Limelight (Hollywood Stardust)

by Kim Carmichael

  "How do you know?" She had to get a shot of this and lifted the camera.

  "Fruit is not unlike anything else. It takes time to grow and blossom. Just about the time you think you will never get a bounty, you look up into the tree and it’s perfectly ripe and ready for picking and all the sweeter because you gave it time." With his poetic words, he reached up into the tree, plucked the fruit and gave it to her.

  "Shouldn't we wash it off or something?" She gazed down at the pear.

  "This is what nature made, just eat it because you want to.”

  She handed him her camera. As if he had a sixth sense, he continued recording and she took a bite. A juicy sweetness burst in her mouth, better than any high-end poached pear concoction she’d ever tasted, possibly even tastier than Logan’s fiancée’s diamond. "It’s different than a store." Pear juice dribbled down her chin and damn if she didn't care.

  He laughed. "Completely."

  "Unbelievable." She wiped her chin with the back of her hand and took another bite.

  "Some people say farmers are crazy. We are slaves to the weather and the right conditions and so many factors out of our control, but for the couple of times I got to hand a city girl a pear off a tree and see her face light up, it makes me feel like what I do matters."

  Standing there in the middle of the orchard with her feet in the dirt and an overly juicy pear, she finally took a breath. "Thank you."

  "Anytime." He held his hand out and she traded him the pear core for the camera.

  "Okay, you need some city action, let me show you something." She hooked her arm in his and turned the camera around. "Do you have a family?"

  "Yes, a son, his wife and two granddaughters. My son runs this place. I started the orchard with my father sixty years ago."

  She centered them in the viewfinder. "Then when I get to my meeting I will make sure that your granddaughters get a copy of this. Tell them you had a selfie with the city girl and give them that handkerchief. Will you do that for me?"

  "If that will make you happy." He kept hold of her arm as they walked.

  "It's a start." Maybe rather than proving a point and leaving, or giving up, she needed to wait for things to ripen. The hurt between them went both ways. She could only pray Drew didn't want to leave her on the cutting room floor, and she could get him to believe in her.

  * * * *

  “I WANT EVERYTHING my customers touch while at my spa to come from my family’s orchard, and then I want them to go home with the supplements and products from these grounds. Everything must be exclusive and everything must be made with what you see in front of you.” Allan Parker, owner of Organic Oasis, an exclusive retreat nestled in the self-proclaimed calming lands of Utah, held his arm out.

  Drew studied the rows fruit trees in front of him and fought the urge to shake his head or roll his eyes. Everyone wanted their own custom blend until they realized the cost. He wasted more time quoting custom projects when he knew the customer would never go for the expense, because on the off chance one project went through, the money was astronomical. To date, only one was seen through to fruition for the hundreds he quoted, but a guy could dream. He always craved the unattainable.

  Still, as a newer laboratory, he had to entertain every opportunity and hope at the end the customer would buy his brand. He had to say his own line of products were beginning to make a name for themselves and Hollywood Glow had a lot of potential if he didn’t die trying to come out with it first. His celebrity clientele was on the upswing for sure.

  The thought of celebrities made him focus on one star in particular. When he first wanted to take Erin on this road trip, he envisioned strolling among the bountiful orchard with Erin by his side, sneaking in a spa treatment for her, and possibly ending the day with a picnic among the pear trees, all while showing her exactly what he did for a living.

  Instead, he left her over a mile away walking down a pretty desolate road in nowhere, Utah. He actually drove away and didn’t even look in the rearview mirror. In an attempt to concentrate on his work, he scanned the orchard.

  “Why don’t you come show me and the girls what you concocted and give me the bottom line?” Allan came up beside him.

  “Let’s go talk shop.” He nodded and followed his account. Aside from his concern over taking one of his top customers and pissing him off with the cost of custom blends, worry rose at where in the hell Erin could be? Did he not listen to Erin this morning because he didn’t believe her, or because he didn’t want to know the truth? He glanced at his watch and wondered how long it would take to walk here in a white suit with a short skirt and stilettos.

  Allan led him back to the main building with the spa’s other little luxuries and they entered a big conference room where the spa aestheticians would join them. He bent down to retrieve the samples he created.

  “Oh, my god!” A woman’s voice screeched through the room.

  He shot up, expecting to find Erin.

  Two of the women he recognized from his prior visits stood there pointing at him, one with her hand covering her mouth.

  “Are you joining us for the meeting?” He resisted looking behind him.

  The one with her hand over her mouth giggled, while the other tiptoed forward, bent down and stared at him. “I can’t believe I never saw it.”

  “Is this that Hollywood thing again?” Allan shook his head.

  “You don’t understand. This is Drew Fulton.” She held out her 20th Anniversary DVD of Hollywood Stardust and a marker. “Would you mind?”

  “Well, you can call him what you want, but he is also Isaac Abrams, our chemist.” Allan strummed his fingers on the table. “No wonder you hid, how can you get any work done?”

  With one hand still over her mouth, and the other with a matching DVD, the second girl snuck up as well.

  If the man only knew. Thus far he managed to stay out of the limelight and only answered questions to his staff and the few accounts that called. This was the first time he was confronted head on and he sort of wished Erin was here to see it. He took the marker and signed his name to the DVDs.

  Both women hugged their prize and before he could return to the land of Isaac Abrams, a third woman came rushing inside the room. “You are never never never never going to guess who just arrived saying she is Isaac’s or Drew’s or whoever’s Director of Marketing!” She pointed at him, jumped up and down and ran back down the hall.

  Relief washed over him, and he put his samples in the middle of the table and stood. Part of him thought she might have walked the other direction and hitched a ride out of here. Once more she proved him wrong.

  The other two girls dashed away.

  “What is going on?” Allan leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

  No explanation was necessary. A moment after Allan asked his question, the procession began, the two girls returned, one held a glass of water, the other carried a towel, a woman he didn’t recognize from the original hubbub hurried in next and pulled out a chair, followed by the grand finale of the never never never never woman entering with her arm wrapped around his one time co-star and now Director of Marketing.

  “Put her here.” Chair lady patted the cushion and the other woman put the water at what was now dubbed Erin’s seat. Erin’s personal towel girl held out her offering and waited. He half expected her to kneel down and bow her head.

  He winced and braced himself for the backlash. The white suit was now more of a grey and streaked with dirt, Erin’s hair hung down around her face, and she limped as she took her seat and put her bag on the table. “I’m so sorry I’m late.” She didn’t as much look in his direction, but she held her hand out to Allan. “I’m Erin Holland, Drew’s, I mean Isaac’s Director of Marketing.”

  The man who seemed annoyed with all things Hollywood suddenly jumped out of his seat. “No introduction is necessary.” He took her hand between his. “You are Erin Holland.”

  “I am.” Her perfectly symmetrical signature smi
le grew across her face, albeit dirty face. “Who might you be?”

  “I am Allan Parker, I own this holistic health center and orchard.” Continuing to hold her hand, he leaned back on the table. “Do you mind if I ask what happened to you?”

  Always one to know the importance of timing, Erin sipped her water, took the towel, dabbed her forehead and chest, and inhaled. “Well, truth be told Isaac and I got into quite a little tiff.” Her voice came out innocent and light, a mere waif against the elements.

  “What would he have to argue with you about?” Allan patted her hand.

  Drew grabbed the edge of the table, but no matter how hard he squeezed there would be no stopping the freight train coming toward him. All he needed her to do along with mentioning their fight was let loose the Hollywood Glow information. His account wouldn’t take too kindly to having Erin endorse what could essentially be the competition. If she would have stayed in the car so they could talk, he could have explained. In essence, he was screwed.

  “As we drove here, I wanted to look at the grounds, they are so beautiful, and we were running late, I pouted and got out of the car and said I would meet him here.” She pulled out her weapon of mass destruction and pursed her lower lip out.

  “I’m so sorry. I should have never left you.” Drew blurted out his apology. From day one, he was powerless against the lip.

  All the women in the room gasped, one put her signed DVD down. Allan turned and glared at him. “You left her?”

  “I left her.” He turned his attention to her. More like he left her twenty years ago.

  At last, she met his gaze. “Oh, don’t be mad at him.” Again, she cooed.

  Everyone in the room returned to staring at their idol.

  “I practically begged him to leave, he needed to get here. Us girls like it when the men make the money.” She winked at Allan.

  The girls let out a collective sigh and Allan nodded.

  “I took a little tour of your orchard, I believe I met your father along the way and though I lost my shoes, I had the most scrumptious pear, the juice was dripping right off me.”

  Both he and Allan stared at her, no doubt both pictured juices dripping off her.

  “Now I want you boys to get to your work.” She slid her hand away from Allan’s. “Do you mind if I do some filming? I’m doing a piece for Drew on the lab.”

  He noticed she didn’t yell at him or mention Hollywood Glow…yet.

  “We would be delighted.” Allan motioned for the girls to join them and returned to his seat.

  Drew gave everyone a moment to settle down. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Erin take out her camera, set it up, sign the girls’ DVDs and sit back with her water.

  “Show us what you have.” All smiles, Allan hit the table, and Drew swore he struck a pose for the camera.

  “I went over the notes we made and I not only created some extracts from the samples we took from the orchard, but then I went to some raw material providers and got the actual pure ingredients that make each of these fruits so special and beneficial.”

  He motioned toward the samples. “I created some capsules, a drink, a powder that can be added to liquid, and some little ampules with the active ingredients. In essence, it’s a system of products.”

  As always, everyone oohhed and ahhed over the custom blends and the girls assessed each product.

  “So what are the numbers?” Allan kept his eye on the camera.

  “As explained, any custom work is yours, and you will have your own run. Here are what the numbers look like.” He handed Allan a spreadsheet and his chest tightened. Here’s where the man would wonder how he could sell that amount, then the concern would turn into anger when he realized he would have to stay with the lab’s brand because nothing would ever be as good as the unique product. Maybe he should mention Hollywood Glow.

  The jolly smile on Allan’s face vanished, his complexion paled. “I could buy a house for this amount. How am I supposed to sell all this?”

  “That’s why I recommended staying with the lab brand.” Drew swore in some weird universe someone wrote this script and just changed the players every now and again.

  “Look at these!” The girl who escorted Erin in the room lifted one of the little red ampules. “What do I do?”

  “Oh, those are the ampules!” Erin reached forward, grabbed one and held it up letting it dangle from her fingertips. “Did you see how Drew made them look like the cherries you grow in the orchard with all the antioxidants?”

  She knew cherries grew here?

  “Don’t touch those. Each one could buy a car.” Allan tossed the paper back at him.

  “Watch this.” Erin ignored Allan and leaned way over the table.

  Her disciples parroted her.

  With her manicured fingernails, she twisted the top off the ampule. “This is one way to pop a cherry.”

  The girls laughed.

  Drew squeezed his hand into a fist. A business meeting with real business people, not industry people, was no place for a joke with any innuendo.

  Ever the show person, Erin slid her glass of water over, held the ampule up high and allowed a couple of droplets of his concentrated serum to fall in the liquid making a burgundy swirl.

  Her audience all seemed to hold their collective breaths.

  In an effort to interject, he lifted his finger. She needed to put the entire ampule into the water to get the proper dosage and taste.

  “It makes your water taste great, but I discovered something else when I began working with the products.” Rather than fielding his question, she squeezed the rest onto her fingertips and proceeded to rub his serum onto her face and chest.

  The girls gasped as Erin ran her fingers over her own skin in an overtly sexy manner. If they were alone, he would definitely be aroused, and a quick glance over at Allan with his half-opened mouth revealed his client had the same thought.

  “It absorbs right in, and look how hydrated my skin is after that long walk.”

  As if they’d joined a cult, all the girls nodded.

  “But here is the best part.” She licked her fingertips. “It’s completely edible.”

  Like starving vultures, the girls descended upon the ampules, each taking their turn to taste the product and apply it to their skin and then to each other’s skin. Erin didn’t create a cult, she created an orgy.

  “We can use these in our treatments!” one of the females exclaimed.

  “I would be very impressed if I were in a facial and my aesthetician took out a custom ampule created from the fruits of the orchard surrounding the spa.” Erin helped the girls apply the serum to the backs of their hands then opened one of the bottles of his customized, powdered antioxidant blend and sprinkled a bit on top. “It can be a scrub too.” As if punctuating her sentence, once more she licked her finger, dipped it in the powder and put her finger in her mouth.

  The room practically vibrated from the excitement as the one-time, calm, zen-like practitioners of holistic health turned into hedonistic madwomen rubbing and buffing their skin with only the finest ingredients.

  If word got out about this display, he would never sell as much as a multi-vitamin again. His only saving grace was the fact that Allan wouldn’t buy a thing.

  “Oh, my god.” The original one who asked for his autograph held her hands out stopping them all. “We can use the drink as a hydrating spray!”

  “Your products literally will treat your customers from the inside out.” Erin swooped in once more.

  The squeals of delight caused Allan to wince.

  “We have to have this.” One of the women turned to Allan.

  “I don’t think you understand the cost.” Allan pressed his hand to his temple.

  “I don’t think you understand the potential.” In her bare feet, Erin stood and proceeded to do a complete hand treatment on his soon to be former account.

  By the expression on Allan’s face, Erin may just as well have given him a h
and job.

  “Now taste.” She dabbed a bit of the serum on his lower lip.

  As if caught in a spell, the man licked his lower lip. “The products are quite amazing.”

  Amazing? Drew forced his back against the chair. How did they know anything about the products? He never got the opportunity to say one word about anthocyanins, or polyphenols, or the special process he used to ensure the stability of the ingredients.

  “I think amazing is an understatement.” Erin sauntered back to her seat. “This orchard and spa are finally ripe, ready to go in for the kill. Your facility caters to a star clientele, so who better to create products for your customers than a star himself?”

  The horrible scraping sound of his teeth grinding together in exactly the right way reverberated through his skull. He didn’t want to be known as Drew Fulton, the casual chemist to the stars. He was Isaac Abrams, a serious scientist.

  “The minimums are very high.” Rather than speaking to him, Allan addressed his question to Erin.

  She swiped the quotation paper off the table, giving it barely a glance before tossing it aside. “Once the media gets a hold of this, you’ll be calling Drew in a panic to make more and we have a five-week lead time.”

  They did? He continued to watch the horror show.

  Almost in slow motion, Allan reached over for the paper. “I don’t know.”

  “You already have one celebrity spokesperson.”

  She was going to be his spokesperson? What happened to Hollywood Glow? He needed to speak. “Allan.”

  Erin cleared her throat. “She even created your regimen and is the spokesperson and Director of Marketing for the entire lab.”

  Somehow she dodged the Hollywood Glow bullet. Now if Allan saw her endorsing those products, it would make perfect sense.

  “Daddy!” The second girl who asked for his autograph stomped over.

  Daddy? Even if anyone had acknowledged Drew spoke, he wouldn’t have any words left.

  “Daddy.” She put her hands on her hips. “I want these products and I want Erin Holland as my client and spokesperson. I did what you asked and instead of becoming an accountant stayed here with you and grandpa to run the business and these products made by these stars will be our legacy.” The woman grabbed Erin’s hand and pressed it to her chest.