Wishing on a Star

by M. Stratton

  Beau frowned and looked over at Hannah. “Is she always like this?”

  Hannah nodded. “When something is really important to her and she’s nervous, yeah, it can get worse. She comes up with some pretty outrageous stories.”

  Turning her head, Lissa looked at Hannah. “I’m right here you know.”

  “Of course, dear.” Beau awkwardly patted her back.

  “I’m not going to bite.”

  “Yes, well, I’ve never seen you like this, and well . . . you do have a strange look in your eye.”

  Lissa let out a frustrated scream. “Fine, when everything goes tragically wrong, I’ll be the one pointing fingers telling both of you ‘I told you so!’” She stood and walked over to the sliding glass door.

  “And when everything goes wonderfully I’ll be the one point my finger at you saying ‘I told you so.’” Hannah smiled at her.

  “Do I need to kill you again?”

  Hannah’s grin became larger. “You’ve already what? Killed me a half dozen times in your books? There’s only so many times you can kill me.”

  “I’m willing to find out how many.” Lissa narrowed her eyes, opened the door and walked inside. The Ellen DeGeneres Show, I’m going to be on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Holy cannoli, Batman. Interrogating Hannah was going to have to wait. She needed some time alone to think about the fact another one of her dreams was coming true.

  Hannah was proud of herself; she had effectively distracted Lissa. Now if she could just do that for the next eight weeks, and beyond, she’d be home free.

  “You can wipe that smile off your face, missy. I know what you did,” Beau said as he tipped his cup of tea toward her.

  “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

  “Yes, you do, and by the way, it’s only a matter of time before she pins you down for answers.”

  Sighing, Hannah looked out over the ocean waves crashing on the beach. “I know.”

  “So what are you going to do about it?”

  “I have no idea.” She smiled sweetly at Beau. “Help a girl out?”

  Beau laughed and shook his head. “Oh, no, no, no. You’re not dragging me into this.”

  “Party pooper.”

  “I will give you some advice though, you might want to talk to her and get it over with before she corners you.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “You know it’s only going to get worse.”

  “Fine.” Hannah stood up and walked toward to the door.

  “Ahhh, women have such a wonderfully eloquent way of saying ‘fuck you.’”

  She turned back to look at him, “And don’t you forget it.”

  Searching through the lower level of the house, she couldn’t find Lissa anywhere. She thought briefly of walking out the front door and going back to the house she was sharing with Royce, but she’d never been a wimp.

  She stood at the open door to the bedroom and watched as Lissa sat on the bed crying. Frowning, she started toward her friend. This wasn’t like her. She hardly ever cried. “Lissa what’s wrong?”

  Lissa turned with tears running down her face. “I don’t know! Everything . . . nothing . . . ahhh!”

  “Honey, you’re going to have to be a little more specific if I’m going to help you.”

  “I’m going to be on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Lissa sniffed a few times and took the tissue Hannah handed her. “And I’m engaged to the man of my dreams. My books are selling. We just finished filming my movie, starring said dream man. Everything is perfect and everything is changing. And . . . and . . . and . . . you’re going to leave me!” She started sobbing harder.

  “What do you mean I’m going to leave you? I’ll always be here for you.”

  “But . . . you . . . Royce . . . you’ll leave.”

  “Wow, who gave you the extra dose of PMS?” Hannah started patting her pockets. “Where’d I put the emergency chocolate?”

  “Shut up.” Lissa shoved her shoulder. “It’s not a joke.”

  “Well, why are you crying about all of that? It’s amazing news.”

  “Even the part about you leaving?”

  “I’m not leaving.”

  “Yes, you will. You two are going to go off and travel together and have babies and forget about me. Living the rest of your life without the crazy author giving you all these strange tasks to do.”

  “Seriously? “

  Lissa stood up and stalked away. “Oh, just leave me alone to my pity party.”

  “Oh, hell no, if there’s a party, pity or otherwise, I’m there. Now, you shut it and listen.” Hannah waited until Lissa looked at her. “No matter what happens between Royce and me, I will always be here for you. I may not be physically in front of you, but I will be here for you every single day, like we’re used to. Now stop crying. There should be some cucumbers downstairs. I’ll get some for your eyes. Will’s going to blow a gasket if he sees you like this.”

  “He will not.” When Hannah didn’t answer her, she continued. “Fine. Get the cucumbers.”

  Hannah tried to keep from laughing aloud. There was the second ‘fuck you’ in the past thirty minutes.

  Hannah was distracted the rest of the day and Lissa was quiet. Royce and Will didn’t notice, or if they did, they didn’t say anything. They both were excited about the cast getting back together. She and Royce walked back to their house on the beach. It was a beautiful night with the stars shining brightly.

  “Come on; let’s sit out here for a bit.” Royce pulled her toward the two-person lounge chair. “Get comfy.” He turned around and fiddled with the controls for the propane gas pit, sighing in contentment when it lit. “Now that’s better. Make room for me. I’ll keep you warm.”

  In Royce’s arms, listening to the waves break on the beach, she watched the low flames dance, thinking about the conversation she’d had with Lissa earlier. Aware that she was closer to a crossroads, she debated over what she should do. Hannah loved living and traveling with Lissa, and being her assistant. It was familiar and comfortable. But since being with Royce, her world and heart had opened up, showing her so much amazing possibility, and the promise of a wonderful future. She contemplated whether she could take the leap, and try to tele-commute for Lissa, allowing her to spend the majority of her time with a man she admitted she wished for.

  “Those are some deep thoughts, Miss Mills. Care to let me in?”

  Hannah shrugged. “Lissa was all emotional today, like over-the-top emotional.”

  “Is she okay?” Concern filled his voice.

  “We’ll see. I think it’s the fact that everything is going so smoothly for her, and on top of it, all of her dreams are coming true. She’s scared something is going to go wrong. Then you add the fact she just found out she’s going to be on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which is almost up there with falling in love with Will and her book being turned into a film. I think it pushed her over the edge.”

  “Ellen’s great. She’s going to have so much fun. When is the interview?”

  “Next week. She claims it’s not enough time to get ready. She really hates not knowing exactly what is planned and what she needs to do. One of her biggest fears is looking like an idiot. I keep telling her she is overly critical of herself. No one else notices the little things she thinks she did wrong and obsesses over.”

  “I’ve been on the show a few times, and I can talk to her if you think it would help.”

  “That would be great.” She kissed his cheek.

  “Really, I think that deserves a little bit more than just a peck on the cheek. Show me how much you appreciate me.”

  “You have an early call tomorrow.”

  “Oh, now, honey, you know me, I can be up all night long and still hit my marks.”

  “Ha! I give you thirty minutes and you’re snoring.”

  “Oh, no you didn’t. You’re going to pay for that one.” Tickling her, he showed her no mercy.

  “Stop.” She laughed. “Royce, please stop.”

  “Thirty
minutes? I’m sure I can tickle you for longer than that.”

  “My mistake, you’re a machine.”

  “Machine? I’m a man.”

  “Fine, you’re a beast.”

  Royce stopped tickling. “Now, that I can live with.” He stood and held his hand out to her. “Come up to my lair and I’ll show you exactly how a beast treats his woman.”

  “Really? Well, let’s see what you can do, Beastboy.”

  “That’s Beastman to you.” He easily picked her up, flung her over his shoulder and carried her into the house and up the stairs, ignoring her protests.

  He spent the next hour making her come undone and ensuring that she received every pleasure that she could have. Before long, she was drifting off to sleep before him, wearing a content smile.

  “Maybe next time you’ll remember who the beast is . . .” he whispered in her ear.

  “Ha . . . I think I might have come out on top this time,” she mumbled before giving in and falling asleep.

  “Hello, hello, my two favorite women!” Angelica called as she breezed into Lissa’s house. “It’s been way too long. Tell me everything that’s new.”

  Angelica was Lissa’s agent and a transplant from Australia. When no one had heard of Melissa Loring, Angelica took a chance and contacted her for representation. The two formed a fast friendship, and once Hannah met her, the three of them had a great time together. In fact, they actually made excuses to get together as often as possible, most of the time with Angelica coming to Lissa’s house in Tucson.

  “Did you know our little Hannah is shacking up with the one and only, Royce Rivers?” Lissa said.

  “No way. Really?” Angelica looked over at Hannah. “When? How? What?”

  Hannah shook her head. “How do you negotiate contracts with that stimulating vocabulary? Or is it an Australian thing?”

  “You know I can run circles around you, so shove off and give me all the juicy details.”

  They sat in silence and looked at each other for a couple of minutes.

  “Fine,” Lissa said. “If you aren’t going to tell her, I am. Hannah and Royce became friends after the L.A. premier and stayed in touch. Then they did it in London after my little incident in Paris. Then Betty Boxer here pushed him away. She was miserable; he was miserable; we were all miserable. Then I had the brilliant idea of getting them together, somehow, someway. I roped Will into helping me.” She glared at Hannah. “And what do you know, they decided they do actually really like each other and are giving it a go. Now they have their little love nest next door and we hardly ever see them, which I guess is good since she is leaving me, so I have more time to get used to the idea of not seeing her all the time.”

  Angelica looked back and forth between the two friends. “Okay . . . so . . . congrats, Hannah, on copping a steady root, but why so crabby?”

  Lissa and Hannah looked at each other and burst out laughing. “Copping a steady root? What the hell?” Hannah said.

  “You know, shagging, bonking, fornicate, get lucky, hit a home run, getting busy, screw, bang, bone, nail . . . have sex on a regular basis.”

  “Wait.” Lissa held up a finger, opened a drawer and took out a pen and paper. “Let me write this down . . . shagging . . . bonking . . .”

  “Stop it.” Angelica took her pen away. “I know you have enough words to describe sex already.”

  Lissa grinned, “Yeah, but I’m always looking for new ones. Don’t want my sex writing to get . . . boring . . .”

  “As the only single person here, I think we need to stop talking about sex.” Angelica looked at Hannah. “Unless you are going to go into great detail about when and where you’ve done it. We need to change the subject. We are talking about the seriously yummy Royce Rivers. Got any chocolate?”

  “I thought you were dating Christopher?” Hannah asked.

  “I was, but he was too dull. So dull, in fact, we never even made it into the sack.”

  “Ouch. Well then.” Lissa opened the pantry door and pulled out a basket of chocolate.

  “Sweet holy mother of God, how much do you have?” Angelica started digging through.

  Lissa shrugged, “I’ve had a bit of a sweet tooth lately. Plus we don’t go to the store as often here as we did at home. Don’t want to run out.” She smiled and opened up Reece’s and bit in to it. “Delish.”

  “You’re either an angel for having all of this on hand, or the devil. Oh my . . . Butterfingers. Now I know I love you.” Angelica ripped the wrapper open.

  “You loved me before.”

  “True, but one cannot dismiss the power of a Butterfinger.”

  “That’s what she said.” Hannah laughed.

  “Har-har. Now that we have all of that out of the way, should we get down to business? Who wants to call Christine?” Angelica looked back and forth between the two. “Oh, come on, man up. Christine won’t bite, that hard.”

  Again, Lissa and Hannah looked at each other, neither one of them wanting to talk to Christine, the head of the PR company that Lissa used. The two of them had met online years before when Lissa was first starting out. Once Christine started her own PR company, Lissa hired her and they’d been working together ever since.

  Christine was blunt and to the point, but inside, she was the biggest marshmallow you ever saw. She was fiercely loyal and would take down anyone who hurt her friends. Living in a small town in Canada, her online community of friends was what kept her sane.

  “No, I don’t want to ‘man up’ I’m a woman and proud of it.” Hannah folded her arms across her chest. “Besides I think ‘woman up’ should be used more. Hello, who are the ones who hold everything together? Come on, if a man had to do half of the things on our to-do list for just one day, they’d be laid up in bed nursing a headache and whining about how unappreciated they are for a week. We are the strong ones, not them.”

  “Oh, geez, are you lucky it’s just us here. I’d love to hear what Royce would say to that.” Lissa cocked her head to the side. “Although, somehow, I think the two of you enjoy sparring.”

  Hannah grinned. “Yeah, we do like to spar.”

  “Ladies, please, woman up and call Christine.” Angelica clapped her hands twice.

  “Fine, I’ll call her.” Lissa walked over and picked up her phone.

  “What are you worried about? You two haven’t kept anything from her?” They were silent. “Have you?”

  “No, not at all.” Hannah answered quickly.

  Angelica took the phone out of Lissa’s hand and hit the disconnect button. “Spill. Now. Otherwise I’ll leave you two to handle Christine on your own.”

  Lissa looked over at Hannah. “I don’t think we’ve kept anything from her. She knows Will and I are engaged, along with everyone else. She knows Hannah and Royce are dating. No, I can’t think of anything else. You?”

  “Nope, not a thing.”

  “See, we’re good. Now let me finish calling her before she gets her panties in a knot.” Lissa held her hand out for the phone.

  “Her panties are always in a knot,” Hannah mumbled under her breath.

  “Shhh . . .” Angelica put her hand over Hannah’s mouth. “She’ll hear you.”

  “Hear what?” Christine said from the speaker.

  “Just how wonderful you are,” Lissa smoothed over.

  “Mmmmhmmm . . . what are you hiding from me?” Christine sighed. “Haven’t we been over this before? I swear I should make a recording of myself and just start out each conversation with you playing the same thing over and over and over. Maybe one of these days, you’ll actually work with me instead of against me. I’m not the enemy here, ladies.”

  “I know that. You’re all gruff and all-business on the outside, but a soft, gooey marshmallow on the inside.” Lissa smirked.

  “Melissa Emily Loring, one of these days . . .”

  “Promises, promises. Come down here and make me. It’s beautiful weather we are having here in sunny California.” Lissa walked over
to the open doors. “The ocean is the most vibrant shade of blue I’ve ever seen here in Malibu. Seriously, we could just walk out onto the beach from our back deck.”

  “Hooker, we’re in the middle of a blizzard here and I suppose you’re in shorts and a t-shirt.”

  “Nah, it’s a little chilly today, it’s jeans and a t-shirt.”

  “Bitch.”

  “Love you.”

  “Whatever. Let’s get down to business. Angelica, how do the new contracts look?”

  “Wonderful. The studios were a little leery of giving us so much power, but since the test screening is going so well on the other movie, they are bending. Lissa’s first series should be made into a movie and out in theaters by the end of next year.”

  “Wow, I still can’t believe it.”

  “Why shouldn’t you?” Christine asked. “I’ve been telling you for years you’re good.”

  “Yeah, but I figured you had to say that since it’s your job to put a positive spin on everything.”

  “Boo, you’re killing me.”

  “Anyway, when does the announcement about the new movie deal happen?” Lissa didn’t turn around; she continued to look out the window, gripping the frame so hard her knuckles were turning white.

  “You have Ellen next week right?”

  “Yes . . .”

  “You’ll have something else to talk about.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Such language. You know you can’t say that on her show.”

  “Yes, Christine, I know.”

  “What’s wrong?” Angelica asked.

  “How are they going to fit three books into one movie? It’s just not possible.”

  “Sure it is, it may end up being a long movie, but it can happen. You’ll be fine.”

  “I keep telling myself that,” Lissa turned toward them. “But look at me. I’m a boring author who prefers to stay home all day lost in the little worlds she creates. Now I have the man of my dreams, movies being made, traveling all over the world, and people wanting to sit down and interview me. I feel like I’m the dorky girl in high school and the most popular boy in school waved to me, and I’m like, ‘What? Who me?’ Seriously, why me?”