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“Oh boy,” he said as he lowered his head a bit.
“What?”
“Don’t look over your shoulder, but you-know-who just walked in.”
“Lissa?”
“Yep.”
Tessa was quiet for a moment before saying, “This is good! She’s going to see us together and get so jealous. Want me to play it up? Like I could sit on your lap or we could make out or something.”
Damon was tempted to go along with it. He’d enjoy all of those things more than he cared to admit.
But he smiled, shook his head, and said, “No. I actually don’t want her to see us.”
“But this might really—”
“Tessa, today was genuinely about being with you. My new friend. I didn’t know she was going to be here and I didn’t plan this.” He swallowed a lump in his throat as he chose his next words cautiously. “It’s important to me that you know that.”
Her eyes conveyed that she understood what he was saying.
He glanced in Lissa’s direction again. She was with Max Arden, and they’d stopped to talk to folks at a table near the front. If he played it just right, he might make it out of there without bumping into them. But he needed to move now.”
He flagged down their server who came quickly.
“Is there a back way out of here?”
“Of course. Through the kitchen.”
“Mind showing us the way?”
“Follow me.”
Damon was worried that perhaps this was making Tessa uncomfortable, but when she whispered, “We’re just like Nick and Nora Charles!” he knew she was having the time of her life.
So was he.
The aroma of various dishes cooking, the sound of food simmering, and the feel of steam rising from pots across the multiple stoves greeted them as they hurried through the kitchen. Cooks in white, as well as the serving staff, milled about, oblivious to the fact that two people were using their workspace as an escape route.
“Just go out that door. The alarm won’t sound,” the waiter said.
“Thanks! I owe you one.” He opened the door but then turned back. “Almost forgot, the bill is on my tab but this is for you.” Pulling a hundred out of his wallet, he passed it to the young man and then fled through the door with his friend Tessa.
That’s all they were, he thought to himself.
Really good friends.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tessa couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun.
Seeing a studio? Visiting a legendary soundstage? Sneaking out of the fancy commissary after a great lunch?
This was perhaps the greatest day of her life!
It was only getting better, she realized as they wandered onto the backlot.
“Okay, surely you know where we’re at,” Damon said.
