“No!” Cole sounds both scandalized and delighted. He loves nothing better than juicy gossip. “Is the sister on Viv’s staff as well?”
Almost as if Cole’s question made her materialize, Yvonne comes rushing back into the theater, looking harried with chunks of blond hair sticking out from her braided pigtails and a dark smudge on her chef’s coat that wasn’t there before. Rather than give my assistant a reply, I incline my head in Yvonne’s direction and his eyes widen in understanding.
“Sorry, sorry,” the sous chef apologizes breathlessly. “I looked everywhere and couldn’t find those marble coasters Ms. Hart wanted your guests to use. I hope these will be okay instead.” She deposits two stacks of porcelain coasters with a colorful, geometric pattern on them that I instantly recognize as the set Viv received as a hostess gift from one of her fancy friends years ago and never used because she thought they were “too loud.”
“These will be fine. Thanks. The rest of my party will be here shortly, so you can start popping that corn if you want to.”
“Yes, ma’am, uh, miss, uh—”
“No need for formality,” I tell her. “Just call me Vanessa.”
A relieved smile brightens Yvonne’s face. “I will. Thank you, Vanessa. Several bowls of freshly popped corn with chili lime seasoning coming right up.”
“Yum!” Cole enthuses as Yvonne departs. “You know I love anything hot and spicy!”
“You should try one of those jalapeno popper meatballs then.” I sweep a hand toward the warming dish they’re sitting in.
“Hmmmmm . . .” Cole’s eyes sweep across the table. “I didn’t notice before because I was desperate for some rosé, but this is quite an array of snacks. What’s the occasion?”
“A movie night for my employees, just like I said in the invite text.”
“It wasn’t an invite so much as a summons, and clearly there’s more going on here than a recreational get-together. You’ve been acting weird ever since your ex showed up at the office this morning. You were practically vibrating with nervous energy for hours afterward, then you told me to cover for you at all your afternoon meetings, something you’ve never done before, and took off for the rest of the day without telling anyone where you were going. You . . .” He points a finger at me and twirls it around. “. . . are being shady, lady, so spill.”
“I’d rather wait and tell the whole staff at once.”
“Aha!” he exults. “There is something afoot, and I’m a hundred percent sure whatever it is involves that perfectly chiseled ex of yours. Oh my god! Did you run off to meet him at a hotel for some afternoon delight? Because I wouldn’t blame you one bit if you did. I mean, I’ve always been Team Ian and think the two of you make a stellar power couple, but Alex Farr is a bona fide hottie. So I can totally understand why you’d be tempted to reignite that old flame.”
“I’m not reigniting anything with Alex. We’re just working together, or did you forget that the reason he came to the office this morning was to hire me?”
“Oh, right.” Cole deflates with disappointment. “That’s not nearly as much fun as the scenario I was envisioning.”
“Reality seldom is, but I need you to stop ‘shipping me with my ex and focus. We’ve got an important job to do.”
“Fine,” Cole acquiesces and scoops up some chickpeas. “What’s this job and who’s the client?”
“Patience, my friend. All will be revealed shortly.” I give him an enigmatic smile before turning my attention to Aubrey and Natasha who’ve just entered the theater. “Welcome, ladies! Help yourself to a drink and some food, then take a seat because I’ve got some exciting news to share with all of you.”
CHAPTER 15
Ten minutes later, I’m standing in front of the movie screen so that I can address everyone who’s gathered in the theater.
“I want to thank you all for coming on such short notice. I apologize for encroaching on your personal time, but needs must in this situation and I really couldn’t wait until tomorrow to fill you in on what’s happening with Straight from the Hart.
“Now, I’m going to lower the cone of silence and remind everyone that our company promises to protect the privacy of its clients, which means you cannot repeat any of what I’m about to tell you to a single person outside of this room. If it were to get out that this individual, who’s extremely high-profile, has hired us, our mission would be compromised and Straight from the Hart’s reputation would suffer greatly. Understand?”
I glance around the room to confirm that each of my employees is showing some sign of agreement, be it a nod or saying yes. When I’m satisfied that they’re all aware of how closely guarded this secret must be, I resume my speech.
“As you all know, our company has recently come under attack by an unscrupulous former employee.
“Boooooo!” Cole jeers, and my other staff members heartily echo the sentiment.
“I’m hopeful that the steps we’ve taken to ensure the continued loyalty of our customers will be effective. At this point, I think it also behooves us to up our game so that there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that we are the premier romance concierge service in Los Angeles. The best way to do that is to add A-listers to our client list who will endorse our company and recommend us to others in their elite circle, which is why I’m thrilled to announce that this afternoon I signed a contract to provide services for . . .”
I gesture at Cole, and he makes a drum roll sound.
“. . . Jaxon Reid!”
Natasha shrieks, Aubrey bursts into tears, and Cole shouts, “No way! Is this a dream? If this is a dream, nobody wake me up because this is the best thing that’s happened to me since skinny jeans for men came on the market.”
“Okay, okay,” I say in my best calming tone. “I know this is exciting, but let’s try and keep it all in perspective. Jax might be famous and good-looking, but he’s also just a man like forty-two percent of our other clients.”
“He’s not a man; he’s a god,” Carmen says in an awestruck voice. She’s usually the sensible one in this bunch, so I’m surprised to learn she can fangirl with the best of them.
“Be that as it may, we need to treat him with the same courtesy and professionalism that we do all our clients.”
Natasha’s hand flies up in the air, and she bounces up and down on the couch where she’s sitting as if she got some of that chili seasoning from the popcorn down her yoga pants.
“Yes, Natasha?”
“Have you met Jax in person yet?”
“I have. I went to his hotel this afternoon—”
“You slut!” Cole interjects with a smirk.
I toss him a quelling look. “It was a business meeting chaperoned by his publicist and several hotel employees.” I elect to leave out the part about our client being naked and wet when this meeting took place because I’m pretty sure my entire staff would swoon and I’m fresh out of smelling salts. “And the topic up for discussion was Jax’s marriage and how to salvage it in the wake of his cheating scandal.”
“That Georgina is such a scag!” Aubrey declares as she sniffs and wipes away her tears. “Who sleeps with another woman’s husband?”
“Doesn’t surprise me she went after Jax. That girl is thirsty as hell and will do anything to get noticed. Have you seen her Insta feed? It’s all pics of her in various states of undress and she’s always licking things like she’s in a porno.” Carmen purses her lips in disapproval.
Although I don’t know Georgina Knight personally, I feel kind of bad that everyone’s coming down on her so hard. She made a huge mistake, but then so did Jax, and I don’t think he should be let off the hook so easily.
“It takes two to do the horizontal tango, so let’s not lay all the blame for this at Georgina’s door.”
“Aren’t we getting paid to be on Jax’s side?” Cole queries archly.
“Yes, but as I told our client, both parties are at fault for what transpired and should take responsibility for their actions. That’s the
mature thing to do and the only hope Jax has of getting Jaz to forgive him.”
“I heard that Jaz is already revenge banging her love interest on that hit Netflix show of hers,” Cole dishes.
I eye him skeptically. “Is this crazy fan speculation or does it come from a legit source?”
“Mmmmm . . .” He swirls the rosé in his glass to draw out the suspense of giving me an answer. “It’s a rumor floating around some gossip sites, but where there’s smoke here in LA, there’s usually a raging wildfire.”
Great. Just what I need, another man vying for Jaz’s affections when she’s on the outs with our client.
“Who’s the co-star?”
I only have to wait a few seconds for Carmen to pull up a name on her phone. “Grey Damon,” she tells me.
I give her a blank look because I’ve never heard of him.
“He’s on Station 19 with Ian’s lookalike.”
Well, that explains it. The few times I watched that Shonda Rhimes show, I only had eyes for Boris Kodjoe. Striding over to the cushy chair where Carmen’s lounging, I hold out my hand and say, “Let me see.”
She dutifully passes her phone over, and I scroll through a gallery of pictures of Grey Damon, who turns out to be no relation of Matt’s. “He’s cute,” I quickly determine.
“He’s got nothing on Jax,” Aubrey insists, ever loyal to her movie star crush.
Her couchmate, Natasha, concurs. “Yeah, Jaz couldn’t possibly go from the scorching hot intensity of Jax Reid to a nice boy-next-door like Grey.”
That’s debatable. In the aftermath of her husband’s cheating, Jaz may very well find the idea of someone who’s his complete opposite very appealing. However, they only broke up a few days ago, and I find it hard to believe that Jaz would seek comfort in the arms of someone else so soon, not when she is (was?) so madly in love with her husband. She doesn’t strike me as the petty, tit-for-tat type either.
“Until we know differently . . .” I give Carmen’s phone back to her. “. . . we’ll assume this story about Jaz and Grey is false and not complicate matters by worrying about third, or fourth, parties. As we speak, our client is working on a heartfelt Instagram post that will hopefully pave the way for a reconciliation with Jaz. Carmen, you and I will review and polish that post for him and I’ll need you to guide Jax through scheduling the post for four a.m. our time with whichever app you think is best.”
Carmen’s dark eyes grow so large she looks like an anime character come to life. “I’ll get to speak with Jax?” she asks in a high, squeaky voice.
“If you can behave like the competent, polished professional I know you are, then yes.”
She nods emphatically. “You can count on me. Absolutely. One hundred percent. Polished and professional all the way. I just need to get one thing out of my system first.”
And with that, Carmen jumps to her feet and shouts, “I’m going to talk to the sexiest man on the planet!!!!!!” then lets loose an ear-piercing squeal and runs around the theater high-fiving everyone. Breathlessly, she collapses back in her chair, grinning from ear-to-ear, and gives me a thumbs-up to let me know her celebrity-induced freakout is over and I can continue.
“The Instagram post is just step one of my plan, something to take the edge off Jaz’s anger and let her know how truly sorry Jax is and that he won’t be giving up on their love without a fight. Moving forward, it’s up to us to help our client win back his wife’s trust and remind her how much their relationship means to both of them so that she’ll give him a second chance. We need to be clever about this. Over-the-top gestures aren’t going to work. Jax tried one earlier today, and it backfired spectacularly.
“To inspire us and get our creative juices flowing, I thought we could go back to where it all started for Jaz and Jax: the movie where they met and fell in love along with the characters in Time and Time Again.”
“Good thinking, boss,” Cole approves this strategy.
Natasha glances around the theater. “I don’t see any Kleenex, and we’re definitely going to need a box for each person.”
I frown. “Is the movie a tearjerker?”
There’s a collective gasp.
“How do you not know that?” Carmen wonders.
Cole is aghast. “Are you seriously telling us you’ve never seen Time and Time Again? It was nominated for several Oscars!”
“I know, but it was released four years ago when I wasn’t really in the right headspace to watch a big, sweeping romance.”
He grimaces, remembering what I told him about my breakup with Alex.
“Right. I get it. I haven’t been able to watch a Timothée Chalamet movie since my relationship with Lucas imploded. We went to see Call Me By Your Name on our first date,” he explains, and I try to recall who Lucas was. The manny? The escape room designer? The foot model? The adult toy store display artist? Cole’s amassed a very large collection of exes in the time I’ve known him, so they’ve all kind of blended together in my head.
“Oooo, I love that movie!” Natasha enthuses. “Timothée Chalamet is soooo dreamy. Not on the level of Jax, of course. He’s in a class all his own.”
That seems to be the consensus. I’m starting to wonder how Jaz has dealt with her husband’s slavering fans all these years. Surely it must have gotten annoying after a while, or maybe knowing that he could have any woman in the world and chose her made Jaz feel special?
“The movie’s two-and-a-half hours long, so we should get rolling. If you want to take notes or jot down ideas while watching, I brought some pens and pads of paper. Cole, if you could grab that white bag by my purse and pass out the supplies.” I wave a hand at the couch where I left my belongings earlier.
“Oh, and one more thing,” I say while Cole performs his task. “As this Jax and Jaz situation will require my full attention for the immediate future, and we have so much on the calendar for April and May, I’m going to have to delegate. Cole, you’ll be in charge of implementing all of the spring promo packages while Aubrey will take over prep work on the other jobs we have scheduled. I’ll expect to be kept abreast of what you’re both doing with daily reports.
“Now I know this is going to be a tremendous amount of work and you won’t be able to do all of it alone, so I’m going to bring on another assistant who can be a floater and help where needed. Natasha . . .” I lock eyes with the youngest member of my staff. “. . . I’d love to promote from within and you already have a good understanding of the way we do things at Straight from the Hart, so how’d you like to get off the reception desk and start working directly with clients?”
Natasha beams. “Ohmigosh! Are you kidding? That would be amazing! Thank you so much for the opportunity!” She’s offered a congratulatory hug by Aubrey.
“You’ve more than earned it, and I’m happy to have you as part of my company’s client support team. Your first assignment is to find and train a replacement at the front desk. You’ll need to be covered there by someone as pleasant and proficient as you are before you can take on your assistant duties.”
“No problem. I’ll write and post an ad for the job on Monster, Indeed, and Snagajob first thing in the AM.” She scribbles a reminder to herself on the notepad.
Clapping my hands together, I say, “We’re all set then. Who’s ready to watch a movie?”
* * *
I’m trying to stanch the flow of tears from my eyes with a tissue from one of the boxes Ramona brought to the theater after I called her on the intercom, but it’s no use. Elizabeth and Garrick’s romance is both beautiful and terribly, epically tragic, and I can’t stop crying about it!
They were so happy and in love when they flouted convention and ran off to get married, not something a lady and her stable hand would normally do in 1602. By all rights, they should have had decades of bliss together in that sweet, little, thatch-roofed cottage they settled in, but Elizabeth’s spurned fiancé plotted against them with his mistress, who was a powerful witch, and a curse was place
d on the newlyweds so that their once pure love was twisted and turned into loathing, resulting in betrayal and untimely demises for both of them throughout the centuries. Whether it was the court of Louis XIV, a pirate ship in the Caribbean Sea, or the Wild West, this couple was forever star-crossed and doomed to forget the great love that brought them together in the first place.
I’ve reached the part of the movie where the characters are in present-day San Francisco and corporate tycoon Rick has just had the former president of his latest acquisition, whom he allowed to stay on at the company her family founded in a diminished role, thrown in jail for embezzling funds. Poor Liza is sitting in a cell sobbing her eyes out because she only “borrowed” the money from Rick’s safe to pay off the Chinese mobsters who were holding her gambling addict brother captive. She tried to explain how desperate she was to Rick, but he just sneered and told her she could rot in jail for the rest of her life for all he cared.
“What a dick!” Cole murmurs in the seat next to me.
“It’s the curse, not him,” I whisper back. “Deep down he still loves her. He couldn’t hate her with this much passion if he didn’t.”
Wait a second . . .
I hate Alex with a white hot fury. Does that mean . . . Hell, no! It’s a totally different situation to Garrick and Elizabeth’s. A curse didn’t end my relationship with Alex. That was all his doing, so I have good reason to have such strong, negative feelings about him.
My phone buzzes with a text, and I lean down to fish it out of my purse so that the noise doesn’t disrupt the movie for everyone else. Half the soggy tissues sitting in my lap spill onto the floor when I do, but I can’t see the Kleenexes in the dark to pick them up. So I carry on with checking my incoming text, which is from Jax.
Holy cow! This rough draft of his Instagram apology post is practically essay-length. It’s so long that my phone breaks it up into multiple texts. Carmen and I have some major editing to do, which means we’ll have to forego watching the end of the movie. As quietly as I can, I rise from my chair and tiptoe out into the aisle, then move down a few steps and tap my social media guru on the shoulder. When she turns to me, I point to my phone and she nods, knowing we have work to do. Grabbing her cell, she follows me out of the theater.
Straight from the Hart Page 15