him.
Hunter raised his eyebrows when I said that.
“You do?” he said in surprise. “Julia, you don’t have to. I didn’t say that to get you to—”
“Hunter, I know you didn’t say that to encourage me. But I’d still like to offer something, because I would like to support the cause your father has highlighted with his film. I mean, I’ve seen the documentary, which is so gut-wrenching, it opened my eyes to the point that I cried for those women. And while I don’t have the means to match what the people in this crowd can afford, I still can offer something, and you need to know that I’ll be happy to do so.”
“That’s very kind of you.”
“What’s kind is the spotlight your father’s film has cast on the plight of those women.”
“I meant it when I said that I can’t wait to introduce you to him,” he said.
“And look—there’s a break in the crowd. Let’s go over now,” he said. “I also want you to meet my mother.”
“Please,” I said. “I can’t wait to meet them.”
“Take hold of my arm?” he asked. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but this crowd is so thick, I’d rather not lose you in it.”
“I’d be happy to take your arm,” I said to him. “Because you’re a beast of a man, and this place is insane.”
“Is that all there is to it?” he asked me with a sly smile.
To be determined, I thought as I slipped my hand around his arm.
We went off together through a crowd that was so glittering, it was as if I’d been transplanted into another world. I heard people say hello to Hunter as we sliced our way toward his parents, but thankfully not one of them was Immaculata—or a person even remotely like Immaculata.
“Hey!” Hunter said as he came up to his father, who was a distinguished-looking gentleman somewhere in his early sixties. Despite his age, he had a thick, full mane of black hair cut stylishly close. He was wearing a fitted, black tuxedo, his eyes were as blue as Hunter’s, and they appeared to be framed by the same thick lashes. I’d seen Robert Steele in many photographs since his win at the Academy Awards, but he was far more handsome in person. He was, in fact, perhaps the person Hunter would become when he reached his father’s age. I knew that made no sense on paper, because they shared no blood between them, yet they still somehow shared a striking resemblance.
It’s as if they were meant to be father and son, I thought, which warmed my heart.
Before his father answered, I noticed a gorgeous-looking woman standing at his side, and I knew in my gut that she had to be Hunter’s mother, Helen—and my God, was she ever a knockout.
She had to be around the same age as Hunter’s father, but she was so youthful-looking. She was wearing a chic, formfitting black gown, her silvery-gray hair was dramatically raked away from her face so it just touched her shoulders with a little flip at the tips, and when she caught my eye, I not only felt kindness reflected back at me, but also a profound sense of poise. Helen Steele was a thin, tiny woman far shorter than the rest of us, but her commanding presence was formidable. To me, she had the kind of confidence that punctuated the space around us—but only in the best of ways, because her energy was as bright as it was positive.
This is a strong woman, I thought as I admired her. And my God, does she ever look as cool as she does kind . . .
“Congratulations, Dad,” Hunter said as he shook his father’s hand.
“Glad you’re here, Hunter,” Robert Steele said as he pulled his son in for a meaningful hug. “Wouldn’t mean nearly as much if you weren’t.”
“I’d like to second that,” Helen Steele said as she reached out her arms to her son. She held him close while she kissed him on each cheek. “You look dashing, Hunter. Your father and I know that your show starts filming this week—and because of that, we also know that you must be busy—so it means the world to us that you could make time to come tonight.”
“As if I wouldn’t,” Hunter said.
“But that’s the thing, Hunter,” his mother said in a soft voice. “Some sons might have found an excuse not to come, but you’ve never been that son. You’ve always put us first, even during those moments in your life when it was difficult to do so.”
“You mean my career?” he said.
“Among other things. As for your career, these past two years have been challenging for you,” she said. “In fact, sometimes hell for you. First, you had to fight tooth and nail to get your show on television, which wasn’t easy. But when your show became a hit, you took none of it for granted. Instead, you continued to work nonstop when others might have slacked off. In the industry in which you work, that is the only route to achieving success. Television is beyond competitive, and yet you did it, my darling boy,” she said. “You worked hard, you changed your life, you became super focused, and now you have a hit television show on your hands. Your father and I couldn’t be prouder of you. Both of us are over the moon that the Teens is doing so well.”
“I appreciate that, Mom,” Hunter said. “It’s only because of you and Dad that I’m where I’m at today. Think of the examples you’ve set for me. It’s because of your and Dad’s help, faith, and belief in me that I’ve accomplished anything.”
“Don’t you dare make your mother cry on a night like tonight,” Helen said.
“I don’t mean to,” Hunter said. “So, let’s change the subject. Please allow me to introduce to you my date for this evening.”
Helen looked at me with a smile.
“Is this the lovely young woman you told us at breakfast that you were bringing because Abby couldn’t come? Is that you, Julia?”
Before I could answer, Hunter leaped in like a gentleman, clearly wanting to make the introductions himself.
“It is,” he said. “Mom, this is Julia Jacobs. It’s my pleasure to introduce her to you and Dad tonight.”
“That gown of yours,” Helen said, after both she and her dashing husband shook my hand. “It’s so beautiful, Julia. Stunning, really. You’re so gorgeous tonight, I think you might be the exclamation point in the room.”
“Well, thank you, Mrs. Steele,” I said as I blushed. “But to be honest, I’m not so sure about being the—”
“I am,” she said, cutting me off at once.
“As am I,” Robert said with a smile.
“Allow me to be a firm third on that,” Hunter said.
Oh, my word . . .
Helen raised a finger at me.
“Julia, from this point forward, it’s Helen and Robert, OK? Particularly after the way Hunter gushed over you this morning,” she said.
He gushed over me?
“Mom,” Hunter warned.
“Well, you did,” Helen said with a sly smile. “And now, your father and I can see why . . .”
Robert turned to me, and once again I was struck by just how much Hunter looked like him. The fact that they looked like father and son was kind of surreal to me—but also absolutely endearing, because these three clearly were a tight family.
After all those years of Hunter being jostled from home to home, somehow the universe must have decided that he was meant for this man and woman, I thought. Because Robert seriously looks like Hunter, and what are the odds of that happening? And how wonderful that it did happen? If looks mean anything, these three truly look like a family to me—
“Hunter mentioned that you’re an agent at CAA, Julia,” Robert said to me.
“Freshly minted,” I said with a raised hand.
“How’s that?” he asked.
“I was promoted to assistant agent just this week,” I said.
“Well, good for you,” he said with raised eyebrows. “And at CAA, no less. You must be seriously good to have nailed that promotion, Julia. CAA is the best, and the competition to be an agent there is fierce.”
“I’m very lucky,” I said.
“Actually, from what Hunter said about you, it sounds as if the people at CAA are the lucky ones.”
“Dad,” Hunter warned.
“Well, it’s true,” his father said. “When you called this morning to tell us about Julia, you were over the moon about her in ways I’ve never heard from you when it comes to meeting a woman. But now I can see why that’s the case, because Julia isn’t just gorgeous, but her career alone means that she must be seriously smart as hell. So, why not acknowledge it? Your mother and I can’t remember when you’ve talked about another woman the way you talked about Julia this morning. Not once, and that’s a fact.”
What had he said about me? I wondered.
Whatever it was, you need to pay attention to this moment, girl. Because when it comes to the rents? They go all in when it comes to defending or embracing the person their son or daughter might be smitten with . . .
“Robert, Hunter doesn’t want us to meddle,” Helen warned.
; “That would be correct,” Hunter said, sounding flustered.
I felt for Hunter at that moment, because sometimes parents could take things so much further than you wanted them to. But I also had to admit that I was curious about what Hunter had said to them about me. I mean, what woman wouldn’t want to know? To my delight, neither Helen nor Robert could keep their mouths shut.
“I think we’ve just been chastised,” Robert said to his wife.
“Perhaps we have,” she said as she placed her hand tentatively on her husband’s shoulder. “But we’ll get through it, won’t we, darling? I’ll always have your back, just as you’ve always had mine.”
“Which is why I’ve loved you since the day I met you,” Robert said to his wife. The love they shared was so palpable, it was enviable, and it gave me hope that maybe one day, I might be as lucky as they were. At twenty-eight and after too many false starts, was it too late for me to find the right man? I’d been waiting so long to meet him, it certainly was starting to feel that way. But maybe one day the right man would enter my life and become the love of my life.
Life goals!
“Anyway,” Helen said. “Let me just end with this, and then we can move on.”
“How about if we just move on now?” Hunter asked.
“Because I think it should be noted how enthusiastically you swooned over Julia after sharing only an afternoon and a dinner with her, that’s why.”
“I did not swoon.”
“Oh, my dear, it was practically a clarion call. I mean, when was the last time you took the time to call us about someone you were romantically interested in? Allow me to answer that for you. How about never? We had you on speakerphone this morning when you said that Julia would be taking Abby’s place tonight, and what you said about Julia took us both by surprise, because we’ve never heard that tone in your voice.”
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