“I’ll have the beet and burrata salad and the scallops, please.” Grey returned the waitress’s smile, then interlaced her fingers with Ethan’s, turning her gooey gaze back to him.
“Great choices. I’ll be right back with your salads.”
As the door shut, Ethan leaned in and stage-whispered, “Bet she’s on the phone with TMZ already.”
“You think? I’m sure everyone here is very discreet.”
“Knowing Audrey, she has every waiter in this place on the payroll.”
Seemingly at the same time, they realized they were still holding hands. They froze, staring at their intertwined fingers. Ethan didn’t want to be the first to pull his hand away. He didn’t want to insult her. At last, Grey eased her hand out and picked up her wineglass in one smooth movement. She made a little noise of approval as she tasted it. When she set the glass down, her lipstick left two perfect, crimson half-moons on the rim. He stared at them, hypnotized, imagining the marks she might leave elsewhere.
He forced himself to snap out of it. “Speaking of Renata, is she for real? She’s kind of a character. Have you ever thought about switching agents? That might be part of your problem. I could get you a meeting with Paul, if you want.”
Grey’s face dropped. “No,” she said flatly. “Not interested.”
Ethan was surprised at the vehemence of her reaction. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to offend.”
Grey took another leisurely sip from her wineglass. Ethan was transfixed by the long line of her neck as she tilted her head up to drink. Fuck. He was in big trouble.
She seemed like she was internally debating something. Finally, she spoke.
“When I went to my first wardrobe fitting forPoison Paradise,the costume designer told me I needed to lose fifteen pounds. Immediately. He kept…he wouldn’t stoppinchingme. Everywhere I was…bulging.” She toyed with the stem of her wineglass. “Renata called me to check in about how my first day went and I couldn’t stop crying. I didn’t want to tell her, I was so scared I would get fired. She told me she would take care of it. The next day, the producers called me in. I thought that was it. I was out. I’d never work again. I don’t know what she said to them but…they had fired the designer. Theyapologizedto me.” She closed her eyes. “I’ll never forget it.”
Ethan was stunned. “I’m sorry. That’s awful.”
She shrugged, clearly uncomfortable with his sympathy. “It’s fine. It was a long time ago. I mean, at the end of the day I’m still a youngish, skinnyish, white, blond girl. I generally have it pretty easy in this business. And the world in general.”
Ethan sipped his own wine. “I guess the only one who has it easier is me.”
She met his eyes, her expression placid and unwavering. “I guess so.”
The waitress came back in with their salads.
“What about you?” Grey asked after the waitress had disappeared again.
“What do you mean, what about me?”
“I don’t know. Anything.” She pressed the side of her fork into the burrata and watched it ooze over the rest of her plate. “I feel like I know everything about you and nothing about you at the same time.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Everything?”
She flushed and drained her glass. If she was as much of a lightweight as she claimed, she was going to be on the floor by the time this meal was over. “I mean. A normal amount. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but you’reveryfamous. It’s hard not to know.”
“Tell me.”
She speared a beet on the end of her fork and nibbled at it, careful to avoid smearing her lipstick.
“Well. You’re from Queens. You got started in bad teen movies. You wrote and starred in a movie with your friend Sam Tanner that made you both super famous. You won an Oscar. You married your costar, Nora Lind, and you had two daughters. The three of you did some more movies together, and some apart. You got cast in theLone Sentinelreboot. You…” She trailed off. The air in theroom seemed to thicken. Grey stilled. Ethan ate a loud, crunchy bite of his salad.
“Don’t stop now,” he said, his voice light. “It was just starting to get interesting.”
Grey’s eyes darted from side to side. She poured herself another glass of wine to stall. She sighed and met his eyes again.
“You…Sam had…an accident. You and Nora got divorced. You…you didn’t make the movie.”
“Why didn’t I make the movie?”
“You got fired. You got fired from the movie.”
