Second Act

by Herkness, Nancy

  She sighed, knowing she would put herself through the wringer again because the memory of their love still wielded power over her heart. Or maybe she was just a sucker, as Aidan claimed.

  She adjusted her carnelian necklace in the mirror before she marched out the door.

  Hugh sat in her ergonomic chair with his head tilted back and his eyes closed. A shadow of whiskers darkened his jawline, adding a slight roughness that enhanced his dark charisma.

  Remorse nipped at her. She hoped it was true that the camera would love the fatigued look. “You should get some sleep,” she said softly.

  He lifted his head and opened his eyes slowly, making the revelation of the brilliant turquoise all the more dramatic. “Honestly, I’m too hyped up to sleep. I was just reliving the surgery. Who knows when I’ll need to play a brilliant veterinarian?”

  Jessica snorted at his use of “brilliant” before she sat down in the bilious-green vinyl chair that stood in front of the desk. “You asked why I broke the engagement.”

  He sat up. “I had no right to—”

  She lifted her hand, palm out. “Maybe I can say it better now because I have more distance to give me perspective.” She laced her fingers together on her knees and stared down at them, traveling back in time to her younger self to find the emotions she needed words for. “You were like a meteor blazing across the sky, growing brighter and brighter with each step you took toward your goal. I could see that you were going to succeed, because you had the talent and the drive and the discipline. But you needed a different partner to support you.”

  A strange, guttural sound made her glance up. Hugh had braced his elbows on her desk and dropped his head into his hands.

  “It wasn’t right or wrong. It was just a fact,” she said. “Your career required a wife who enjoyed the social aspect of being a star, someone who could schmooze the producers and directors, someone who cared about designer gowns. I would never be that person.” She had left out the part about his constant criticism making her feel like a failure. Tears pricked at the back of her eyes, and she had to swallow before she could speak the next words. “I loved you . . . too much to hold you back. So I made the hardest decision of my life.”

  “Dear God,” Hugh said into his hands.

  “Look at how right I was,” Jessica said. “You’ve become the most recognized actor on the planet. You couldn’t have done that with me dragging you down.”

  When Hugh lifted his head, anguish twisted his features. “All I knew is that you were leaving me. I couldn’t comprehend anything else about what was happening. I was so stupid.”

  His pain squeezed her heart. “I didn’t understand how much your childhood had affected you. I get it now. You thought I didn’t love you enough to stay.”

  “I was an adult.” He slapped the top of her desk with his open palm. “I should have acted like one.”

  “Don’t say that, my love.” She covered her mouth with one hand as soon as she realized what she’d called him.

  His gaze locked on her before he shook his head. “That was pity.”

  Jessica wasn’t sure that was true, but she didn’t want to examine the possibility right now. “Not pity, just regret for what we once had.”

  Hugh pushed up to his feet, his movements stiff and slow. “Time to take you home.”

  “Hugh . . .” What could she say to him? “I didn’t want to leave you.”

  “No one ever does.”

  Chapter 15

  Jessica had turned that sentence over and over in her mind ever since. As they rode the short distance to her house in the town car, Hugh had shifted the conversation back to her veterinary work. He’d walked her to the door, kissed her on the forehead, and trudged wearily down her front steps while she watched through the stained glass window.

  She’d thought her words might bring him some comfort. After all, she’d left him because she loved him, not because she didn’t. Instead her explanation seemed to have dropped a greater weight on his shoulders.

  Self-reproach had made her sleep fitful, so it had been tough to drag herself into the clinic. Which was why she winced when Carla waltzed into her office and slapped a tabloid down on her desk, saying, “You’ve been holding out on me, girlfriend.”

  Jessica looked at the page Carla pointed to. One of the bottom-feeding photographers had caught her and Hugh dashing out of the theater door hand in hand at the moment Jessica had looked up at him, laughing at how she felt like a spy movie heroine. In the picture, her expression translated to happy adoration. “Seriously?” Jessica said, picking up the offending paper to read the caption: “Hugh Baker’s mystery date head over heels in love. Who’s the new woman in the movie star’s famously footloose dating life?”

  Carla sat down in the other chair. “Looks like you and Mr. Hugh Baker aren’t exactly history anymore.”

  Jessica dropped the tabloid on her desk. “You know better than to believe the crap they print in these things. Hugh and I just went to a play together.” As long as she said nothing more, that was the truth.

  “Then why are you looking at him like he hung the moon and the stars?” Carla grabbed the newspaper and scanned the photo. “Not to mention you’ve got that certain glow about you. Besides, even if you just went to a show together, that’s more than you shared with me.”

  Now Jessica was going to have to lie. “He got some tickets at the last minute and invited me for old times’ sake.”

  “He got tickets to A Question of Desire at the last minute? Honey, the scalpers can’t even get tickets to that show.”

  Jessica shrugged. “Maybe he had another date who couldn’t come? I don’t really know.”

  Carla gave her a long, hard look. “I’ll back off—for now. But other folks are going to see this—there are a couple on the internet, too, by the way—and start asking questions. What do you want me to tell them?”

  “Most of the truth. That Hugh and I knew each other before he got famous. He’s in town shooting the Julian Best movie and we got together again—just as friends. You can leave out the engagement part,” Jessica added. “Too complicated.”

  “Oh, honey, in this day and age, someone’s going to find that out anyway,” Carla said, shaking her head. She stood and put the paper back on Jessica’s desk. “You should keep that. It’s your fifteen minutes of fame.”

  “Not exactly how I want to be remembered,” Jessica said as she shoved the paper in a desk drawer.

  “Hey, you could do worse than to be caught holding hands with that sexy hunk of manhood.” Carla exited with a sly glance over her shoulder.

  Jessica got up and closed the door before she pulled the paper out again. There she was, hair flying, necklace bouncing, face turned up to her companion in a galling expression of hero worship.

  At least Hugh wasn’t staring back into her eyes. His gaze was focused forward, and his jaw was set with determination as he towed her along. The camera had caught him midstride, so his long legs and muscled thighs drew the eye—or at least her eye.

  She groaned and stuffed the paper back in the drawer.

  She was coming out the door of her office when Diego walked by, carrying a large bag of dog food. As he passed her, the bottom of the bag broke and spilled kibble all over the floor, causing him to curse with words he never ordinarily used at the clinic.

  “Hey, Diego, Tiana will take care of that,” Jessica said, deciding he must be upset about something more than the dog food. “Come in my office for a minute.”

  “I spilled it. I gotta clean it up,” Diego said. “Sorry about the cursing.”

  “Hey, Doc wants to talk to you, buddy,” Tiana said. “I’ve got this.”

  Diego shrugged and trudged after Jessica into her office, flopping onto the green chair so hard that Jessica worried it might collapse under his weight.

  “What’s on your mind?” she asked.

  He stared down at his hands where they rested on his thighs, his shoulders rounded. “I really messed up.
”

  “What are you talking about? It’s just some dry dog food. It’ll take Tiana five minutes to sweep it up.”

  “Not that.” He lifted a face of pure misery to meet her gaze. “You know when I put the sick dogs in the storage closet so they wouldn’t infect the healthy ones?”

  “It was a great idea.”

  He shook his head. “The health inspector came—a new one—and saw Pari in the closet. He say that go . . . goes against some code about the treatment of animals ’cause there ain’t no ventilation, and he going to report it to Animal Control and Welfare. Ms. Emily say he just in a bad mood and it wasn’t my fault, but I should have took Pari out of there.” His whole body slumped in the chair. “They might shut down the K-9 Angelz ’cause of me.”

  “What you did was perfectly correct,” Jessica said. “I’ll talk to the animal welfare folks and explain the situation.”

  The boy’s face brightened. “I guess they might listen to a veterinarian.”

  “Of course they will.” She couldn’t bear for Diego to blame himself for some petty bureaucrat’s hissy fit. “It’s just a misunderstanding.”

  When he stood, his shoulders were square again. “Thanks, Doc. Tell me what they say.”

  After he left, she blew out a breath. She’d had some dealings with Animal Control and Welfare and knew a couple of people there, but she had no idea which department would handle the health inspector’s complaint. Time to call Emily at the Carver Center.

  “I hear you had an unfortunate encounter with the health inspector,” she said when Emily answered.

  The other woman sighed. “He’s new, so he feels the need to throw his weight around. We just had bad timing with Pari still being quarantined in the storage closet.”

  “Does he really want to shut down the K-9 Angelz?”

  “Who knows? He was probably just trying to intimidate me.”

  “I’ll weigh in with my expert opinion if it will help.” Jessica didn’t want to barge in if it would only make things worse. Emily was a pro at handling bureaucratic red tape. “Tell me what division the complaint was filed with. I might even know someone there.”

  “They won’t tell me much of anything other than that they’re sending someone for a special inspection of the dogs on Friday sometime between noon and two. Your presence would probably impress the inspector, but I can’t ask you to waste two hours of your valuable time just waiting around.”

  “The K-9 Angelz program is too terrific to lose because the health inspector had a bad day,” Jessica said. “I’ll find a way to be there.”

  She flipped through the contacts on her cell until she found the number of someone she could talk to at Animal Control. After she explained the situation, he said, “Doesn’t sound so good, Doc. If Health is involved, we’re gonna go over everything with a fine-tooth comb, just looking for violations. It’s kind of an interagency courtesy thing.”

  “Is there anything I can do to make it go better?”

  He huffed out a laugh. “Don’t offer them a bribe, if that’s what you mean.”

  Jessica chuckled, too. “It might have crossed my mind.”

  “Look, I know you and I know you’d never allow animals to live in unhealthy conditions. I’ll drop in a good word for you, but that won’t carry much weight. Mostly you’re going to have to cross your fingers and hope whoever they assign to the inspection isn’t one of the crazies or the nasties.”

  “Any chance you could find out?”

  “Wish I could help you, but it’s kept kind of secret, for obvious reasons.”

  Jessica sighed. “You’ve been great.”

  She stared at the wall with her patients’ photos on it, only she wasn’t seeing them. Scenes kept flitting across her mind’s eye: Hugh with Shareena and Cornell; Hugh with the usher at the play; Hugh with the boys at the center. Hugh could dazzle anyone with his star power and charm. An animal welfare inspector shouldn’t be immune.

  Could she really ask him for such a favor after last night’s drama? She had no idea what his feelings toward her were now. Her gut twisted, because her feelings about Hugh had become . . . complicated.

  But the Carver Center was more important than her personal issues. Hugh cared about it, too. She’d seen that when he’d spent time with the kids.

  If he didn’t want to help her, he could always say his shooting schedule wouldn’t allow it.

  Tiana stuck her head in through the doorway. “Hey, Doc, Boots and her mom are in Room 1.”

  Guilt and relief made her jump up from her chair. She could put off the awkward phone call a little longer.

  At six thirty, Jessica flopped down on her ergonomic chair with a sigh of relief. Carla had worked a miracle and cleared tomorrow afternoon’s appointments so she could be at the Carver Center for the inspection. Of course, Jessica would have to work an extra two hours on Saturday to accommodate the rescheduled patients. Now she needed to see if Hugh could deliver the same miracle.

  She picked up the cell phone she’d left on her desk because her patients had been wall to wall today. When she saw there was both a text and a voice mail from Pete, she winced. There was also a voice mail from Hugh.

  Pete’s text and voice mail were virtually identical. He wanted to talk as soon as possible, preferably in person, and his evening was open.

  Hugh’s message was less problematic. “Jess, I heard about the photos of us. I hope they don’t cause you any embarrassment or trouble. If they do, call me immediately and my PR team will deal with it.”

  As she debated which difficult conversation to grapple with first, a wave of exhaustion washed over her. She slumped back in her chair, just like Hugh had the night before, and stared at the water stain on the ceiling. It would help if she could untangle her own feelings about the two men. Hugh tantalized her with his heat and brilliance but threatened to singe her heart again. Pete seemed to offer a steady flame that would warm her without leaving scorch marks.

  Sitting up, she marshaled her thoughts before tapping Hugh’s number.

  “Five minutes to rest while we set up for the next scene,” Bryan shouted. “Get makeup in.”

  Hugh grabbed the towel that his assistant, Trevor, held out and blotted the sweat off his face, careful not to smear whatever makeup remained after his exertions.

  Trevor fumbled in his pocket and pulled out Hugh’s cell phone, checking the screen. “You’re gonna want this call,” he said, handing the phone to his boss.

  When Hugh saw it was Jessica, he walked away from the bustle of the set. For the first time he could remember, he was reluctant to talk to her. Last night had set things shifting inside him, and he wasn’t sure where they would settle. So he addressed the least complex of the issues between them. “Jess, is the photo creating problems? I’m sorry.”

  There was a moment of hesitation. “Are you in the middle of shooting?”

  “Just finished a fight scene.” He tried to control his breathing, but he was still sucking wind from vanquishing a trio of armed enemies.

  “I didn’t call about the photo,” she said in a rush. “Do you have a minute to talk or do you need to get back to work?”

  A strange panic gripped him. What could she say to him in a minute except good-bye? He strode toward his trailer. “They’re giving us a break to recover. Let me just go somewhere more private.”

  “I don’t think privacy is necessary. I want to ask you a favor.”

  That stopped him midstride. “A favor?”

  “A rather large one.” She took a breath. “To make a long story short, a grumpy health inspector didn’t approve of quarantining the dogs in the storage closet.”

  Hugh recalled the stench from when he’d found Jessica sleeping there and wasn’t surprised, but he kept his opinion to himself.

  “Now he’s gotten Animal Control and Welfare involved, and they’re coming to make their own inspection tomorrow between noon and two. If it doesn’t go well, the inspector could shut down the K-9 Angelz progr
am.” Her voice turned pleading. “You saw how much the dogs mean to the kids. They’d be heartbroken.”

  He remembered the pride with which the kids had shown him their dogs, but even more the love that had shone in their eyes as they petted their charges. He started to agree with her, but Jess was on a roll.

  “I’ll be present to throw in my expert opinion, but I’m just a common, run-of-the-mill veterinarian. You, however, are a movie star, and I’ve seen how people respond to you.” She paused, and he wondered what was coming. “Is there any chance you could get time off to come to the center tomorrow afternoon and bestow your magic charm on the inspector? If your schedule doesn’t allow it, I totally understand. You have a gazillion-dollar movie riding on your shoulders. But if you could take a break . . .”

  He muttered a curse. “We’re in the middle of filming, Jess, and you’re giving me virtually no time to rearrange things.”

  “It was a long shot, but I had to ask. Don’t worry about it.” He could hear the disappointment in her voice, and it twisted painfully in his chest.

  “I didn’t say no.” But he would probably have to. He couldn’t screw up the whole damn timetable, even for such a worthy cause. “Let me check the schedule and talk to Bryan. No promises, though.”

  “I wouldn’t ask for myself, but—”

  Trevor walked up and gave him an urgent hand signal that meant he was wanted back on set. “I have to go. I’ll be in touch.”

  He disconnected before she could thank him and handed his phone back to his assistant. He didn’t want to feel any more guilt when he failed her. “Trevor, what’s my schedule for tomorrow?” he asked as he walked toward the organized chaos of the set.

  Trevor tapped at his own cell phone and reeled off a list of times and scenes for the next day. Hugh frowned as he listened. It was a full day, but there were no giant action scenes, so some resequencing might be possible. He needed to nail this next take, to put Bryan in a receptive mood.