by Cecilia Gray
Kat crossed her arms self-consciously. She tiptoed over to see an open skillet with scrambled eggs and bacon on the front burner.
“Did they leave?”
“They drove to the studio for voice work this morning. You should eat,” he urged. He pulled a plate from a cupboard, slid her breakfast onto it, pushed it across the counter, and handed her a fork.
This completely put a crimp in her plans to yell at Josh and flirt with Henry. “When will they be back?”
“Voice-over will go until noon, but they’re doing pre-junkets, too. I’m expecting them for dinner tonight. Did Henry tell you? It’s our Christmas dinner.”
“Christmas is tomorrow, isn’t it?” Kat spooned eggs into her mouth, a part of her picturing Henry behind the stove. She felt a perverse flush of pleasure at the idea of him doing something so simple and considerate for her.
“I have a charity fundraiser on Christmas Day,” Tom said. “A great cause. Lots of celebrity involvement.”
“Including Scarlett Hill?” Kat asked with innocent eyes.
Tom slowly brought his coffee to his mouth, his eyes fixed on the paper in front of him. “She may be involved with the organization. We don’t have the same representation, so I wouldn’t know.”
“But you’re friends?” Kat pressed.
“Acquaintances. You know,” Tom said, realization dawning on his face as he set down the paper, “I don’t think we need to keep you down here on the ground floor. I had another good talk with your mother this morning to let her know you’d arrived. You haven’t caused trouble at your school, so you certainly won’t get into trouble under my roof. Why don’t you move into one of the suites upstairs? More closet space—that’s important to you, right?”
Upstairs meant the same hallway as Henry and Josh. It also meant a room without a view of the driveway…and any potential sightings of Tom and Scarlett.
“I don’t mind the room I’m in,” Kat said.
“Nonsense, I insist.” Tom folded his paper in half. “It will be chaos here on Christmas morning. The charity event is a whole production. My manager, agent, and publicist will all be over early. We might wake you up.” He tapped his palms on the counter. “It’s settled. Second door on the right. And see you tonight for dinner. Just a casual one with us, you, and Josh. A family affair.”
“But…”
“His mother’s in Paris,” Tom explained. “I’m sure he told you.” Tom continued to ramble as he said his good-bye and left through the front door. She gawked as he sped away in his Tesla.
She was alone in the house—or was she? Maybe Scarlett was still there, waiting for Kat to leave so she could sneak out.
Upstairs, Kat glanced at the closed French doors to Tom Trenton’s bedroom. If Scarlett Hill had come over last night, then she was in here still. Kat was sure of it.
Not only was she curious, she was angry. Because if Henry’s father was having an affair, Henry and his mother deserved to know. With a determined nod, Kat stalked to the doors, grabbed the knobs, and flung them open.
Tom Trenton’s bedroom had a sunken floor with steps leading to a platform bed with black silk bedding. She paused and strained her ears for any sound of Scarlett Hill.
Nothing.
She tentatively stepped into the room, her heart picking up its pace. She was trespassing in Tom Trenton’s bedroom. Tom Trenton’s bedroom!
Like a crazy stalker.
Suddenly the thought of being caught, of how Henry would react, sent her into a panic. She turned to flee and tripped over a cowboy boot, falling to the carpet. She groaned as she opened her eyes.
There, nested in the fibers of the carpet, was a single diamond stud. A woman’s earring. She plucked it between her fingers and held her breath.
She could see the headline now: Tom Trenton in extramarital fling with Scarlett Hill.
Just the kind of scandal Josh and Henry had both warned her against getting caught up in, but the situation was too tantalizing, and there was too much evidence supporting it.
Her fingers twitched to call Henry, but this was not the kind of news one gave over the phone, and she had Josh’s list to deal with.
How could she make dinner reservations when she didn’t know the time and date? What kind of suit did Josh want? For what? And how could she possibly pick a Christmas present for someone she didn’t know?
More importantly, how would she accomplish all this without a car? She supposed she could request the reservation by phone…assuming she knew when to make it for. It wasn’t like she even knew anyone in Los Angeles who could help her.
Only she did, she realized as she got to her feet.
She knew one person.
Whether she would help was another matter.
* * *
“I’m so excited you called,” Izzy said as Kat ran outside toward her powder-pink sports car.
“Are you sure it’s okay?” Kat asked for the umpteenth time as she slid into the seat and closed the door.
Izzy flashed a smile. “Of course. I have last-minute Christmas shopping to do, anyway. I already had my contact at Nobu make reservations for every day this week. She can cancel the ones that don’t work for Josh.”
“You’re a lifesaver.” Kat felt guilty for all the mean thoughts she’d had about Izzy. Not that some of them weren’t true, but Izzy was a girl who got things done, and she hadn’t hesitated to help Kat even though she had no reason to. “I’m sure your own shopping list is enough of a hassle.”
“The mall at Century City has us totally covered.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind helping me with his suit and gift? I felt like…I don’t know…you’re not thrilled with me.”
Izzy pulled off her sunglasses and pinned Kat with her serious blue eyes. “What happens on set stays on set, Kat. Let’s just have a good time.”
They ripped out of the driveway with the windows rolled down and Passion Pit blaring from the speakers. Kat felt fun, invincible, and fabulous as they shouted the lyrics.
She played it cool when the passengers and drivers in the cars around them recognized Izzy. Many pulled out their phones to take photos, and Kat and Izzy flashed peace signs and hearts in return.
“Why aren’t you doing voice-over work today with the boys?” Kat asked as they pulled into the mall.
“I didn’t have mic issues. They need voice-over for the fight scene between Henry and Josh.” Izzy sighed. “I wanted a fight scene but couldn’t get them to give me one. No one has given me physical work yet. I wanted to break a chair over Henry’s head or something. To be honest—” Izzy gave an apologetic smile as she turned off her car. “—throwing my shoe at him was the closest I got.”
Kat felt a pinch at the reminder that Izzy had stolen her bit. “That kind of sucked,” she admitted finally. “When you stole my idea.”
“I know,” Izzy said. “I hated myself because I’ve been on the other end of it. I’ve had people take credit for my work, too. I remember how it made me feel.”
They both sat in the car for a moment in silence, and Kat knew this was Izzy’s way of apologizing. She also knew that getting to work on the film was the most important thing, and if she had somehow managed to inspire the great Izzy Engel then that was a nice bonus.
A week ago she would have considered herself a complete pushover, but something in her had mellowed. She knew she’d made a smart move, knew it had been a good choice. For once, she didn’t need everyone else in the world to know it, too.
One day it would be her turn to shine on her terms.
“What happens on set—” Kat said.
Izzy’s grin spread across her face. She squeezed Kat’s hand. “—stays on set.”
* * *
Kat and Izzy were greeted by well-groomed, suited employees the moment they set foot in Bloomingdale’s. Within seconds, they were swept to a private dressing room and handed champagne flutes of mineral water with lime wedges. Someone discreetly set a plate of puffy pastries on the tab
le between their two wingback chairs. Cheery Christmas music with jingling sleigh bells piped through the speakers.
Kat smoothed her hands over the flowery fabric of the chair’s arms and pointed her toes in front of her. She didn’t need Henry’s tiara to make her feel like a princess today. “Does this happen every time you come here?”
“Unless I’m incognito. Sometimes I go with the scarf, oversized sunglasses, and baseball cap. But you know what?” Izzy took a sip of her water and shrugged. “Being treated normally is totally overrated.”
Kat had to agree. Over the next few hours, as attentive staff swept in and out with gifts and clothes and catalogs for them to sort through, Kat and Izzy chatted and shopped and laughed.
“Oh, look, a souvenir,” Izzy squealed. She leaned over and showed Kat her phone. The photo was from a gossip site and showed Kat and Izzy sipping drinks and debating a red cashmere scarf.
Kat immediately sent the picture to her mom and Fanny and was hit with text messages a moment later.
“Lemme see,” Izzy demanded. “In case they’re about me, too.”
Kat showed Izzy her mother’s text:
Is that for me? Remember, my favorite color is jade!
“Let me,” Izzy said. She picked up the Bloomingdale’s phone and demanded the scarf in the closest shade to jade. “A gift from me,” she insisted over Kat’s protests.
Then she showed her Fanny’s text:
Shut up! She seems cool. She makes you look short.
Izzy burst out laughing. “Who is this?”
“My best friend, Fanny.”
“From the Jane Austen Academy?”
Kat nodded and tucked the phone back in her bag. “She’s been my best friend since our first day, and we started rooming together this year.”
“Does she act, too?”
“No—she’s an athlete. She’s one of the top track stars in the country. I miss her—even though I don’t normally see her over Christmas. I’m usually with my mom. Isn’t it weird?” Kat tilted her head back at the speakers. “Holly Jolly Christmas” echoed through them. “It sounds like Christmas. It looks like Christmas. But it doesn’t feel like Christmas. Not without my mom and definitely not without snow.”
“This is usually my Christmas,” Izzy admitted.
“I thought I read your family is from Cleveland.”
“They are, but they moved here for me when I decided I wanted to act. The pressure of knowing my dad had given up his guidance-counselor position at the school was kind of overwhelming. My mom was able to move her tax practice but still. When I was finally able to buy them a house here, it was the proudest day for me.”
“That…is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard,” Kat admitted.
“Sometimes when the business gets ugly—like when I have to hear rumors about who I’m dating or listen to casting agents call me fat—I try to remember the good stuff. Like my mom having her first pool. Her seeing the ocean for the first time. LA is our home now.” She cocked her head. “Where’s home for you?”
“Phoenix. I never thought I’d be homesick my grandparents’ terrible cooking and decorated cacti. I wonder if Josh misses his family, too.”
“Doubt it,” Izzy said. “Josh’s family is here in Los Angeles.”
“They’re traveling, aren’t they? Isn’t that why we’re staying with Henry?”
“I’m pretty sure they’re in town,” Izzy said. “Josh’s mom was seen shopping at the Kardashians’ boutique yesterday.”
A retailer rushed in with the jade-green cashmere scarf, which Izzy snatched up with a grin before Kat could question her further. “Look at this! Isn’t it perfect? Your mom will love it!”
* * *
Kat hugged Izzy, said “thank you” a dozen times, and wished her a merry Christmas. After refusing Izzy’s help with her bags, she dragged the plunder from her shopping expedition up Henry’s driveway. Josh’s lime-green convertible was in the driveway, but there was no sign of Tom Trenton’s red Tesla. The beat-up white truck that had been parked by the shed, which she now realized must belong to Henry, was also gone. She wondered where Tom and Henry had gone as she dragged the bags up the driveway to the front door.
Josh pulled it open just as she arrived. He crunched down on a tart, green apple. “Is that my stuff?”
Kat started to hand him his suit, but he turned and walked back into the house, eating his apple all the way. She grunted and pulled the bags in behind her. “I have your suit—tailored to your specs.”
He turned and then walked back to her with interested eyes as she shook the hanging wardrobe bag at him. He zipped it down and studied the green-gray skinny suit inside. “This looks great! Cool colors, great cut. Wow. Thanks, Kat.” Before she could stop him, he ruffled her bangs, nabbed the hanger from her hand, and continued toward the kitchen.
“Do you want your agent’s gift?” she called.
He swiveled back around. “Do I?”
“It’s a top-of-the-line bartender’s kit since he just took it up as a hobby.” She hid her perverse sense of satisfaction at the shock on his face.
Josh narrowed his eyes and stalked her like prey. “How did you know that?”
“Doesn’t everyone know that?” She casually brushed by him with her remaining bags.
He followed close behind and took another loud crunch of his apple. “What about the reservations?”
“I have two reservations for every day this week—one for an early seating and one for a later. Just let me know which one you want to keep.”
“What the hell, Kat?” Josh said. “Since when are you this connected?”
Kat gave him a smug smile as she walked up the stairs.
“Where are you going?” He lunged after her, taking the stairs two at a time.
“To my suite,” she said. She burst through her French doors into the suite that Tom had indicated this morning.
“Did I come back to some alternate universe?” Josh asked.
Kat set her bags on the bed and took pity on him. It was Christmas Eve. She could afford to be charitable. “Izzy helped me,” she admitted. “She knew the best suit. She knew your agent was taking bartending lessons. She has a contact at Nobu—”
“You told Izzy?” Josh tore at the blond streak of his hair and swore. “Why would you call Izzy? Are you friends or something? Did you get amnesia? She tried to sabotage you on set every day!”
“Izzy and I have made our peace. We’re friends now. Besides, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything on the list without her. You left me no choice.”
“Spending one afternoon with Izzy doesn’t mean you’re close to friends. Geez, Kat. I wouldn’t have told you to do anything if I’d thought you’d go to her.” He swore again and plopped down on the edge of her bed, burying his face in his hands.
“Aren’t you overreacting just a little?” Kat wasn’t used to being the one trying to diffuse drama instead of ratcheting it up. “Who cares if she helped pick out your suit or knows your agent’s gift?”
“Don’t you know how this town works?” Josh said. “Everything gets out if you let it. You think I want people reading about how all my shopping happens at the Kardashians’ boutique?”
Kat narrowed her eyes. “You mean Bloomingdale’s.”
“Yeah, that,” Josh snapped. “The reservation at Nobu? Tomorrow I’ll read that I’m taking a meeting for a prospective movie I have nothing to do with. This suit? Suddenly it’s for an awards show that I’m not even invited to. The agent’s gift will get twisted, too. Like somehow he’s an alcoholic and I’m enabling him.”
Kat watched, half horrified and half amused as Josh pulled at tufts of hair and moaned into his hands. “That seems a little paranoid.”
“No, it isn’t.”
Kat whirled at the sound of Henry’s voice. She wasn’t sure when he’d come home, but there he was, leaning on her doorjamb.
“I’m asking you to be discreet about your stay here,” Henry said. “For me and
my family. Did you tell Izzy anything about my dad? About this stay?”
“Just that I’m staying here. She did have to pick me up and drop me off since Josh left me a laundry list of things to accomplish, no car, and very little instruction.”
“But you didn’t tell her anything else, right?” Henry said. “Anything about things you thought you saw?”
Kat crossed her arms. “I did see Scarlett Hill.”
“Then where was she?” Josh’s arms waved in agitation. “Did she just disappear? She wasn’t here when we got in.”
“Did you search the house?” Kat asked.
“She wasn’t here,” Henry said, his usually kind face clouding over. “You must have imagined it.”
“I didn’t,” Kat insisted. “I swear. Why would I imagine a six-foot tall, famous blonde in a tight red dress? Besides, look at what I found.” She stomped over to her wardrobe and picked up the diamond stud earring.
Henry plucked it from her palm and stared at it in disbelief. “Where did you get this?”
Kat clammed up, not wanting to say, but Henry was staring at her so expectantly she blurted it out. “Your dad’s room.”
Henry’s jaw dropped, his expression a mixture of disgust and disbelief. He turned and walked away, Josh a step behind.
Kat’s stomach plummeted. She had just asked Josh and Henry to trust her and had turned around and betrayed that trust. How could she defend herself against her own actions?
* * *
Kat could smell fragrant roast duck and other delicious aromas wafting from the kitchen. She could also hear laughter bubble up from downstairs. All while she was alone.
She dialed her mom.
“Hey, sweetie. Merry Christmas Eve. Did you eat so soon? I thought you were calling after dinner.”
“I miss you right now, though.” Kat leaned back against the large pillow on her bed.
“I miss you all the time, Kat. Did you get my Christmas present?”
“Not yet.”
“It might be under the tree. That nice man on the phone yesterday said he had it wrapped, but you’d be unwrapping it tonight.”