Just a Little Camera Shy: A Scripted for Love Novel

by MK Meredith

  She grabbed her purse and rummaged through it to find her phone and checkbook. After a few quick calculations, she wrote a huge check. This meant she’d have to find some other way, a job after this, to keep her home stable, but it would be worth it. Her heart clung to the hope he would see her honesty now as something worthy of forgiveness. It was time to tell him. She’d wanted to the night he’d given her the CD, but his gift had interrupted her confession.

  It was too late to call him now, but first thing tomorrow, she’d set it up. A date night at home would be best. Then she’d have the time and privacy to explain everything.

  For the first time in her life, she felt truly in love with a man she was proud to call a friend. She hadn’t planned on it, but it happened. Now all her mother’s admonishments echoed through her head, mocking her declarations of independence.

  Her stomach squeezed into a tight ball.

  This was why no one liked growing up.

  Roque watched the sequence Gage directed from his chair off to the side. The sun was already setting on the horizon, making him frustrated about the too-few hours in the day. The night before, their filming had been delayed by rain, and now this one was going to have to wait until tomorrow if they didn’t get it done before the light from a perfect golden hour faded.

  The juggling of events and time was actually one of the things he loved about producing. He gained satisfaction in puzzling it all together and making it work. But it was different when he was seeing someone. Making her fit into the puzzle was challenging at times, and he so often screwed up. One too many pieces to fit.

  The scent of honey hit him, then he felt the light touch of Addi’s hand. She whispered, “Hey, how’s it going?”

  He stretched up and pressed a kiss to her mouth. The punch to his gut was immediate, and his hands itched to pull her onto his lap. Would the urgent need for more ever end? And what the hell would he do when he screwed it up?

  She smiled down at him. “Catering will be here in an hour. I’ll set it up out front. Jimmy is back with the paperwork for the offsite filming. He’s found a great place down on the Malibu Lagoon for you—last minute inspiration,” she teased. “Wait until you see his photographs. He’s a genius.”

  “Great. We’ve got a few more takes here, then we’ll break for dinner.”

  She squeezed his shoulder, a look of worry furrowing her brow. “Don’t forget we’re doing dessert at your place tonight.”

  He nodded. But it would be a miracle if he could carve out the time. They already had lost hours to make up somewhere or fall further behind. “I’ll try. If not, we’ll reschedule—”

  “It’s important.” Her phone buzzed, and she quickly grabbed it from her slacks to silence it with a furtive glance at Gage. Looking at the number, she said, “I’ve got to take this. Then I’m going to finish up a few things and get some writing in.” She kissed his cheek. “See you tonight.”

  Before he could answer, she was slipping back through the French doors leading into the kitchen. Fuck. He sighed. She was simply going to have to understand. Their night in could wait. Shooting the scene he needed for the film couldn’t with the weather this week and more rain predicted.

  Gage waved him over, and they watched the scene play out on the screen. “Good, right?”

  Roque watched the shadows move alongside the actors as if they were part of the cast. The concept of the contrast of light and dark was older than he was, but it worked. “Brilliant.”

  Gage slapped his shoulder. “Agreed. Good. We’ll go to the sound studio tonight once the sun sets and the glow is gone. It’s gonna be a late night.”

  Roque hated disappointing Addi and worried it wouldn’t be the last time, but excitement over the film pushed at him just as hard. “I’m in. Let’s eat.”

  They called for a break, and the cast made their way to find food. Roque watched them eat, remembering back to many meals that he’d shared with his mom while his dad had been on location or stuck at the studio or whatever film set he’d worked on all hours of the day and night. They’d missed his dad, sure, but when he was with them, he was all in. Present. No distractions or trails of unkept promises. It made the time they did have together some of his favorite memories.

  He’d turned out to be a workaholic just like his dad, but he’d yet to master the ability to turn it off and set it aside when necessary. Maybe if he figured it out, he might just be able to make it work with Addi.

  But first, they had to get caught up on their filming schedule.

  He shoved some food down his throat then headed to the sound studio to meet Gage.

  Walking into the studio, he couldn’t quite marry the modernized renovations with the scent of stale smoke left over from the 1970’s. So much history echoed from every corner.

  He stepped into the sound room and almost lost his head to the boom of a shotgun mic. Ducking, he continued on his way until he found Gage. “Hey, have you seen Addi?”

  Gage grunted. “Saw her take off earlier when we were eating.” Adjusting the sound mixer/recorder to the standard 48 kHz, he looked up.

  “Shit.”

  “Trouble in paradise already? I thought you two had it easy.” Gage laughed.

  “Anything would seem easy to you after what you guys went through. No, it’s fine. I just have to cancel our plans tonight. She was set on meeting at my place, but it’ll be close to morning by the time we get out of here.”

  Gage dipped his chin. “At least.” He waved his hand. “Ah, she’s a good girl. She’ll get it.”

  Roque wasn’t so sure.

  He’d call her in two minutes, as soon as he finished this. He made his way back to the control room and took a seat behind the audio mixing console. He could already feel things slipping through his fingers. They got to work, putting their actors through the paces, and sound bite after sound bite disappeared into hours.

  Raising his head from the console, he cracked his neck. His muscles were sore, his body fatigued. Even his brain hurt. Gage called for a break, pulling Roque from his fog. He checked his phone. It was almost midnight. Fuck. He’d never even called her, and he and Gage needed to get back to the cottage and ready the set for tomorrow.

  Gage finished setting up a few props in the backyard to be used first thing, and Roque stepped back to get a better look.

  He punched in Addi’s number as he studied the pieces. “Hey.”

  “I’m just walking in the front door.” She disconnected.

  Roque called to Gage. “I’ll be back out in a few.”

  “Everything okay?” he asked.

  “Sure. Addi just stopped by.”

  His buddy winced and waved him off.

  Pulling open the French doors, he made his way through the stillness of the kitchen. Addi was in the front room, sitting in the corner of a couch they’d moved in at the beginning of filming. It must feel odd to Addi to sit in her own home surrounded by someone else’s belongings.

  “I’m sorry. I lost track of time.”

  She scooted to the edge of the couch, folding her hands in her lap. “I went back to your condo after writing and baked cupcakes, wanting to surprise you. Ice cream filled cupcakes. My specialty. I set everything up and then waited.”

  “I meant to let you know after dinner I’d have to cancel, but you’d already left, and then we started filming.”

  Pushing up from the couch, she crossed her arms over her chest and shrugged. “Roque, I know you’re going to be busy. I know this industry means long hours and short visits, but I really need to talk to you. And you could have called. I’m at least worth that amount of time.”

  He stepped in front of her. She smelled of baked goods, but instead of making him hungry, it weighed heavy in his stomach. “Look, I should have called, but I got caught up. You know how it is when you get lost in your own head. And we’re not anywhere close to being done. I’m sorry, but they’re waiting for me out back. You can go home, sleep. We’ll reschedule a date. I’ll take you out
and make it up to you.”

  Her brows furrowed. “I don’t need you to make anything up to me. I need to talk to you. This isn’t easy, Roque.”

  Why couldn’t she understand? No choice he could have made would have handled everything he had to take care of. He hated it, but sometimes other things had to wait. “Addi. Come on. Life isn’t easy, but this isn’t that big of a deal.” He waved his hand indicating the situation between the two of them. “What do you want me to do? I’m the producer. The film was on shaky ground, and I need to be involved in every part of it. How does it look if I leave for a date when everyone else is missing their family time and vacations and weekends? Gage is giving up evenings with Sam, and they just got married. I can’t expect that from him and not do it myself.”

  She reeled back. Her face was white, making her eyes a vivid blue in stark contrast. He wanted to pull her in and kiss the look off her face, but irritation about why she was blowing this up into such a big deal kept him immobile.

  “Don’t talk to me like I’m a child. And it’s good to know what’s between us isn’t a big deal.”

  “That is not what I meant, and you know it. I’m talking about cancelling our plans. We’ll do it another time.”

  “I know you’re busy. I know this project is important to you. It’s important to me, too. I’ve been needing to talk to you, and you can’t even call? Who needs to grow up now?” She grabbed her keys. “Have fun with the preparations.”

  He watched her walk to the door. “Addi, come on.”

  She stepped through, quietly closing it behind her. The silence their heated words left behind roared in his head.

  He let out a breath. That hadn’t been his finest hour, but he couldn’t wrap his head around why she was that upset. So they’d reschedule for later in the week or even tomorrow. Big fucking deal.

  But for some reason it must have been.

  It was already starting. His inability to hold on to a relationship. He’d really thought if he could do it with anyone, it would be Addi.

  What the hell was he missing?

  Chapter 21

  “Rise and shine, beautiful.” The husky whisper of Roque’s voice against her ear woke Addi from a fitful sleep. She rolled over and yawned with her hand over her face. “What time is it?”

  Roque opened the blinds. “It’s a little past ten. I have a surprise for you.”

  His words brought her ugly reality crashing down on her head. Their fight and her stupid confession she hadn’t delivered yet. After she’d left the bungalow, the rest of the night had disappeared in a blur. She’d planned to tell him as soon as he stepped through the door, assuming he’d come to her hotel. Tell him the truth, rip it off like the proverbial Band-Aid, but in this case, it would hurt. Bad.

  But he hadn’t come. Then they were back at work, trying to pretend they hadn’t fought. It had been miserable. She was not proud of how she’d handled their conversation or her disappointment when he hadn’t shown up. It had all been wrapped in her fear of having to tell him the truth. The way she was acting, he’d leave before she even had the chance to tell him.

  Rolling onto her back, she peeked at him through puffy lids. Crying was not her friend. “We need to talk.”

  He smiled. “Sounds great, but it has to wait. We have plans. And I promised to make up the other night to you.” With the energy of a child, he clapped his hands together and then grabbed her thigh and gave her a shake. “Get up. Get dressed. Something nice, but not formal.”

  Addi grimaced. She had to do it now. “Roque, I can’t, we really need to—”

  “Hey, it’s not every day you turn thirty—let’s go.”

  Without waiting for an answer, he swept out of the room, calling over his shoulder, “You have thirty minutes. I put coffee on the bathroom counter for you.”

  She had no idea how he’d slipped into her room with coffee without waking her up. It was a testament to just how exhausted she was.

  Dragging herself from the bed, she padded into the bathroom. She could have wept and kissed Roque’s feet at the sight of the steaming cup of coffee on the counter as promised. She took a large sip as her eyes rested on her reflection in the mirror. Her birthday, and thirty at that, stared her in the face. Well, it was memorable all right. It would be the birthday she ruined the rest of her life.

  She gasped and then choked on the hot liquid, spraying coffee all over the glass. Her eyes watered, and her chest burned.

  “Hey, are you okay in there?”

  “Swallowed wrong,” she rasped out. As her breathing slowly returned to normal, she coughed a few more times and then finally pulled in a normal breath.

  She tentatively looked back in the mirror. Well, that’s no better. She’d spent most of the night in a fitful sleep full of nightmares, not finding any rest until the sun rose.

  The crying from the night before, along with the stress and horrible sleep, left the skin under her eyes dehydrated like a raisin, with bags, smudged mascara, and blotchy skin. Her hair stuck out like the snakes of Medusa.

  The door opened followed by a horrified gasp.

  Addi found an elegant, and alarmed, Raquel at the door. The woman’s arched brows rose high and her mouth fell open in shock.

  “Addi, my dear, what happened to you?”

  The dramatic note in Raquel’s tone made her want to laugh while her reality made her want to cry. Neither would do her any good at the moment.

  “Fell asleep with my makeup on.”

  Raquel shook her head and narrowed her gaze. “Darling, that” —She twirled a well-manicured pointer finger in front of Addi’s face—”is not from leaving your makeup on. You look like you got in a fight with a raccoon and lost.” She leaned in and whispered, “Talk to me, darling. What’s going on?”

  There was never getting anything past the Mother of Malibu. Addi blinked back tears and shook her head. “No, nothing. Just a rough few days.”

  Raquel raised a brow.

  “Really, I’m fine,” Addi assured her before returning her attention to the sorry state of her reflection in the mirror. Turning on the faucet, she waited for the water to warm up and glanced at Raquel. “What are you doing here this morning?”

  The refined woman studied her but kept to herself whatever thoughts were on her mind. A small sigh escaped her lips. “Okay, I’ll let it go.” She clasped her hands together. “It isn’t every day a young woman turns thirty. We have plans.”

  Addi shook her head. “You guys didn’t have to do anything, really.”

  Raquel waved her hand with a laugh. “Please, any excuse to throw a party. You know me. Now, wash your face and put on your makeup. I left a surprise for you on your bed.”

  Addi scrubbed the dirt from her face, wishing she could do the same with the guilt turning in her gut. Raquel wouldn’t be feeling so generous once she found out about Addi’s scheme. Chase had been right all along; she should have listened.

  Doing her best to hide the stress taking up residence on her face, Addi made her way back to her bedroom. There in the middle of the bed lay a simple silk sheath in ice-blue. She slid her fingers over the fine material and sighed. Roque and Raquel had already slipped out of her hotel room, leaving her to dress. She’d give anything to go back and start over, not be so damned arrogant the day Roque showed up.

  Careful not to stretch the material, Addi stepped into it, knotting it over one shoulder. The sheath skimmed her curves with perfection, showing off her toned muscles like a frame around a piece of fine art. Slipping into a pair of silver one-strap heels, she pulled open her door. The least she could do at this point was not make them wait for her any longer. Besides, there was nothing else to be done with the ravages of bad decisions and insomnia on her face. Firming her resolve, she went in search of Roque and Raquel to see what they had planned.

  Addi was shocked as she glanced around the backyard paradise belonging to Martin and Raquel. Raquel had strung ice-blue and white sheers across the top of their large outd
oor pergola. Lights hung from the palm trees and from fern to fern. A champagne fountain served partygoers elegantly in front of the outdoor waterfall feature along the stucco wall. Overwhelmed couldn’t begin to describe the myriad of emotions drowning Addi at the moment.

  The skies were a brilliant blue, a bit warmer than expected for the first of December but perfect for an outdoor lunch. Only a few clouds dotted the sky.

  Buffet tables laden with a light seafood fare bordered two sides under the pergola, and in the very center, a large tower of chocolate éclairs, with “Happy 30th birthday, Addison” written in white cream on a chocolate fondant plaque set squarely in the front.

  She giggled at the sight, touched at the attention to detail, the thoughtfulness. Thoughtfulness she didn’t deserve.

  Pulling in a breath to steady her run-amok emotions, she turned as her mother approached. She hugged her and held on tight. “Hi, Mom.”

  Her mother pulled back and looked at her closely. “Happy birthday, my beautiful girl.”

  Addi smiled.

  “Are you okay?”

  Addi forced her lips to spread wide. “Of course. Look at this. I can’t believe you all did this for me.”

  Her mother looked around and then back to Addi with a satisfied grin. “It was all Roque’s idea. Raquel and I just helped out with the decorations and catering, but that éclair cake was his genius. Perfect, isn’t it?”

  She placed her hand on Addi’s upper arm and squeezed. “He’s a good man, and he really knows you.”

  Addi pulled in a breath. “He is, and he does.”

  Raquel floated up to them on a cloud of white chiffon, her dress twirling about her ankles as she came to a stop. “Hello, darlings.”

  Addi embraced her and kissed one cheek, then the other. “Everything is just amazing. I can’t thank you enough.”

  Raquel waved her words away. “You’re family.”

  The two women looked her over, then Dee spoke to Raquel. “She’s hiding something.”

  “Oh, I know. She’ll have to tell us eventually.”