I watched as the lady turned her back into the Katherine that I remembered. The healthy happy one. Another woman came in and went to work on her hair.
I had to sit down for my make up. I peeked over to Katherine as much as I could. Her manager was giving her suggestions. She didn't want anyone to know that we weren't together anymore, especially not the people around us.
“This would be the chance to promote a new book. You aren't working on one so you need sell the second half. You will be going to a bookstore to sign them right after you are finish here. I'll have a car waiting for you. There is already a line waiting. They have been there all day.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Don't disappoint them Katherine this means a lot to your fans.” She leaned in close to Katherine. “Pull yourself together.” She was mad but if I knew one thing then I knew that Katherine wouldn't disappoint anybody. She needed to please.
Well, not me but everyone else. I wished I could get in line and buy one of her books. I had assumed that I would be getting one from her, but that didn't seem likely anymore. I should call my mom and ask her to pick one up for me. I did want to know how it was going to go on. Would she write a third?
I had read bits and pieces but to read the whole thing would be pertinent to my career, because I would be playing the lead role in the next movie too. The powers that be had already read the book and said that it was better than the first.
The other actors were coming in and hugging Katherine. She had pulled herself together now. No one was noticing that she was out of sorts. I decided to be cocky and go stand right next to her. She jumped a little and then settled down. She didn't like that but she wasn't letting it show.
People had seen us as a pair and that was what stuck. I could work with something like that.
They called us to come out. The crowd started cheering as we came out but they were screaming for Katherine the most. She was trying to smile, but I could tell how nervous she was. I wanted to hold her hand so badly. She needed me, and I just couldn't understand why she wasn't letting me help her.
We all sat down on chairs. I sat next to Katherine and leaned in and pointed out where my parents were. She smiled at me like I was crazy. But cameras were flashing as she did that and it looked like everything was okay with us.
My parents looked pleased. They thought the same thing as the reporters did.
The talk show host introduced us and the crowds screamed when he said Katherine's name.
“Katherine what feeling do you get when everyone is screaming out your name like that?” the host asked.
“Well, I'm sincerely thankful that they aren't an angry mob,” she joked, and everyone laughed. “As a writer you work alone and now, to see what I took place in a quiet room, becoming something so huge and loud, the contrast is just amazing.”
“Why do you think that your book will make the jump from bestseller to what looks like a box office hit?”
“It really wasn't my doing. There are lots of people behind the scene who do a lot moving and shaking. Namely my manager for one. She was the one who arranged the meeting with Hollywood and did all the work. I was just a guest on site while they were filming. My work was done when the book was finished.”
“You wrote a second part that came out today. What to tell us about that?”
“Sure, the first part mostly took part in Germany. I was living there at the time I wrote it, and I was living here when I wrote the second book, so I built in lots of locations where the actors can film on site. I think you will like that.” She looked at us actors and she was smiling a genuine smile. “I had more fun writing this book. I got to write in one piece, and not just after work, a few minutes here and there. I knew what people liked from the first book so I was able to incorporate that into this one.”
“So you met Ryan while you were filming and that changed your life too.”
“Well, we actually met beforehand. Ryan, you tell the story.”
I had been listening to her so intently that it took me a second to realize that I was supposed to say something. “Well, I was shopping at the grocery store and she was studying two eggplants for a while and I'm a cook and she is a beautiful woman so I offered my help and one thing led to another and we started out seeing each other. She would come over to my place and I would cook for her.”
“I cooked for you once too. And it was edible. I just want it said, that I can cook, too. He just cooks better and he enjoys it.” She looked at me and smiled. She was acting. Katherine wouldn't want to remember that day. Was that why she was smiling, so I would feel like a heel?
“Don't you enjoy cooking?” the host asked her.
“I cook to live. Ryan lives to cook.”
“Okay, back to you two. Is it true that you two had no idea what the other one did for a living.”
Katherine was nodding. “I wasn't allowed to tell anyone what I was working on. It was top secret.”
“And I didn't want to say anything until I was sure. So the day she showed up on the set I thought that my girlfriend had just showed up to visit me, and that I would get in a lot of trouble for being unprofessional. Then she asked me what I was doing there. I told her I was one of the actors, and she answered that she wrote the book. I was in shock. But very pleased to have her there. I would have never tried to hit on the author of the book. I would have been too respectful.” I smiled at her.
“That is really nice. It's a small world. Let's look at a trailer.”
They showed the trailer of the movie and I was getting excited about it. I could hardly wait to see it tomorrow.
“Wow, Katherine, how were you able to think up something like that?”
“I have all kinds of ideas. I had to cut out so much. It is more a question of me putting on the brakes so a story doesn't get too long than me sitting there wondering what could happen next.”
I smiled at her so proudly. She really was something else. I didn't want her to slip out of my life. I didn't want her to be the one who got away.
“I love you, Katherine. Marry me,” some guy called out. I scowled out into the crowd looking for the idiot.
“Wow, I think the one person on the planet who doesn't know that you are taken is here,” the host joked.
I laid my hand over hers. She was shaking. I wasn't sure if it was because of all of this, or if it was because of me.
“My guess is that as soon as the movie starts the actors are going to become so popular, that me, as the writer, well that I will be able to step back into the shadows and lead a normal life. Ryan will be getting the proposals then.” If looks could kill.
“Are you the jealous type, Katherine?”
“Me? No, I'm the dumb naïve type. I would have to have everything spelled out to me before I would believe it.”
“Wow, that sounds like you trust him blind. Ryan, are you the jealous type?”
I glanced over at Katherine. My hand was still over hers. “Katherine has never given me reason to doubt her in any way.” I sounded very strict and uncomfortable.
“Back to the movie. Tell us about filming.” He went on for a while about the film, and Katherine was happily quiet. He asked the women what they were going to wear. The women all talked about what designer they were going to wear. Then he asked Katherine. My head turned to look at her, too. She would have something special in the meantime too.
“I went shopping with Ryan's mother. I was able to find something nice. I can't remember what the label said, but I'm not as glamorous as the others here. I'm just visiting this world whereas the rest of them live here and feel comfortable here. I don't. I'll be glad when I get to go home.”
“When you go home are you going to write a part three?” The host was smiling at her a little too much for my taste.
“I don't know. Would anybody read a part three if I wrote it?”
The crowd was clapping and whistling.
“Okay, if someone actually buys the second book, I'll write
a third.”
“Where would that one take place?”
She shrugged, “you choose.”
He looked like he was in love.
“I don't know, maybe, in Africa.”
“Okay.” She shrugged her shoulders like that wouldn't be a problem. Was she ever smart.
“Seriously, you are going to set part three in Africa? Just because I chose it out of the air.”
“Why not? Besides you gave me a whole continent to work with.” She wasn't even phased.
“Wow, people you heard it here first book three will take place in Africa because I said so.”
The show was over and I still held onto her hand. We walked backstage with the other actors. She went to her manager who praised her like she was a little kid. She whisked her away from me to her book signing.
I wished I could go with her and stay with her forever. What happened? It still felt right to hold her hand and be with her. I went to my parents who were looking at me with a 'well' look on their faces. I shook my head.
In the cab I told them that her manager had insisted she pretend. I told them that she hadn't looked at all good. They had to plaster make-up on her. My mom was worried about her. So was I, but should I be? She had dumped me.
That evening we had a press conference. This one was at the hotel. Her parents were there too. I had seen her with them before everything started. Just the press was allowed into this one. They asked pretty much the same questions. But the main question was would part three really be taking place in Africa.
Katherine had laughed. “Yes, it certainly is. I'm going to send the two main characters to Africa. I've done some googling in the meantime. I think they deserve to go on vacation. I just can't promise that they will get a lot of R&R in.”
The journalists loved her but they were so like her. They were smart too.
Katherine was getting good at this whole cat and mouse game. She was already selling a book that she hadn't even started to write.
The one that had come out today had sold millions of copies already. The idea of having both the movie and the book come out at the same time was a huge success. Katherine gave credit to her manager again, naming her by name. She was making everyone happy again. She smiled at everyone so nice and all the world loved her. I'd bet every man in the room envied me. The truth was hurting me so much.
When everything was over she went to her parents. Her dad said nothing and her mom wouldn't shut up. They had done an interview today too. Katherine patiently listen and told her mother that she was happy for her.
Her mother set eyes on me and she gave me a look that could freeze ice. Her arm went around Katherine and they left.
That was when it hit me. This could all be some misunderstanding. What she had said today about being dumb and naïve. Had someone convinced her that I had cheated?
Chapter 17 Premiere Night
I was all polished up and ready to go. Katherine's manager had called me saying that she wanted us to arrive in the same limousine. I was more than happy to agree. She was thrilled. I bet Katherine wasn't.
I waited in the back of the hotel in a special room. The limo would pick us up at the back entrance and then bring us to the red carpet, where we would be asked dozen of questions and sign autographs.
I was just waiting for Katherine. I got to sit next to her in the theater too. I was looking forward to that. Maybe if I reached over I could hold her hand. She had admitted to not having seen the movie yet. I had seen parts, most of it. There weren't going to be any surprises in it for me but maybe for her. Maybe she would need me, and, of course, I would be there.
The doors opened and bodyguards came in with her in the middle. She walked right through to the limousines. She was wearing a red dress. My mother told me to be prepared because she had looked amazing in the dress that they had picked out but this dress. This woman in this dress. Her hair. I was gaping at her with my mouth hanging open.
“Are you coming or not?” Her legs were disappearing into the limo.
I got in behind her. The bodyguards came along. Great.
She didn't look at me or talk to me. The limo slowly moved ahead as people and reporters were trying to figure out who was in this one. If they only knew. The noise of the crowds was bothering her again. She was pretending that it didn't but I knew her better. She was practically a hermit. This wasn't her thing but in that dress she sure looked like she knew what she was doing. The way it hugged her body was turning me on and I was remembering things that had passed between us.
The limo stopped and she laid her hand over stomach. She took a deep breath. The bodyguards got out and then she did. The crowds screamed louder than anything I had ever heard in all my life. She took a step back and she was leaning against my chest. My arms wrapped around her.
“Sorry,” she said as she stepped away.
“Not a problem, darling.” I laid on the southern accent that I knew she liked.
She stepped forward into the roaring crowds and went to some fans to sign autographs. She was moving ahead very slowly. I was glad that the bodyguards were sticking close to her. I had an eye on her just in case. I signed a couple of autographs too but mostly I talked to reporters. They asked about her.
I praised how beautiful she looked. I wasn't lying. She was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was smiling at fans and I was staring at her as she talked to them.
The reporters didn't seem to interest her at all. She preferred the fans. I waited for her to catch up to me. I went to her and whispered in her ear that she should at least talk to a couple of them. She nodded at went over to a group of them. They asked her stupid questions. She smiled and answered nicely.
“Are you looking forward to seeing the film, Katherine.”
“I've already seen it in my head when I was writing the book. Now I get to see what others made out of it. I get to see how close it is.” She waved and moved over to some fans who gave her a Teddy Bear. She took it and thanked them. She actually held onto the bear. Her bodyguard didn't like that. She stopped and she handed it over to one of them. He checked it over then gave it back to her. She had never been the stuffed animal type.
The next reporter ask her about it. She even pointed out the fan that gave it to her and waved again. I should have gotten her one. If I had known, I would have.
The lead lady arrived and we took several pictures together. I hadn't seen or talked to her the past few months and at the interview and press conference we hadn't had time to talk either. She was nice and we needed to look like a couple. After the picture taking was over I went to Katherine and laid my hand on her elbow. Was it ever tiny. Was she eating anything at all lately? I pushed down a need to scold her and got her in the building.
She didn't fuss. Once we were inside we could talk to the invited press who were watching the movie with us. They were our critics and they needed to be charmed too. I went to work with that and Katherine went to her parents. Her manager pulled her away from them and sent her off to the wolves again. I heard someone ask her if she would be going to any other premiere of the movie.
“Yes, in Berlin. I wouldn't miss it there. I want to see how the Germans are reacting to my book and now the movie. I have already agreed to several interviews there, but after that it's the quiet life for me again.”
“What? You don't like all of this attention?” she was asked.
“It's nice to visit but I wouldn't want to live here. This isn't the atmosphere I need to write.”
“Africa is?”
“Why not? I'm due a vacation.” She moved on and shook hands. Some Germans were here too and of course she did speak perfect German. She was charming everyone. Was she speaking French too? I was getting that terrible feeling in my stomach again. The one that said that I was never good enough for her anyway.
“So Ryan, you just can't take your eyes off of Katherine. You two have been together for several months already. When are you going to pop the question?”
&nb
sp; “Not tonight. She is making me speechless with her beauty. I couldn't get out a clear sentence with her looking that way.” I could be charming too. I diverted all the questions like that. I hoped we could patch things up before anyone found out that we had had problems.
The lights flashed and music started to play. It was time to take our seats. Her bodyguards were showing her the way to our balcony. We would be sitting front and center. On her other side was the director and they were chatting away like old friends.
He held out his arm to her and brought her to her seat. I sat next to her and started talking to the lead actress.
I saw Katherine set the bear on her lap, nicely. I had to wonder about that. It was so unlike her.
“Do you want popcorn? We could throw it over the balcony at the people below,” I teased her.
She looked shocked. I immediately felt so stupid for saying that. The trailer was starting. She locked her eyes on the screen and there they stayed for the whole movie.
I felt stupid watching myself but watching her watch me was interesting. She didn't watch much TV so she was really impressed. She even jumped a little at the action scenes. The love scenes were just embarrassing. Sitting next to her and knowing that my parents were also in the crowd was too much for me. I blushed red and looked over and my co-star. She wasn't looking either.
Katherine was, and she wasn't smiling, but somehow nodding.
Finally the movie was over. Katherine was crying a little and thanking the director for making her imaginations come to life so everyone could see them. The audience was clapping for us.
She turned back to me asked if we could leave in separate limousines because she wanted to leave right now.
“I'm sorry, darling. But we have to go out the way we came in.”
She looked so disappointed.
“I would think that you would want people to see you as long as they can in that dress you picked out with my mom?”
Hot Cooking Spanker Wanted Page 14