“Sure,” Erica said automatically, returning his smile. She cast Carole one worried glance, but when Jeremiah gently took her by the elbow, she allowed him to steer her down the aisle.
Carole was still standing stock-still, her mind churning and heaving with what felt like a dozen earthquakes at once. Her mental numbness was wearing off quickly, to be replaced by a jumble of feelings—hurt, betrayal, confusion, and, most of all, humiliation. She had thought Jeremiah was a great guy. She had liked and trusted him. She had even kissed him. And now she knew that he had never really cared about her at all.
“Carole …” Lisa hurried to put a comforting arm around her shoulder.
Carole shrugged it off. “Leave me alone,” she muttered. Even a best friend couldn’t help her now. She just wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. To be alone with her pain. “I’ve got to go,” she murmured, turning to flee just as her tears spilled over at last. She barely heard Lisa calling after her as she rushed blindly away.
Through her tears, she noticed Summer Kirke letting herself out of Fancy’s stall in the aisle ahead. The beautiful young actress spotted her at the same time.
“Hi, Carole.” Summer spoke up hesitantly. She paused, seeming confused by Carole’s tears. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you. There’s something I think you should know. …”
Carole didn’t even bother to respond. She just brushed past Summer and raced out of the stable.
Meanwhile Stevie was in a small paddock near the main part of the set, trying to convince Topsy to stand still long enough for a special-effects assistant to wrap his leg in fake barbed wire. It wasn’t going well. The horse was balky and kept dancing away from the harmless plastic “wire,” occasionally making motions as if he might kick. The assistant, who was young and obviously slightly fearful of the big animal, wasn’t making much progress.
“Stop it!” Stevie told the horse firmly, gripping his halter. “This is no time to decide you want to give up acting.”
“I’ve got to get this on him soon,” the assistant, a thin, pale young woman, told Stevie anxiously. “They have to start shooting before the light changes. And Mel still needs to put on his makeup.”
Stevie rolled her eyes. Horse makeup. This was exactly the kind of goofy California-type problem she didn’t need. The more time she spent around this place, the less patience she had for the kinds of trickery and artifice that seemed to make up daily life here on the left coast. She glanced at the middle-aged, bearded man who was standing by with a palette of reddish body paint, ready to daub fake blood onto Topsy’s leg to make his “accident” look authentic onscreen.
“Give me a break,” Stevie muttered loudly. “You couldn’t pay me enough to deal with this kind of idiotic thing on a regular basis.”
Her impatience seemed to be catching. Topsy let out a snort and hopped to one side, shaking his head and stamping a forefoot. The special-effects assistant darted backward, out of range of his hooves. The makeup man cast Stevie a worried look. Stevie realized that her own foul mood wasn’t doing anything to help the horse calm down, but she couldn’t help herself.
She was so busy trying to keep her temper under control at the same time she was holding on to the horse that she didn’t see Skye until he was right next to her. “Is that hoss of mine giving y’all some trouble?” he asked in a fake Texas twang.
Stevie shot him an irritated glance. “Spare me the stupid accents, okay?” she snapped. “Topsy’s only doing what any sane horse would do by refusing to put up with this nonsense.” She waved a hand at the fake barbed wire dangling from the assistant’s hand.
Skye just nodded calmly. “Let’s see what we can do, okay?” He glanced at the assistant, who seemed rather awed to be in his presence. “D’you mind if I give it a try? Topsy knows me pretty well. He may be calmer if I do it.”
The young woman nodded mutely and handed over the fake wire.
“Hold him as steady as you can, okay, Stevie?”
“Your wish is my command,” Stevie replied sarcastically. But she did her best to keep the horse as still as possible. Fortunately, Topsy had calmed down a little when Skye arrived. He turned his head to watch the actor curiously as Skye ran a hand down the gelding’s side to his leg.
“Just tell me how you want it to go, okay?” Skye called over his shoulder.
The assistant managed to squeak out a few directions, still looking awed and nervous. Skye did everything she said, and moments later the fake wire was in place, looking quite convincing.
Skye smiled with satisfaction as he stood and gave Topsy a fond pat. “There you go. That wasn’t so bad, was it, boy?”
The horse already seemed to have forgotten his nervousness. He ignored Skye’s pat and stretched his head toward a nearby patch of weedy grass. The assistant shot Skye a grateful smile and scurried away as the makeup man moved forward and started working on the now distracted horse.
Stevie loosened the lead line to allow Topsy to graze. For some reason, having the ridiculous task completed made her feel more irritable than ever. It just reinforced her suspicions that nothing in California was straightforward and honest. It was all one big, bogus show, and she didn’t like it. “Very impressive, Skye,” she said sardonically. “It’s nice to know if this acting thing doesn’t work out you’ll have a fine substitute career in faking horrible riding accidents.”
Skye looked at her closely. “Is something wrong, Stevie?”
“What could possibly be wrong?” Stevie said, shrugging. “I thought nothing ever went wrong here in fabulous La-La Land.” She tossed the lead line to him. “Here. You might as well take this. Your scene is starting any second.” She stomped away without a backward glance. Fake, it’s all so fake, she thought peevishly. Even Skye suddenly seemed to be just another part of it all.
She encountered Lisa halfway back to the stable. “Stevie!” Lisa cried, looking relieved. “There you are. Have you seen Carole lately?”
“I haven’t seen anyone,” Stevie replied sharply. “I’ve been too busy dealing with all your Hollywood buddies. Even the horses have egos around here.”
Lisa didn’t seem to be listening. “We’ve got to find her,” she insisted. “She just ran into Jeremiah, and—”
Stevie cut her off sharply. “Then she definitely doesn’t need us around right now. Three’s a crowd—I definitely found that out yesterday.” And I’m not in the mood to be the extra wheel again anytime soon.
“No, you don’t understand.…” At that moment, there came the faint sound of a voice urgently calling Lisa’s name. “Uh-oh. That’s Rick.” Lisa bit her lip. “But listen, Stevie, you’ve got to—”
Once again, Stevie didn’t let her finish. “You’d better go,” she said flatly. She couldn’t help remembering that Lisa was the reason they were all there. If Lisa had just put her foot down and refused to spend the entire summer in California, as Stevie herself would have done, everything would be different. For one thing, Stevie wouldn’t have been driving home from the airport that fateful, rainy afternoon. She never would have gotten in that accident. Fez would still be alive, Callie would be as healthy as ever, Scott wouldn’t hate her. … As soon as the thought entered her mind, a wave of guilt washed over her. She couldn’t blame Lisa for the accident, she knew that. That was as stupid as blaming herself. Not wanting Lisa to notice how upset she was, she did her best to smile. “Sorry. I guess I’m a little on edge.” Her apology sounded lame even to her.
But Lisa didn’t seem to notice. “You’ve got to find Carole,” she said urgently. “Jeremiah just dumped all over her, and she’s really upset about it.”
“Huh?” Stevie heard Rick calling Lisa’s name again, but she ignored it. So did Lisa. “What happened?”
Lisa quickly filled her in on the scene between Carole and Jeremiah. “She ran off before I could stop her, and then of course I had to get Jeeves ready, and by the time I was finished—”
“Never mind.” Stevie knew they didn’t have much tim
e. Rick’s voice was getting more insistent. “Where is she now?”
“I don’t know. She was heading out the end of the aisle toward that little patch of woods.”
Stevie nodded briskly. “I’ll find her,” she assured Lisa.
Lisa shot her a grateful look. “I’ll catch up to you as soon as I can, okay?” Without waiting for a reply, she raced off in the direction of Rick’s voice.
Stevie headed in the opposite direction, her fury building slowly. Who does Jeremiah Jamison think he is? she thought heatedly. He’s even worse than the rest of these stuck-up Hollywood jerks. Just because he’s on TV, he thinks he’s better than anyone else. He thinks he can do anything he wants.
She almost didn’t see Matthew Reeves as she entered the stable aisle. He was leaning against the wall outside of Conejo’s stall, looking relaxed and casually handsome in well-worn jeans and Western boots.
As soon as he spotted her, he gave her an amiable smile. “How’s it going, Stevie?”
Even in the midst of her mood, made worse than ever by Lisa’s news about Jeremiah, a tiny, rational corner of Stevie’s mind registered surprise that Matthew actually knew her name. She also couldn’t help noticing that the good-looking young actor’s voice was a rich, warm baritone and his bluish green eyes stood out even in the shadowy light of the overhang shading the stable aisle. But she wasn’t about to turn into Carole, mooning over every pretty face. For all she knew, Matthew was just as big a jerk as Jeremiah, in spite of what Skye said.
Matthew still seemed to be waiting for an answer. “You want to know how it’s going?” Stevie snapped. “Well, you’d better not ask unless you really want to know.”
“Fair enough.” Matthew’s voice remained friendly despite her heated words. “I do really want to know, but only if you really feel like telling me.”
Stevie wasn’t sure what to say to that. And she didn’t have the patience to figure it out just then. She had to find Carole. Letting out an inelegant snort, she hurried past Matthew without another word.
She didn’t look back to see if he was watching her departure, but she imagined that those incredible eyes were boring into her back. She intentionally kept her pace steady until she reached the end of the aisle. Then she darted around the corner at full speed, almost running smack into Summer Kirke, who was coming around the other way.
“Oops!” Summer exclaimed, stepping aside just in time. “Sorry.”
Stevie knew that the near collision was entirely her fault. But at the moment she didn’t care. Everywhere she turned, someone seemed to be in her way. “Watch where you’re going,” she spit out angrily. “Or do TV stars always get the right-of-way around here?”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Stevie regretted them. Bad mood or no bad mood, hurry or no hurry, she had made a big mistake by snapping at Summer. The sensitive actress would probably go into a coma at her harsh words—or at least into a messy emotional outburst that Stevie would have to deal with. And she didn’t have time for that right then.
“Sorry, Summer,” she said quickly, making her voice as soothing as possible. “I didn’t mean that. I’m just in a bad mood, and …”
Her voice trailed off as she realized that Summer wasn’t really paying attention. The actress was glancing from side to side, looking worried and slightly upset but not as hysterical as Stevie had expected.
Summer finally turned her gaze on Stevie, seeming to realize for the first time that she had been speaking. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid I’m a little distracted. What was that?”
“Nothing,” Stevie replied with relief. That had been a close one. “Um, I’d better get going—”
“Wait.” Summer held up a hand and gave her a beseeching look. “I really need to talk to you. It’s about your friend Carole.”
Stevie frowned suspiciously. What now? she wondered. Her first impulse was to ignore Summer’s mysterious comments and continue her search, but she didn’t want to set off one of the actress’s infamous anxiety attacks. Besides, she might have seen Carole. “What about her?” she asked cautiously.
Summer touched Stevie lightly on the arm. “Come in here where we can talk.” She gestured to an empty stall. Stevie reluctantly followed, feeling trapped and impatient.
“Okay, what’s the big secret?” she asked once they were safely inside.
Summer took a deep breath. “I didn’t want to say anything before,” she said. “I didn’t think it was any of my business. But you should know that Jeremiah isn’t the nice guy he pretends to be.
“That seems to be the consensus.” Stevie thought back to what Skye had told her the day before, then to Jeremiah’s obnoxious behavior toward her, then to what Lisa had just told her. She shrugged. “So he’s a jerk. So what?”
Summer shook her head. When she spoke again, her voice sounded firmer. “He’s more than a jerk. And I’ve noticed the way he and Carole have been looking at each other, so I—”
The last thing Stevie felt like doing was telling Summer that Carole’s whirlwind romance was already over. “Carole hasn’t quite been herself these past couple of days,” she interrupted. “She’s just trying to have some fun while we’re here.”
“Well, she’s picked the wrong guy to have fun with.” Summer bit her lip. “Jeremiah is a terrible person. I should know.”
For the first time, Stevie felt a spark of interest in the conversation. Maybe Summer could actually tell her something useful—something that might help convince Carole that Jeremiah wasn’t worth any tears or regrets. “Really?” she asked, keeping her voice neutral. She didn’t want to scare Summer off. “What do you mean?”
Summer lowered her eyes. “Jeremiah and I worked on a miniseries together last year,” she said, her voice so quiet that Stevie had to strain to hear it. “He pursued me from the first day we met. He acted like I was the only woman in the world.…” She paused and sighed. “Anyway, we ended up dating for a couple of months.”
Stevie nodded. That part sounded familiar. “Yes?” she said encouragingly.
“Things didn’t work out.” Summer paused again, her eyes still downcast. “I tried to break it off with him. But Jeremiah didn’t want things to end. He—He found something out somehow. A terrible, private secret that I didn’t want anyone to know. He threatened to go to the press with it if I stopped seeing him.”
Stevie was starting to feel queasy. This was even worse than she had expected. Summer was right—Jeremiah wasn’t just another insensitive jerk. This went way beyond that.
“But that’s blackmail,” she protested. “Anyway, what kind of a nut would want to stay together with someone who didn’t want to be with him?”
Summer shook her head. “He didn’t care whether we were actually together or not,” she explained. “He just wanted me to fake it in public. You know, for the publicity.”
“Oh!” Suddenly understanding dawned. Summer had been an established star for several years and appeared often in movies as well as on TV. Jeremiah had obviously seen potential in linking his unknown name to her much more famous one.
“I trusted him.” Summer’s eyes were starting to look watery. “I trusted him, and he betrayed me in the most hurtful way he knew how. He can be so cruel.… He held that secret over me, and he still taunts me with it. I’m so afraid he’ll want me to get back together with him now that we’re working on this show together.” She closed her eyes for a moment, regaining her composure. Then she opened them and looked at Stevie steadily. “Anyway, I just wanted to warn your friend so she doesn’t make the same mistake I did. I haven’t been able to speak to her alone, so I thought you could help.”
Stevie gulped. Some help I’ve been to Carole, she thought guiltily. I should have seen this coming. She felt terrible. Summer’s warning had arrived too late to save Carole from being hurt, and all Stevie could do about it was try to pick up the pieces.
“Wow,” she said quietly. She glanced at Summer, uncertain whether to tell her what had happened or n
ot. Finally she decided Summer deserved to know the truth. “Listen, can you keep a secret?” When Summer nodded, Stevie went on to tell the actress everything Lisa had told her.
By the time she had finished, Stevie was wondering if she had made a mistake by sharing the story. Summer’s eyes were welling with tears again.
“He’s clever,” she said bitterly. “He knows exactly how to find a person’s weak spot and use it against her.”
The comment suddenly made Stevie wonder about something. “What does he have on you, anyway?” she blurted out before she realized what she was saying. “What could possibly be so terrible?”
As soon as she said it, a million possible answers flashed across her mind. She didn’t know Summer. For all she knew, the actress might have murdered someone. She could be an alcoholic or a drug addict. Her father or aunt or cousin could be a spy or a mobster or an ivory poacher. Any way you looked at it, it was none of Stevie’s business.
For a moment, she didn’t think Summer was going to answer her nosy question. But after a lengthy pause, the actress met Stevie’s eyes. “You trusted me, so I’ll trust you,” she said softly. “As soon as Jeremiah doesn’t need me anymore he’ll probably tell the world, anyway.” She paused again. “I—I didn’t always have this face.”
“What do you mean?” Stevie felt confused. Images of science-fiction face-transplant surgeries popped into her mind.
Summer gulped, looking nervous. “I had surgery when I was a little younger than you are now.” She gently touched her nose with the tip of one perfectly manicured finger. “It was my nose. I had it fixed.”
Stevie nodded and waited for more, but Summer had stopped speaking again. “Then what happened?” Stevie asked at last.
“It was my fault, really.” Summer shook her head as a tear squeezed its way out of the corner of one blue eye. “I should have destroyed all the pictures I had of my old nose. But I kept a few, and Jeremiah found them in my apartment one day. He still has one of them. That’s the one he keeps saying he’ll give to the press.”
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