Yes, tomorrow she would finally accept it was over, down to Logan’s last sock. When their project began, they were only meant to last until this night.
Though she wondered if anyone from Chargge.com went to the gala in her place, and how Logan and all the rest were faring, she promised herself to stay away from any form of media until it was over. She didn’t need Julia flaunting her victory on the step and repeat backdrop with the people she built relationships with. She definitely didn’t need to see Logan in a tuxedo. Acid burned the back of her throat at the thought he might have chosen to bring another date.
In her bathrobe with a diet frozen dinner waiting for her and a stack of DVDs that were not Hollywood Stardust, she plopped down on the couch right as a knock came at the door.
Since home cooking was out of the question, hopefully the pizza gods took kindly on her. She forced herself up and made the hike a few feet to the door. A delivery didn’t constitute not being alone. It only made for a brief interruption of her solitude. “Who is it?”
“Isaac.”
A quick glance through the peephole revealed Logan’s friend, and she opened the door. “Hi.” What on earth was he doing here? The anxiety that bubbled just below the surface all day, that nagging ache that told her something was wrong but she couldn’t fix it, amplified and demanded to be heard.
“Did you see today’s National Reporter?” He leaned against the doorjamb and held the paper out to her.
She backed up. “Please.”
“I promise, it’s nothing to do with the obvious.”
“Come in.” The magazine had already been turned to the page he wanted her to look at, and she returned to the couch and read the article.
Internet Hookups
Online personality, Julia Davis, has given the world of Internet porn a whole new meaning when it was uncovered that she has slept her way through some of the most successful and most notorious start-ups since Silicon Valley became more than a pinprick on the map. In an exclusive exposé, we have uncovered how she slept with, and blackmailed, some of the digital age’s top executives, amassing hundreds of thousands of dollars only to lose it in the stock market. Ms. Davis secured her job at her latest victim, Chargge.com, through “a connection” with a vice president. Since then, she has earned quite the reputation as being a bully to the other females at the successful Internet portal. We hope this little piece of information will be dealt with quickly at the company headed by one of the youngest and most successful female CEOs in the world. We can only hope the girls gang up and run her out of town. We won’t stand for bullying anymore.
She put the paper down. The story had Logan written all over it. If they were together, she would have scolded him, but it would have gone no further than that because she would have known he did it to protect her.
“Is this why you came here?” In a truth she could admit only to herself, she sort of wished the story would have been about how bad Logan was doing without her.
“No.” He leaned forward and took a breath. “I came to tell you that I am Drew Fulton.”
“I know.” Her heart sped with something other than an ache for her ex. With the two of them alone and with no fear of being barged in on by anyone, she revealed what she’d discovered and looked him right in the eye.
His mouth fell open, and he flopped back on the chair. “You know?”
“I do. I’m sorry.” For the first time since Logan had driven away, she smiled.
He stared at her. “Is it that obvious?”
“No, I figured it out the night of the party, with some words you said and then the way you disappeared the moment Ryder and Erin showed up and—” Tears blurred her vision. Logan had told her he loved her that night.
“What is it?”
She swallowed. “That night when Erin came in she said she thought you would be there. She almost sensed you.”
“She said that?” His tone came out with a twinge of excitement or maybe hope.
“Yes.” With no point fighting the tears, she allowed them to fall. “I don’t know what you do or don’t know about what happened with Logan and me, but I never told anyone I figured it out, not him, not anyone.”
“Ivy.” He moved next to her on the couch, popped a tissue out of the box on the table, and handed it to her. “Will you go to the anniversary gala with me?”
“I can’t.” She shoved the tissue to the corner of her eye.
“You’ll have your story.” He bent down.
“I don’t care about the story. After I fell in love with Logan, I didn’t care at all about the story. I quit my job. Logan was right all along, when he said the story was fine the way it was.” Heat and the sensation of being closed in overtook her and she stood. “I can’t go there.”
“Ivy, I came to tell you who I was because I need to take you to that gala. The minute I walk in with you, there are people who are going to recognize me, and I didn’t want you to be blindsided.” Drew came up behind her.
“You know, I have an entire evening planned.” She tightened her bathrobe around her, ran to the kitchen, and pulled her dinner out of the freezer. The ice-crystal-covered box must have been there for at least a year.
Again, Drew followed her. “Well, if we are going to eat ourselves into oblivion, can we go back to my place? Before I came here, I spent thirty minutes putting away all the food Logan has cooked for you today.”
Thankful for the blast of cold air from the refrigerator, she didn’t move.
“Yep.” He snatched the box out of her hand and shoved it back in the freezer. “Some guys troll for chicks when they’re upset, some play video games, some drink. Logan, he cooks. Normally, I benefit, but he wouldn’t let me touch one bite. Of course, they weren’t my favorites.”
She went to the sink, but forgot what she wanted once she took the two steps to her destination.
“We have pasta sauce, chicken and dumplings, meat loaf, pot roast with those pearl onions that he bitches about peeling the entire time. We even have something like four containers of raspberry sauce he made from scratch. I watched him strain the seeds myself.”
“Do you like raspberries?” She stared down the drain wondering when her life fell in there. All she needed to do was turn on the garbage disposal.
“It’s a give or take. Fruit is not a dessert. Only you and Logan think it can pass.” He made a noise of disgust. “Always been a chocolate man myself. Chocolate and peanut butter. Logan knows this. He likes to swoop in and control things and make things better. I think it comes from lacking control when he needed it most. Sometimes things get out of hand, and you control everything so much that it ends up taking control. I think he found that out after he fell in love with you. Up until then, the whole deal with Ryder and Erin, and even helping keep me under wraps, was no big deal.”
She glanced over her shoulder at him.
“Then he found someone to live for.” He joined her at the sink.
“He drove away. Didn’t let me explain.” She clutched the edge of the counter.
“Yeah, and you pushed his buttons and went for the one thing he didn’t want you to know. He wanted to be perfect for you.”
With someone to finally really talk to who knew Logan maybe even better than her, she let everything out. “I don’t think he really wants me. I’m just easy for him. One day he’ll realize he could’ve had someone else.”
Drew laughed. “Why is it that every woman on the planet thinks that an actor has to be with another actor? Oh, and if it’s a guy, then he must have to be with some sort of model, right?”
She ground her teeth together.
“Well, the stereotype is there for a reason.” He elbowed her. “We all start out thinking we’re going to get these babes dripping off us, and it happens, especially for Logan and Ryder.”
“See.”
“I’m not done. You know, I lecture over at UCLA, and I always tell my students not to interrupt until I’m done with my anecdote.” He opened up a c
abinet and took down a glass. “Anyway, for some actors that may work and that’s fine, but I think you’ve forgotten two very important points.”
She watched him return to the sink and fill his glass with water.
“First, Logan isn’t an actor. He hasn’t been for many years, and even if he ever ended up acting again, he’s a businessman. They can get babes too, you know. Women dig money.” He held the glass out for her. “This is for you.”
“Thank you.” She furrowed her brow and took the glass.
“Shh, not done.” He put his finger over his lips. “Second, he loves you. He doesn’t love a model or an actress, or some ideal you have stuck in your head.”
Rather than speak, she took a sip of the tap water and winced. Logan would have never allowed water from the faucet. He would have gotten her a club soda to settle her stomach. She could use some now.
“Oh, it doesn’t have bubbles in it. I apologize for my grave error.” With a bit of sarcasm, he over exaggerated his movements as he put his hand to his chest. “You know, one day he’s going to drive away again. One day when you have a couple of kids, and your house is built around a kitchen in Los Feliz, the two of you are going to get into a tiff, and he’s going to get in his car and drive away. He’s going to wind his way around the streets and probably end up at my house for a few hours. Then he’ll come back, because that’s what he’s going to do. Just like you’re going to peek around and do your research and ask him the tough questions that no one else dares.”
She put the glass down, went to the refrigerator, and got a bottle of club soda she bought herself.
“He needs to know that he could drive away and you’ll come for him.” Drew closed the refrigerator. “You have to go to the gala, because as bad as everything is for you right now, let me tell you that Logan is one hundred times worse.”
She shook her head.
“If nothing else, he needs to know you knew about me and never said a word.” He took her by the shoulders. “He needs to know you quit, and he needs to know you love him, and then you need to hear what he’s trying to do to be worthy of you.”
Worthy of her? Her heart hurt. It didn’t want to be cut open yet again. “Why are you doing this?” She stared into his face for the first time without feeling guilty for knowing the truth. The Drew from the movie was there, hidden away.
“He’s my best friend. He’s always been there for me. You belong together and you need each other.” He shrugged. “Maybe I should have talked to Erin and not disappeared.”
“You’re going to have to zip up my dress.” She thrust the bottle of water at him and walked to her bedroom. Worse than any stage fright was the fear of facing him. Yes, fear was a warning, a sign, but she also had a small glimmer of hope trying to shine through, and she would never forgive herself if she snuffed it out.
HOLLYWOOD STARDUST
CUT TO:
EXT. HOLLYWOOD STARDUST – HOLLYWOOD, CA – DAY
After dropping CHARLES at the airport, they make it to Hollywood Stardust. WILLIAM gets out of the car.
STEVEN
Here we are, the end of the line.
STEVEN motions toward the door.
ROXY
Aren’t you coming?
STEVEN
Go live your happily ever after.
ROXY gets out of the car. WILLIAM guides her to the front of the theater and takes her in his arms.
WILLIAM
It’s just you and me.
ROXY opens her eyes and watches STEVEN drive away.
FADE OUT
ROLL CREDITS
Chapter Twenty-Three
Over twenty years ago, the Hollywood Stardust facade had been erected on the studio back lot along with other building parts and pieces. Erin and Ryder had taken their marks by the theater entrance and Logan had driven down the fake rendition of Hollywood Boulevard on his way out of the city.
With his hands in his pockets, and trying to stay away from the red carpet leading into the gala party and screening of the Hollywood Stardust movie, he watched the guests pose in front of the facade. They would never know about the hidden message the four stars had written behind a hidden panel, they didn’t understand what that spot meant to the one person he loved, and they didn’t realize only last week he had proposed to her in that exact location.
After seeing, and more importantly, understanding, the movie with Ivy, he knew Erin’s character had opened her eyes and watched him go. Her one last look opened the door to the sequel.
Eyes wide open, Ivy had watched him go. In fact, he had watched her watch him go. The screen faded to black. The music played.
She had watched him go.
She had also quit her job and returned the ring and cried on his brother until his shirt was soaked.
Most importantly, she hadn’t read the script.
Trust was a two-way street. People made mistakes, but in the end, she had done the right thing and told him.
He had driven away and, as she’d predicted from day one, broke her heart.
If he did nothing else, he had to give her a chance at a happily ever after if she would allow it.
Though his agreements with the dynamic duo might state he had to attend the function, it didn’t specify how he entered, whom he spoke to, or how long he stayed. He waited until the last of the guests entered the studio and photographers dispersed and made his way around to the side entrance, nodding at the guard who let him inside.
A lump formed in his throat the moment he entered and got a look at the main room. They had set the inside up as the interior of the Hollywood Stardust theater, had there ever been an interior. The art deco theme ran throughout the room, plush red velvet chairs were set up for the screening of the newly remastered movie, and they even had people dressed as old-fashioned ushers guiding the guests to their seats.
Ivy needed to see this. She deserved it more than anyone. He glanced at his watch. If it took only ten minutes to deal with his costars, he could leave, get Ivy, grovel and beg, and drive her back before Steven drove away. Of course, his entire plan hinged on whether she took him back.
Needing to hurry things along, he ventured inside and scanned the room. He found his stars smack-dab in the middle of a large group holding court and decided to join them.
“There’s Logan!” A woman thrust one of the collector’s programs and a pen in his direction.
In an instant, a throng of other women surrounded him.
“I need to get one of these.” He signed his name on top of Ryder’s autograph, and much bigger, just because he could, and then signed a few more.
“Where’s Ivy?” One of the women tiptoed up to him with her book.
“You know her name?” He put his autograph on the cover and didn’t answer the question.
“I’ve been watching you since the first time you were on the Internet.” She smiled and hugged her program. “I love the two of you together. You’re not who everyone used to think you were.”
“What’s your name?” He plucked the program away from her.
“Mary.” She leaned over.
“Mary.” While he rarely, if ever, personalized an autograph, he figured he owed her something special. He put her name on the program and added the words “thank you.” “Here you are.”
“Thank you!” Once more, she hugged the book and then went to show her friends.
“Well, well, look who missed his photo opportunity.” Ryder came up beside him, patted his shoulder, and leaned in. “We have media wanting interviews—also some newspapers insisted you and Ivy be interviewed. What’re you doing? Where’s your girl?”
“Logan.” In a silver floor-length gown, chosen no doubt for her to stand out in the crowd, Erin joined them. “I need you to talk to some people. Did you leave the little woman at home and decide to make it about us for a change? There’s a man here who wants to do a story. How could you be late to this?”
Some of the onlookers started taking pictures of the t
hree of them together.
In an effort to stop the flashes and demands, he held up his hand. If nothing else, he succeeded in ruining a few pictures.
The lights flashed, and an announcer’s voice came through the speakers announcing the screening would start in two minutes. The crowd began to disperse to their seats.
“Where is Ivy?” Ryder elbowed him.
“Logan.” Erin grabbed his arm.
He jerked his arm away and turned toward them. “The two of you are the most selfish, inconsiderate people I have ever met, and you are in good company because I’m the third. I just went through the worst four days of my life, and all you can think about is if we get an interview or a photo, or if you’re the center of attention.”
Ryder jutted his jaw out.
Erin wrung her hands. “I thought for sure Drew would have come tonight.”
“Listen to you. Look at you. Drew is the smartest of us all. I should have joined him.” He shook his head. Ivy knew everything. Every selfish move, every bribe, every deal, and she had still said yes when he’d asked her to marry him. Yet he had driven away. If she allowed it, he would spend the rest of his life making it up to her, but first he needed to go to her as a hero. “We all need to face the fact that times have changed. I want an answer to my question now, and I need to get out of here.”
Almost as if they had planned it, the lights lowered, and the room shimmered in the distinctive flicker of a movie projection.
“Did Ivy leave you?” Erin touched his shoulder.
Her question seemed to echo through the space and suddenly every guest there let out a collective gasp.
“No.” Ryder hit him. “She’s up on stage.”
The lights came up, the movie stopped, and he turned. Only the magic could produce what he saw on the stage. Ivy, his love, the woman he wanted to marry, stood in front of the screen. Had he passed out? Was this a hallucination?
“What’s she doing?” Erin growled.
Ivy put her hands over her mouth and, like an actor who had forgotten her lines, turned toward stage right and shook her head. At last, she faced forward again. “I need help.”
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