Famous by Association

by Leddy Harper

  “Not to mention, it’d kill two birds with one stone.”

  “Oh, yeah? How?”

  His smug eyes told me that whatever he was about to say made him very pleased with himself. “It’s been quite some time since you last—” He made a circle with his index finger and thumb on one hand and then stuck a finger from his other hand through, all while making some absurd whistling sound. “And considering that this wouldn’t be some love-making session, it just might be enough to get you through this desperation stage and back on par with the plan. Let’s be honest here, Tasha. You can’t possibly act like a stuck-up snob if you’re drooling over the neighbor.”

  He wasn’t wrong there.

  “If you get past that, it’ll make it easier to act like a total see you next Tuesday. It’ll get rid of Jacoby, so no chance of anyone finding out that you’re not actually a twatsicle. Sure, you won’t have anyone to entertain you for the next two or so months, but that’s okay. If you want to successfully imitate Tiffany, you must submerge yourself in the role. And since she doesn’t have friends, then you can’t have any, either.”

  “Gee, thanks for nothing.” I couldn’t argue that he had a point, but that did nothing to help my case. “So what you’re saying is…I need to sleep with my neighbor and then act like a crazy person, all so I can be a believable snob on camera?”

  “Glad you’re coming around, sunshine.”

  I rolled my eyes, wishing he hadn’t taken the controller from me so I could throw it at him.

  Regardless of how much I wanted to smack him for what he had to say, he was right. I only had a little over two weeks before the cameras showed up, and if I wanted to stay incognito, I needed to get serious. I didn’t, however, need to sleep with Jacoby to do this.

  Or did I?

  6

  Jacoby

  It’d been a couple of days since I last saw Tiffany.

  Well, I’d technically seen her, but it was from a distance. I had been working hard, so I chalked it up as ships passing in the night.

  “You invited her, right?” Jessa busied herself in the kitchen, making sure she had everything she needed for her barbecue.

  I grabbed a pickle from the tray and bit off the end. “I told you I did, so I did.”

  After leaving Tiffany’s house the other day, I came to talk about it with my sister. I didn’t go into detail about the entire visit, as that would’ve been inappropriate, but I did discuss with her the unexplainable flip in character. Jessa thought it made the most sense to invite her over for her annual poolside barbecue. That way, she could see it for herself.

  “Did she say if she’s coming?” She smacked my hand away before I could grab another pickle. “And is she bringing her friend?”

  Okay, it was truth time. “Well, I didn’t exactly ask Tiffany; I asked Dave, her best friend. He said they would love to come.”

  My sister gave me the side-eye stare that had always successfully scared me growing up. “Jacoby Michael Abbott.” The full name was enough to make my breath stall in my lungs, too afraid to make its way out, but the hand on her hip, reminding me so much of our grandmother, made me feel like a small child all over again.

  “Jessa Roseann Estrada,” I mocked, knowing it would get to her—in a good way.

  Just as I had hoped for, her lips split into an infectious smile. My sister was a beautiful girl both inside and out. “My middle name isn’t Roseann”—I knew that—“and don’t turn this back on me. I asked you to do one thing, Coby. One. And that was to make sure the infamous Tiffany Lewis shows up today.”

  “And I did. I promise.” I grabbed the tray of snacks and carried them to the storage fridge for her. “If I would’ve asked her personally, there was a good chance she’d give me the runaround. So I thought it would make more sense to ask her best friend, who’s only here until the end of the week, because—for whatever reason—he seems intent on getting us to hang out.”

  “Whatever, I just hope you’re right.”

  “Why do you care so much if she comes? Won’t your own friends be here?”

  She finished arranging another tray of fancy finger food before setting her stare on me. “Aside from the fact that I would like to know who I have living next door to me, I am interested to see if she’s anything like the press makes her out to be. You said it yourself that she’s nothing like what you’ve seen online, so I’d like to see if it’s an act, or if she puts on a show in front of the cameras.”

  “Okay, but please be normal. We don’t need her to get so comfortable with you that she invites herself over while filming. We both agree that having the cameras around is a horrible idea.”

  Jessa held her hands up in a defensive stance. “Trust me, little brother…the last thing I want is to be in the headlines.” The again was silently implied.

  “Good, glad we can agree on that.”

  She passed me another tray to put away. “When you’re done, do you think you can help Marcus with the tables out back?”

  I nodded, put the rest of the food away, and then kissed my sister on the cheek before heading to the back yard to help my brother-in-law finish the set up for the party.

  I was grateful that my sister liked to keep her personal events small and lowkey, but every time someone came through the side gate, I held my breath wondering if it was Tiffany. After so long, it made it feel like this small get-together was a massive party.

  Finally, after what seemed like forever, Tiffany came strolling into the back yard on Dave’s arm. Something seemed different about her today, more so than her attire. The couple of times we’d hung out, she was very relaxed—glasses, leggings, baggy tees, and usually flip-flops. Today, though, she had on a loose-fitting dress that, admittedly, looked amazing on her, and heels. I blamed the grass for her unsteady steps, which was probably why she clung to Dave like her life depended on it.

  I politely excused myself from the small group I was with and made my way to Tiffany and Dave. The closer I got, the more I noticed that it wasn’t just her outfit that had changed, but her entire appearance. I didn’t want to say that her makeup was bad, she just had a lot of it on, and I personally didn’t think she needed any of it. Not to mention, her hair had been professionally styled.

  This was the Tiffany I’d seen in the press. It made me apprehensive about approaching her.

  “Hey, glad you guys could make it,” I said as I made my way to them.

  “Of course, this sounded like a lot of fun.” Dave’s voice matched the excitement in his eyes.

  Tiffany, on the other hand, didn’t appear to be bothered one way or another. She took the oversized pair of sunglasses off the top of her head, slid them down to cover her eyes, pursed her lips while glancing around the yard, and said, “This’ll do.”

  Oddly, Dave seemed to nudge her with his elbow, to which she briefly stared at him before correcting herself. “I mean, thank you for the generous invite.”

  I wasn’t really sure how to respond to that, so I went with the typical, “Oh-kay… Well, let me introduce you to some people.”

  As I led the two over to the small gathering around my sister, I could hear them whisper-fighting behind me. Part of me found it comical, while the other part grew even more confused than before.

  “Tiffany, Dave…I’d like to introduce you to my sister, Jessa Estrada. Her husband, Marcus, is around somewhere, probably hiding.”

  Jessa held out her hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you.

  For a long second, Tiffany just stared at my sister’s offered hand, and from what I could see beyond the glasses, she appeared to be disgusted at the thought of touching someone else. Finally, she grabbed the tips of Jessa’s fingers, twisted her wrist so that it was more of a royal-like shake—the whole kiss-the-top-of-my-hand gesture—and smiled. “Same here.”

  Dave cleared his throat and immediately took over. “Thank you so much for the invitation. That was very kind of you.”

  At least one of them could be friendly. />
  I wasn’t sure what had gotten into Tiffany, but I planned to find out what it was before the end of the day.

  “There are hors d’oeuvres set around on most of the tables. Help yourself. But don’t fill up on them, because in an hour or so, the real food will be coming out.” No one could say that Jessa didn’t make an excellent host.

  Dave hummed while glancing around the back yard. “I do love a good hors d’oeuvre.” And with that, he excused himself—politely—and made his way toward the trays of finger food, leaving Tiffany behind.

  I could tell that my sister was uncomfortable, which might’ve had something to do with Tiffany’s attitude, but I had to give it to her, she was always willing to stick it out in the hopes that it was all a misunderstanding. She was never one to judge someone on a first impression. Her philosophy had always been that if you paid attention to someone when they didn’t know they were being watched, you’d know all you needed to.

  “So…” Jessa started awkwardly. “I hear you’ve recently gotten engaged to Adam King. Congratulations. Have you two picked a wedding date yet?”

  Tiffany swallowed harshly and pulled her lips to one side. It was the first sign of the woman I’d hung out since she showed up. Although, that all quickly vanished when the only thing she said was, “No.”

  Clearly being thrown off guard, my sister recovered by asking, “Do you plan to have a long engagement?”

  Again, Tiffany acted as if she were nervous, though it wasn’t clear why. She pulled in a deep breath through her nose and quickly exhaled, as if preparing herself to answer a difficult question. “I honestly have no idea. I’m usually the last one to find out these things.”

  My sister and I nervously laughed at that, which seemed to ease some of the tension. Maybe that was it. Maybe Tiffany was just nervous about meeting other people. From what I had gathered through a couple quick Google searches, it didn’t seem like she had too many friends. This could be why—because she had a hard time meeting new people.

  “I haven’t seen him around…is he away for work?” I’d been dying to understand her relationship better, and I finally had my chance to ask the questions that had been plaguing me since our moment in her living room the other day.

  “Yes,” was all she said.

  I waited a few seconds to see if she would elaborate, yet she never did. “What does he do during the off-season?”

  Her forehead creased, and had she not been wearing such big sunglasses, I would’ve probably seen her brows knit together in confusion. “He travels.”

  “Even when he’s not playing?”

  “Yeah.” Either she didn’t want to talk about it, or she was pissed about something.

  So I decided to drop it.

  “Why don’t you two go walk around and try some of the food. I’m testing out a few new items.” Jessa politely shooed us away, likely over Tiffany’s coldness.

  I had to slow my steps so Tiffany could keep up. Honestly, it made me laugh to myself. “Why in the world would you wear those shoes to a backyard party?”

  “Because,” she snapped while stumbling next to me. “It went with the outfit. Plus, I didn’t see any flats in the closet.”

  “You don’t know what shoes you have?”

  She nonchalantly waved me off. “Does any woman?”

  I couldn’t really argue with her there. “Why don’t you just take them off?”

  “Then I’d have to carry them around all day.”

  I stopped and carefully gripped her elbow to steady her. Holding out one hand, I said, “Give them to me, and I’ll put them in my place. You can get them before you leave.”

  I assumed it would’ve taken more persuasion than that, but it didn’t. She quickly stepped out of the shoes, released a sigh I hadn’t expected from her, and then handed them to me. We weren’t far from the pool house, so I directed her to stay where she was while I put them inside, and to my surprise, she did exactly that.

  Now that she was barefoot, it made walking through the yard much easier. We made our way to the first table, which had a platter of small round toasts topped with some green spread and what I assumed was chicken. Whatever it was, it tasted amazing—a thought echoed by Tiffany’s satisfied moan.

  “I take it you like it?”

  She smiled while covering her mouth with her whole hand, something I was pretty sure would’ve gotten her a slap on the wrist in etiquette class. “Yes, it’s delicious. What is it?”

  “I have no idea. My sister owns her own catering company, and I believe she makes up most of these things. So there’s no telling what she’s named it, probably something fancy that most people couldn’t pronounce. I just call them all finger food, regardless of what they’re made of.”

  “Oh my God, I do the same!” In her excitement, she slapped my bicep, except she didn’t take her hand away, just held it there as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

  It seemed like the Tiffany I knew was finally starting to come back, and I didn’t want it to stop, so I tried my best to remain unfazed by her sudden burst of enthusiasm and carried on with the conversation. “How new to this scene are you? The million-dollar homes, designer-name clothes, luxury cars…that sorta thing. Did you grow up around it?”

  Sadly, she let her hand slip away from my arm, but I couldn’t complain, because she took a step closer to me. “My upbringing was pretty average—middle-class working family. We didn’t have a fancy house by any stretch of the imagination, but it was nice. I’d say it was normal. What about you?”

  Too bad I hadn’t thought about the return inquiry when I chose this route of questioning. “Um…I guess you could say it was complicated.”

  Tiffany took off her sunglasses and met my stare. Sincerity blazed brightly in the sterling-silver irises. Gazing into her eyes like this made it impossible to wrap my head around the nastiness that was attached to her name in the tabloids.

  “Isn’t everyone’s family complicated?” The soft giggles in her words set me at ease.

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I had to look away before I fell into her spell and spilled all my family’s secrets, which I could never do. “We were pretty well off for quite a while. I don’t think it was always that way, but my parents started making a lot more money when I was really little, so it was all I knew growing up. Then, when I was twelve, they lost it all.”

  “Stock market?”

  She offered me an easy out, so I took it. “Yeah, you know what they say…don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Well, they did.” I decided to end the story there.

  “Your sister seems to do well for herself,” she mentioned while peering over her shoulder at Jessa and Marcus’s large home.

  “She married into it, and to be honest, she didn’t want any of this. She would’ve been perfectly happy in a two-bedroom house in the middle of nowhere, but Marcus talked her into getting this place. I think she’s fine with it now, but she’s not that type. You know? She doesn’t need any of this.”

  “Is her catering service successful?”

  “Oh, yeah, it is. But that isn’t what pays the bills. She actually donates every penny she makes.” I was certainly proud of my sister, but the last thing I expected to see on Tiffany’s face was utter awe, which was exactly what I found when I glanced over at her.

  “Wow. That’s impressive, and extremely generous.”

  “That’s my sister, though. She’s always been that way.”

  “So, if she didn’t want a house this big, why get it?”

  Normally, I never spoke of my sister’s personal business to anyone, yet for some reason, I felt safe opening up to Tiffany about it. “Marcus and Jessa are foster parents. They don’t have any kids staying with them right now, but they usually have at least one here. At the beginning of the year, they were given a family of four siblings. If it weren’t for them, those kids would’ve probably been split up, and Jessa refuses to separate siblings. So they took all four of them—the oldest was nin
e and the youngest was under a year. They were just reunited with their mother several weeks ago.”

  “That has to be so hard.”

  “I think it is. They normally have at least one child in the home, so when one leaves, Jessa is still occupied by another. But not this time. She’s a tough woman, Jessa is; she doesn’t let her emotions show too much, but I think this last time really got to her. She’s thrown herself into her company to occupy her time until another child comes along.”

  “Can they not have their own kids?”

  I thought about that for a moment. “You know…I’m not sure. If I had to guess, I’d say they probably could if they wanted to, but from what I gather, they would rather help other children.”

  Tiffany seemed so warm, more so than I’d ever seen her on any other occasion. It reminded me of the scene from The Grinch when his heart grew three sizes with the overwhelming love that consumed him—that’s what Tiffany looked like in this moment.

  However, that all came to a crashing halt when Dave returned.

  “Having fun?” he asked while helping himself to the snacks on the table.

  “Yeah, we were just getting to know one another.”

  Tiffany slipped her glasses back on her face and, in a bored tone, said, “We were just killing time while you meandered around the yard.”

  That caught me off guard, considering I wouldn’t at all have classified our conversation as killing time. I was so shocked, in fact, that I couldn’t even comment on it or question her sudden change in demeanor. The only thing I could blame it on—and it was a total assumption—was Dave. Yet I couldn’t quite accept that as truth. I’d been around the two of them at the same time before, and she wasn’t anything like this. Then again, I didn’t have a clue what had taken place between them after I’d left. For all I knew, he found out about our close encounter and lectured her about crossing lines while engaged.

  Again, it was all assumption.

  For all I knew, my sister’s multiple-personality theory could also be a factor.