Grounded By You (4 page)

“
News broke this morning that
Carter Samuel Groveson has landed the coveted role of Jackson Monroe in the upcoming film adaptation of Walter Moolen’s award winning novel, Where My Heart Breaks. Groveson is a native of North Carolina and, in a fascinating twist, worked at the Willoughby Inn. Readers of the novel know that this is the location that is prominently featured over the course of the story. The film’s producers have expressed their excitement for what Groveson will bring to the role, especially given his familiarity with the novel’s setting.”

Millie stopped listening when the anchor switched to giving more a rundown of the novel’s plot. After working at the Willoughby for a summer, Millie considered herself an expert on the famous location and the novel that was based there.

She was excited for Sam but concerned at the same time. He had no idea what he was getting into. Millie’s exposure to Manhattan society for her entire life made sure that she had a thick skin, but Sam was a sweet, caring, empathic person. Hollywood would eat him alive. Millie was more certain than ever that she could help him. He needed her. More than that, he wanted her help. That idea made her insides melt.

Another picture appeared next to Sam’s, which drew her attention back to the screen. The picture was of a petite brunette with wide brown eyes. She was beautiful in that damsel in distress, vulnerable kind of way.

“
It was previously announced that actress Delaney Rose was cast as Camilla Fletcher, the young, impressionable woman that Groveson’s character falls in love with over the course of the novel. Rose is best known for her theatrical work, and this will be her first full-length feature film role.”

This was the girl that Sam would be with day in and day out on set. Even though he would be in character, he would still be romancing her, kissing her, and seducing her in the name of Jackson Monroe. Millie wondered if Delaney was single. She felt an unwelcome sting of jealousy.

“Stop thinking about him that way. He’s your friend, nothing more!” She told herself sharply.

Her phone rang, and Millie picked it up. “Hello.”

“My phone has been ringing off the hook for the last three hours.” Sam sounded tired but excited. “Every newspaper and magazine that you could think of wants an interview. The local television stations want me to come in too. This is nuts.”

“You’re famous,” Millie quipped. “What did you expect?”

“I think there’s a guy with a camera sitting outside my building,” Sam replied. “My agent said to expect that there was going to be a lot of interest in me, but I really didn’t believe her.”

Millie felt bad because she knew that even though Sam had scored the role of a lifetime, there was a downside that he was about to experience. He was getting on one hell of a crazy rollercoaster ride.

“Tell you what. I’ll pick up coffee and breakfast, and I’ll come over. I can hole up with you until I have to meet my mother, and we can watch the news to see how popular you really are,” Millie said.

“Really? That sounds great. I’ve been too scared to leave my apartment yet.” Sam sounded relieved.

Millie got Sam’s address and promised to meet him in an hour. With a new task in front of her, she was able to turn off all the other noise in her head. If there was one thing Millie was good at, it was making the best of a bad situation.

Almost an hour later, Millie approached Sam’s building with two coffees and a bag of scones in her hands. She saw a couple of guys milling around outside, which she wouldn’t have thought anything about on any other day, but then she saw the cameras in their hands.

“That was crazy fast,” she said under her breath. She thought that Sam should have put his lease under his nickname. Carter was his given first name, but he told her that he ditched it in grade school when he started getting teased. He said the name Sam was benign enough and that, after he changed it, everyone left him alone.

One of the photographers saw her coming, and she watched his eyes slide up and down her body. She was used to guys checking her out, and she learned long ago to use it to her advantage.

“Hey, hold a door open for a girl, will ya?” she called out when she was a few feet away.

The man scrambled to grab the door, and he held it as she breezed through. “Do you happen to know a guy named Carter
Groveson?” he asked as she passed him.

“Nope,” Millie said. She wondered how she was going to hit the buzzer for Sam’s apartment without letting the photographers see. Luckily, an older woman was exiting the inside door as Millie entered the entryway. Millie smiled at her and nodded her head as if she knew her. Although the woman looked confused, she held the door open for Millie.

“Good thing I’m not a serial killer,” Millie said under her breath once she was inside.

As the doors of the elevator closed, removing the photographers from her view, Millie wondered if there was another way out of the building. Sam might need to check into alternate escape options. Millie was glad that the photographers hadn’t thought to snap a picture of her. Although nowhere near the level of Hollywood fame, Millie’s family regularly appeared in the society section of the paper.

Her mother loved her charity work, and insisted on dragging her father along. She heard that there was already speculation in the gossip section about who Josh was dating and when he would finally settle down and get married. That was the kind of attention she didn’t want or need.

“So you decided to hang out with the guy who got cast in the film of the decade,” she said scolding
herself. She wasn’t sure that spending time with Sam again was a good idea. The misplaced guilt for how she treated him the previous summer seemed to be the most logical explanation for her desire to throw herself into this fire.

The elevator doors opened and Millie found herself looking into Sam’s hazel eyes. Her breath caught in her throat. That morning his sandy blond hair was tousled, but yet it looked perfectly in place. The scruff across his chin told her that he hadn’t shaved yet, but it gave his face an even more dashing allure. She didn’t remember Sam being so thoroughly sexy before. Sweet for sure, but this was a completely new dimension to how she looked at him.

“I saw you coming,” he explained as he took one of the cups and the bag out of her hands. “You didn’t have any trouble getting in, did you?”

“None at all,” she said as she followed him down the hall and into the open doorway of his apartment. “Looks like you were right. There are a few photographers down by the front door.”

“My agent called. She said that everyone is eager to get the first official shot of me now that I’ve accepted the role. She’s already working to schedule media appearances for next week with the studio’s publicity department.”

“It’s happening fast, huh?” Millie said. She looked around Sam’s apartment. Even though he said he had been there for six months, the rooms were sparsely furnished. There weren’t even any pictures on the walls. “I like your apartment.”

Sam shrugged. “I have a roommate, but I hardly ever see him. He’s a resident over at Mount Sinai, and so he has a lot of weird hours. We don’t cross paths that often which is perfect in my opinion. I like having my own space.”

That was why Millie decided to get her own place instead of moving back in with her parents. She held up her cup of coffee. “So let’s have another toast. To the future Tom Cruise.”

Sam grimaced but laughed. “Hopefully I won’t have to dance around in my underwear. You’ve seen me dance.”

“That would definitely scar women everywhere,” Millie agreed. But in her mind she was picturing the shirtless pictures of Sam that were on the television that morning. She wasn’t going to be the one to tell Sam that looking like that, most women wouldn’t give a crap what he was doing. Having a peek at his physique was show enough.

Sam felt as if he was going to jump out of his skin. His body felt as if it was stretched tight across his bones, and little bits of electricity danced just beneath his skin. He should have gone to the gym or for a run because looking at Millie made him want to pull her to him and tell her with his hands and his mouth how he felt about her. But he couldn’t do that. Not after what happened the previous summer.

He still wasn’t sure what it was that drove the wedge between them. He hadn’t pushed the boundaries of their friendship all summer long. But as the time approached when they both had to leave to head back to school, he made a decision. He was going to tell her that he wanted more and put his cards on the table. He figured the worst that could happen was that she’d laugh in his face.

In any other situation like that, he would have asked Millie for her advice on what to do, but of course, since he needed advice about Millie, he had to turn to someone else. He thought about asking Kate, but between the Willoughby and Reed, Kate was forever distracted. So he decided to ask Casey, who he had known since high school. Casey was married to his buddy, Peter. They were all out watching a local band at Lula’s when Millie left to go the ladies room and get another drink. Sam saw his opening to talk to his friend.

“Are you sure you want to do that, Sam?” was Casey’s immediate reaction once he told her what he was going to do.

“I thought you liked Millie?” He was surprised by the vehemence in her voice.

“I do like Millie, but c’mon. Be real. She’s way out of your league,” Casey said.

“Don’t sugarcoat it or even give me the illusion that I’d stand a chance,” Sam said in disgust.

Casey put a hand on his shoulder. “We’ve known each other since we were teenagers. I know how you are and what you want in a relationship. Millie’s fun and cool, but she’s not looking for that kind of thing. You know that. She’ll break your heart. I do think she’d feel bad about it, but she’ll still do it. Don’t go there, Sam.”

He refused to believe her. “You don’t know Millie the way that I do. We’ve been together all summer. She’s special and I need to do this.”

No matter what Casey said after that, Sam refused to be swayed. His plan was to take Millie out to
Grossler’s Point the next day and spill his guts. But then Millie left the bar that night without saying a word, and avoided him like the plague for the next two weeks. To add insult to injury, she left a day earlier than planned and never told him goodbye.

Now here she was, sitting across from him like all of that had never happened. He wanted to ask her to explain it to him, but he didn’t want to mess up whatever truce they had between them. Plus with her there, he realized how much he had missed having her in his life.

“So you have the script already?” Millie broke the silence.

“Oh, yeah.” Sam pulled it off the counter. “They sent it over right after I accepted the part. I don’t have a lot of time to get ready, but the nice thing is at least I know the story. That gives me a leg up, I guess.”

“It’s kind of wild that they’re bringing this thing to the big screen,” Millie said. She held out her hand, and Sam handed her the script. “I mean, it’s an over the top, gut wrenching, tragic love story. Everybody who has read the book knows how it’s going to end. I guess they’re banking on the fact that a bunch of masochists buy tickets to see it opening weekend. I mean you go into it knowing it’s going to rip your heart out.”

“It’s all about the emotions of the characters, and how that plays into the build up of their forbidden love affair,” Sam said, sitting down at the table. “It isn’t about them getting a happy ending. It’s about two people who are lost and how they have to accept a truth that they never expected or saw coming.”

“Yeah, but Jackson Monroe is kind of a prick,” Millie said. “At least in the beginning. I mean, the dude’s married when he meets Camilla.”

“Ah, the beauty of literary fiction,” Sam said. “As much as people hate the illicitness of their affair, that’s still part of what draws them in. Let’s hope I don’t have people throwing tomatoes at me on the street.”

“You might have to start wearing a bag over your head,” Millie laughed.

Sam grabbed the script out of her hands and flipped it open. “They told me that they’re filming this scene first. Are you still up for helping me rehearse?”

“Of course,” Millie said. She scanned the scene. “Oh, this is a good one. I remember this from the book. It’s the first time that Jackson and Camilla are alone together. Do you just want to read this out loud?”

Sam stood up and held out his hand. “No, let’s pretend we’re on set. It helps me envision the scene like it’s happening. Just reading it out loud sitting around doesn’t help as much.”

“I don’t suppose they sent you another copy of this?” Millie said, holding up the script.

“I’ve been working on memorizing it already,” Sam said. “If I need a cue, I’ll just ask you for it. The sooner I have the lines committed to memory the better.”

“Okay,” Millie said. “Tell me where you want me.”

Sam moved closer, and he thought that he heard her breath hitch as he took her shoulders and gently pushed her closer to the window. “Stand here looking out the window and pretend you’re looking out at the lake behind the Willoughby.”

Millie had the benefit of actually standing on the beach behind the Willoughby at night. In fact, she and Sam spent many sultry summer nights lying on the warm sand and staring up at the stars talking about what they wanted from their respective futures. It was definitely a place that could be construed as a romantic hideaway, and Millie understood why Walter
Moolen chose it as the first place for his star-crossed lovers to have their first conversation.