Grounded By You

by Sinclair, Ivy

  “It’s tragic,” he replied. “But cyclical, like everything in life.”

  “I wanted to say I’m sorry about pushing you the other morning. I realize that all of this has taken a toll on you, and I wasn’t helping the situation,” Delaney said.

  Sam looked down at her in surprise. “Everything you do, you do for this movie.”

  Delaney shrugged. “I do, but that doesn’t mean I have to be a bitch about it. I like you a lot, Sam. And I respect your acting abilities. I mean you’ve got me believing every word you say to me during our scenes. If I was the real Camilla, I can totally see how she fell for this guy despite the fact that he was married.”

  Her words brought Sam a small measure of comfort. “People hate him, but there’s so much more complexity to his character that drives what happened. And I believe that he did love Camilla. You aren’t really sure of it until the end, but then you feel his heartbreak when he realizes that she’s gone forever.”

  “I doubt you wanted to take a walk to talk about Walter Moolen’s philosophical characterizations,” Delaney said. “Although, I sense a strong undercurrent of irony in your tone.”

  Sam put his hand on her arm. He looked down at her, and when he blinked, he saw Jackson’s Camilla there, lovely, vulnerable, and so wanting of something more from him. “I need your help tonight. It needs to be real, Delaney. As real as we can make it.”

  He watched her lips part, and then he didn’t wait for her answer. He wasn’t sure if it was Jackson’s character in his head, or if it was his desperation and ache over the thought that Millie might be beyond his reach forever. He leaned his head down and softly kissed her lips.

  Automatically she reached her arms up and wrapped them around his neck. He thought of what Jackson would have felt in that moment, finally kissing this woman who had filled his thoughts for days. He brought his hands to her hips and drew her in.

  It was the catcalls that brought him out his stupor. He broke away from Delaney and saw her eyes were clouded, and her breath came in short gasps. “If that’s make-believe, I don’t think my knees could handle the real thing,” she whispered.

  Sam smiled down at her. It had been a kiss, a really good kiss, but that was it. There wasn’t anything else lingering underneath it for him. But he could play it real for the camera, and as long as Delaney believed it worked, then Lee would too. He slung his arm around her shoulders to walk with her back to the driveway.

  That’s when he looked across the lawn and saw the woman standing there. His woman. He had just made a terrible mistake. He had no idea how long she’d been standing there, but Millie had clearly seen enough.

  She didn’t know why she let Kate talk her into coming straight out to the Willoughby. She asked Patrice a half a dozen times about the timing of when the movie crew was set to leave the grounds, and Patrice assured her that they would be gone by three. So Millie thought it was safe when Josh pulled their rental car into the driveway at almost four.

  He stared up at the house as they approached. “This place looks even bigger than the pictures I saw on the website.”

  “It’s got seven rooms in the main house, and three more in the guest house over the converted garage,” Millie said. “Then there are three rooms for staff and that’s where Patrice stays. Kate lived here until she moved in with Reed.” Millie spent the entire summer arranging corporate and private events on the Willoughby grounds. She knew almost as much about the place as Kate did.

  “Impressive,” Josh said. “You sure that they have room for us?”

  “Most of the people coming the party live here in Bleckerville,” Millie said with an eye roll. She felt the nervous energy coursing through her body as she saw that there were still a few scattered cars in the driveway that had the look of production vehicles. “Kate said our rooms will be ready so we’ll have time to clean up before dinner.”

  “Maybe we can even squeeze in a little bit more prep time,” Josh said with a wink.

  The last thing that Millie wanted to do was go over one more slide or debate another fact or figure. She hoped that the deal on Monday went as planned so that Josh could get his big promotion and maybe she’d be able to get some sleep. There was just one more obstacle between her and a good night’s sleep though. And its name was Sam Groveson.

  Josh turned off the car and Millie stepped out and moved around to the trunk. Josh got the bags out of the trunk and pushed her hands away when she bent to take her suitcase. “I’ve got it,” he said, cutting a glance at her stomach.

  “I’m fine. I can carry my own bag, Josh,” she said.

  “Better safe than sorry,” Josh said. “Hey, there’s Kate.”

  Millie turned and saw Kate emerging from the door that led into the kitchen. Her face broke out in a wide grin. Kate ran toward her, and Millie grunted when her friend slammed into her giving her a tight hug.

  “You look fantastic!” Kate exclaimed. “I am so glad you are here.”

  Millie relaxed for the first time in what felt like weeks and returned her friend’s hug. “You look pretty terrific yourself.” And she did. Millie had to admit that her friend was positively glowing. Engagement agreed with her, but a hot fiancé didn’t hurt either. “Where’s Reed?”

  “Picking up a few things in town. He’ll be back soon,” Kate said. “Grab your stuff. I’ve got your rooms ready.”

  Millie tried to grab her bag, but Josh swatted her hand out of the way again. She sighed and straightened. “The film crew on their way?”

  “There are a few lollygaggers still packing stuff up,” Kate said. “Sam told me that they are ahead of schedule though, and he thinks they’ll wrap up by the end of next week.”

  At the mention of Sam’s name, Millie’s stomach did a flip flop. “That’s nice,” she said neutrally. She wanted to confirm with Kate that Sam wasn’t going to be coming to the engagement party, but she didn’t want to arouse Josh’s suspicion. Her brother too perceptive for his own good, and it wouldn’t take him long to tie together the timing of Millie’s pregnancy and Sam’s arrival in her life. She didn’t need that kind of drama, and she still needed to figure out a way to tell Sam about the baby.

  Kate rattled on about the party and who was coming that night as they walked around the house. The first thing that Millie saw was the lake. Then she saw the couple standing across the lawn in a passionate embrace. She felt as if someone plunged a knife into her chest.

  The cold part of her mind noted the small details, like the fact that there weren’t any cameras to be seen. What she saw unfolding in front of her was really happening. Sam kissed Delaney like he was trying to devour her, and from what Millie could tell Delaney wasn’t putting up an ounce of protest.

  “Well, I guess those two are still a thing, huh?” Josh said. “I figured so when I saw them together at the cocktail party.”

  The knife twisted even deeper as the couple parted. Millie heard several people calling out to them to get a room. When Sam’s eyes crossed the distance and met hers, he had a wide smile on his face. Then it fell.

  She wasn’t sure what she expected. There was some part of her that had believed him when he said that the two of them were friendly, but it wasn’t like that. She had believed him when he said that Delaney wasn’t his type. That it was all make believe when all the reporters said the two were together and that it was some kind of elaborate game she was watching. But what she just witnessed wasn’t a publicity stunt, and it wasn’t for any camera.

  Sam stood there just staring at her. She wanted to scream at him. She wanted to throw something at him. She wanted to wipe acid across her memory and erase the picture that was now burned there of him with another woman. She wanted to curl up in a ball and cry herself to sleep.

  He didn’t do anything. He didn’t say anything. And for Millie, that was answer enough.

  “We should get checked in, Josh,” she said. “I might need to take a nap before dinner.”

  Then she grabbed her suitcase out of his
hand and walked to the door that led inside the inn. She wasn’t going to cry about Sam, and she decided that she wasn’t going to tell him about the pregnancy any time soon. She and her baby deserved better.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  His feet moved to go after her, but Delaney grabbed his arm and said in a low voice, “Sam, people are watching.” His eyes found hers, and he saw the pensive expression there. “We have to go. Lee said he’s starting at five thirty, and we still have wardrobe and make-up calls.”

  “Why would you think I’d give a crap about that right now?” he hissed.

  “Because you are a professional, and you signed on to do a job,” she said in a low, even tone. “What are you going to say? Sorry, I was practicing kissing Delaney, and it wasn’t real? It’s all been an elaborate illusion? I dumped you for a job, and I still can’t see you even if you’d take me back?”

  Sam’s mouth opened and closed as he processed her words. “I don’t want to hurt her,” he said.

  “Trust me, you’re going to end up hurting her more if you do something stupid right now. You have to remember why you rigged the break-up in the first place. Nothing has changed. Nothing, Sam. So if you go and try to make-up with her, you’re just going to have to do it again when you go back to the set tomorrow.”

  He didn’t want to agree, but he knew that she was right. Millie was so close, but there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. He let Delaney take his hand and lead him around the side of the inn to the car. She put her hand out, and he put his keys in it.

  “We’ve got less than an hour to get your head back in the game,” Delaney warned. “You can’t focus on her right now. Whatever you did back there, you have to do it again for Lee. Man, if we’re able to get that on film, I swear this thing is just going to blow up. It’s a lock.”

  Sam stopped listening to her. He couldn’t get the image of Millie’s horrified, hurt expression out of his mind. He closed his eyes and focused on the rest of the details that he hadn’t processed at the time.

  She was with her brother, who he met briefly at the cocktail party. He half expected her to show up with Will. It would have served him right, but Millie didn’t seem to be out for any kind of revenge play. She looked pale in the summer sun, which was unusual. Having spent more than one idyllic afternoon with her catching the rays on the sandy beach behind the Willoughby or up on Grossler’s Point, he knew that she worshipped the sun.

  The orchid blouse and navy slacks she wore made her look years older, and he thought that she was a bit thinner than he remembered. Putting all the details together, Millie looked tired, stressed and worn out. The vibrant woman that he remembered from those short weeks together in New York seemed to have disappeared.

  He couldn’t help but wonder what part he had played in that. He needed to know. No matter what Delaney said to convince him, Sam wasn’t so sure anymore that staying away from Millie was the best thing for him. Millie was his Camilla, he was sure of it.

  “Are you listening to me, Sam?”

  He opened his eyes and looked at Delaney. “I think you’re wrong.”

  “What?”

  “It isn’t right for me to stay away from her. I was stupid.I needed to trust her and be honest with her. Instead, I thought that she wouldn’t be able to handle it. That was my own doubt and insecurity showing. Millie is the strongest person that I know. She is the one who held me up, but still kept me grounded. She’s the one that I want to be with.”

  Delaney slowed the car and pulled it over to the side of the road. She sighed and then rubbed her eyes. “Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  “I’ll help you, but you can’t just ditch me,” she said. “Whatever we do has to work for both of us.”

  “What do you want?” Sam asked.

  “I told you before Sam, the way to get what you want is to become somebody they can’t do without. They pushed you around in the beginning because you had everything to lose. They had all the leverage. But you’ve heard Lee raving about the dailies so far. And if you pull off a performance like you just did twenty minutes ago, there’s going to be no doubt that you are their Jackson Monroe.”

  “So what you’re saying is that I can renegotiate,” he said.

  “What I’m saying is that you’ll have leverage. But we have to give them something in return publicity wise. The woman scorned angle won’t sit well with them. That’s what we’ll have to figure out.”

  “How?” Sam asked.

  “I’ll think about it,” Delaney said. “In the meantime, you have to do two things. One, you have to kill it in the scenes we film over the next few days. Second, if you are going to ask me to do this, you better make damn sure that girl of yours still wants you. This plan doesn’t go into motion until she’s on board. And I have to tell you, after seeing her face this afternoon, I think that is going to be ten times harder than the first thing.”

  Sam felt something release in his chest. He let out a long breath. “You’re the best, Delaney.”

  “Stop thinking about that now and start thinking about how much you want to smooch my face,” Delaney said with a wry grin. “Get into character now, and worry about the other part later.”

  He felt calmer than he had in weeks. He had a plan. Tonight, he was going to tell Millie everything, and hopefully, she would be willing to give him another chance.

  Millie heard the knock on her door just as she slipped her earrings into her earlobes. She looked at herself in the full-length mirror and turned to the side. Soon, she was going to start to show. It was still a surreal thing to her that she was carrying another person inside of her. She had her first doctor’s appointment the following week, and they told her that they might be able to get a picture during the ultrasound. Then it would feel real.

  “Come in,” she said absently.

  Josh slipped through the door. He let out a low whistle. “I think you’re going to give the bride a run for her money.”

  Millie rolled her eyes at him. “Then I should change. I don’t want to show up Kate. Tonight is her night.”

  Josh sat on the edge of her bed. “So, I could be completely off base, but I get the feeling that there’s more to the story between you and that actor. What’s his name? Carter?”

  Millie hands settled on her hips. “It’s Sam.”

  “Sam,” Josh said. He looked at her with a quizzical look. “Am I wrong?”

  Her silence was her answer. Outwardly, she was a picture of calm as if seeing the father of her baby kissing another woman was a regular occurrence. Of course, even if she were with Sam, it would be. That was the life of an actor.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she finally said. “He’s here, and he’s got his own life.”

  “I’m going to kill him,” Josh said, standing up with a dark look on his face.

  Millie put her hands on his chest in alarm. “Josh, cut it out. I don’t need you to go all big brother on me right now.”

  “He’s here, Millie. And he’s oblivious.”

  “And he had his lips all over his co-star,” Millie reminded him. “He’s moved on.”

  “Have you?”

  Millie shrugged. “It wasn’t anything serious if that’s what you’re asking. We hung out for a while before he started filming. We didn’t make any promises or declarations of love. I don’t even know if what we had qualified as a relationship. If anything, it was probably a friends with benefits kind of thing.”

  Josh groaned and rubbed his hands over his face. “Oh, this just gets better and better. Dad is going to love this, and Mother is going to be the embarrassment of the Upper East Side.”

  Millie put her hands on her hips again. “Do you think this is the 1950s? That a woman can’t take care of herself and her child without a man? Wow, I really don’t like this side of you. Plus, if you think I care one iota about what Mother’s friends think about me, you’d be wrong. Clare will have the benefit of being able to say a movie star knocked up her daughter. That should suffic
e.”

  Josh gave her a long look. “You done?”

  Millie crossed her arms, feeling her heart racing in her chest. “I’m done.”

  He stepped forward and wrapped her in a huge bear hug. “You’re amazing. I don’t know how you’re holding it together.”

  That’s when Millie felt the tears in her eyes. Her hormones were driving her crazy. She gently pushed her brother away. “You’re going to make me mess up my make-up.”

  Offering her his arm, he winked at her. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

  As they descended the staircase, Millie felt the magic of the Willoughby settle over her. Through the massive window just past the chandelier, she could see the pathway that led down to the lake. There were lanterns that lit the pathway and the white tent set up in the corner of the lawn was similarly lit up. She saw the shadows of movement of the people inside. As soon as they stepped out into the night air, she could hear the soft trills of music coming from the tent.

  “It is pretty here,” Josh said, looking out at the lake. “I’ve never read that stupid book, but I guess I get it.”

  “It’s a place that makes you feel like anything could happen,” Millie said softly. Everywhere she looked, she saw the ghosts of memories of the summer before, when life had been so much simpler. At that time, she had been just avoiding her father’s latest matchmaking attempt and helping Kate get her life back in order. Things were so different now.

  They skirted the lawn and made their way to the tent’s entrance. Kate’s aunt Patrice stood just inside and when she saw Millie her face broke out in a knowing smile.

  “My little party planner! Where have you been hiding?”

  Millie couldn’t help but smile back and let herself be scooped up into Patrice’s hug. That was another transformation that she watched happen last summer. Kate’s relationship with her own parents was now non-existent, but her aunt seemed to have stepped into that role for her friend. Patrice was prickly and set in her ways, but Millie had more than her share of experience dealing with people like that. While she coordinated events at the Willoughby, she and Patrice developed a mutual respect for each other.