by Unknown
Luke’s gaze turned directly into the camera, and sincerity oozed from his beautiful eyes. “Derek Bishop and Catrina Reed were a couple on the show for awhile before she married Sebastian and became Catrina Holloway. But, Adele and I have never dated.” He turned back to the hosts who had grown silent all of a sudden. “I can ask the writers to get Derek and Catrina back together if you’d like, but I’m not sure they’re going to listen to me.”
Again, he had the audience chuckling. John started laughing, too. Luke’s first live interview ever and he was blowing it away. I felt so proud of him.
Rita’s stunned look faded into a smile. “Well, that’s good news for all of you single men out there who have been in love with Adele for years. Would that group include you, John?”
John Smythe turned pink in the cheeks then coughed into his hand. “Well, Adele Andrews is a talented and beautiful woman. There’s no shame in admitting I’m quite the admirer.”
“Adele and I are good friends,” Luke said, tugging at his cuff some more. “We interview together often and have attended award shows together, and I’m sorry if anyone thought we were a real life couple. I’m glad to be here with Rita and John today to clear up any confusion.”
John clasped his hands together. “It’s our pleasure to have you on the show, Luke. The tabloids have been having a field day, and we here at All About the Bay are happy to put those kinds of rumors to rest for our viewers. Now that we know the truth behind the rumors there are more questions we’re dying to ask! I’ll admit that I’m a fan . . .”
Rita chuckled. “You’re a super-fan John.”
Ha! I suspected John watched the show!
He nodded. “And so are you, Rita! We have rather long days here on set since we do the afternoon show as well and we’re usually in the green room watching Just One Love when it comes on so we, like many people out there, are dying to know what will happen next!”
Rita nodded eagerly. “Oh yes! Like, will Piper get out of jail? Please say yes.”
“She got totally railroaded,” John added. “Besides, nobody but the coroner ever saw Sebastian’s body after all. Maybe it wasn’t even Sebastian!”
Rita added, “And Catrina could just have easily murdered—”
“Catrina is innocent!” John cut in.
Rita shot back. “No, Piper’s innocent. I agree she got railroaded, and if she didn’t kill him then it had to be Catrina.”
John shook his head. “Oh, now it could have been anyone. Sebastian had plenty of enemies after all.”
Whoa. These two really were hard-core fans. Luke, laughing softly, held up his hands and made a time out gesture. “I’m afraid I’m not privy to those answers. You’ll just have to tune in to see what the writers—and we have the best writers in the business in my opinion—come up with next.”
Rita shuffled some papers and gave the camera a naughty grin. “Maybe this is a question you could answer for us then, Luke. What do you really think of Charlie Rockwell?”
Oh! I popped to my feet and started jumping up and down. Rita had said my name! My actual name. Thanks to Luke, I was no longer merely “Rex Rockwell’s ex.”
Luke twisted his hands together. “I got to know Charlie very well while working with her. She’s a strong and brave woman. She’s an amazing actress. She’s sincere and she’s funny. She’s beautiful, the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”
My heart leaped into my throat and threatened to suffocate me. What did he just say? Those weren’t the words of a man who didn’t love me. My gaze fastened on his face. I waited to see what he’d say next, hoping he’d say he loved me.
Wait a minute. I stood still, legs shaking. Maybe he already had said he loved me. Not with words, but there he was doing a live interview for the first time in his life. He was defending me. Luke, who never did live interviews because he got stage fright. Why would he do that? He didn’t have to defend me and had no reason to except one.
He loved me!
Then why had he told me he didn’t love me? Everything had been wonderful between us. We’d never had any problems until he saw me arguing with Claire. . . .
Claire.
Oh.
Oh, no!
I should have known. He’d disappeared right after she’d showed up and I already knew how little she wanted me to date Luke over doing Cherries Jubilee. It all became terribly clear. He had broken it off with me after he had seen Clair and me arguing.
He’d disappeared at lunch and I had thought that Claire had left, too, but I knew my sister too well. She had probably lain in wait and grabbed him as soon as possible. She knew I hadn’t told him about the part, so she had made sure that he did know. It all made sense now.
Luke broke up with me so I would take that part. That was why he had demanded I be fired. He had known that I would stay on the soap opera even if it wasn’t exactly what I wanted, just to be closer to him. He knew I was throwing away a huge chance. And the actor in him had seen what I was doing as crazy and wrong.
I glanced back at the screen. They’d cut to a commercial but had promised that they’d be right back with more of Luke and that they’d be taking questions from the audience as well. The station was a five-minute ride away. I could get there before he left the place, talk to him and make him listen to me. If I hurried.
That would mean missing my flight, though. That would mean—
I needed to catch a cab.
Chapter Thirty-three
“I need to get to the television station fast!” I tossed my carry on and purse through the open back window of the first cab I saw. The driver looked startled then looked around like he was trying to figure out if I was actually talking to him or not.
“Come on, let’s go!” I shouted, then grabbed the door handle and jumped in.
The driver gave me a puzzled look then he went around the cab and got in. “Which station?”
“The one All About the Bay is broadcast on!” I didn’t know the station’s name. Oh why didn’t I pay more attention? The driver seemed to know because he clicked on the meter and cruised away from the airport. I watched through the glass window as the speedometer needle went to thirty-five and stayed there. “I said fast, please!”
I hit my phone screen with my thumb, nearly breaking a nail in the process. Claire answered on the second ring. “Charlie, aren’t you at the airport? Is everything okay?”
“What did you say to Luke?”
“Um, what?”
I shouted at the cab driver. “The speed limit’s sixty-five. Try actually doing sixty-five!”
He ignored me. The speedometer showed a forty on the dial.
In my ear, Claire said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re a bad liar!” To the driver, I shouted, “You’re not even doing the minimum speed for this road! The minimum please-please-please!”
“Charlie, are you okay?” Claire asked.
“No. No, I’m not. I’m on my way to find Luke. He’s on TV. On All About the Bay.” Outside the windows, the city, enshrouded in its usual mist, sat along the curved horseshoe of the bay. We weren’t far from the station but the driver showed no inclination to get me there soon.
“You’re kidding!” Claire’s voice was a squawk. “I love that show. Rita Rose and John Smythe are awesome.”
“I know and Luke is on there defending me.”
Claire gasped.
I beat on the glass and the driver shrugged. I tried to find a latch or something that would open the window between us. If I had to commandeer his cab so be it! “I need to know what you said to Luke. Tell me now. Don’t say you didn’t say anything either.”
Claire sighed. “I did it to protect you. I mean, I didn’t want you to give up your dreams for a guy again. It’s not right to do that and you can never be happy living that way, Charlie. You’d never be happy if you didn’t take that part.”
I groaned and resisted the urge to beat the phone with the heel of my shoe. “I
learned that on my own, thank you very much. I was on my way to be honest with Luke about the role, but apparently you got to him first.”
Claire gasped. “You were? Then why’d you guys break up?”
Why? Was she kidding? “Because you told him about that part in L.A. and he didn’t want me to give up that part for him because he loves me. He didn’t know the real reason why I turned down the role.”
“Well, why did you then?” she asked.
I didn’t want to break the confidences Luke had given me but it was obvious that Claire needed an answer. “I didn’t want to put Luke through the pain of another long distance relationship. He had that once before. He had a long-distance ex-girlfriend who broke his heart.”
Claire whispered, “Oh, that’s so sweet of you. Wait a minute, let me turn on the show so I can tell you if he’s storming out of the studio or something.”
I clasped the phone tightly. “Is he still there? Hello, Claire?” I rapped on the glass separating me and the cabbie. “Could you go any slower here? Claire, did I lose you or something?”
“Oh, he just said something sweet about you . . .”
“What did he say? Ack! Claire, did I lose you?”
“No, but you’d better get to the studio fast before you lose him because he’s a great guy. You should hear all of the nice things he’s saying about you.”
I took a steadying breath. “I’m going as fast as I can.”
“Maybe you’d be better off jumping out of that cab and running.”
She had a point. I actually considered doing just that but a few seconds later the cab screeched to a stop right in front of the station.
Chapter Thirty-four
I ran past a whole lot of people, swinging my purse and carry-on like ancient weapons at anyone who tried to get between me and the studio floor. I dashed right onto the set, dropping my bags as I finally set my feet down in the circle that the cameras covered.
“Hi, there,” I said. “I was at the airport and saw your show, and then, well, I hope you don’t mind my showing up like this.”
Rita cried out, “What? I can’t believe it! You’re here. Look everyone, Piper’s here. I mean, Charlie Rockwell is here!”
John Smythe jumped to his feet. “This is unprecedented!” He came over and shook my hand. “Come on up on stage and join us, please.”
My belly filled with raw nerves. I glanced over at the audience, and their expressions of sheer joy gave me courage. I was a famous person in my own right now, and the people looking back at me seemed happy to see me. The real me, and that made me happy. “Thank you,” I said, waving to the crowd as I walked alongside John.
Luke had stood, and he wore an expression of sheer shock. “Why aren’t you on the plane to Los Angeles. Isn’t your flight leaving right now?”
I toyed with the bracelet around my wrist. There were so many things I wanted to say to Luke, but I realized we were standing in front of a live audience. Plus, you know, there was also a big black camera filming us for the entire San Francisco Bay Area.
So I stepped toward him, raising my brows. “How do you know when my flight is, Luke? Are you keeping tabs on me?”
“I might be,” he quipped, flashing a smile, which I couldn’t tell if it was for the talk show or for me. “I play a detective, after all. It’s second nature for me.”
The audience’s laughter exploded through the room. Definitely for the audience.
“We’re so glad you came by, Charlie.” Rita turned toward the camera with a beaming smile. “This is Charlie Rockwell’s first interview and it’s happening right here on our set! I can’t tell you how thrilled we are to have you here on All About the Bay.”
“Thanks, Rita. I’m happy to be here.” I was, too. Someone from the show brought over another leather chair and placed it next to Luke’s. We both took a seat.
John said, “Let’s take some questions from the audience. You!” He pointed to a sweet-faced woman in the front row. She gave us all a dazed smile, stood, and squeaked out. “Do you think Piper got a raw deal, Charlie?”
I nodded. “As a fan? Oh, absolutely. I played the part but I used to watch it every day and I always had a secret crush on Derek Bishop . . .” I paused during the loud cries of agreement and understanding from the audience. “So I enjoyed what was supposed to be a minor part. My character was initially written into only one scene, but things snowballed and even though I was working I was also seeing the show as a fan, just like all of you were, and I wanted a lot more for Piper.”
Rita said, “Oh we all did! Do you think Piper will be written back in Luke?”
Luke shrugged. “I suppose now is as good a time as any to announce that while Charlie’s leaving the show was unfortunate, she had to leave because she got offered the starring role in a film and that’s so important. We’re sad to see her go, but we all know this is a big chance and she’d be crazy not to take it.”
We were back to that? He wasn’t backing down. He was determined to make sure I took my shot, and his actions made me love him even more.
“It’s true,” I said, “But the film will wrap in six months and I’m hoping by then the writers will have realized that poor Piper didn’t have anything to do with Sebastian’s death. Unless, of course, she did.”
Rita said, “Ooh, did she? I mean do you know something we don’t?”
The audience immediately shot hands in the air. John called on a lady, who stood and said, “You still haven’t answered the biggest question of all. Why did you come here today, Charlie?”
My heart knocked crazily in my chest. My fingers gripped the edge of my chair. I’d always been protective of my privacy, but suddenly I wanted everyone to know how I felt. “I came here to tell Luke I’m in love with him.”
“Oh, my!” Rita exclaimed, clapping her hands. “I’m really impressed that you’d make this declaration on live television,” she said, and then turned toward Luke. “From the look on your face, I’d venture to guess you have feelings for her, too? Are you in love with Charlie, Luke?”
The corners of Luke’s eyes crinkled momentarily, but then he took three short breaths. “You need to take that part in Los Angeles, Charlie. If you hurry, you can still catch your flight.”
“Ladies and gentlemen we have to go to a commercial now, but stay tuned for more of Luke Montgomery and Charlie Rockwell!” John was grinning from ear-to-ear and so was Rita and it wasn’t just because they’d pulled off what was obviously a ratings coup.
They seemed genuinely happy for us, and so was the audience. The cameras quit rolling but the audience deluged us, asking questions and for autographs. Luke’s hand found mine and squeezed it briefly. When we finally got past the audience and into a small and quiet corner we took our mics off and stared at each other.
Luke and I were inches from each other and I had to act fast before those few inches could turn into all the miles between San Francisco and L.A. “I miss you, Luke.” My words were a whisper. “I know why you broke up with me, too.”
“Do you?” His eyes searched mine. I nodded. Luke released a breath.
I hurried on. “I made a million mistakes with you. I didn’t let you in. I didn’t trust you. I let the past color my every decision. Even when I thought I was doing the right thing for us by turning down that part in Cherries Jubilee all I was really doing was keeping you at bay again, and I wasn’t doing what would make me happy either. I was setting us up to fail. I’m so sorry.”
“I made mistakes, too.”
I shook my head. “You were perfect. You were always absolutely perfect.”
He smiled. “No, I wasn’t. I pushed you harder than I should have.”
I shook my head so hard my hair flew around my face. “No, you didn’t. You pushed just enough. I needed you to push me. I spent so much of my life pushing Rex toward his dreams and myself away from mine that I needed someone to come and give me a big push forward and you did that and I am so very grateful for that.”
; “I can’t believe you came here like this.”
“Me, either.” I gave him a shaky smile. “The poor cab driver I made drive me here from the airport is probably still trying to figure out if I’m actually insane.”
He laughed. “I don’t think you are.”
“Oh, but I am,” I assured him. “I’m crazy about you, Luke. Absolutely crazy for you.”
His eyes became serious. “You have to take that role.”
“I am. But just because we’re long distance, doesn’t mean we won’t work out. I believe in us and you have to promise me you’ll come see me.”
“Only if you promise to come see me, too.”
I caught his right hand. His left one found mine. We stood there face to face, smiling at each other. I whispered, “It’s a deal. We’ll make this work, I swear. I won’t let this be a long distance thing forever, Luke.”
“Me, either. I love you, Charlie.” He caught me into his arms. His lips came down on mine. Our mouths met and fused. That kiss made the entire world stand still. It made everything that had gone wrong flip itself right back to where it should’ve always been. I forgot about everything but him and that kiss, the feel of his mouth on mine.
He drew back slowly. His eyes twinkled. “I have the next two days off and so do you. You have a flight to catch for that meeting. How about I go to L.A. with you and help you settle in?”
My heart nearly exploded with happiness. I grabbed him and kissed him again. When we came up for air, I squealed. “Yes, come with me.”
His eyes shined and his lips curved into a smile. “Hey, it’s ironic, isn’t it?”
I frowned. “What’s ironic?”
“We fell in love on a show called Just One Love.”
I sank against him and smiled. “Now that’s a story we can tell our grandkids.”
Epilogue
It had been a hectic and wonderful month. The filming had started and I loved it. I also loved that Luke and I made time for each other just like we promised. I really loved that we’d both agreed to meet at the fundraiser for the Blue Moon Bay library and had met up again where it all started, right in my hometown.
