Griff sent her yellow roses with a note: Hang in there. Love, Griff. She threw them out.
Still no word from Dave. She’d tried calling him. He’d told her very firmly that there was nothing more to say between them as long as Griff was in the picture. As the days went by, Steph went from distraught to irritated with Dave. What happened to the guy who fought for her? The guy who kicked Griff’s ass and landed in jail. What happened to the possessive guy that claimed her body, declaring it mine, mine, mine?
Damn fragile male ego.
~ ~ ~
Jaz and Amber showed up at Steph’s place at the end of that media-frenzy week from hell for an intervention of sorts.
Steph answered the buzzer and could hear Jaz telling off some reporters.
“You’d better back the hell off,” Jaz hollered. “The story is in L.A., not here.”
“Get in here,” Steph said in the intercom, buzzing them in.
She opened the door to find Amber clutching a brown bag and Jaz looking pissed off.
“We’re here to fix your life,” Jaz declared.
Steph snorted. “It’s not broken.”
Amber started unpacking the brown bag. Wine, potato chips, a pint of Shane’s Scoops double chocolate fudge, and something called a Bliss SatisfyHer, which was a curved, knobby, twitchy-looking vibrator. Also, as big as a ferret. Steph shuddered.
“Uh…” Steph said.
“That’s from me,” Jaz said, pointing to the Bliss SatisfyHer. “You don’t need a man. And you’ve juggled two men long enough. Set them free and get on with your life.”
Amber bit her lip. Steph thought about asking if Jaz had her own Bliss SatisfyHer, but was afraid to know. This had to be a joke gift. Right? She exchanged a look with Amber, who looked like she was about to bust a gut trying not to laugh. But Jaz wasn’t laughing, so Steph refrained from looking a gift ferret in the mouth.
“The guys are free,” Steph said, carrying the Bliss SatisfyHer to her nightstand drawer so Loki didn’t mistake it for a vibrating hairless ferret and try to hunt it. She returned to the living room to find Amber pouring the wine.
The three of them settled on her sofa in front of the snacks. Amber handed her the ice cream and a spoon.
“So, how are you handling all the press?” Jaz asked. “Amber says you’re hiding out here.”
“I’m just trying to lay low,” Steph said. She shoved a spoonful of double chocolate fudge into her mouth and savored the rush of flavor.
“Can I be honest?” Jaz asked. Steph and Amber exchanged an amused look. Like Jaz needed any encouragement to say what was on her mind. “You’re handling this all wrong. I’ve had some brushes with fame during some of our more popular Broadway show runs. You just gotta live your life and keep the press in their place. Don’t let them determine where you go or what you do. You wanna go out for a drink at Garner’s? You go. You want to walk your cat, you go.”
Steph and Amber cracked up.
Jaz grinned. “For real, you know what I’m saying?”
“I know,” Steph said.
“Have you heard from Dave?” Amber asked gently.
Steph took a long swallow of wine. “Dave won’t talk to me until Griff’s out of the picture.”
“He is out of the picture,” Jaz said. “He’s in L.A. You’re here.”
“I know,” Steph said miserably. “Dave’s mad that I want to wait a year for the divorce. Griff said if I did, he’d set up a trust for Joey for the rest of his life. You guys know how much that means to me.”
“He doesn’t want to share you,” Jaz said, pouring Steph more wine.
“Men are touchy that way,” Amber chimed in.
“Tell me about it,” Steph muttered.
“Why a year, though?” Jaz asked. “What’s so”—she wiggled her fingers in the air—“magical about a year for a divorce?”
“His lawyer wants him to have time to get his finances in order,” Steph said.
Jaz did her classic head roll. “His lawyer? Un-uh. No way.” She took Steph’s wine and ice cream away from her. “Stephanie Moore!” she hollered.
Steph jumped. Amber stared, mouth gaping.
“Repeat after me,” Jaz barked. “We do not let lawyers run our lives.”
“We do not let lawyers run our lives,” Steph said hesitantly.
“Stand up,” Jaz ordered, pulling Steph to her feet. “We do not let the press run our lives.”
Steph stood with a glance at Amber, who was smiling into her wineglass.
“We do not let the press run our lives,” Steph said, stronger now.
“We do not let men steal our happiness,” Jaz barked.
Amber giggled. Jaz shot Amber a quelling look.
Steph stood up straighter. “We do not let—”
“Louder, girl!” Jaz commanded.
“We do not let men steal our happiness!” Steph yelled.
Jaz high-fived her. “That’s what I’m talking about. You walk tall and proud. Fuck that lawyer, fuck the press, and fuck the men who fuck with your head.”
“Amen,” Amber said.
“Amen,” Steph said solemnly as Jaz handed her wineglass and ice cream back to her.
They sat on the sofa again. Jaz raised her glass, and the three of them clinked glasses in a toast.
“To strong women,” Jaz said.
“To strong women,” Steph and Amber echoed.
“Fucking A,” Jaz said.
They all drank to that.
“Now what’s your plan for reclaiming your happiness?” Jaz asked. “It’s yours for the taking.”
“My new Bliss SatisfyHer?” Steph asked.
Amber cracked up. Jaz grinned. “That’s a start. Don’t really use that thing, by the way. That was a gag gift.”
“Oh, yeah,” Steph said. “I mean, I knew that.”
Amber nodded vigorously. “Good one, Jaz.”
One corner of Jaz’s mouth lifted in a small smile. “Do you really want Dave back after he blew you off?”
Steph sighed. “I do. I still love him. I think if Griff wasn’t part of the deal, we probably would be engaged by now.”
“Seriously?” Amber asked.
Steph nodded. “He said he wanted me to have his babies.”
Jaz choked on her wine. “He actually said that?” She turned to Amber, incredulous. “What guy says that?”
Amber shrugged. “A guy who wants a future wife and mother to his children.”
Jaz blinked rapidly. “That is so damn sweet. Hell, yeah, we want Dave back.” She turned to Steph. “What’s your plan?”
Steph shrugged. “I don’t know. Nothing’s changed as far as Dave’s concerned. I’m still married. I’m still tied to Griff.”
“And?” Jaz prompted.
Steph took a deep breath. It was time to face confrontation head-on. She set her wine and ice cream on the table quite firmly. She stood and looked at her two friends, who she knew had her back.
“And I’m getting my own lawyer and ending this marriage,” Steph announced.
Jaz cheered. Amber gave her a high five.
Steph went on, feeling more confident now. “And I’m going to use the press to turn this story around. This was Griffin’s fault, and Dave and I shouldn’t have to suffer.”
Jaz and Amber clapped.
Steph smiled. “And I’m going to use Dave’s little head to reach his big head.”
“Woo-hoo!” Amber cheered. “Naked works.”
Jaz nodded her approval. “Naked always works. And, if not…” She looked around. “Where is that thing? Gotta love a Bliss SatisfyHer. I’ll bet a man came up with that name. A woman would just call it what it was—The No-Man-Needed Pleasure Tool.”
“That’s not very catchy,” Amber said. “I’d just call it Bliss Starter.” She held up a hand. “No, Bliss Assistant.”
“Hey, that’s nice,” Jaz said, lifting her glass of wine in a sex-toy-approved toast. Amber toasted back. “Classy. You may have a future in the
sex-toy industry.”
“Why, thank you,” Amber said. She raised her voice to a singsong high pitch. “My highly intellectual physicist father would be so proud.”
Steph piped up. “Ladies! Never mind the sex-toy industry. There’s just one small problem, a lawyer is expensive.”
“You know what?” Jaz said. “Start a Kickstarter campaign to raise the money. Ooo-hoo-hoo. Wouldn’t that play out in the press? Schoolteacher raises funds to divorce her rich rock star husband.”
“That could work, actually,” Amber said.
“I could never ask other people to fund my divorce,” Steph said. “It’s my problem, not theirs.”
Jaz stood and slung an arm over Steph’s shoulders. “I just want to see you happy. Whatever you need to do, I’m here for you.”
Amber slung an arm over Steph’s shoulders from the other side. “Me too.”
Steph blinked back tears. “You guys.”
“All right, let’s get drunk and watch a rerun of Sex and the City,” Jaz declared. “I am way into Steve. Miranda doesn’t appreciate his heart of gold.”
Steph shook her head. “Steve’s kind of geeky, isn’t he?”
Jaz took a sip of wine and put a fist on her heart. “It’s the heart, babe. All the way.”
Amber raised her fist and gave Jaz a fist bump.
Steph settled in, cozy on the sofa, cushioned by her friends. She knew what her heart wanted. She just needed to wade through all the crazy to find a way back.
Chapter Twelve
Dave couldn’t go anywhere without someone feeling sorry for him. Steph and Griffin were all over the news, the Internet, the tabloids. His guy friends tried to console him with the classic, “there’s other fish in the sea,” but he knew there never would be. Steph was it for him. But he wasn’t it for her.
His mind kept returning to the conditional statement:
IF Steph + Griffin THEN
end Steph + Dave
ELSE
Steph + Dave.
He'd never wanted a conditional statement to be false so much in his life. He wanted ELSE. But Steph had to come to him. She had to choose him and, more importantly, get rid of Griffin.
His women friends just gave him soft words and sympathetic looks. They knew how much this sucked for him. Courtney (French teacher) had even offered to kiss him in a selfie and post it online to make Steph jealous. He’d declined her kind, but misguided offer. She’d then whispered, privately away from the teachers’ lounge, even more inappropriate things they could do, which just made him chuckle.
“Thanks, Courtney, I needed that,” he said.
She tossed her hair and strode away. She was quite the jokester.
Chris kept bugging him to fight for Steph, but he was done fighting. He fought Griffin for as long as he could. He’d fought to claim Steph in the most primal way and still…he felt like he’d always have to share her. She’d always be torn between the two of them. This was exactly why polygamy was illegal. And especially rare with one woman and two men. Men did not share their woman easily.
Chris called him after work with another one of her “brilliant” ideas. He sighed heavily.
“No,” he said, “but thanks for thinking of me.”
“It would work,” she insisted. “He hogs the press with your woman, then you fight back in the press. You hog the press. There’s nothing Griffin Huntley loves more than publicity. Putting you in the spotlight would drive him nuts.”
“First of all, no one cares about me—”
“Yes, they do!”
“And, second of all, I don’t want publicity. I just want Steph with no Griffin in the picture.”
“This is what I’m saying, doofus.”
“Forget it.”
“Don’t make me do what’s best for you.”
“Chris, I swear—”
“You’re welcome.” She hung up.
She wouldn’t really go through with it, he reassured himself. Not if she wanted to live through another family dinner. His parents would take his side on this one. Well, his dad would. He pushed that out of his mind. No one would pay any attention to Chris. No one cared about him enough to report on him. It was fine.
~ ~ ~
Steph showed up at Dave’s door that night wearing her taupe belted coat with stilettos and nothing else.
He regarded her warily. “What are you doing here?”
She pushed past him and dropped the coat.
He swallowed visibly. She waited. A beat passed while they stared at each other. Then she said the one thing she knew would press his button.
“Game on, Dave. I dare you.”
He shook his head slowly, and her heart stopped. Then he scooped her up and carried her toward the bedroom.
“You should never dare me,” he said before he tossed her on the bed. “Game fucking on.”
Steph reveled in it. After a lot more dares and a lot more loving, Steph snuggled into Dave’s side and traced a circle over his chest. “I think I know how to convince Griff to move things along.”
He pulled back to stare at her. “You do?”
“Yeah, though it might mean some press for us. Are you okay with that?”
He sighed heavily, muttering, “This again.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” He kissed her hair. “Okay, fine. I’ll do anything to get him out of the picture.”
She let out a breath. This could be embarrassing, especially if her students saw the press, but it was time she put her and Dave first.
~ ~ ~
Griffin did a double take when he got the email from his publicist. It was a photo of Steph and Dave, their arms wrapped around each other, as she looked up at him adoringly. But that wasn’t what got to him. Steph was dressed as Fiona from Shrek, complete with ogre ears. Dave wore his ogre ears too.
His chest clutched. He’d lost his muse. His music would never be the same again. He poured a shot of whiskey and tossed it back. The Steph he knew would never dress like an ogre. The woman hated to even leave the house without lipstick. For her to let herself be photographed like this meant only one thing—she was really and truly in love. And though she’d told him that, he hadn’t really believed her. He’d been caught in the memories of what they’d once had, and some part of him kept thinking he could get her back given enough time.
He called Paulie D. “I’m signing the papers.”
“I don’t advise—”
Griffin hung up. Next he called his accountant to arrange a few things. He had houses to sell, a trust to set up for Joey, cash to raise.
He sent the papers to Steph with overnight delivery. Then he did what any rock star would do. He drank whiskey, took a long shower, sank to the shower floor, and sobbed. It was really over. He’d lost his muse. He’d lost his music. He had nothing left.
~ ~ ~
Steph had no idea what that one picture of her and Dave would unleash. They went back to his place after work only to find a crowd of press waiting with cameras and microphones. All eager to hear from Dave.
“Little Genius, where’ve you been hiding all these years?”
“Are you going back into show business?”
“How did you stay out of the spotlight for so long?”
Dave’s hand tightened on hers. He seemed frozen, staring at one camera that was trained on him.
“Dave?” she asked. “What’s going on? What are they talking about?”
“No comment,” Dave said to the press and pulled her inside the house.
He turned on the TV and went to his laptop. Steph stared incredulously as the news flashed Dave’s school teacher picture next to a picture of Dave as a little kid. He was adorable, a miniature version of the man she knew, his brown hair parted neatly to the side, already wearing round glasses.
The reporter looked into the camera. “Little Genius, we’ve missed you. You must be a big genius now.”
Dave groaned at the laptop. “It’s everywhere. I thought it would jus
t be you and me in the Shrek outfits.”
He shut the laptop and turned off the TV. He sank to the sofa and dropped his head in his hands. “I’ll kill her.”
She sat next to him and put her arm around him. “Kill who?”
“Chris. I told her not to do anything.”
“What did she do? Was that really you?”
He let out a heavy sigh and explained he was the kid who starred in a series of Little Genius commercials when he was four. Little Genius was a laptop for kids. She’d loved those commercials of the little boy who confidently answered all the tricky math questions thanks to his Little Genius laptop. He was so earnest in his answers, and he had a slight lisp. He also dropped some of his Rs in the kid version of a Brooklyn accent. It was all so freaking adorable.
“Chris said it would be good publicity for me,” Dave said. “To shift the spotlight away from you and Griff, but I told her not to do it. Figures she wouldn’t listen.”
Steph still couldn’t believe he was the Little Genius. “How did you get into show business?” she asked. “And so young.”
He merely shrugged. “Mom took Chris and me on auditions in the city when we were little. She wanted us to earn money for college.”
“Did you?”
“Yeah. Chris did too. She did a lot of modeling for kids clothes catalogs.”
“I can’t believe my boyfriend is famous. Here I thought you were just a regular guy.”
He turned to her. “It’s stupid, isn’t it? That’s why I never tell anyone.” He mimicked his little kid voice. “Little Genius, more than just a calculataw.” He shook his head. “They loved the way I mispronounced calculator.”
She hugged him. “I loved Little Genius!”
One corner of his mouth lifted. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. And it’s so hot that I get to be with Big Genius. What a stud.”
He pulled her into his lap. “You just can’t help but get tangled up with studs, huh?”
“Only one stud.”
He kissed her long and deep, and started pulling her toward the bedroom.
“Wait,” she said, breathless. “I’ve got something to show you.”
Almost Married Page 16
