by North, Cara
“Jed,” she said as she gripped her wristlet and his hoodie for dear life. This wasn’t what she expected. She thought he meant a barbecue like she would mean barbecue. A place with a few people he knew, not an event. “What’s going on?”
“It’s a barbecue. My mom hosts it every year. They raise money for a few children’s charities.” He slid his hand down her arm in that way he liked to do and said, “There is every kind of barbecue you can think of. Why do you look nervous all of a sudden?”
“Because I am,” she admitted.
“Shay, it’s just a barbecue.” He tugged at her hand and she took a tentative step forward.
“Wait,” she stalled. He stopped, looked at her curiously. “Is Frankie in there?”
He shrugged.
“Jed,” she whispered. “She doesn’t know about us. I can’t just show up like this.”
“This is my family, Shay. Besides, there are a ton of people here from the film. If she is here now or later she will just think you got the invite like everyone else.” He tugged her hand again.
“Not if I’m holding your hand.” She let his fingers go. He sighed in defeat but let her walk beside him instead of holding his hand. The closer they got to the crowd of people near the entry the more anxious she became. The more she wanted to hold on to him for support but didn’t. She gripped the hoodie like a lifeline.
“Shay!” Frankie smiled and waved at her the moment she stepped out into the back yard. She smiled back. Jed had stopped to talk to someone, so she took the opportunity to distance herself from him a moment and say hello to Frankie and Jonas. Maybe after she said hi she would get lost in the crowd and he would find her and…
“Hi,” she said as she came to a stop in front of them. “How was the honeymoon?”
“We had a good week…” Jonas said as his voice trailed off.
Frankie looked at Jonas. Shay looked at Jonas. They both noticed he was looking at Shay. More specific, he was looking at what she had in her hand. She was sure she and Frankie looked down at the hoodie at the same time. They also looked up at the same time to meet eye to eye again.
“Shay?” Frankie tilted her head and asked, “Um, where did you get that?”
“I gave it to her,” Jed said as he stepped closer to her side. He put his hand on the small of her back. She was instantly relieved to have him there and worried that this was going to go over badly. She brought the sweatshirt because it was supposed to get chilly tonight, because it still smelled like him, and because she wanted him to know she cared that he had given it to her to wear. She did not know it was a red flag to wave at everyone announcing that to the world.
Jonas looked at Frankie. Shay realized something right then and there. Jonas relied on Frankie’s judgment to determine his reaction to this situation. He didn’t look at his big brother, he looked at his wife. She was happy for Frankie that Jonas was that much in love. She was sad for Jed, because he was his big brother, and wondered, shouldn’t that count for something?
“Do you want to take a walk with me?” Frankie asked with a mix of emotion on her pretty face. She wore just a hint more make-up these days. She also put more thought into her outfits. Jonas had been good for Frankie. Shay wouldn’t deny that.
“Maybe later, Frankie.” He answered for her. Jed was not cowed like his brother. He nudged Shay forward with a press of his hand to her back, “We’re hungry.”
Shay wasn’t sure she liked the surprise on Frankie’s face. Maybe it was because of the sight of them together. Maybe it was because she moved at his touch and allowed him to speak for her. She had never been submissive in her life prior to Jed. She watched Frankie’s expression. Shay knew things could go either way from that point. She also knew whether the couple was happy or mad about it, Jed didn’t care. She let Jed guide her to the tents where the food was being served.
They were stopped about a hundred times on the way so she wasn’t able to address the situation. She was surprised and overwhelmed by the fact that he introduced her to every single person they met. By the time they were at the row of tents where the food was, she was in fact starving and more focused on the rumble of her stomach than worried about Frankie.
“Tell me what you want, babe.” He held two plates in his hands and looked at her.
“Babe?”
“Are you here with me?” he asked with a bit of mischief in his eye.
“Yes.” She was with him. God help her, she was there with him for the entire world to see.
He smiled at her, the plates moved to one of his hands and the free hand moved to her waist as he leaned down and kissed her full on the lips. Shay knew for sure no one besides Frankie, Jonas, Jed, and maybe a few other people from the set of Jonas’s movie had any idea who she was when they had walked in. Everyone would know who she was by the time they walked out. Jed wasn’t a ‘nobody’ in the movie industry. He just wasn’t an actor anymore.
Jed was cordial, but once he sat down to eat, it was as though an invisible gate had been put up. People didn’t bother them. They were able to relax for a few moments.
“This is really good,” she said.
“This one’s better,” he said as he offered her a bite.
Jed was neither ashamed to be there with her nor trying to be subtle about his intentions towards her. She was both flattered and frightened. He wasn’t going to stay in Los Angeles. She knew that. She had to re-think her entire life plan just because he had entered into it. She wasn’t sure if was aware of how much his actions resembled that of a committed man. She tried to remind herself that in all the research she had completed on Jed Gunner, there was never mention of another woman past his teen years.
She did know that his girlfriend has committed suicide. It was due to the horrible things people said about her in the press. She wasn’t good enough, pretty enough, skinny enough and more. They bullied the girl in school because everyone wanted to be her…to be with him. She wasn’t ready to ask him about it. She was afraid of what she would discover. Especially now, when she suspected the scar on his wrist was there for a reason she didn’t want to think possible.
“Why is it that when you are up and moving, you can’t walk three steps without someone talking to you, but when you sit to eat everyone has given you a five step boundary that no one seems to cross?” She had to ask.
He shrugged with a smirk and said, “Because when I am up and moving at an event it is natural for people to stop and talk to you. When I sit down with someone, it means I am talking to who I want to speak with. If they are not related to me I am not interested in being interrupted. It is easier for people to just stay away than for me to tell them to go away.”
“You’d do that?” She was shocked. In a world where she would never think of telling someone interested in her career to go away, it was hard to understand how he could do that.
“Yeah,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve done that. I’m entitled to sit down and eat. I want to catch up with someone without being interrupted to say hi to someone else. It’s rude. Hollywood has no manners unless you demand them. I don’t like half of these people. They are fake, greedy, and could care less about these organizations. They care about being here, being seen here. It is part of the gig, I get it. I just don’t like it.”
“Oh,” she said with a gulp of self-consciousness. She as suddenly wishing she could go back in time and take back the time she interrupted an actor to tell him that he did amazing in a role. She said it because she thought he would like to know that fans liked his work. He was in his late sixties and the role was edgy. He seemed to appreciate her comment. Then again, he was an actor.
“I’m going to grab something to drink. Can I get you anything?” he asked. “Hey, I see that look. What is it?”
“I’m just re-thinking some things I thought about being a celebrity,” she admitted. “Your life is nothing like I thought it would be.”
“That makes two of us,” he grunted.
It was only a matte
r of time before Jed was pulled away from her long enough for Frankie to find her and pull her aside to ask, “When did this happen?”
Frankie frowned at her.
Shay shrugged. They took a seat at a nearby table.
“He’s not stable, Shay.” Frankie looked at her with such a worried expression Shay realized she was genuinely concerned. “Jonas doesn’t even know where he was this past year. I don’t want you to get hurt. I can’t hate him, he’s my brother-in-law.”
Shay extended her hand across the table and Frankie took it. She was glad to have her back. “I know where he’s been for the past year. I don’t know what he’s hiding from his family, Frankie, but he isn’t hiding anything from me.”
Frankie looked up and to the right and smiled. Shay knew Jed or Jonas was walking up behind her. It turned out to be both. Jed took a seat on the bench next to Shay and Jonas moved around to sit next to Frankie. Shay let Frankie’s hand go. Jed had straddled the bench when he sat, so he faced Shay instead of Frankie and Jonas.
He leaned in and whispered, “You okay?”
She looked at him and smiled. She nodded.
He leaned in close again and said, “I’m tired. And annoyed. And you look terrible so I want to take you away from here…”
“Did you just say she looks terrible?” Frankie and her English professor ears heard all. At least Frankie was offended on Shay’s behalf. “Why would you say that to her? Shay? Why would you let him say that to you?”
“Frankie,” Jonas called her name quietly.
Jed groaned and said, “Not that I owe you any explanation for what I say to her, but I was told not to call her beautiful, even though she is the most exquisite thing I have ever seen. So I tell her sarcastically she looks terrible and she smiles. I don’t ask why you answer the door in your underwear and popping a ruler at my baby brother, so don’t ask why I say what I say to her.”
“Jed!” Shay and Jonas both said at the same time. Frankie blushed. Shay looked from Jed to Frankie and said, “Frankie!”
Frankie’s shoulder lifted and she said, “Touché.”
Jed placed his head on Shay’s shoulder facing away from the table. He wrapped his arm around her and squeezed. Shay knew he was at his social limit. “Call me when you have an afternoon free, Frankie and we can catch up. I think we need to go now.”
She started to get up and he moved too. Frankie and Jonas gawked. She was slightly amused by it all. He barely said goodbye to them as he slid his fingers through hers and led them towards the house.
“I’m sorry about that. I shouldn’t have snapped at her. She cares about you.” Jed tried to steer them away from the crowd. “I’m getting a headache.”
“Jed!” His sister called for him. His nephew came running towards them. He let go of her hand and bent down to scoop the little boy up in a bear hug.
“Hey, Buddy!” Jed smiled at the little boy.
Shay took the time to pull the hoodie on. It was getting dark, all of the outside lights hung in several canopies of strands were turned on, and the air had become a bit chilly. Jed turned to her with his nephew in arms and said, “Buddy, this is Shay. Shay, this is Buddy.”
“Hi,” she said.
He leaned in and said something to Jed in his ear. Jed laughed and said, “Yes she is.”
Buddy looked at her again. She smiled at him, and he blushed and put his head on Jed’s shoulder.
“Hey,” Janice said as they approached. Her husband, Buddy Senior looked at the sweatshirt and nodded with a polite smile. She realized wearing that hoodie was like tattooing his name on her forehead, it told anyone who looked at her more than she planned. “Where have you been? I talked to Melissa and she said you took her to dinner and then dropped her off at home. She was really hurt by that. She said she really likes you.”
Shay listened with cautious reserve as her stomach tied in knots. He had been out on a date. They weren’t exclusive. Hell, they didn’t even have a label for what they were doing.
Jed didn’t even flinch. He said, “You asked me to take her to dinner. I did. I’m not interested in Melissa. This is Shay, and I really like her.”
Janice looked as if seeing her for the first time. She went to say something but looked at the hoodie. She had a startled expression one moment and then she looked at Shay eye to eye the next. “I’m Janice. It’s really nice to meet you, Shay.”
“You guys on your way out already?” Buddy stepped closer and his son moved to shift from Jed’s arms to his dad’s.
“I’m tired. You know I have a limit for how long I can hob-nob.” Jed moved his hand into hers again. Janice and Buddy both noticed. Buddy Junior whispered in his dad’s ear.
“Think so, do you?” Buddy asked his son. Buddy Junior looked at Shay and then put his shy little head down on his dad’s shoulder.
“Good Lord, he’s smitten!” Janice looked at her son and then at Shay. “He is not shy, Shay. I’ve never seen him this timid in my life.”
“She has that effect on people,” Jed said. Shay blushed. She could feel the heat creep over her cheeks. Jed laughed and everyone looked at him.
Janice smiled at her brother, looked at him for a long moment and then she looked at Shay and said, “I haven’t seen that in a long time either.”
Shay didn’t know what she was talking about. Janice took a step towards her big brother, reached up to stroke his face and said, “It’s good to see you smile again.”
She looked rather emotional. Shay looked away. Jed’s fingers gripped hers a little tighter. He said, “We’ll see you guys later.”
She didn’t ask and he didn’t tell. She knew he was getting a headache and she wasn’t going to press for answers about why his sister looked ready to cry because he was smiling.
The last person to stop them on the way out was his mother. She greeted him with a big hug and said, “You’re still here? I thought you slipped out without saying hello or goodbye to me.”
She looked from Jed to Shay. Her eyebrow arched as she too looked at what might as well have been his flag claiming her, the hoodie, and said, “Jed, darling, go say hello and goodbye to your Uncle Harvey. He’s your Godfather for crying out loud, you can’t leave without saying something to him.”
If Shay’s head could have snapped off it would have. She turned it so fast in the direction his mom pointed. Jed started to tug Shay along, but his mother slid her hand onto Shay’s arm and said, “She can stay with me, silly. He needs to talk to you about something for the discovering history or family, I don’t know, one of those channels you tend to like to do work for.”
Shay took several deep slow breaths. She saw Alex Harvey, Milton Harvey’s son and her real agent, as he tilted his head to look at her. Jed said something, but she couldn’t hear it. Alex started walking towards her as Jed was walking towards Harvey. They stopped midway and Jed’s mom took that moment to pat Shay’s hand between both of her own and say, “Who are you dear? I must know. I haven’t seen my baby smile like that in… a long time.”
“I’m…I’m Shay,” she said as he looked from Alex and Jed to Jed’s mom with a half-smile. “I’m…”
“Shay,” Alex Harvey’s voice made her spine stiff. “Aunt Helen, I see you have met dad’s newest client. May I speak with her a moment alone?”
“You’re an actress?” Helen Gunner had a shocked expression on her beautiful face.
“Yes, ma’am,” Shay said.
Someone called her name and she said, “I…well, I hope to see you again soon, dear.”
Shay wished the woman had stayed.
“What are you doing here?” Alex asked. He was not happy. If she had worn heels she would look him square in the eye. He didn’t resemble the Gunner’s at all. She wondered if Harvey was a brother from his mother or father’s side. Alex was older than Jed by a good ten years. Harvey was seventy-something she was sure. His dark brown eyes squinted behind the glasses. He insisted, “Well?”
“I came with Jed,” she said.
She pulled her shoulders back and addressed this issue head on in the casual tone they had practiced her using when faced with confrontation. Shay from a year ago would have told Alex it was none of his business and then told him where to get off. Of course Shay from a year ago would only be here with Jed Gunner by some miracle and she would have been making a scene to get as much attention possible.
“My cousin?” Alex made a sour expression.
“I didn’t know he was your cousin, Alex.” She couldn’t even see Jed anymore. Alex had taken Helen’s spot so she faced him and not Harvey and Jed.
“He is. My father’s favorite at that!” He looked briefly over her shoulder and then directly at her. She knew a lecture was coming. “What have we talked about? You should have consulted me prior to accepting this invitation. I would have told you that wearing what you are wearing is not acceptable. You should be in something conservative, but professional. At all times Shay, you must look professional, not casual. You are here with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, producers, directors, writers, and you look like you’re heading to a backyard barbecue instead of a fundraiser. You look…well you never look average, but had I known you were here, I could have made time to escort you.”
“She has an escort,” Jed said as he moved behind her. She never heard him approach.
He put his arm around her and placed his hand on her waist where Alex could see.
“Shay, I want to see you in my office Wednesday morning, understand?” Alex punched it into his phone, but he used a tone that did not sit well with Jed.
“Don’t talk to her like that,” he said it simply and without raising his voice, but Alex got the message loud and clear.
When he spoke again he was exercising the tone he had taught her to use. He then looked at Jed with more care than she had ever seen Alex Harvey express and said, “This is business, Jed. You don’t understand, what’s worse, I doubt you care. I care. If my client is coming to an event this size, I need to know. She should have told me.”