Hooked (9 page)

“You threw frosting at her?” Brandon’s warm laugh fills the room and I can’t help but smile as I replay the moment in my mind. “I wish I could have been there to see that.”

I roll my eyes. “Really? That’s your takeaway point from this whole story?”

“You have to admit, it makes a pretty good visual. But seriously, I’m sorry Cherry. Sounds like a rough day. Wish I was there to make you smile again.”

I glance over at the empty spot beside me in bed and fight a surge of loneliness. Brandon’s busy filming schedule has made for a lot of long, lonely nights. I’ve been staying at Ashley’s house for the past few days, and have only been able to talk to Brandon on video chat in little snippets late at night.

“Did you at least get to spend time with the rest of your family? Like your grandmas?”

“Yeah,” I say, turning back to the video. “It was nice, but there was just this air of tension over the whole thing. Valerie kept shooting me dirty looks and my mother didn’t speak to me for the rest of the day. I only stayed for about an hour and then said I had a headache. Which, honestly, was true by that point.”

I rub my temples; the headache is still clinging to me a bit.

“I see you’re not wearing your ring. Safe to say you didn’t tell them about the engagement?” Brandon asks.

Oops.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s cool; I know you’re just embarrassed to be with me.” He laughs.

“Totally, would you get it together please?”

“In all seriousness though, I respect you want to do this based on your own timing, but I don’t think it’s going to help your family relations if they do hear it first on some grocery store tabloid cover. We’re lucky it hasn’t leaked out yet at this point.”

“I know. You’re right. I can only imagine the wrath…” I groan and flop back on the pillows. “You do realize that my life has been a complete disaster since you came back around, right?”

Brandon laughs. “Sorry, baby, but you’re stuck with me now.”

“Drats.” I push myself back up to sitting. “It would be nice if I could see you. You could remind me why I’m marrying into this circus. Are you sure you can’t come up for just a day or two? I’ll make it worth your while…” I lick my lips, trying to be seductive.

“Cherry, you know I can’t.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I’ll stop asking.”

There’s an awkward silence, as we both stare at each other, but no one seems to have anything to say.

“So I know today didn’t exactly go according to plan, but did you get a chance to stop at the house and check out the tiles? Drew told me he needs an answer by Monday,” Brandon asks, changing the subject.

I groan. The tiles! I completely forgot in all the chaos.

Prior to proposing, Brandon had purchased a beautiful craftsman home just outside Seattle for us to stay at in between movie shoots and other projects. It is currently undergoing major renovations and won’t be ready to live in for at least another two months.

My plan had been to stop there before heading back to Ashley’s to save me a trip, but after the baby shower fiasco, it was the last thing on my mind.

“I forgot. I’m really sorry. I can go back out there this afternoon and sort it all out.”

“It’s all right.” Brandon sighs. “Listen, I know this isn’t ideal timing, but I have to get back. They need me on set.”

I cringe. Over the past couple of weeks, those have become my least favorite words in the English language.

“You’ll be home in a few days, and then we will see each other every day,” he says, reading my expression. 

I nod, fighting back the tears that have been swimming too close to the surface all day long. “It’s all right; I understand.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

There is a sharp beep and his face disappears off the screen. I toss the tablet aside and flop over on the bed.

Not two seconds later, Ashley burst into the room, LeeLee and Maci running around at her feet. LeeLee launches herself onto the bed and starts licking my face.

“You two done up here?” she asks, nodding at the tablet. “We didn’t want to interrupt any sexy video chatting. That could be awkward for all parties involved.”

I laugh and push LeeLee off me. “Kind of hard to do anything in less than fifteen minutes.”

“Not necessarily true, but I see your point.” She sits down on the bed. “What happened this time?”

“Who knows. All I ever get is ‘they need me on set’ and I’m supposed to just understand that he needs to drop everything and go.”

“Kind of hard to plan a wedding in fifteen minute increments.”

“Tell me about it. Although, to be honest, other than taking a brief glance over these magazines I haven’t even mentally started planning.”

“Well it’s still new. There’s lots of time. You haven’t even set a date yet.”

“Mostly because of Brandon’s impossible schedule. When he’s not filming a movie, he’s out traveling to promote the current movie. I don’t see things letting up any time in the next couple of years. At this rate, we will have to have our honeymoon in his set trailer!”

“That’s hot.”

“Tell me about it,” I say. “I always imagined spending my honeymoon sleeping on a pull out bed and feasting on all the wonders a mini-fridge has to offer. Ugh.”

“I’m sure his trailer doesn’t have a pull out bed…”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a pillow-top cloud straight from heaven. It’s not what I want.”

“I know,” Ashley says, lowering her head, as if trying to think of something to cheer me up. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no, I’m sorry Ash.” I rub my face in my hands. “I don’t know why I’m being such a bitch.”

What is wrong with me?

“You’re not being a bitch. You had a very rough day. You’re tired and stressed and you miss Brandon. I get it. I just don’t know how best to help.”

“Well I would say let’s pop open a bottle of Riesling and veg out, cause, not gonna lie, that sounds amazing. But I spaced on stopping by the house, so I have to go back into the city.”

“That house is turning into a full-time job!”

“Tell me about it,” I agree. In the three days since being at Ashley’s house, I have had something house-related to attend to everyday. I know it’s because I am in town and can go make decisions on-site, but it’s becoming a little overwhelming. Especially without Brandon’s input. “So what do you say? Want to go get lost in a tile and granite wonderland with me for the afternoon?”

Ashley wrinkles her nose.

“I know, I suck.”

We arrive at the house within an hour—thanks again to Ashley’s questionable driving skills—and she gasps when we pull up and see the exterior. All the siding has been removed and there are large sections of the yard that have been uprooted to make room for new landscaping.

To be honest, I’m not sure why all this work needs to be done. The house looked fine in all the pictures I saw, but Brandon had his contractor come up to see the house, and they decided on a long list of updates that needed to be completed prior to us moving in.

Since then, Brandon has been too busy to keep up with the project, and turned the reins over to me.

Ashley and I get out of the car and she follows behind me as I lead the way through the maze of construction debris and tools that litter the yard and front walk. I feel a little awkward, like I don’t quite belong, but no one stops us or seems to think it is weird that we’re here. The front door opens and I see Drew, the lead contractor, step out onto the porch.

“Woah,” Ashley says. “Who is
that
?”

A smile spreads across my face. So the ice queen isn’t frozen solid after all. Interesting.

“That’s Drew, Brandon’s contractor,” I whisper back to her.

It’s been nearly two years since Ashley swore herself off all men and decided to relish the single life indefinitely. Her last boyfriend, Van, turned out to be a lying, cheating, man-whore, and things were very, very ugly when they broke up. Ashley internalized a lot of the pain and threw herself into her business, which has paid off in the long run; financially at least. I sometimes worry, though, that she won’t ever let someone in to give love another chance. To be honest, being in LA has been hard on me, knowing she is alone and possibly turning into even more of a workaholic recluse in my absence.

I tilt my head and watch as Drew comes towards us. I never really considered him before, but he is definitely an attractive guy. And bonus points to him for looking nothing like Ashley’s ex, Van. I always find it a little weird when someone starts dating the carbon copy of their ex, especially common when said ex was total pond scum.

“Hello Charity,” Drew says.

“Hey, sorry for making you wait around all day, I completely spaced out.”

“Not a problem. Trust me, I have more than enough to keep me occupied around here.”

I laugh but stop short at a sharp poke to my lower back. Ashley is standing close enough to me that I doubt he saw it, but I’m surprised nonetheless. “Drew, this is my best friend Ashley. Ashley, Drew.”

“Nice to meet you, Ashley,” he says, extending a hand for her to shake.

Which she eagerly accepts.

I laugh again to myself.

“So let’s talk tiles,” Drew says, when he finally gets his hand back from Ashley.

He starts back towards the front steps and we fall in line behind him.

“You gonna be all right over there?” I ask. “Maybe I should fake an emergency and leave and let you stay to pick out the tiles.”

“Would you?”

“No. I was kidding. Sheesh Ash, pull it together.”

Inside the house, we gather in the kitchen, which is basically torn apart down to the studs. My heart sinks a little as I realize how much work needs to be done. It’s not that I am in a hurry to move in, because Brandon couldn’t come with me right now. I think it makes me sad, because it’s a physical reminder of how far away we are from ever having a normal life. Even when we do move into the house, I won’t be able to fully relax, because our time will always need to be split between here and the house in LA.

Drew gives a brief tour of where things will go as far as appliances, sinks—yes plural, sinks—countertops, and the massive island that is apparently going to cost more than my first car.

Ashley is hanging on his every word. I have to stifle a laugh, as she tries to impress him with her extremely limited home-improvement knowledge, which I figure is mostly gathered from late night HGTV binges. Luckily, he seems charmed by her and indulges her opinions.

I check back into the conversation as Drew pulls out a very heavy-looking box and goes one by one through the sample tiles he selected for us to consider. He lays them out on the work bench and gives a brief description of each, accompanied by a pro and con to each choice. My headache starts flaring up again, as I carefully study each one and try to focus on what he is saying.

Maybe I should leave them here to figure it all out.

I am mentally sorting out the logistics when my phone starts to buzz in my pocket. I step away from the table and answer when I see Brandon’s agent, Roger, on the caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Charity! Where are you?” His voice sounds frantic and I instantly feel my heart rate soar into overdrive.

“I’m in Seattle, at, at the new house,” I stammer.

“Oh thank God.” He breathes an audible sigh of relief.

“Roger! What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

“There’s been an incident.”

Well that’s a helpful answer.

“An incident? What does that mean?” I implore, as my mind races through a list of worst-case scenarios. “I told Brandon he shouldn’t be doing his own stunts! Especially on this movie. I know there are water scenes, and he’s never been the strongest swimmer! Why didn’t he listen to me? Roger! Just tell me what’s going on? Car crash? Broken bones? What!”

“Woah, woah, slow down. No, no, no. He’s fine, well mostly.”

Mostly?

Argh! I pull the phone away from my ear and look at the screen in disbelief. If only I could launch my fist through the phone and smack Roger upside the head. I hear his voice start again and eagerly push the phone back to listen.

“—something set him off and he assaulted the guy. Or at least that’s what they are claiming. The cops came, it was quite a scene, and of course that just led to an even bigger swarm of paps. Overall, a total train wreck. The cops ended up taking him and the other guy into custody.”

“He’s been arrested?” My voice was shrill, borderline hysterical.

Drew and Ashley both look up, startled by this statement. Ashley’s brows are wrinkled and she steps around the work table to get closer to me as I pace across the floors.

“Well, I don’t know that part yet. I’m on my way down there to see him. I haven’t been able to speak to him yet, so it doesn’t look good. I needed to make sure you were safe first.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

I appreciate the gesture, but come on, it’s not like I’m a mob wife and there’s a hit on me.

“Think about it this way. Who are all the paps going to be looking for to get a reaction shot to paste up alongside the ones of Brandon duking it out with some asshole photographer?”

I guess there is a hit out on me after all, just with cameras instead of guns. Fan-fucking-tastic.

I shut my eyes and take in a deep breath. “Okay, so what am I supposed to do?”

“There’s really nothing you can do. Just stay put. I’ll call you back if I hear anything. I’m pretty sure they won’t hold Brandon on charges, so you should hear from him soon.”

“All right. Thanks Roger,” I say before clicking off the call.

“What in the world was that all about?” Ashley asks immediately.

“You don’t even want to know.”