Gemma Rules

by Mel Curtis

  Randy wanted to wrap his arms around Gemma and kiss her until she didn’t care that her father hadn’t acknowledged her as his child. He wanted to give her a solid platform of love, one where she’d know she could try anything, reach for anything, because he loved her. He hoped she’d do the same for him. He hadn’t told Gemma how deep his feelings ran because he was afraid she’d be overwhelmed by the strength of his emotions after only having dated four months.

  Gemma scrunched her nose. “My dad didn’t understand me any more than yours understands you.”

  “That doesn’t mean I don’t love my dad or that he doesn’t love me.” When she didn’t say anything else, he added, “It just makes it more important that I succeed on my own path.”

  “And having a girlfriend takes time away from your goal.” She disengaged her fingers and scooted further away from him on the seat.

  “How can there be trouble in paradise when I’ve just discovered who Glitterfrost Gem is?” Lyle lamented, having obviously been eavesdropping.

  Randy reclaimed Gemma’s hand, and lowered his voice, wishing for privacy. “I’m making sacrifices in all areas of my life to get to the top. I barely watch ESPN. I’ve given up caffeine. I don’t hang out with anyone except you.” His thumb traced the petite bones of her hand. “I want to be with you, whether I make it as a player or not.”

  “Are you asking me if I’ll wait for you?”

  “No. That implies we’re giving up on each other.” He kissed the back of her hand. “I’m asking you for your patience and support.” And love. “Some days it seems like you’d be behind me 100% if I was studying for a math final. Is Isabelle behind this feeling that we’re through? Or is it because you think I’m wasting my time?”

  “No! I’ve seen your game film. I’ve watched you coach. You have all the tools to succeed…” Her voice trailed off. She stared at him in amazement. And then her voice unraveled to the thinnest of threads, one no one else in the limo could grasp, not even Lyle. “You don’t believe you can do it.”

  Randy opened his mouth to refute her statement, but his father’s voice echoed in his head, “You can’t replicate that level of magic twice, son.”

  Randy stared at his feet. He had doubts. But they were well-founded. As a coach, he’d cut players in better shape than he was.

  He gazed around the limo. The spunky, older actresses. The gossip king. The two other Rules. Only Isabelle, passed out, wasn’t looking at him.

  “Now it makes sense,” Gemma murmured. “The long hours. Things not coming together for you.”

  There was a loud bang. The tail end of the limo fishtailed back and forth. Randy wrapped his arms around Gemma protectively, his feet seeking purchase on the floor.

  Gasps, yelps, squeals. The sounds of panic tumbled about as wildly as the limousine’s occupants.

  Finally, the big car righted. Slowed. They all held their breath as the cabin echoed with a loud, rhythmic thud-thud-thud.

  In the chaos, Isabelle had tumbled to the floor. “What was that?”

  “Flat tire.” Blue frowned as the car slowed to a stop. “How close to the harbor are we?”

  Cora peered out the window. “Not close enough.”

  “This is boring,” Isabelle said as they stood stranded on an off-ramp of the 405.

  Since the spare was flat, the limo driver had called for both a taxi and a tow truck. Gemma was starting to doubt they’d make it to the harbor on time.

  The air was oppressive–hot, muggy, laden with diesel and gasoline fumes. Each semi that passed doused them in a toxic, oppressive cloud. Cars slowed to a crawl to get a look at them. Some took pictures.

  Gemma felt as if her emotions had slowed to a crawl as well. Randy was scared of failing. It’s why he spent every available hour working on his game. It was also why things weren’t coming together for him. She couldn’t count the number of times she’d heard her father say, “Winners don’t win out of fear.”

  It struck a chord with her as well. A discordant one.

  She’d been approaching her life coaching assignments fearfully, afraid of failing and letting her family down.

  She turned to Randy, but before she could speak, he said, “Cora, doesn’t Ren Du live close by? If he’s home—”

  “He has that huge Hummer,” Cora completed for him. She worked her cell phone. “Ren! It’s Cora…” The rest of her conversation was lost as a semi passed them.

  “Randy.” Gemma led him away from the others. Her heart pounded with something she was reluctant to define. Something joyous and tender. The feeling made her want to press her body to Randy’s, to bring herself so close she wouldn’t know where she ended and he began.

  Instead, she held both his hands in her own, facing him as if they stood in front of an altar. “I have to tell you something, but first you have to promise me that you’ll never, ever, pass on what I’m about to say to anyone.” Because she was breaking a confidentiality agreement she’d signed. But if ever there was a good reason to do so, it was the need to conquer his fears.

  “I won’t tell anyone. I swear.” His touch on her hands was gentle and reassuring.

  “Two weeks ago, I was sent to help an actress lose weight. She told us she had a weakness for Hostess Ho-Hos.” Gemma checked to make sure that Cora and Blue were too far away to listen. Not only were they on the other side of the car, they were arguing with Isabelle. Good. “Twice a day, I had to sweep her house, her car, and her dressing room at the studio, which you’d think would be easy after the first day, but somehow, no matter how hard I searched, those chocolate cakes turned up again and again.”

  Gemma had gotten quite good at finding Ho-Hos in tennis shoes, vases, lingerie drawers, and the like. Once she’d even found a twin pack of the chocolate snack cakes beneath a mixing bowl in the dishwasher.

  “I started thinking that this assignment was going to be one big fail,” Gemma admitted. “My client wasn’t losing weight. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t stop wondering if it was my client who was hiding the Ho-Hos, or someone who was toying with her, or screwing with the both of us.”

  “Did you talk to Cora or Amber?”

  Gemma shook her head. “I was too afraid they’d fire me.” Fear. It helped to acknowledge it, but that wouldn’t make it go away. “This was supposed to be an easy assignment. I wanted my efforts to mean something. Instead, during my evening search last night, I noticed a package of Ho-Hos in my purse.” Two weeks of Ho-Ho hunting and Gemma lost it. Right there. In Serena’s kitchen. “Here I was, taking things seriously, and for whatever reason my efforts were being sabotaged and mocked. I’m not very proud of what I did next.”

  She’d unwrapped a dozen newly discovered snack cakes as she waited for the actress to return from walking her dogs. When she did, Gemma pelted Serena with Ho-Hos. A fact she deliberately left out of the story. “I told her she didn’t want to lose weight. I told her she wanted someone to blame when she failed.”

  Ho-Ho encrusted, Serena had frozen in front of the sink, her eyes haunted–and not from Gemma’s losing it.

  “She broke down then. Honesty cracked through her fear and she admitted the director hated her. He’d called her fat. He’d told her she’d never amount to anything. And she said she knew he was right.” Gemma had recognized the moment for what it was–a personal epiphany. One she’d created for her client. Granted, she’d planted the seed with fistfuls of cake, but it made Gemma feel as if Dooley would have been proud. In that moment, something Gemma had done touched the soft, mushy center of someone else. For the first time, she felt like a real life coach.

  Serena had stared at Gemma with hollow eyes, and said, “You’re fired.”

  There were no thank yous for the epiphany.

  There were no tears of joy that she’d acknowledged her fear. No opening for Gemma to advise her where to file her director’s opinion.

 
; There was only Serena succumbing to fear.

  And Gemma allowing her to.

  Gemma drew a deep breath. “I’m telling you this because the words the director used? We’ve both heard them. Anyone who’s been bullied has heard them. You’re not good enough. Why are we willing to believe someone else’s assessment and not our own hearts that created the dream in the first place?”

  Randy’s brow crinkled in concentration.

  Gemma ran her thumb over his forehead. “No one at the Dooley Foundation ever said that to me. But I was afraid they would. Or that one of my clients would. I love numbers. I’m confident with numbers. But people?” She shook her head. “And you? You heard something similar from your father, regardless of it being said out of love. He told you that you weren’t good enough.” She squeezed his hands. “Words create doubt and doubt leads to fear and fear sabotages our dreams. But only if you let it. I’m not going to let fear drive me anymore. And I’m not letting it drive you either.”

  And to prove it, she took her cell phone out of her clutch and dialed.

  “Who are you calling?”

  Gemma held up a finger, asking him to wait. “Serena? I want you to eat healthy this weekend, because come Monday morning I’m accompanying you to the studio. We’re going to go over how not to let people walk over you and your dreams. By the time you wrap this movie, that director is going to be on his knees praising your performance.”

  Thankfully, Serena didn’t hang up on her. She actually sounded glad Gemma had called.

  A semi trundled by, ruffling Gemma’s hair and irritating her contacts.

  “You humble me.” Randy brushed the hair out of her eyes. “You deserve a kiss.”

  “Wait.” She placed her finger on his lips, stopping him when what she desperately wanted was to be sheltered in his arms forever. “Do you know why having you be my wedding date was so important?”

  He shook his head.

  “Because when you’re with me I feel like I can talk to anyone about anything and not be that scruffy girl with the wild curls, Poindexter glasses, and scuffed Army boots. Because when you’re with me, I don’t feel like I need to hide in a corner.”

  “I feel the same way.” His brown eyes glowed with what her heart would like to call love.

  “You don’t have to say that, but I’m glad you did.” Gemma swallowed back her fear and admitted to herself that she loved him. She couldn’t say the words, not when she was going to break up with him.

  “Gemma, I’m going to say more. I love the way you talk back to Cora when she’s wrong.” He slid his hands to the small of her back, bringing her closer. “I love the way you don’t panic when you’re in a high pressure situation.”

  She was definitely not telling him about throwing Ho-Hos at Serena. Ever. That is, if he ever talked to her again after this.

  It was time to work her father’s principles and help Randy overcome his fears. “When was the last time you played basketball just for the fun of it?”

  “Last year. Before I was injured.”

  She’d suspected as much. “There’s a place that Evan plays pick-up games. I overheard Trent telling him to stop playing there because the chance of injury is so great, but Evan’s not going to stop.”

  “If Coach told him to——”

  “He’s not going to stop, because he loves it too much,” Gemma said. “He looks for any opportunity to play. He says it’s because he wants to stay on top of his game, but I know him better now. He loves playing and that love makes him one of the best. You can’t play on skill alone. You need heart.”

  Randy nodded, as if he understood. “I take my basketball to bed. I lie down and shoot toward the ceiling to practice my motion.” He leaned in closer. “I’d rather have you in bed with me, but until then…”

  Her heart picked up its pace, urging her to close the distance between them, as it always did when he tested her principles. But she had to stay in life coaching mode. “If you love something that much, if you want to play for the love of the game, it’ll happen for you. You’ll make it as a player in the NBA if you choose that as your goal. But you have to give voice to your dream and feel it. Here.” She rubbed a hand over his heart, feeling its strong beat beneath her palm. “And then every night when you’re shooting in bed, tell yourself you’re good enough to make it. And every morning when you get out of bed, announce to the universe that you’re good enough to make it.” She stretched on her toes to kiss him gently on the lips. “And when you doubt, when you feel down, when fear seems an insurmountable obstacle to your dreams, know that you can count on me to cheer you on, making you believe again.”

  His eyes were shining. The arms around her tightened, ever so gently. “I don’t want to freak you out, but I love you.” He rushed on. “I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to say it’s too soon, and that I don’t know what I’m talking about, but I do.”

  “I love you, too,” she whispered. Her declaration felt right, so she said it again, louder. “I love you.” The knots of tension in her body loosened, setting free the fear, which was good, since she needed courage to get through what she had to do next.

  “Ren is almost here.” Cora came up from behind them. “You might have picked a more romantic place to spring it on her, Romeo.”

  “Why? I’m not ashamed of it.” Randy grinned. “I love you, Gemma Kent Rule.”

  She blinked back tears. Because he loved her. Because she loved him. Because he dreamed big. And because she needed to let him go.

  A solitary tear broke free. “Even when you’re not with me, you’re right here, in my heart.” She tapped her chest, over the spot where her heart was breaking. “And you always will be.”

  Oblivious to the intent of her words, he wiped the tear from her cheek. “I’ve been working hard toward my future. One I hope we share. But family events like this are important. Family is our future. I’d love to be your date tonight, Gemma.”

  Someone honked behind them. Cora called them to leave.

  Gemma put her hand over his heart once more and gently pushed him back, freeing herself from his embrace. Freeing him. “You’re not coming with me.”

  “But—”

  “You’re going back to the gym. You’re going to play the game you love. In a few weeks, your dream will come true.” She reached out and placed her palm on his strong jaw. “And you’re going to do it as a bachelor.”

  “You can’t just say you love me and then leave me.” Anger rumbled through his words. Hurt sharpened their cadence.

  She backed away, toward the limo and Ren’s bright yellow Hummer. “I’ve always been the albatross of other people’s dreams.” Her voice sounded strong and certain. Inside, she was anything but. “I’m not going to be the weight that drags you down.”

  A taxi pulled into the space between them.

  He didn’t run around it and gather her close. He didn’t profess his love for her was stronger than his love of basketball. He said simply, “Gemma.”

  She turned and stumbled away, thinking she should have told him not to worry about her. That she’d be okay.

  But that would have been a lie.

  L.A. Happenings by Lyle Lincoln

  …The wedding of Blue Rule to Maddy Polk was amazing. Those Rules know how to throw a party–this one a sunset cruise to Catalina Island. The groom and best man were stuck in traffic and almost didn’t make the ceremony. Despite it being top secret, there were party crashers, but they were welcomed as one of the family. And you won’t believe who caught the bridal bouquet–the groom’s younger sister, Gemma!

  …We all know how much I love a girl-gone-wild in Hollywood. But just once, I’d like to see a child star transition to adulthood without falling into addiction, baring too much skin, getting inappropriate tattoos, shaving their hair off, or putting a bag over their head on the red carpet. Call me s
entimental, but I hope someone reads this and lends a hand, rather than exploits, these vulnerable, talented children.

  …Coming next week: Details on the romance between Coach Randy Farrell and Glitterfrost Gem. Can this couple survive the pressure of their careers? A week-long exclusive!

  * * *

  Bride Rules

  Part 3

  L.A. Happenings by Lyle Lincoln

  …For the first time in NBA history, a former NBA coach has made the roster of an NBA team as a player. Randy Farrell made the summer roster of L.A.’s Flash. There are 19 men battling for 1-3 positions on the permanent roster. Is Farrell receiving preferential treatment, as some in the sports press seem to feel? Or is this a Cinderella story, complete with Mr. Farrell winning back Glitterfrost Gem?

  …It seems like only yesterday I was attending a Rule wedding and now I’m attending another. Cora Rule is marrying the Flash’s coach, Trent Parker, in Las Vegas this weekend. You know what they say about Vegas? I certainly hope it’s true.

  Chapter One

  Randy Farrell and Pain were on a first name basis.

  Torn ligaments, snapped tendons, fractured bones—the hazards of being a basketball player. His body had withstood more than its share of physical abuse.

  And then there was the Heartbreak.

  Regrettably, Randy and Heartbreak were on a name-calling basis.

  Nausea, headache, hollow chest—the residual effects of being dumped. Symptoms he only experienced when he thought about Gemma Kent Rule. Which wasn’t often. Only about every fifteen minutes. Eight if he wasn’t working on his game.

  He’d been working on his game a lot.

  Randy loved Gemma. Gemma loved him. So why had she left him on an L.A. freeway off-ramp?

  She’d said she was his albatross. She’d said it was for his own good. She might just as well have said, “I’m scared of where this is going.”