Where the Light Glows

by Dena Blake

  Mel heard him mention something about working in Napa Valley and couldn’t pay attention to him any longer. It took too much energy to concentrate on what he was saying. Her thoughts of Izzy overshadowed the endless details of his younger days in wine country that she’d heard many times before. She couldn’t wait for the night to be over so she could get back to the hotel and call her. It had been wrong to leave without phoning, without letting Izzy know she wanted to talk when she got back to town.

  Rick got up from the table and stood next to a young girl for a picture. Mel felt Nancy’s hand land on her leg and squeeze. “What?” she asked with a jump.

  Nancy whispered in her ear. “Look. I know you’d much rather be at home eating an Italian for dinner. But since we’re here, let’s make the most of it, shall we?”

  “Stop.” Mel gasped, her face reddening.

  “I’m just stating the obvious. You’ve got one of the best-looking guys in LA jumping through hoops to impress you. Can you at least look interested so he doesn’t get a bad rap?”

  “Been there, done that.” She picked up her glass and sipped her wine. When Rick sat back down at the table, she rolled her eyes at Nancy and relented. “Rick, with so many choices on this menu, would you mind ordering for me?”

  “Nice,” Nancy mouthed to her.

  Rick ordered conservatively, with rolls including shrimp, avocado, and crab, among other items. She guessed he wasn’t taking any chances of her not liking what he chose. They’d just finished their delicious main course when a young woman approached the table and asked Rick for an autograph and a picture. He politely obliged and stood up next to her for the photo.

  Nancy glanced toward the door and her face lit up. “Is that—” She focused on Rick when he sat back down. “Do you know her? Can you introduce us?”

  “Yes, and no. See the woman behind her?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “They just got married last month.”

  Nancy’s smile dropped.

  “Damn, too late again.” Mel patted her on the arm. “Haven’t you already made other plans for later anyway?”

  Her smile returned. “Oh, yeah. Are you sure you don’t mind if I invite her along to go out for a little while after dinner?”

  “I’ll keep her company,” Rick said. “Right, Mel?”

  “Sure.” Mel smiled. That wasn’t quite what she had in mind. A nice, warm bed and a much-needed phone call to Izzy sounded so much better.

  Nancy snuck out to get the car while Rick paid the check. By the time Nancy pulled up in front of the restaurant, a line of photographers was blocking their path to the car. The early evening rain had formed a large puddle in the street gutter. Mel had started out around it when Rick swept her up into his arms and carried her across. “What a gentleman! Rick, this way. Give us a smile!” The photographers cheered as they snapped their shots.

  He swung around and gave them a huge smile. Mel was stunned, blinded by the lights. In one swift move, Rick dropped Mel to her feet, pulled her into his arms, and planted a nice, long kiss on her mouth.

  She wedged her hands between them and pushed. “Knock it off, Rick.”

  “It’s just a little kiss. It’ll be great publicity. Once they find out you were my high school sweetheart, the new website will be hit hard. You’ll need to put some pics of us from back then on it.” He reached for the backseat door handle and pulled open the door, motioning her to get in before him.

  Mel slid across the seat, and Rick got in after her. “That may be good publicity for you, but it’s not for me. Did you ever think I might have something going on in my personal life?”

  “I’m sorry, Mel. I guess I got carried away.” He gave her a sullen look.

  She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. “You’re going to have to come out sooner or later.”

  Nancy chuckled. “Look who’s talking.”

  Mel saw Rick’s brows draw together as he caught Nancy’s gaze in the rearview mirror.

  “She’s got a crush on her favorite chef.”

  “The cute little brunette at the Italian place you took me?”

  “I do not.” Mel felt her cheeks warm and knew Rick could see the blush.

  “Oh, my God. You’ve come over to the dark side. That settles it. We’re going out tonight.”

  “I was intending to head back to the hotel.”

  “Oh, come on. I said I was sorry.” He seemed concerned, but he was a good actor. “It wasn’t that bad, was it? I’ve been told I’m a pretty good kisser.” He gave her a wounded look.

  “Damn it.” She couldn’t suppress her smile. “If you weren’t so cute, you’d be in big trouble.”

  He grinned. “So, why don’t we head on over to the W? There’s a great club at the top.” His grin had returned way too quickly for Mel to believe he was sorry about anything.

  Nancy’s eyes were wide in the rearview mirror. “You can get us in there?”

  “Of course. Why don’t you call your friend and have her meet us there?”

  There went Mel’s chance to call Izzy tonight. They wouldn’t get back to the hotel for a while. She watched as Nancy swiped her finger across the phone screen. She hit one button and pressed the phone to her ear. Mel shook her head. Nancy had already put the woman’s number in her phone.

  *

  Mel was up early and down in the lobby to get a cup of coffee and a paper. She couldn’t help but notice the lady at the counter staring at her. When she approached it to pay, she knew why. Pictures of her and Rick were all over the tabloids in the rack on the wall. She saw the headline and knew she had to fix this—now. She couldn’t believe the pictures had already made the rags. And on the cover, no less. She picked up a copy of each and took them back upstairs to see exactly what kind of damage control was necessary. She thumbed through all of the pictures and captions and sighed. Jack was going to have a field day with this.

  “Good morning,” Nancy said, coming out of her room.

  “That depends on your perspective.” Mel slid the magazines across the table.

  “He really did plant one on you, didn’t he?”

  “Yep, he did.” She shook her head. “Great publicity for him. Not so much for me.”

  “His timing did kind of suck. Have you called her?”

  “I can’t find my phone. You took it last night, remember?” Mel was on her third glass of wine when she’d started missing Izzy, and by the fifth, she was calling her. Izzy hadn’t answered, and Mel had only gotten halfway through the message she was leaving when Nancy had snatched her phone out of her hand.

  “Oh, shit. I forgot. I gave it to Rick, and he put it in his pocket.”

  “Oh no, no, no, no.” Mel slapped her hand to her mouth. “What if she called and he answered?”

  “Jesus, Mel. Give you a couple of drinks and you start thinking too much. I told you not to call her last night.” Nancy grabbed her phone. “What’s Rick’s number?”

  “I have no idea. I just push the button.” Mel grabbed the key to the rental car from the table. “Come on. Let’s go. We have work to do.”

  “Surely she’ll understand after you tell her what happened, won’t she?”

  “I’m not so sure about that. I said some things I probably shouldn’t have before I left. Whatever I thought I had with Izzy may be gone by the time I get home.”

  *

  Izzy thought back to the morning. She’d seen the missed call from Mel’s number on her phone screen, then swiped at the screen and entered her passcode. Sure enough, there was a message from Mel at 11:23. Izzy pressed the play button and held the phone to her ear. Muffled by loud music and rowdy voices in the background, Mel’s voice rang through the line. “Hey, Iz. I had to leave town early this morning on business and won’t be back for a couple of days. But I was hoping…well, I thought maybe when I got back we could—hey, give me that.” There was a high-pitched squeal and the message ended. Izzy checked the time on the phone, Mel had left the message close to nine ho
urs ago.

  She’d pressed the call-back button and waited for Mel to answer. After three rings, a groggy voice said, “Hello.” It wasn’t Mel. It was a deep male voice. Confused, Izzy had pulled the phone from her ear and double-checked the number. Mel Thomas displayed across the screen. After pressing the phone back to her ear, she’d asked for Mel. Her stomach churned as the man said, “Mel, you awake?” The line had gone silent for a minute, with only rustling sheets in the background, and then he’d said, “She’s out. You’re gonna have to call back later.” The line went dead.

  How stupid could I have been?

  *

  It was already nine o’clock and they were still busy. It was a good night. They’d even run out of shrimp, so Tony had sent Angie to the market to pick up more. When Angie got back to the restaurant, she tossed a tabloid magazine on the counter. “Guess we know now why the crazy lady’s been acting so odd.”

  “Is that Rick Daniels, the movie star?” Tony asked.

  “Yep.” She unloaded the bag, yanked open the refrigerator, and tossed the vegetables inside. She unwrapped the shrimp and dropped it in the colander to rinse.

  “I told you to watch out for her,” Tony said.

  “Shut up, Tony. I don’t need that right now.” Izzy couldn’t take her eyes off the picture of Mel and Rick locked in a heated kiss on the front page of the magazine. She snatched it up and read the caption: Rick Daniels sweeps new love off her feet. “Business, my ass.” She tossed it onto the counter.

  “This looks a little awkward to me.” Angie twisted the paper sideways, trying to make sense of the picture. “How could they even get a picture like this?”

  Tony smirked as he read the article. “The paparazzi are everywhere. They’ll even sit in trees for days with telephoto lenses to get stuff like this.”

  “You think this is real?” Angie held the magazine up, squinting as she thumbed through it. “She looks a little stunned to me.”

  “Looks pretty real to me.” Izzy grabbed the paper from Angie’s hand and scrutinized it again. She tossed it into the trash.

  “Hey,” Angie said, snatching it back up. “I want to read that.”

  “Take a good look. You probably won’t be seeing much of either one of them around here anymore.”

  It had been almost twelve hours since Izzy had called Mel’s number and was met with Rick Daniels’s groggy voice. She hadn’t gotten so much as a phone call from Mel since, and after seeing the tabloid, she didn’t expect she would. Izzy knew she’d blown it with her the night before she’d left. She’d never felt so deeply for anyone before in her life, but it was clear Mel didn’t feel the same. The pictures in the tabloid proved that.

  “Fuck this.” She yanked her chef’s coat off and headed for the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Out.” To get over this woman.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Izzy drove around to clear her head for a while until she ended up at one of the clubs she used to frequent. She sat at the end of the bar nursing her glass of merlot. It was still early and the crowd was sparse.

  A woman slid onto the stool next to her. “I haven’t seen you here in a while.”

  “That’s certainly a shame.” Izzy slipped back easily into her old charming persona. “You’re still as beautiful as ever.”

  “I’m glad you’re back.” She slid onto the stool next to her. “Buy me a drink?”

  Izzy waved the bartender over. “Can I get a gin and tonic for the lady?”

  “How sweet. You remembered.”

  “I’ll be right back.” Izzy excused herself to go to the bathroom.

  When she came out, the woman from the bar was waiting right outside. She pushed Izzy up against the wall and kissed her hard.

  “I’ve been waiting months to do that again.”

  “I’m sorry I made you wait.” Izzy flipped her around and pressed the woman to the wall and kissed her again. Izzy slipped her tongue in her mouth, and the woman moaned. There was no tingle, no sizzle, no heat. Her body didn’t register the slightest bit of excitement. Mel’s face flew through her mind. What the hell had she done to her? It used to be so easy, a different woman every night. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t be with another woman when she knew how blistering hot it was with Mel.

  “You wanna get out of here?” the woman asked.

  “Uh…I just got here. Let’s get another drink first.” Izzy took her hand and led her back to the bar.

  Izzy sat at the bar all evening, the woman very close, claiming her for the night. She had gone from slightly intoxicated to feeling good to totally smashed before Dana strutted in.

  “Hey, baby.”

  Izzy shot her a look. “What are you doing here?”

  “This is one of my old haunts, remember?” She nodded to the bartender. “Thanks for the heads-up, Terry.” She nodded back.

  “You all alone tonight?”

  “I wouldn’t say I’m alone.”

  “She’s with me,” the woman said.

  “Yeah.” Izzy smiled as she leaned back on the stool and almost fell off. “I’m with her.”

  “I don’t think so, honey.” Dana made herself a wall between the woman and Izzy as she steadied her. “Where’s your girlfriend tonight? Still in LA?”

  “Girlfriend? You didn’t say anything about a girlfriend.” The woman swirled around and popped up off the stool. “I’m outta here.”

  “Not my girlfriend,” Izzy called out to her.

  “That’s good to know.” Dana slid onto the now-empty stool next to her and brushed Izzy’s thigh with her knee as she crossed her legs. “Buy me a drink?”

  Izzy motioned the bartender over. “My ex needs a drink. Bring her something sour, like her disposition.” Izzy chuckled to herself as she downed the last of her wine and motioned for a refill. “Get it?”

  “You’re hilarious, Iz.” Dana waved the bartender off. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough for tonight?”

  “Nope. There’s still half a bottle left.” She gave her a wink, then turned back to the bartender. “Pour me another glass, Terry.” She pulled her lips into a smile. “Please.”

  She let the bottle sit. “I think Dana’s right. We’re getting ready to close anyway.”

  “Did she run a tab?”

  “Nope. Cash.”

  Dana pulled a twenty out of her pocket and slid it across the bar. “Ready to go?”

  “Terry’s gonna pour me one more.” She winked at the bartender. “Right, Terry?”

  The bartender picked the empty wine bottle up by the neck and let it swing back and forth. “All gone.”

  “Come on, Romeo.” Dana pulled Izzy’s arm up over her shoulder. “It’s time to go.”

  “Still got half a glass to finish.” Izzy wasn’t slurring yet, but she was getting close.

  “You don’t really want the lights to come on in here and let all these women see how shit-faced you are, do you?”

  Izzy glanced around at the women in the bar, many of whom she’d taken home at one time or another. She swung around on the barstool. “Take me home, honey.”

  *

  Dana almost had Izzy out of her car and inside the beach house when Jess drove up. Shit. How am I going explain this? She let Izzy slip back into the passenger seat and met her at the back of the car. “Hey, baby.”

  “What’s going on?” Jess craned her neck to look around her.

  “Terry called me from the bar and said she was in bad shape.” She motioned to Izzy in the car. “I guess she’s pretty upset I won’t give it another shot with her.”

  “Yeah. She called me too.”

  Thanks, Terry. “I can’t get her out of the car.” She moved to the open door.

  “Here. Let me help you.” Jess lifted her legs out of the car, and they each put one of her arms over their shoulder and lifted her. Izzy was a wisp of a woman, but tonight she was dead weight. Dana unlocked the front door with the key from Izzy’s pocket, and they took her
inside.

  After they rolled her into bed, Jess took Dana’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  “I can’t just leave her like this. What if she gets sick?”

  “So you want to stay here with her tonight?”

  “I think I should.”

  Jess opened the door across the hall and poked her head in. “Okay. We can stay in here.” She took off her jacket and tossed it on the chair. “I’m not leaving you here alone with her.”

  “I won’t let her get by with anything.” She kept up what she’d been telling Jess about Izzy trying to get back together with her.

  “With the way she keeps calling you? Not happening.” Jess pulled the blanket up over Izzy and grabbed Dana by the arm. “Come on. She’ll be fine. We’re right across the hall.”

  *

  Dana was up early to check on Izzy. She was still passed out.

  “Come on get your stuff, and let’s go,” Jess said.

  “I have to get gas,” Dana said on the way out the door.

  Jess followed her to the second intersection. Dana turned right into the gas station, and Jess kept going to the highway.

  She filled her tank, then got back into her car and called Jess. It went to voice mail, just as she’d expected. Even though it was hands-free, Jess didn’t talk on the phone when she was driving. She found it too distracting. “Hey. My sister just called. I forgot the kids have a play this morning and I told her I’d go see it with her. I’ll see you at the restaurant in a little while.”

  She pulled out of the gas station and drove back to Izzy’s house. She’d left the door unlocked so she could sneak in again. She walked quietly to the bedroom, found Izzy still sleeping soundly, took off all her clothes, and slipped under the covers. Then carefully she did the same to Izzy before she nuzzled up close to her, gently laying her head on her shoulder. Izzy took in a deep breath and stirred slightly. Dana stilled until she settled back in and then wrapped herself around Izzy.

  *