Dean smiles, and it’s the brightest one I’ve seen from him in a while. “I’m pleased to hear it’s not an issue, but it won’t happen again.”
“Me too,” I say. Holy shit, that’s a relief. We talk for another half hour about security for the shoot and give her some ideas for best-practice talks she can have with her staff on future projects, then we leave on good terms.
Perhaps a lot of what I felt this morning was all in my head.
But it doesn’t solve the problem of what’s next for Apex Solutions. I need to focus on business for the rest of the shoot, but thoughts of Ripley are lodged in my brain when I get in bed later.
I reach for her in the middle of the night—but she’s not there.
In the morning, I look for the dog to take for a walk, but I’m not with him either. I’m not at all where I want to be.
My mom texts me to check in, offering to drive up and take me to dinner that night. I instantly agree. I need to see her and Emily more than ever.
That day I try like hell to zone in on the job as I safely ferry Haven past the photographers waiting for a shot they’ll never get of her and Chris.
The money shot.
A picture like that? It’s a hell of a payday. Paparazzi would do whatever it took to get a pic of them touching, kissing, hugging. Something unposed. Something unexpected. Something real.
All day I think of photos. The first one that Silas snapped of Ripley outside the market. The picture a tour group might have tried to take of her the next day. The photo of Ripley and Chris in the produce aisle the day the movie began shooting, captured by some random person we never saw. The actual publicity photos of Chris and Haven, and of course plenty of pics of them separately.
During a break, I scroll through my phone and return to the photo that got me in this mess—the one outside Prohibition Spirit before Ripley and I went in. I study the angle, remembering the group of people outside the bar, trying to place Ripley’s ex therethe other night. Was he walking past the group? Behind them? And when did the paps arrive who took the inside shot, the one that wound up onVIP Vibes?I do some more digging on Eric Patrick Waterstone. Not only do I find endless shot after shot of the dishes he’s made—the dude is understandably into food porn—I find pics of him posing with local celebs in New York.
My jaw ticks, and I begrudgingly admit the guy knows how to work it.
When I get a break, I lob in a call to my friend Tyler in Los Angeles, since he keeps close tabs on the comings and goings of paps as well.
“Aww, you must need something,” he says when he answers.
“Yeah, a cold beer. I’ll owe you one when I return to LA,” I say, though the thought of leaving twists my gut.
“Deal. Now what can I do for you?”
I ask him to check on who’s working forVIP Vibesthese days.
“I’m on it,” he says, then I hang up and get back to work.
47
LANGUAGE, YOUNG MAN
BANKS
When the final shot is in the can that afternoon, the whole cast and crew whoops. Haven hugs Sam, Chris hugs Vega, Wanda hugs Tabitha, and on and on and on. I can’t hug Ripley because she’s off in the fields, busy tending to her lavender and her dog.
I watch Ripley as the cast and crew make plans for an impromptu party at Prohibition Spirit. Vega says she needs to stay at the farm and finish up some work, but she hands Sam her credit card, telling him that drinks are on her.
Haven appears beside me, asking in a low but hopeful voice, “You’re off tonight. Want to come?” She nods toward the faraway fields, where her sister works with Cyrus by her side. “We could…plot.”
Haven wiggles her brows, and I consider the offer as I stare at Ripley. I can’t stop wondering. Can’t stop askingwhat-ifs.
But it’s over with Ripley, and I don’t know what there is to plotwith Haven, so I smile and say, “Thanks, but I’m having dinner with my family.”
“Have fun.”
She returns to the group, chatting with Chris, his hand on her arm, the two of them laughing. It seems so platonic to me, but I’m on the inside. From the outside, it could look like something else, and that’s why I’ve had a job for the last few weeks.
But the job ends when the cast and crew leave tomorrow. So the rumors about Haven and Chris aren’t really my problem for much longer.
