Dinner was exquisite, a colorful harvest season mélange of new vegetables, served with roast goose. The conversation was safe, mostly referencing politics and the tragic loss of government programs with the Conservative administration, including cuts to the public broadcaster and the National Film Board. As they were finishing strawberry shortcake, Jonathon couldn’t stand the suspense for another second. He pushed back his chair, which scraped threateningly on Dee’s hardwood, succeeding in drawing attention to his mission.
He eyeballed Jessie.
“You’re killing me,” he said.
Glancing nervously over at Dee, Jessie laid her silver spoon next to the empty dessert plate and wiped sweaty hands on the linen napkin on her lap. Next to her, Josh couldn’t suppress a grin. He picked a spot on the hardwood floor and focused on it.
“Jessie,” Jonathon said, three glasses of wine slurring his voice just slightly. Giselle reached over and laid a manicured hand on his thigh. “Please, no more suspense.”
In response, Jessie cleared her throat. “Jonathon, I’m sorry. I planned to let you know in June but things didn’t quite pan out then.” A sideways peek at Josh revealed that he was smirking now, so Jessie swatted him under the table. He was enjoying this far too much.
She exhaled, trying hard - for Dee’s sake - not to break out into a full-fledged grin of her own. “Jonathon, I’m happy to do season two.” Jessie ran a forefinger over her bottom lip, then she grabbed Josh’s knee and squeezed. Hard. He yelped loud enough for only Jessie to hear, and then dropped his hand over hers.
Their executive producer perked up immediately, but then hesitated from raising a glass of wine in a toast when he saw that Jessie had more to say. He paused, the delicate crystal a few inches off the table.
“But there’s a condition,” she added hesitantly.
For courage she looked squarely at Josh, who met her searching eyes and then lifted their hands up onto the table. Dee groaned inwardly, Charles chuckled, and Jon buried his head in his hands and moaned.
“Why do I put myself through this shit?”
But silently, secretly, he gloated. What father wouldn’t want Jessie Wheeler as a potential daughter-in-law? He had been so worried for Josh over the last several years. Jessie was a remarkable woman. Jonathon was thrilled that the chemistry he saw on set that first day was now being shared in real life between the two. He felt a glow that came from more than just the expensive wine, despite the new worry that his set could become an emotional battle-ground should things not work out.
Charles raised a toast to Jessie and Josh, and then there were hugs all around. Although she finally gave in and timidly embraced Josh, overall Dee could not lay aside her worry for Jessie. She watched discreetly as Josh pulled his co-star close and tenderly kissed her. He whispered something softly in her ear that garnered a sweet blush. Deirdre was an intuitive lady with a gut feeling that this was not going to end well. She prayed that, for Jessie’s sake, she was dead wrong.
A sudden gust of wind blew the white gauzy dining room curtains inward; ghostly apparitions, they stood sentinel over the table as the candles flickered out and the crystal was left wanting in the dim light.
***
Chapter Three
The following week was long and arduous for Jessie as she and her team rehearsed all day every day for the premiere of her new show, which was sneaking up quickly. Vancouver was as beautiful as ever, with crisp late summer days inviting residents to spend their evenings in artsy outdoor cafes before the arrival of cooler weather and the all-Canadian preference to hibernate or to fly south to warmer locales.
Around eight each evening Josh waited until Jessie texted, and then he scooted downtown and picked her up. Mentally and physically wiped out from the day’s exertions, she climbed exhausted into his new truck before he drove them to a restaurant for a late dinner, or to his home, where he’d prepared a robust meal for his tired girl.
On the Thursday before the cue-to-cue tech rehearsal, when light and sound cues would be finalized, Jessie was almost too tired to eat. Josh tucked her under the expansive auburn duvet on his comfy Queen-sized bed, kissed her softly, and then went downstairs to clean up the remains of the dinner he’d picked up from his favorite sushi bar in Dunbar. He was eagerly anticipating the show that Saturday, and was also quite nervous about being seen with Jessie at the reception in the grand Orpheum lobby afterwards. They had eaten publicly a few times over the week, and eyebrows had definitely been raised, but so far nothing had been published about their blossoming romance. Saturday would be a night when Jessie would be in the spotlight. The media was invited in spades, and the paparazzi would be parked outside the theatre with their long lenses, hoping for glimpses of Vancouver’s celebrities and wealthy patrons. This would be Josh and Jessie’s first real test as a public couple.
Since they’d finally gotten together on the previous Friday the new couple hadn’t had a lot of time to spend together, apart from the nights when Jessie was really too beat to face much more than some nourishment. There were issues they would have to discuss at some point. Dee wanted some time to sit with the two along with Josh’s manager - his brother Zach’s wife Hilary - and their publicists. She knew from experience that the new relationship would have to be spun to the press in a manner that brought the media and the public alongside favorably right from the start. It wouldn’t do to allow misguided writers to misinterpret the situation, given Jessie’s abrupt break-up with Charlie less than a week before their scheduled wedding last June.
Opening the lid of his green compost bin, Josh dropped the sushi containers inside. One of the reasons he liked that particular sushi restaurant, besides the tasty spicy rolls, was that it used entirely compostable cornstarch based take-out containers. There was a time when Josh didn’t care about such things as the environment. But now it seemed his conscience had kicked into high gear, and he cared about everything. It was nice to care again.
He wondered how Jessie felt about their impending “coming out” to the press as a couple. She had been pretty quiet the last few evenings. He knew she was tired and, even though she wasn’t new to performance, it was likely she would be dealing with nerves. The show was receiving a great deal of publicity and, with all the dancing, was technically difficult for its star. Add to that the presence of Josh in her life a short time after the breakup with Charlie…
Absently, Josh wiped a yellow dishcloth over the counter and then ran it under warm water, wrung it out, and hung it over the faucet to dry. He opened the dishwasher and dumped some glasses in upside down, closed it up and left it to gather dishes another day before running it. He turned off the light and trudged upstairs to cuddle Jessie and grab some winks. Tomorrow he would be expected early on the set of his new film for some wardrobe camera tests. He and Jessie had a big weekend coming up. He figured he should rest up as well.
Jessie was having trouble shutting off her brain and easing into sleep - the adrenalin of the day was still coursing through her veins. In her head she kept reviewing the difficult numbers again and again. She thrived on such performances; dance-heavy numbers were a rush, a physical workout that the gym could not equal. It was fun to experiment with and then master new choreography. Priya was professional and reasonable, but she expected perfection from all of her dancers, Jessie included. The result was a sensational spectacle of color and sound, bodies moving in synchronicity; a fluidity of motion that, when highlighted by programmed computerized lighting designed specifically for the show, and a dynamic multi-media backdrop, was a masterful, magical blend of performing arts. Jessie was psyched but she, too, anticipated a flawless performance, mostly from herself. So sleep was somewhat elusive.
As she heard Josh quietly poking around in the en suite bathroom rummaging through a drawer in search of his toothbrush, Jessie had something else on her mind as well. She knew Dee attributed her quiet nature prior to shows as nerves but over the last ten years, since Charleston, Jessie had never gotten over
the fear that Deuce McCall would reappear in her life. Sometimes she thought she could feel him - his evil presence out there in the dark, in the shadows, threatening, creating a dusky void around him into which she hoped she would never again fall prey. Deuce was a black hole. The sturdy man’s misguided, malevolent ministrations had turned her into a ghost, a shell of her former self.
Jessie had spent a lot of time thinking she could care less if Deuce ever showed up at a performance. But that was before she met Josh, before the external wall around her soul started to break down. Now, since she’d found Josh, and because of what had happened to Sandy - and perhaps Terri - she was suddenly terrified of McCall again. But she was bound to Josh, drawn to him. She felt powerless to walk away from her new relationship and wondered, for the umpteenth time, if there would ever be a way to eradicate from her life this gnawing fear of such a horrific adversary as Deuce McCall. She was Jessie Wheeler. She had power now that she didn’t have in Charleston years ago. She had private security. She had Charles and Matt. Surely something could be done to make Deuce pay for his crimes, to destroy him. To stomp him out like a bug on a steamy hot Charleston sidewalk. Surely Jessie - and Josh - could live in peace.
Josh slipped into bed behind her and carefully placed his hand on her hip as he settled into his pillow. Jessie was too tired to respond but she was glad of his presence. She finally drifted off to sleep with a reminder to herself that she must focus on the present day, not fret over the past, and not worry too much about the future. And right now, the warm hand of the man she loved on her hip, his quiet breath whispering and caressing her neck, was a moment she planned to cherish forever.
***
The concert was every bit as mind-blowing as Jessie had hoped and as Josh had figured it would be. Jessie had planned the show with an effective fusion of fast and slow numbers and, as expected, her audience couldn’t get enough. The ballads were melodious, gracious and lovely, highlighted by Christian’s sparkle at the piano and a simple orchestra in the pit, accentuating Jessie’s spellbinding lyrics with the rise and fall of strings in ode to Beethoven and Mozart. The fast numbers were pop-ish tunes, still with meaningful lyrics but designed for a trendy fast moving demographic. The Civil War number was one of these, and it didn’t disappoint.
Josh was spellbound, as was everyone else nestled in the marvelous old theatre. He sat next to Stephen, who had been updated on the new relationship status of Josh and Jessie. Occasionally the boys looked at each other and just laughed with sheer joy at the adrenalin rush and pure magic of the show; of being close to such a talented woman; and at the delightful secret knowledge that Josh and Jessie were, finally, Josh and Jessie.
In the lobby afterwards, Jessie received her third standing ovation of the night - the first two were after the finale and encore - when she appeared above her audience on one of the Orpheum’s grand meandering staircases in a short, backless red dress with halter straps, sequined Manolo Blahniks, and her hair in a graceful updo. One would never suspect she was the same girl who had finished the Civil War number onstage in the John Lennon brocade jacket and embroidered leather boots. She was breathless from excitement but - unknown to most - not due to the show’s resounding success, but because she could see Josh waiting for her below. Her eyes were only for him, and it took his breath away as well, to see her there on the stairs, a vision in red, smiling down at him.
A quick scan, and Jessie did not see or sense the presence of McCall. She pushed him out of her mind as some kind of phobia that didn’t make sense - besides, her security team was everywhere - and she focused on making her public debut with Josh by her side as special and magnificent as they both deserved.
“Hey,” she said, instantly raising eyebrows as she kissed Josh lovingly after reaching him at the circular stand-up bar.
“Hey yourself,” he said, pleased. She was a vision. He was blessed. Finally.
He handed her a glass of champagne. Although Josh was drinking ginger ale, he felt righteously that Jessie deserved champagne after her spectacular performance. She raised her eyebrows at him, and he kissed her forehead and whispered that she deserved it. Jessie glanced at his glass and he mouthed Ginger ale. She smiled lopsidedly up at him, feeling chagrined that she’d even wondered. She trusted him.
Maggie and Sue-Lyn, with their partners nearby, were hanging onto the bar, gossiping and getting caught up on each other’s weeks, and so there were hugs and congratulations all around.
“So what’s this all about?” Maggie asked, waving at Josh but eyeballing Jessie.
“Uh, yeah, about that,” Jessie breathed. “Um, remember that talk we were supposed to have after the fundraiser at Annika last winter?”
Maggie narrowed her eyebrows. “Girl, you’re a little late. But I suspected all along. This is not exactly a surprise - although why him? What could you possibly see in Josh?” She winked at the object of her derision that, one elbow leaning on the bar, was shaking his head, his cheeks an interesting shade of pink.
Sue-Lyn laughed and gave Jessie a second hug. “It’s definitely not because of the black jacket or the tight jeans or the sexy belt or the black cowboy boots, no, I don’t guess it’s any of those things, huh?” She stood back, crossed her arms and appraised Josh favorably, receiving a swat from her own man for the misplaced attention.
Jessie chuckled, and her eyes met Josh’s. “Nah,” she said. “It’s the way his hair falls over his eyes, like this.” She reached out and moved the favorite lock of hair over and in front of his ear. Blushing hotly from the attention, Josh grasped her hand and pulled it down by his side.
The image of Jessie moving Josh’s hair was the one that graced the cover of the Vancouver Sun the next day, then People magazine, and a myriad of other celebrity magazines worldwide. It became one of the most famous photographs of the year, just before Drifters premiered and Josh and Jessie became household names as a couple.
Discreetly watching the new couple that night was Charlie-he had been hoping that Jessie’s infatuation with Josh hadn’t evolved into anything. For his own sake he was saddened to see that they had finally started something, but he was still gracious enough to shake Josh’s hand and give Jessie a delicate kiss on the cheek as a congratulatory nod to her performance. He donated $ 50 000 that evening to her fundraising campaign for the new shelters. Although it made headline news, from that moment on he was largely forgotten in Jessie’s media world.
Josh was not accepted readily, but his acting on Drifters and Jessie’s obvious love for him helped smooth over his somewhat bumpy transition into her life as boyfriend.
In a certain smoky office in Charleston, though, he would never be accepted except as, perhaps, a certain and desired target.
***
Chapter Four
Deuce McCall slammed the office door after his assistant Cindy sidled in, her head down as she focused on filing a broken fingernail, the Charleston Post and Courier dangling from the hand with the broken nail. A skinny little waif in her mid-twenties with mousy brown hair hastily scrunched up into a loose bun, a virginal puffed-sleeve white and peach floral blouse, and a russet corduroy mini-skirt so short it angered her boss for its distracting qualities, she was the glue that kept the Charleston club running when he was away. Unafraid of her often intimidating boss - and that was saying something, because most of the Renegade staff were indeed cowed by him - and happy to indulge his physical needs as they arose, she was a gal who took life with a grain of salt and a shrug-your-shoulders C’est la vie attitude.
She yawned during Deuce’s tirade.
Her boss was literally growling, his balding head blooming with an interesting vague purple tinge. “I am not interested in hearing about how well Jessie Wheeler’s fundraising campaign for teen addicts is going, and no, I am definitely NOT donating to the cause.”
Grabbing the Post and Courier out of Cindy’s manicured fingers, Deuce threw it on the floor by her teetering high-heeled sandals. It landed right side up, the headline gl
aring Charleston’s girl does it again.
“This city has a short memory. Jessie lived here for what, three years, if that? And what did she do here-she played in my club and prostituted herself the same as the rest of you sluts. In my mind, she doesn’t bear remembering, much less celebrating.”
Inside, he was churning, but it wouldn’t do to let cocky Cindy know how he really felt, that Jessie was his and would always be his. That he was in the thick of planning how to coerce her into becoming his for eternity. That he, Deuce McCall, had big plans for the former lounge singer who so unceremoniously quit his employ just over a decade ago, almost single-handedly destroying his business. Never mind that things had picked up in the last few years of Jessie’s fame, when word got out that she once worked at the Renegade.
Trying to keep the place afloat had been hell for a while. Deuce was humiliated in the business community and amongst his own family, including a father who loved to smoke a pipe on his front porch in nearby Mount Pleasant and declare Deuce a failure - not just in business, but also in life. Deuce had been biding his time, choosing the right moment to strike. Especially after that yuppie kid’s death, the boyfriend, he felt he ought to lay low. But the time was coming. Jessie might think he was out of her life, but after his test run with that Terri kid, he was growing more and more hungry to speak face to face with her again, to see the fear in Jessie’s eyes at the moment she realized he was still in control.
Deuce glanced down at the newspaper as Cindy lounged coquettishly in the corner and prepared a soothing glass of brandy for her boss. He blinked, and then peered closer. What was this? With a pointed velvety white snakeskin boot, he toed the paper closer. Huh. She is dating her co-star. What’s his name? Josh?
Grinning spitefully as he lowered his tight butt into the red leather office chair, Deuce anchored his feet on the expansive glass desk with its neat piles of papers and notes, and lit a cigar. Well. That explained the new sparkle in Jessie’s eyes - a look he hadn’t seen in her photos with Charlie. She had a new man in her life, one that made her feel the way she felt with that Sandy kid a decade ago. Suddenly Deuce knew exactly what he needed to do in order to get access to Jessie once again. The timing was perfect. He had ammunition. And its name was Josh.
Promises Page 4
