“I am. I try to keep it quiet, but their innocence.Gah, it gets me every time.”
Cal’s eyes crinkled in the corners, and my pointer finger itched to trace the details.
“I get it. With every breath of life, it’s something new and exciting. It makes what I do all the more special. Cheers to innocence and new life…” He tipped his glass toward mine as we stood in a quiet corner, catty-corner from the tree.
“I’m so happy for Ford. He deserves this. He’s been there for everyone but himself.”
“What about you?”
“Me? Of course he was there for me.” Cal swept a loose hair off my face with his free hand, and a crackle of energy ran from his finger to my temple. We were a match and an open flame, only inches separating us.
“I’m sure he was. I meant you deserve that…all this…too.”
I felt the air whoosh from my lungs and used every acting technique in my arsenal to fill myself with breath again. “It’s not part of my plan. My work is my baby.”
It was my standard talk show answer, and it felt like Cal wasn’t buying it with his raised eyebrow. Except he gave me the out with a tip of his drink and a compliment. “And that work is one fine baby. I’m your biggest fan.”
“I appreciate it.”
“So, leaving tomorrow? No chance you’d stay an extra day or four?” He asked with a hint of hope in his voice.
“It’s for the best. Mom’s house at Christmas is a formal circus I like to avoid. Scotty, the baby of our family, who made me fall in love with babies, is now an adult jerk. He was so adorable when he was born. And our nanny, Maggie, had us help with everything. It was a magical time until my mom got hold of him. He was her prodigy, and now he and his wife, Beth, and their kiddos are the apples of my mom’s eye. Believe me, I don’t want that position, but seeing it is all too much… And I’m going on…and on.”
“Well, I’ll likely be eating Chinese takeout at the hospital with the nurses because there is always a baby born.”
I leaned a hair closer, and without touching asked, “Will you call me and let me know?”
“Of course. I planned to.”
Our eyes locked and some quiet promise passed between us. I had no idea what it was for or about, and the moment was broken with my brother holding a glass in the air and thanking everyone for coming, wishing all his family and friends a magical holiday, and to let everyone know he was going MIA until after the new year.
“Shall we say cheers to the new year now?” Cal asked me, his voice hushed and his words meant for me.
I nodded.
We clinked again, and Cal moved as close as possible, his lips grazing my cheek, placing a chaste kiss along my eyebrow. “Happiest of happy new years to the most wonderful woman I know.”
From those endearing words, the evening ended in a hurry and way too soon. Frank allowed me two minutes at the back door with Cal before sweeping me away. He wouldn’t even let me watch Cal walk out the front.
“It’s time, Bill,” he said, noting the idling car on the side street. “Let’s get out of this soiree before the media catches on.”
All night long I dreamed of Cal’s three words—most wonderful woman.
Would it be too much for me to ask for a picture?
What kind of picture?
Umm, not that kind. One of you in your New Year’s best.
I snapped a quick selfie in the bathroom off to the side of Brad Pitt’s kitchen and sent it before overthinking the whole thing. It wasn’t Cal I was worried about. He wouldn’t share it or do anything malicious. It was the endless flirting that was getting the best of me.
There’s the smile I miss. And everything else around it. I miss you, Wilma. You look gorgeous in red…as you know.
I had no clue how to respond. People thought actors had a line for everything. Little secret: we didn’t write our own material. Over the week, we’d texted more than usual. Cal delivered twins on Christmas Day. A boy and a girl for the lucky parents. He’d delivered two babies the day after Christmas, and then he’d been off. I’d seen the house project he was working on, a wet bar in his den, and wished I was there in person when I probably never would be. It was getting to be all-consuming in a way I’d never imagined my life would be.
It’s Ms. Flintstone to you. jk. I miss being back east with you. And baby Laurel.
The last tidbit was more about saving face than the truth. Ford and Jamie had ended up staying a few days longer, enjoying their time in the Christmas wonderland I made. After all, it was a bit absurd—I was standing in Brad Pitt’s kitchen, wearing a red sheath dress, the staff running circles around me while I texted a regular man. Not a regular boring guy, but a not-in-show-business dude. This type of thing was rare in our world.
