“Happy to do it,” Julian says. “So, are you guys excited about going to Paris next?”
“Are you kidding?” Ana says, squirming in her chair. “I can’t wait. It will be my first time out of the U.S.”
Chad frowns. He wanted me to go with him so badly for the Paris Blind Shot premiere. But there are only two weeks of school left. There is no way I could go this close to the end of the year. “I guess,” Chad says, shrugging a shoulder. “But it could have been a whole lot better.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “If it were only two weeks later, you know I would do it.”
“Are you saying that you’d go anywhere I asked as long as it falls over your summer break?”
“Of course,” I say.
He points to Julian and Ana. “You guys heard that, right? She said she’d go wherever I asked her.”
They both nod, looking at him strangely.
“What?” I ask, confused over where this is going.
“I’ve been wanting to ask you this all week, but didn’t know how.” He puts his arm behind me on the back of my chair, running his thumb in circles on my shoulder. “I would love it if you’d spend the summer with me, Mallory. I want you to come stay with me in L.A. and come with me to Sedona.”
“You want me to go on location with you? While you’re filming?” I look at Julian and Ana to see if they heard what I heard. They both smile at me.
“We talked about it once and you said you would,” Chad says.
“I thought you meant a weekend, Chad. What on earth will I do while you’re working?”
“A lot of actors bring their families on location. It’s not that unusual. There will be plenty of things for you to do. You can go sightseeing. You can hang out in my trailer. You can come on set.”
I smile shyly at him. “You think of me as family?”
“Only since you were six, Mal.”
Then my face falls thinking of who I’d be leaving behind. “I can’t go,” I tell him. “Not for the whole summer. I can’t leave my dad for that long.”
Chad’s eyes drop to the table. I know he won’t argue with me. He knows how important it is for me to take care of my dad.
“Uh, Mallory?” Julian says. “I think there’s something you should know about your dad.”
“Oh, God, what?” I ask, scared by his declaration.
He makes some strange faces, as though he’s trying to figure out how to tell me some deep, dark secret.
“Tell her,” Ana says, nodding at Julian while she puts her hand on top of his.
What? How is it that Julian and Ana both know something about my dad that I don’t?
“What is it, Julian?” I beg.
“Your dad should probably be the one to tell you this, Mallory. But he thought maybe it would upset you.”
I look between him and Ana. “Is he selling the house or something?”
“Not that I know of. But um . . . he has been dating someone for a while now.”
My jaw drops. Then for a few seconds, pictures of my mom flash through my mind. How is it possible to be so sad and happy over the same news? “Really? Define a while.”
Julian motions between Chad and me. “Longer than you’ve been together. Six months, maybe.”
I replay some of the moments with my dad in my head. I guess it makes sense. He’s been able to talk about my mom without getting upset. He’s been going out more than he ever used to. Oh, my God. My dad has a girlfriend!
“Who is she?”
Julian winces. “That’s the part he thought you might have the most trouble with. She’s a nurse.”
I sigh. My mom was a nurse. Of course that’s why he didn’t want to tell me. I close my eyes and absorb the information. “No, it’s fine. It makes sense that he’d date someone from the hospital. He’s pretty much there all the time. How serious is it?” I ask.
He shrugs. “You’ll have to ask him that. But I think pretty serious.”
Julian and my dad have a great relationship. I never told my dad that he cheated on me, and they remained friends even when Julian and I weren’t. What surprises me is that Julian has discussed this with Ana. I smile thinking maybe their relationship is more serious than I thought.
“So you don’t have to stick around and take care of him, Mal,” Julian says. “I have a feeling he’ll be just fine if you leave for the summer.”
“Maybe Julian could come out for a week and we can all hang out,” Ana says, looking hopeful.
“I think that could be arranged,” he says, putting his arm around her.
I smile, looking over at Chad. I don’t need words to tell him I agree. He leans in to kiss me and then whispers in my ear. “Ten weeks with you will be like living in heaven.”
My heart thunders. My body melts. My head spins. I’m not sure, but if I looked it up in the dictionary, that might be the definition of swooning.
Chapter Twenty-three
Chad
I wasn’t kidding when I told Mal it would be heaven having her live with me for the summer. Two weeks in and I already know this is what I want for the rest of our lives. But I know it’s not always going to work out this well. Mallory works ten months out of the year. She won’t be able to come with me when I film most times. What will happen then; when getting away for the weekend isn’t an option? Filming is done on a very tight schedule. To stay within budget we sometimes work fourteen to sixteen hour days, six or seven days a week.
With Mallory’s help, I picked two films to do next year. Out of the Deep, that sci-fi number Paul really wanted me to do; and another romantic comedy like Blind Shot called Four Night Stand. I told Paul no way in hell would I sign on for the Malibu movie. He wasn’t too sore at me, though, because Thomas didn’t want to do it either—and it was all or nothing. I’m hoping that will get Heather out of my life once and for all.
I’m showing Mal around my trailer in the studio lot where we’ll be filming for the next few weeks before we head to Sedona. Kendra has made sure they provided all the comforts of home, especially since Mallory will be spending so much time here. Kendra even blew up a picture of the two of us and had it framed and mounted over the couch.
Mal opens the small refrigerator that has already been completely stocked. She pulls out a bottle of her favorite beer and examines it. “How did they know? Did you tell them?”
“It’s Kendra’s job to find out what we like,” I say. “She submits a list of requests for our favorite things like food, drink or personal items. They’re called riders.”
She goes to the back, checking out the small bedroom. She opens the closet to see it’s been filled with duplicates of my favorite shirts and jeans. She opens the drawers. She looks at me, red in the face. “Did you tell her to get these?” She holds up a box of condoms.
I laugh. “No. That’s pretty much standard.”
Mal’s face falls into a frown and she puts the box back where she found it and sits on the bed. “So they will put them there even when I’m not with you? Do they expect you to use them?”
I step over to the bed and sit beside her. “Babe, they could put a naked Victoria’s Secret model on my bed and I still wouldn’t use them.”
She gives me a sad smile. “What are we going to do when I can’t come with you?” she asks.
“We’re going to burn up cyber-space with our phone love.” I push her back onto the bed and climb on top of her. “Don’t worry, Mallory. We’ll work it out. I promise.”
There’s a knock on the trailer door. “Ten minutes, Mr. Stone.”
“Thanks!” I yell, still hovering over Mallory. Then I lean down to kiss her. I kiss her hard. I kiss her with everything I have. I’ve seen today’s call sheet and I know it may be tough for Mallory to watch, so I need her to know without a doubt that she’s the one I love.
After I’ve kissed her senseless, I lie next to her and pull her against me, cherishing these last quiet minutes.
I have no idea what will happen when I see Courtney.
I haven’t seen her in months, since the pre-production meetings back in April. I’ve purposely avoided her at all costs. Other than being concerned she might not be able to perform up to expectations, I don’t give a rat’s ass what she’s been up to. But I’m not going to put up with any more of her shit. I made it perfectly clear to Paul and Kendra and the whole damn studio that I’m not going to pretend I’m with her. I’m not hiding my relationship with Mallory to sell a few more tickets to a movie. I told them in no uncertain terms if they try to make it look like Courtney and I are still together, I will issue a statement myself. It’s pure bullshit what Paul and the studio wanted me to do. Maybe I was willing to go along with it before, when it seemed my career was riding on it. But now—when I can pretty much pick and choose what I want to do, and producers and directors are fighting over me—I’m going to be the one calling the shots, not them.
“We’d better get going,” I say. We walk out to the front and I pick up the call sheets, handing her one. “This is the call sheet. I’ve told the AD to give me two of them so you can have one with you at all times.”
“What’s a call sheet?” she asks, looking over it. “And what’s an AD?”
I laugh. Mallory has become such a big part of my life that I sometimes forget she’s not in the business. “AD stands for Assistant Director,” I tell her. “He prepares the call sheet from the director’s shot list. The cast and crew get one to tell them when and where to report each day. It lists the order in which the scenes will be shot. This one is pretty basic, but when we’re on location in Sedona, it will have additional information about transportation, safety, weather, and what meals are provided each day.”
“So it’s a daily schedule,” she says. “Why not just call it a daily schedule?”
I kiss her on the nose, chuckling. But before I open the door, I tell her what I’ve been dreading. “Mallory, I’m going to have to kiss Courtney in a scene today. And I’ll have to do it several times until they get the shot they want. If you don’t want to watch, I’ll understand. But it would be nice to have you there so you see how it’s all very technical and not nearly as intimate as it looks on screen.”
She nods sadly, looking at the floor. Then she smiles up at me. “I know you have to do this as part of your job, Chad. It’s okay. You just go do what you need to do and then later” —she motions back to the bedroom— “we’ll open that box.”
Shit. She’s going to send me out of the trailer with a hard-on. “You know,” I say. “We’ve been together for a while now, and I’ve been tested more than once. And since you’re on the pill, I was thinking maybe we could go without the box.”
She smiles, looking all sultry and come-hither as she gazes at me through her lashes. “I would love to feel you with nothing between us.”
Definite boner.
There’s another knock on the door and I open it to see one of the ADs. “Mr. Stone, Ms. Benson would like to see you in her trailer before hair and makeup.”
I give Mallory a look of annoyance. Then I turn back to the AD. “Can you please show Mallory the way to makeup, John. I’ll be there in five.” I kiss her on the top of the head. “Wish me luck, babe, I’m goin’ in.”
I walk over to Courtney’s trailer and knock on her door. “Come in!” she yells.
I half expect her to be naked with bells on, but she’s not. In fact, she doesn’t look anything like what I expected. She’s got on jeans and a t-shirt and her hair is in a ponytail. She resembles the Courtney I knew when we first met, the Courtney who hadn’t yet been introduced to the black-hole world of drugs. “Uh . . . hi.”
“Hi, Thad. Thanks for coming,” she says, sitting on her couch. “I wanted to have a minute with you before all the craziness started.”
“Okay, what’s up?”
“Can you sit down for a second, please?”
Please? I’m beginning to wonder what she did with the real Courtney. I walk over and sit on the far end of her couch. “Will this take long? We’re due in makeup.”
“No. I just wanted to apologize to you, and I didn’t want to do it in front of everyone.”
“Apologize for what exactly?” I ask.
She shoots her eyebrows up like it should be blatantly obvious. “For the way I treated you, Thad.” She shakes her head, briefly closing her eyes. “I’ve seen some of the press footage and the pictures. I was a self-centered bitch.”
I stare at her for a minute. “You seem different,” I say.
“Well, I should hope so. I’m clean now. Almost eight weeks.”
My eyes light up. “Really?”
She nods.
“That’s great, Courtney. I’m happy for you. You look well.”
“Thanks. I feel good. I’m excited to get started filming. I was hoping we could start off on the right foot. Give them a performance to remember.”
“I always try to,” I say. “But, yeah, thanks for telling me. I think it will make things a lot easier for everyone.”
“I hope so. Listen, I know you had to do what you did when you found out I was using. I’m not mad at you for breaking up with me. I just wish I would have realized how out of control I was a little sooner. Maybe then . . . well, maybe things could have been different between us. Maybe they still can be.”
I shake my head. “I can hardly blame you for what you did when you were using, Courtney. That would make me a bit of a hypocrite, don’t you think? But I’m not sure how differently things would have turned out. I’m with Mallory now. In some ways, I’ve always been with her. I’m not saying this to make you feel bad, but things would never have worked out between us in the long run. I could never be with anyone but her.”
She nods sadly. “Well, you can’t blame a girl for trying. I’m glad you’re happy, Thad.”
The stern knock on the door tells us we can’t wait any longer. I get up and head across the room. “Thanks. You’ll find someone to be happy with too, Courtney. See you on set?”
“Yeah. See you on set.” I walk through the door, but she calls me back. “Thad!” She throws something at me and I catch it before it pelts me in the head. “Don’t eat any onions today, okay?”
I look at the spearmint gum she threw at me and laugh. Then I smile back at her before walking away. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.
~ ~ ~
It’s been a long day. The first day of filming usually is. All the bugs are getting worked out. Mallory has been getting quite an education watching everything. She’s been careful to be nothing more than a fly on the wall, taking great precautions not to be seen nor heard while still getting to hang out with me as much as possible. Which has been maybe ten minutes outside of lunchtime. Noreen and Hayden are on set today but don’t have as busy a schedule as Courtney and I do, so they’ve been keeping Mal company.
I take a moment to be with her while they are setting up for our kissing scene. Our stand-ins are being used to make sure the lighting is good. I take a stick of gum from my pocket and pop it in my mouth. Mal watches my every move.
She sighs. “I think I’d prefer if you just have pizza breath.”
I laugh. I pull her into a corner of the room. I tuck my body over hers and lean into her. “It’s just acting, Mallory. You’re the one who gets the real me.” I kiss her long and hard so she knows every word is true.
“Places!” I hear called out behind me.
Mal smiles, popping the gum she just stole from my mouth. “Go do your job,” she says. “I’ll keep this for you until later.”
Our set has been made to look like an old cabin we’ve found to hole up in. We’ve used all the resources in it and Courtney and I have a fight over whether to stay or find someplace new. Then Hayden’s character comes barging through the door. He’s my enemy and he’s been following us to try and figure out where the safe zone is so he can rob it. We have to hide in a closet and that’s where we kiss. I give the performance of my life. Hell, we might even end up winning best kiss of the year.
; When the scene is over, I find Mal sitting outside the set on a curb. We’ve wrapped for the day so I’ve been cleared to leave. I sit down next to her, both of us silent.
“You didn’t have to make it look so darn real,” she pouts. “I mean, it was . . . wow, it was—”
“I know it was. I did it on purpose.” She looks at me with confused eyes. “Do you want to know why?” I ask.
She nods.
“I only wanted to have to kiss her one time, Mal. I didn’t want my lips on her any longer than necessary. So when I closed my eyes, I pretended she was you because you are the only person I ever want to be kissing. I knew that if I looked like I do when I kiss you, it would look incredible. Because every kiss with you is just that. So, yeah, I made it a good one. But in doing so, I made sure it was the only one.”
She slips her hand around my elbow and leans her head into my shoulder. “Thank you,” she says, relieved. “Now can you go wash that woman off of you so I can have my turn?”
~ ~ ~
We finally get a day off with a week of filming under our belt. As it so happens, Julian is in town staying with Ana this week. He was able to come on set for a day and hang out with Mal. I felt bad there wasn’t more interesting filming for him to watch, it was mostly re-shoots of stuff they wanted changed.
Today I’m making up for a lot of lost time. Mallory and I picked up Megan and her friend, Alyssa, and then headed to my parents’ place on the coast to meet Julian, Ana, Hayden, and Noreen for a beach day. Their house in Santa Monica has several hundred feet of coastline, with a long wooden stairway weaving down from their house through the rocks that line the dunes. It’s a lot of fucking steps. One hundred and five of them. I’ve counted them more times than I can remember. And Megan navigated them all. She’s a freaking rock star.
Stone Promises (A Stone Brothers Novel) Page 23