by Zoe Wildau
With that he stomped out of the oasis. “Happy thoughts, happy thoughts,” she heard him mumble under his breath as he walked to the set.
The day whizzed by in a blur of sun and makeup. All of the makeup artists were frustrated and struggling to keep the problems created by the hot, humid conditions from becoming so bad they slowed down the shoot. When she wasn’t in Jake’s oasis doing touch ups, she was jogging to the other trailers with tips and products to help keep everyone camera ready. By sunset she could barely feel her feet.
“Cut!” yelled Monty. “Let’s call it a wrap for today.” A collective sigh of relief could be heard over the surf.
As Lilly finished packing up the oasis, she saw Jake come out of the makeup trailer, freshly showered. He glanced her way but immediately looked away and headed over to Monty and Jessica Palmer, clustered around a small monitor reviewing the dailies. She hoped the scenes looked as good as they did in her mind’s eye. All she could see was the golden glow of the small screen reflecting in their faces. She had too much work to do to linger.
As much as she’d tried to stay organized, the day had been havoc. Lilly’s supplies were scattered across three trailers. She’d need to collect them all, and she still had to set up her drying station for the next day’s appliances. She thought about her promise to Jake this morning. How she was going to make that come true, she had no idea. She wasn’t as sure this evening that he wanted her to.
The actual filming had gone great. Jake had pulled off the perfect mood for the script. On breaks with Lilly, neither bland nor stony Jake reappeared. Instead, he was coolly professional the entire day. She smiled warmly at him each time he appeared and practically cooed compliments until she started to feel like one of the supplicants that followed Maya around. By midafternoon, she dropped the compliments but still unfailingly greeted him with a sparkly smile. By the end of the day, she couldn’t point to one moment when she’d been rebuffed, but that was her overall impression. He’d politely set a tone meant to keep her at a distance. Fighting dejection, she headed to the Hawaii version of her Lab.
Two hours later, she was satisfied that the apps for the next day were curing properly. They needed about thirty more minutes. Lilly was so tired that she was afraid she’d fall asleep and they’d dry to a crisp overnight. Thinking she’d better set the alarm before she fell into a coma, she reached for the alarm clock she’d taken from her hotel room to use as a timer – gosh, when was that?
She felt confused and fuzzy and she was terribly hungry. She tried to think of when she last ate, and her mind went blank. She looked down at her grubby scrubs. She’d have to change before entering any of the hotel’s fancy restaurants, although maybe she should just order room service and get some sleep.
Back in her room, Lilly found her phone sitting on the bathroom counter, sprinkled with drywall dust from where she’d removed the built-in hair dryer. Sliding her finger across the screen, she saw a text from Jake from over an hour ago. “Dinner?”
Her thoughts of sleep evaporated. She could shower, change, run out to the Lab to turn off her drying contraption, then meet him. That is, if he hadn’t already given up on her.
“Yes!” she typed and hit send, then added hastily, “If ur still hungry.”
He responded immediately, “Where r u?”
Rather than text back, she tapped his number to call him. Jake picked up on the first ring.
“Are you still on the island?” he asked. Had he looked for her?
“I just got back to my room. I’ve been in my Lab.” The mobile version of her Lab was actually the camera truck. The truck had its own external generator to keep the battery-operated camera equipment fully charged. She had to use bottled water since it wasn’t plumbed, but other than that, it had everything she needed.
“I’m still in scrubs, and I’ve got another half hour on tomorrow’s pieces. Can you wait that long?”
There was silence for moment. Lilly heard a female voice in the background talking loudly to someone else in the room. Alison. She fought off a sick feeling in her empty stomach.
“You sound tired,” he said, the makings of an excuse to beg off.
“I’m fine, and I’ve gotta eat,” she said, not wanting him to think that she’d changed her mind since this morning, although she did not want to dine with Alison.
“Hold on.” Lilly could hear him talking to Alison, asking her to extend his regrets to Jessica Palmer.
“Okay, call me when you’re ready.” She thought he’d hang up in his usual Jake perfunctory manner, but he didn’t. “Are you sure you feel up to it?”
Lilly’s heart sped up, wondering if he meant to take her up on this morning’s promise. “Yes,” she croaked.
“I’ll see you in a few minutes, then. And keep your phone on you.” At that, he did hang up.
Elated, and a little dizzy, as much from excitement as lack of food and sleep, Lilly rooted through her suitcase. She’d brought one pretty dress, a bare-backed burgundy crepe halter from the Halston Heritage collection that she’d had professionally hemmed so that it swung just above her knees. Happily hanging it in the bathroom where the steam would smooth out the few wrinkles, she launched herself into the shower, buffing and scrubbing, shaving and washing until she came out shiny and new.
Ack! The hotel hair dryer was down in the truck, rigged to her drying apparatus. Buzzing housekeeping, she asked for another one, promising a twenty-dollar tip if they’d bring it right away. While she waited, she pulled out her makeup kit and applied concealer around her tired eyes, some navy liner and black mascara. Deciding on a smidge of shiny white shadow on her lids and brow, she was done just as the bell rang.
Dancing to the door, she beamed at the hotel employee, handing over the promised tip with a sincere thank you. The sleek effect she wanted would have been impossible to achieve without the hairdryer. Twenty dollars well spent. And since the first dryer had been sacrificed for work, she felt perfectly justified in expensing it.
Sliding on a pair of Sergio Rossi laser cut high-heeled sandals, she headed out the door, texting Jake on her way down the elevator to let him know she had to run by the Lab and would just be five more minutes. The doors opened on the twelfth floor to Jake, standing behind Alison waiting for the elevator.
Jake was looking down at his phone, which had just buzzed with her text. She was pleased to see him smile, although his face quickly went bland when he looked up and saw her in the elevator. Alison looked at Lilly and smiled her brittle fake smile that she reserved for lesser beings than herself, and then turned back to Jake with a wide-open, cherry red, gaping moo.
“You’re sure you won’t join us? I’ll have you back and to bed early,” her purring suggestion not lost on anyone.
“Thank you, Alison, but no. I’m beat,” he gestured her into the elevator, where Alison positioned herself between Jake and Lilly.
Looking over Alison’s head to Lilly, he asked, “Are you headed to the set?”
Not wanting to acknowledge their date in front of Alison, and not sure if he did, she decided on a safe, noncommittal answer that didn’t imply in any way that they had planned to meet.
“Yes, I’ve got to check something,” she said nervously. The elevator doors opened onto the lobby where small star-studded group stood waiting, including Monty, Jessica Palmer and three other Hollywood notables who must have been staying in the same hotel.
Maya was not among them, otherwise she would have insisted on dragging Lilly and Jake along. She was beginning to suspect that she and Clara’s matchmaking in Italy had worked and that Maya and Alan were off somewhere together.
Jake grabbed her elbow and maneuvered her adeptly around Alison. “I’m headed to the set myself. I’ll walk with you.”
Jake gave a salute to Monty and the others and turned her quickly in the other direction. As soon as they were out of sight of the dinner party, he dropped his hand from her elbow. In silence, they headed through the Fairmont’s open-air bar towa
rd the beach and to a walkway that would lead them down to the trailers by the beach set.
“I didn’t mean to intrude on your dinner plans, Jake. You don’t mind not going with them?” She was just trying to be polite. She was supremely happy that he’d begged off to be with her.
“No.” He slowed. “Unless you’d feel more comfortable joining them?”
“No. Not at all,” she rushed.
At the camera trailer, she unplugged the dryer and quickly checked that everything was in order. Pleased that she was ready for the next day, she locked up the trailer and turned to Jake.
“Where to? I’m fine staying here and ordering room service, if you’d rather not take the risk of getting mobbed.” They certainly wouldn’t be slumming it by staying. The Fairmont Kea Lani was one of the most beautiful hotels in Maui.
Jake looked at the twinkling lights of the resort. “It’s been a long two days. I would like somewhere quiet. I don’t think room service is a good idea, though.”
Oh. Hiding her dashed hopes, she suggested, “Why don’t we just sit outside at the bar?”
Jake nodded, and they headed back the way they had come, Lilly feeling tired and deflated. Something had obviously changed. She’d waited too long, rejected him too many times. Or, maybe things with Sierra were serious, and he was having second thoughts.
When they walked up the steps leading from the beach to the bar, a crowd of crewmembers, including Clara and Bryce, had just pulled four sizable tables together and it looked like they expected their party to get even bigger. Bryce’s smile grew wide when he saw Lilly coming up the stairs from the beach and he waved her over, although he faltered somewhat when he saw who was right behind her. She waved to Bryce and stopped at the top of the stairs, turning back to Jake, who was surveying the scene over her shoulder.
“This is not going to be quiet,” she said. Since he obviously hadn’t wanted to give her the wrong impression by ordering room service, she was out of suggestions for a quiet place for them to dine. Just as well. She didn’t think she was capable right now of playing it cool with Jake, making polite conversation through an entire meal.
“It won’t hurt my feelings if you’d like to call it a night, or go join Monty and Alison. I’ll just grab a bite here and hit the hay,” she said bravely.
“Is that what you’d like?” he asked, looking over her head at Bryce, who was walking toward them.
Lilly suddenly felt tearful. “No. No, it isn’t.” Taking a few steps to close the distance with Bryce and scrounging up a smile, she said, “Thanks again for going out of your way today.”
“Come join us,” he said to her, then over her shoulder, “Evening, Mr. Durant.”
Before he could extend the invitation to Jake, she said, “Honestly, Bryce, today was tough, and I have to be back at it at four. Tomorrow’s going to be equally challenging. I can’t thank you enough for this morning. It made a big difference having that oasis as a staging area.”
Turning to Jake, she managed to stay calm and cool, “Goodnight, Mr. Durant. I’ll see you at five.”
Patting Bryce on the shoulder, she walked away toward the lobby. In ten steps, she realized Jake was right behind her. He walked to stand next to her at the elevator. Lilly reached for the button, realizing it was blurring in front of her. Oh no, please don’t be crying. This is tooooo humiliating. When the doors opened, she stepped on without looking at Jake, who entered with her. When she went to push her floor, Jake took her hand and tucked it under his elbow. Pulling a key card out of his wallet, he swiped the security pad required to access the penthouse level.
She tried to focus on the lighted button and pull herself together. When the doors opened on the top floor, she let Jake lead her down the hall to his corner suite. Swiping his keycard and pushing the door open, he released her arm and gestured for her to enter before him.
Although not feeling particularly composed, she had beaten back her tears by the time they entered the suite. The penthouse was amazing. There was a real entrance hallway that opened into an extravagantly furnished room, à la Ethan Allen. On one side of the living area there was a baby grand piano. French doors, one after the other, opened in both directions to a huge, wrap around balcony twenty feet deep. The corner suite faced both the ocean and the mountainous volcanoes.
She turned to say something to Jake about the beauty of it all, but his bland expression was back in force. He picked up a hotel booklet and asked her what she would like to eat.
“Anything,” she said. Then added, “Fish, not meat.”
Lilly, who’d done nothing but work since she arrived, allowed herself to walk out and just admire the view. Standing on the farthest corner of the balcony, a light breeze brushed her cheeks. She heard Jake on the phone with room service. Glancing back toward the suite, Lilly wondered how anyone would get the wrong impression at being invited here. She wasn’t even sure which door opened into the bedroom, or more likely, bedrooms.
Her exhaustion resurged. With a sigh, she turned away from the view. The balcony included a net hammock that stretched between two vaulted pillars. She walked over to it, kicked off her intricately patterned sandals with their four-inch heels and nestled in. She closed her eyes. Wrapped like a cocoon in the hammock, she promptly fell asleep and didn’t wake up until the buzzer sounded with room service.
She watched from the balcony as Jake led the waiter, pushing a linen-covered table, to a space by the French doors and removed the warming covers from the food. How much did he order? She noticed that the waiter did not present Jake with a bill. I guess he doesn’t have to go around squirreling away receipts for reimbursement, she thought sourly. After the waiter left, she padded into the suite, leaving her sandals where she’d kicked them off.
Jake pulled out a chair for her as she surveyed the abundance of colorful food. Well, this is more like it, she thought, her mood lifting as she sat. She looked from item to item, not sure where to start. Jake knelt down next to her chair, his eyes searching her face.
“When did you last eat, or sleep?”
She turned her face to his, so close. She just shook her head, because with the packing and repacking before leaving LA, prompted by her paranoia that if she forgot anything she wouldn’t be able to find it in the island marketplace of Hawaii, and then the long flight and the time change and the all-nighter at the Lab, she honestly couldn’t remember. Jake sighed, and standing, walked to the minibar and pulled out a jar of OJ and poured it in her wineglass. Setting it in front of her, he said simply, “Drink.” Then he took her plate and filled it with small bites of everything on the table, fruit, salad, fish, bread, and set that in front of her, too. “Eat.”
Lilly drank half the juice and didn’t look up again until she’d taken a bite of everything on her plate. Jake was sitting across from her drinking a bottle of sparkling water, watching her.
“I hear Phillip has finally won you over,” he said.
She nodded, her mouth full of mahi mahi. She had signed the agency contract with Mjicon before leaving LA.
“You’re not going to eat, too?” she asked, a forkful of the best pineapple she’d ever tasted halfway to her mouth. Jake smiled ruefully.
In a welcome fit of full disclosure, he said, “I can’t eat this late when we’re filming, especially with the script we’re shooting this week. Too many barely dressed scenes. I’ll be glad when this film is over, so I can stop worrying about my weight like a high school girl.”
Lilly surveyed his frame. From working with him, she knew he was long lean muscle everywhere. His complete lack of fat made for incredible film. On screen, he was the perfect balance of muscle and bone, his angles so stark and elegant. She’d gotten so used to seeing him like this, she’d forgotten that compared to his normal state, he was overly thin. She hadn’t considered what a delicate balance of calories, exercise and weight training he must do to stay this way. She’d always thought that between the two of them, she worked the longer hours, with all the prep and
clean-up she did before and after filming. She hadn’t thought about what he must have to do on his off hours to prepare every day.
“How do you do it?” she asked.
“Do what?”
She looked him over again, from head to toe. He looked sleek in an exquisite navy silk shirt, creamy slacks and handmade loafers. Smoking hot.
Returning her gaze to his face, she said, “You obviously work out with those muscles, but when do you have the time? And you’ve got to burn a ton of calories, but you hardly eat anything at all.”
Jake looked inquiringly at her, as if to gauge how serious her interest was in his physique. When she continued to look expectant, he said, “Well, I run, outside if possible, about five miles in the mornings. I can’t eat just before running, or just before filming, so it’s a trick sometimes getting enough calories before the start of the day. So, I get up at three a.m. to eat, then I wait forty-five minutes before running, and I fill that time working on biceps, triceps and delts. To avoid over building muscle, I use light weights with high reps. It’s time consuming. I eat protein bars throughout the day, and as soon as filming is done, I eat a meal of lean meat or fish, lots of steamed or raw vegetables. No bread, no pasta. No fruit,” he said, looking longingly at the juicy pineapple she kept popping in her mouth.
“No fruit?” she asked, guiltily putting down her fork.
“Too much sugar. To supplement my diet, I take vitamins religiously, including extra vitamin C.”
Lilly calculated the hours Jake spent making sure he was camera ready before he even hit the makeup trailer and quickly realized he devoted at least as much time, if not more, preparing for work during his off hours as she did.
“I had no idea. You know, you should have Monty assign one of the cameramen to you this week while we’re here in this beautiful setting to do a behind the scenes segment on your routine.”