Page 32 of 1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Forty-Two

I have Simon.

Wild how fast the world can shift. Head-spinning, really. Iimagine some folks don’t trust things that happen too fast, but I’ve never beenone for slow builds. I burst onto the film andtelevision scene practically overnight. I bought my house on a whim and love iteven after a decade. I met Carolyn by craft servicesone day and decided she would be my bestie. She still would be if she werealive.

I’d read Spiraling once and knew I had tostar in it. More, I’m certain it’s going to clean upin awards season.

And once I got over hating him for being an arrogant prick,I knew without any hesitation that Simon was the man for me.

Yeah, sometimes things don’t have to be overthought.

Sometimes you just know. Sometimes things just are.

I’m thinking about life and sex and all that Simon-y stuffas I pull up at Aaron’s place in the hills.

And, of course, as soon as I arrive, Simon falls out of mythoughts, and I’m back to being irritated about the damnarticle again.

“Don’t let it worry you,” Aaron says, leading me to the backporch. “We’ll deal with it. If you want us to, we’ll challenge it. The factthat you weren’t even at this party should make a big difference. We can getpeople who were there to testify to that. But I still don’t think it’s worththe trouble.”

“Fine. Whatever.” Thinking about it is just going to piss me off. And I don’t want to be in a pissy mood when we talk about the script. “But I wanta drink.”

He laughs. “I’m not surprised.” He steps behind the outdoorbar and pulls open the wine fridge. “How about my famous wine cooler?”

“Perfect,” I say. He mixes red wine with sparkling fruitjuice, and it’s like drinking heaven. “Did you want to work out here? Or are wegoing inside?”

“Hot tub okay? My back is killing me.”

I shrug. This may not be the most traditional workingenvironment, but Aaron and I have known each other since I was practically indiapers. Well, okay, I was ten and he was nineteen. So sitting in a hot tubgetting a script all damp as we flip pages in the steaming water is not only afamiliar setting, but a comfortable one.

“There should be a suit that fits you in the pool house. Goahead. I’m already wearing trunks.”

Sure enough, I find the pinktwo-piece I usually wear when I visit, and when I come back, he’s set a nicelarge plastic cup filled with yummy nectar on the side of the hot tub.

I climb in, then take the copy of the script he hands me,careful not to get it wet. “How extensive are these notes?”

“Not bad. We’ll be done in an hour. Maybe two.”

“Good. Because I’ve been having a lovely week off withSimon. And I would like to get back to that as soon as possible.”

He laughs. “Good. That first day at your house, I thoughtyou might actually bite his head off. Now I guessthere’s a different type of biting going on.”

“La la la,I don’t kiss and tell.”

“Since when?” he asks, and I make a face, then take a longsip of my cooler.

“We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?”

“That’s for sure,” he says. “You know there’s nothing Iwouldn’t do for you.”

“The feeling is mutual.”

“I’m really glad to hear that.”

I frown, something in his voice making me uneasy. “Is theresomething going on? Nothing with Spiraling, is it?”

“No. It’s nothing, really. Just some personal shit. Makes me glad to have a friend like you.”

“Dating stuff?”

“Not exactly. Okay, maybe a bit.”