It helps that I can still pretend it was her public indiscretion that is taking me some time to get over, especially after the tabloids spun my drunken brawl in Savannah as me dealing with my heartbreak. How close they were ... just the wrong girl.
Only Audrey knows the real reason for that incident, and she wastes no time being the perfect, fawning girlfriend. It is nauseating, but I feel sorry for her.
I think of my mother trying to bring me up alone, and I know Audrey is trying her best to repair the damage before the baby comes. I don’t fault her for it. I admire her. It’s a baby. Who wouldn’t do their absolute best to create a perfect environment?
At any moment, I expect Audrey will start the argument that it’s time to make a public announcement. I’m dreading it. I know it’s necessary, but—and I don’t like my mind going there—it will be national and international tabloid news that won’t miss Butler Cove.
“Hey, man.” My agent’s voice accompanies his hand clapping down hard on my back, making me jump.
“Hey, Andy.” I affect a friendly grin; it is what I do best, after all.
“Great party, my man. The latest numbers are in, they’re making an announcement in a moment, come on.”
Andy, dressed in a light grey suit and white shirt open at the collar, highlighting his ruddy complexion, manages to look like a perfect mix of managed stress and competence like he’s just been working his ass off to secure my latest success. Slightly balding, he wears his hair buzzed close to his scalp and stands about a foot shorter than my six-foot-two frame.
“Ja-ack!” Audrey’s voice lilts from behind us. We turn. She is beautiful in a sheer white dress with a small modest slip beneath, her hair flowing in dark waves over a shoulder. For a moment, I’m reminded of a certain white bikini cover-up that didn’t really cover anything up. I flinch under the memory and swallow, and then I lean in for a kiss.
“You look beautiful, and we’re coming,” I say. I take her hand, and the three of us walk inside to hear the latest gross earnings from the movie that has just been released in three eastern European countries. There have been numbers announced after each opening weekend and there will be many more releases, although no more requiring a personal appearance from any cast members, thank God.
There is a lot of backslapping and raising of glasses as the numbers are announced. It should make me especially happy since I agreed to a royalty payment structure, instead of a one-time payment back when hardly anyone believed in the success of the project. It was Devon who advised me to take that route, and it has been the best financial decision of my career.
Devon comes up to me as the announcements and toasting subsides. “Jack, good to see you, man. How’s the foot?” He gives me a brief hug like he didn’t just see me four hours ago. Devon is the only person, apart from what little Nick knows, that I have confided in. Not much to either of them, but some. It was Devon’s friendship and generosity with his beach house that allowed me to get away in the first place. It is also in Devon’s best interest with Peak Entertainment to keep Audrey’s and my relationship on the rails.
“Fine.”
Devon shrugs. “Anyway, we need to talk about scheduling for the Dread Pirate Roberts project. I’m so psyched you agreed to take the role. I told Monica you wouldn’t take it, and then when you accepted today—you realize you owe me a blowjob. Right?”
“What?” I laugh. It feels good.
“Yeah, man. That’s what I said I’d give up if she was right.”
“Ugh. Please don’t talk to me about your sex life.” I shudder dramatically. Devon roars with laughter.
We banter a little more as the party winds down, and people leave for other invitations and appearances. It helps that I capped the alcohol and don’t let anyone do drugs at my house anymore. That pretty much assures an early evening by L.A. standards. Before long it’s just Devon, Monica, Katie, my assistant, and Andy, who is anxiously texting, sitting around the littered living area while two hired servers pick up around us.
Audrey has gone upstairs to lie down. I know that pregnancy is tiring so I don’t begrudge her. She is growing a whole new human being, for Pete’s sake. Now that the touring is done, she needs to take it easy, and I need to call and tell my mother. I haven’t called home in a while, not even when I was in London for the premiere. I’m a shitty son.
“Isn’t this great, man?” Andy sighs, finally putting his phone down and getting comfortable. “I knew if you just got back here, it would all sort itself out.”
I nod. Andy has said this about a hundred times since I came back to L.A. with Audrey.
I’ve forgiven Katie for ratting out my location. She owned up to going out for a lunch date one day and letting Audrey stay at her desk under the guise of just needing somewhere to sit and write out some notecards. Audrey writing out notecards should have been a clue, but mistakes happen, and Katie was devastated and convinced I was going to fire her. There was no love lost between Katie and Audrey to begin with, and now it’s even worse. It’s actually quite comical to watch them in the same room together like two grown female cats in a circling dance of avoidance, interspersed with occasional hissing.
Andy sits back smugly and takes a sip of his scotch. “It was a gamble, man, but it paid off. Andy always knows best.”
“What paid off?” asks Devon, vocalizing my exact thought.
“The pregnancy, of course.” Andy laughs indignantly. “I mean, what else could have galvanized our tragic hero here to get back to reality?” He leans forward, shrugging off his grey suit jacket, oblivious to the four faces staring at him, nonplussed.
“What do you mean?” I try to ask, but whisper. My face and lips feel tight, like there is no blood left.
Devon stands up at that same moment and leans dangerously over Andy. “You better fucking explain yourself, and fast, because if you just said what I think you did, I’m going to fucking kill you.”
I’m staring at Andy, waiting for his response to Devon’s question. My tongue feels like a sack of cement.
I vaguely notice Monica grab Devon’s sleeve. “Devon,” she murmurs, and then glances toward the staircase where Audrey is gliding down, a large smile on her face, her eyes unnaturally bright. Clearly not napping. She stops dead when she sees the strained scene.
Audrey looks at me with confusion and then glances at Andy. I see the exact moment when she realizes. It is the exact moment when I see the truth in all of its soul-stripping agony.
I don’t know what she sees on my face, but I know she is suddenly rushing toward me, her hands open in supplication, and I am moving to put as much furniture between me and her as possible.
“Please, Jack. Just wait, let me explain. I didn’t know what else to do.” Her words and her breath are choppy. “I knew I’d messed up, but we both had a contract to fulfill and we were happy, weren’t we? I mean before? I just needed you, I mean us, to be together, so I could make it right.” Audrey tries to round the couch to where I’m standing, my back to the wall. She looks panicked.
I find my voice but it’s a snarl. “Stay where you are. Don’t fucking come near me!” I am still in complete shock and not sure I’m processing the enormity of the lie.