by Morgan
“Okay, wait. We’re not talking about your dad, are we?”
“No!” Shaunna was already laughing. “You know she has a thing for Sly, and I’m pretty sure he feels the same way.”
“Oh yeah, Sly likes Michelle, all right.”
“Are you sure? We need this to work.” Shaunna kept feeling little panic attacks that rose up and fell away like summer twisters.
“He’s an old-fashioned guy. He practically talks about her in iambic pentameter.”
Shaunna huffed. “Why haven’t you told me any of this?”
“I thought you already knew. You just said so yourself.”
She sat forward to think. “We can find a high-profile event, but not something too accessible. We want this to be a statement, but we don’t want to spend all night talking about it.”
“Obviously the premiere is out,” David said. “But you could come to the Emmys with me.”
“Too far out. We need this to happen tomorrow night, or the next.”
He reached out and took her hand. “You know we’re not really talking about the problem.”
“There’s nothing we can do about Kyle. That tape is coming out; we just need to be ready when it does.”
“Can’t we do anything to stop him? What about Thomas? Can’t he do anything?”
Shaunna thought about it. “He might. Michelle should be home anytime now. We’ll call him when she gets here.”
“Why wait?” David urged. “He’s your friend and lawyer too, isn’t he?”
“Yes, but this matter technically pertains to Michelle’s case.”
David squeezed her hand. “Let me ask you something: if Michelle was here, and she called Thomas, would she explain the whole situation to him herself, or would she hand you the phone?”
Shaunna let go of David’s hand. She took out her phone, but didn’t dial the attorney’s number right away. “Isn’t it funny,” she said while watching the phone tremble in her hands. “I’m embarrassed to even tell him about it.”
“We can trust Thomas,” David said comfortingly. “If we’re lucky, he’ll be the last person to ever find out.”
David’s statement got Shaunna moving, and she scrolled down to the last name Harper in her contacts. “He might not be able to help us at all, you know,” she told David as she pressed the call button.
“No,” David agreed. “But maybe he’ll take us for a ride on his boat.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
AS IF DAVID HAD MADE A WISH on falling star, Thomas ended his conversation with Shaunna by inviting them all to a party he was throwing on his boat the very next day in Marina Del Rey.
Shaunna wasn’t sure at first if she was on friendly enough terms with Thomas to call him up at the dinner hour and tell him about her private affairs, but he certainly felt like he was on friendly enough terms to bawl her out for ten minutes about not having told him about the possibility sooner.
He had explained that the law could be very sticky when it came to home surveillance, and he was reluctant to give her much hope about his chances to pull something together in a week. However, asking them to his yacht party was done in part so he could meet face to face and suggest an off-the-record solution that involved Sly.
So, as it turned out, Shaunna got her wish as well. Thomas would have a limited guest list, but any number of them would have their iPhones out in a jiffy if they spotted David Quinn chatting away with Michelle Cooper while his arm was around another woman. They wouldn’t have to endure many questions, but would most definitely make a splash.
Michelle came home late, but David and Shaunna were waiting up. They started with the bad news first, but it was the good news, her official setup with Sly, that had her fluttering around the house the next morning like a trapped robin.
“What exactly did Thomas say?” she asked Shaunna for the tenth time over breakfast.
“He said that he would ask Sly to be your date to the party,” came the consistent reply.
“Yes, but did he mean it was a date date? Or is it just like taking your mother to the Oscars?”
“I think it’s sweet when a guy takes his mom to the Oscars,” David added.
“It is,” Michelle said. “But that’s not what I want.”
“Oh, I get it.” David went back to eating his eggs, but Michelle’s stare was a heat that he could feel on his hands and his cheeks.
“What do you think he thinks it is?” she pressed.
David paused long enough to regard both women. Shaunna knew from experience that they were going to get a thoughtful answer.
“I think he’s wondering the same thing you are,” he said, looking into Michelle’s anxious eyes. “I think he’ll take his cues from you tonight, so if you want him to think it’s a romantic date, you’d better give him signs.”
“What kind of signs?” she asked him and then gasped. Her hand flew to her mouth. “I’m sorry. You guys have so much real stuff to deal with—that’s all my fault, by the way—and here I am, worrying about a date.”
“It’s not your fault,” Shaunna said firmly, her cheeks puffy with pancakes.
David nodded his head. “Helping you actually keeps our minds off the whole mess.”
She looked at both them with scrutiny, lingering on Shaunna. “You two are so full of shit, but you’re lucky I’m gullible.” She forked a peach slice from her plate and waved it at David. “So, should I just touch his arm a lot, or can I whisper that I’m not wearing panties?”
David began choking.
“Michelle!” Shaunna laughed in spite of her poor night’s sleep and her knotted stomach.
David recovered enough to hold up his finger, earning another few moments to pull himself together. “For Sly, I think eye contact and arm touching is fine.”
“Yeah,” Shaunna said humorlessly. “And for the love of God, wear panties! The last thing we need is an upskirt of you getting on and off a boat!”
Michelle’s face took on a horrified look and immediately agreed to reconsider her undergarment options. They were all drinking orange juice and kept reaching for their glasses at the same time. It was the kind of thing Michelle would miss most when David moved out.
Since it was a Sunday, they were all home until the party, and the day moved incredibly slowly. David called his parents in Chicago; Shaunna, likewise, dialed up her father and broke the news that Kyle was in possession of a compromising video of her and David. He was extraordinarily sympathetic, having only needed to hear that they didn’t film it themselves.
Gus was no stranger to Hollywood scandals, but in his day, incidents were mostly drug-related. His rage for Kyle was not well-hidden from his daughter, who had to make him promise not to contact the actor. She actually did believe that he stood a chance of getting Kyle to reconsider, but she hadn’t forgotten how he’d intervened in Texas and done something to compensate Kyle for her vengeful act of prissy watch flinging.
Michelle spent the afternoon trying on outfits and lured Shaunna into her bedroom by the time she had it narrowed down to four choices. David came in a few moments later with a soft knock, wielding Michelle’s cell phone.
“Knock, knock. Are you ladies done with your tickle fight yet?”
“Come in, David,” Michelle called after she had dashed into the bathroom. She was wearing only a translucent pair of undies, but came out a moment later in a short bathrobe that made her look like a karate student.
“Your phone chirped when I was in the kitchen,” David told her, passing the device over.
Michelle scanned it, and she shifted her weight to one foot as she read with her lips moving. “I think Sly just sent me something from Shakespeare.”
“Read it.” Shaunna nudged her.
Michelle cleared her throat. “Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle’s compass come…”
“Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,” Shaunna continued with her eyes closed. “But bears it out even to t
he edge of doom.” She looked at Michelle then. “Is that where he stopped?”
“Yes. How did you know that?”
“It’s Shakespeare. Sonnet 116,” she said, as if that alone should answer the question. After a moment and when David slightly bowed to her, she added, “It’s like one of his most famous sonnets. It means that love can conquer anything. Even time.”
“I think it’s even more than that,” David stated slowly, still mid-ponder. “It sounded to me like love can actually command time, even reverse it…well, as it pertains to how you view a lover.”
Shaunna’s mouth dropped open. “Wow, that’s really insightful, David.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t write it.”
“What do you think this means?” Michelle asked them.
“I think it means you have your answer about what kind of date he thinks this is,” Shaunna said with a smirk that rounded her eyes.
Michelle nodded and began texting her response.
“What are you telling him?” Shaunna asked.
Michelle finished typing and walked into her bathroom without a word. A moment later, her white panties came flying out.
“What have you got?” Kyle demanded even before he’d even fully entered the room.
He had given Heather more than enough time to release the footage of Shaunna and David having sex. He couldn’t figure out what the hell was taking so long. She should’ve been able to find an interested buyer with just a couple of phone calls.
Heather was sitting at her computer and swiveled to face him. “I ran into a problem. As it turns out, we really shouldn’t sell it after all.”
“Why the fuck not?” he yelled.
Heather maintained her composure as she answered. “Because it could be traced back to you, and that’s the last thing we want.”
“Come on!” Kyle whined, but with an edge. “No one is going to think I had anything to do with it!”
“They will if I send it, and especially if I auction it off to the highest bidder,” Heather practically muttered.
Kyle threw his hands up in exasperation. “Then why did you bring the idea up in the first place?”
“I’m sorry,” Heather said quickly. “I wasn’t thinking, but then everyone I approached had all these questions about you, and I realized —”
“So some of them already know I have it?” He thought for a moment, a deep crease appearing between his eyes. “It’s too late, then,” he concluded at last. “Sell it today.”
“No! We can’t do that!” Heather stood up. She was face to face with him, pleading. “Mr. Petersen, please think about it. This could really backfire for you.” She swallowed. “Look, I know I messed up, but I can fix this if you just give me a little more time.”
Kyle froze. Within moments, his entire face displayed a struggle. He looked like he was about to cough, but instead spoke with deliberate softness. “What are you up to?”
Heather plastered a thoroughly confused expression over her nervous face. “I just need to set up a couple of go-betweens and—”
“No!” Kyle shouted, stepping forward and forcing her to sit back down. “Who have you been talking to about that tape?”
Heather blinked up at him. “Insider knows,” she began timidly. “And TMZ knows, but they never want to pay for anything.” Kyle said nothing, so she continued. “Celebritits.com knows, but I’m not sure he recognized my name, so maybe not. And Playboy knows, but they originally thought it was Michelle on the tape. They dropped out when they realized it wasn’t.”
Kyle regarded Heather for a moment. His opinion of her had always been that she was just north of stupid. This incident appeared well within the established pattern of her not living up to the standards Shaunna had set. “How long will it take?”
“Not long. A few days, maybe?”
Kyle wasn’t completely sure, but it almost sounded as though Heather was relieved.
“Michelle and I have a divorce meeting the day after tomorrow,” Kyle stated with no emotion. “You have until then.”
Kyle turned to walk away and then hesitated. “I mean it, Heather. No more excuses. After that, I want to see that tape everywhere I look.”
Heather didn’t reply.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
SLY HAD ARRIVED IN MALIBU to pick up Michelle, and the two of them were currently tiny versions of themselves in David’s rearview mirror. Sly had texted Michelle several times during the day and finally requested the honor of escorting her to the party. She happily accepted, and Shaunna liked the exclamation point the gesture put on their message to the world. David Quinn and Michelle Cooper were friends and about to go public with their intentions to go home with different people that evening.
David drove Shaunna to Marina Del Rey in a muscle car he’d bought from Gus. She enjoyed the trip down the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Monica. Cutting south toward Venice was a nice change of pace.
Thomas’s boat was christened The Culprit. It was more like a luxury condo than a boat and easily held the forty people already milling around on its two sleek decks. Thomas was standing on the dock and offering his hand to the guests stepping aboard, even though it was hardly necessary. He greeted David and Shaunna warmly, and Michelle even received a kiss on the cheek. Sly merely nodded at his employer, and Thomas, knowing his friend all too well, returned the gesture.
“I hope you don’t mind me setting you up with Michelle here,” Thomas teased.
“I am delighted to be her date for the evening, Mr. Harper,” Sly replied with dignity. “I believe it is her pardon you should seek.”
“Oh, I think she’ll forgive me,” Thomas said, looking directly at Michelle and flashing a smile that even the twilight couldn’t mute.
“They needed a nudge toward each other,” Shaunna remarked. “You saved us another few months at least.”
Michelle and Sly both looked down bashfully, and Thomas laughed as he raised his hand to still more approaching guests. “I’ll catch up to you guys onboard.”
The bay was small, and the vessel was out in the Pacific Ocean within minutes of being untied from the dock. Thomas wasn’t piloting the boat that evening, but plucked Michelle and Shaunna delicately from the crowd on his way up to the wheelhouse, knowing that their dates would see and follow.
“This is Dale,” Thomas told them as they filed into a room that looked as much like a lounge as it did a control room. “Dale, this is Michelle, Shaunna, Sly, and David.”
Dale nodded. He appeared to recognize Michelle, but remained calm. It wasn’t the first time A-list celebrities had been shuttled into the wheelhouse.
“Dale, will you give me a few minutes alone with my friends here?”
“Sure thing, boss.” Dale leaned forward and checked a small computer screen, then a large log book before leaving the group.
Thomas stepped into his captain’s vacated spot and looked out ahead of the boat. They were traveling south, with Vista Del Mar off their port side and the forthcoming sunset to starboard.
“Okay, gang,” Thomas began. “This won’t take long, and then we can all go enjoy the shindig. We have our final divorce meeting with Kyle in two days, but I don’t want to tip my hand unless I know I’ve already won. And we’re not there yet.”
“Look.” Shaunna sounded exasperated. “He could have hundreds of copies of that footage by now. The tape is going to come out in a few days.” She looked around at them. “Heather texted me about an hour ago; it’s going to happen. But by going public here at the party, we can diminish its impact, and that’s going to have to be enough.”
Michelle whispered something into Sly’s ear, and when he nodded, she spoke up. “I have an idea that might work.”
“What are you thinking?” Thomas asked. In his experience, simple plans were underrated, and at this point, any plan was better than none.
What Michelle proposed wasn’t elegant, but it certainly was simple and didn’t break any laws. Everyone agreed that it was the only thing
that gave them any chance of success within the next two days. Sly seemed especially convinced that it would work, but he was biased toward his date. David likewise was overly confident, while Shaunna was trying to accept the inevitable embarrassment of Kyle’s last act of revenge.
Thomas brought the boat to a stop off of Manhattan Beach, and they joined the rest of the partygoers well before the sun kissed the horizon. Electro-swing music played in the background, and it only took two glasses of champagne to encourage Sly to lead Michelle to the bow of the boat, where many couples were dancing.
David simply would not let go of Shaunna’s hand. He knew she was sad, but he was all too happy to show his affection for her outside the sanctuary of the Malibu home. After all, a public display of devotion was their primary purpose in being there. He handed her a glass of something red and robust, hoping that it would relax her enough to look happy in any photos of them that might surface.
“Do you really think the plan will fail?” David asked her later in the evening, as his hand ran carefully through her hair. The music had switched to classic rock, and the lights on land twinkled like low-lying stars.
“Not anymore,” she conceded. “But the timing will be key.”
“I know.”
“Either way—” she shrugged “—we’re saving Michelle the hassle of being involved in the whole mess when it surfaces.”
David glanced around the boat, seeking a distraction for Shaunna’s woes. “There’s this girl who keeps taking pictures of us from the upper deck.”
“She must be tweeting them too,” Shaunna told him.
“How do you know?” he asked.
She waggled her own phone. “We’ve been a recognized couple for the last half hour.”
Shaunna grinned in an attempt to appear happy, but David knew her well enough to see through the facade.
Later that night, David drove Shaunna back to Yorba Linda, where they spent their first night together in her home. When they went to bed, they didn’t make love. Instead, David held Shaunna while she rested her head on his chest. His fingers glided up and down her arm as he sought to ease her mood.