“What?”
“Gorgeous Thanksgiving cards featuring two photos. One from our beautiful wedding and another of you breaking your vows by screwing your secretary in her living room.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, yes. I would. In fact, if you contest the divorce, that’s exactly what I’ll do.”
“I’ll take my chances. Most of the men I know would applaud me. My secretary is smoking hot.”
“You’re right. They might. Fortunately for me, most of them are married to women who don’t work. Women who get the mail. Women who would be upset by what they saw. You wanted to pretend we have an amazing, stable marriage. You wanted me to have the perfect car, the perfect handbag, the perfect house. Appearances are everything to you and your business.”
“Whatever.”
“Collin, you don’t work very hard because my dad gives you all his new business. If these photos go out, it will hurt my dad’s business. Do you really think your pretty partnership will happen after that?”
“Uh . . .”
“Exactly. Oh, hang on. Let me send you a mock-up of the card I sent to the printers. It’s cute. There’s even a poem. You’ll get a kick out of it.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Believe it, Collin. I’m hanging up now. Enjoy your card.”
I’m shaking again when I hang up.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” Maggie says, “But fuck yeah! I’m so proud of you for standing up to that asshole!” She studies me. “You know what. You look like you could use a glass of wine. Fortunately, that’s something we have plenty of here. Red or white?”
“White. I can’t believe I said all that. My dad is going to be mad at me when he finds out I lied to him.”
“And do you care about that?” she asks as she drags me out of her office, across the street to her house, and onto her front porch. “Sit and rock. I’ll be right back.”
I sit down and rock. And rock.
And feel a little calmer.
By the time she comes back with two glasses of a crisp Chardonnay, I say, “I’m proud of me too.”
“You should be. Can I see the Thanksgiving card?”
“Sure.” I hand her my phone.
“Oh, wow. You even made up a little rhyme.
We should thank you for your business this Thanksgiving day,
But, instead, we find Collin and his secretary rolling in the hay.
Yes, he has a wife who you all know,
But does that really matter?
Boys will be boys and all that chatter.
If you’re a wife and know how I feel,
Show Collin you won’t stand for this deal.
Move your business to someone worthy of your trust.
And not someone who just thinks about lust.
Maybe it’s time us women unite.
Like the Pilgrims and Indians did that night.
So Happy Thanksgiving,
enjoy your cranberry sauce
And know I’m divorcing this asshole,
Love, Ariela Ross.”
“What do you think?”
“I think if you stop planning weddings, you could write divorce cards. It’s awesome. Are you really going to send them?”
“It all depends on if Collin decides to play nice.”
“If I saw this, I’d be playing nice. So how is the wedding planning going?”
“Good. Your vendors are all super nice and more than willing to go out of their way to get this
fundraiser
done in time. The only thing I’m worried about is having them set up the furniture for the ceremony. The altar will scream wedding.”
“They deliver it the afternoon of the wedding, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, worse case, we say that Logan and I are renewing our vows.”
“Oh, that’s good.”
“Logan has a dinner to attend tonight. Maybe we could have a girls’ night. Order some gourmet pizza, get drunk on wine, and catch up.”
“That sounds perfect.”
Captive Films — Santa Monica
DAWSON
“You’ve been avoiding me all day,” I say to Vanessa as I join her in Keatyn’s office.
“I’m not avoiding you. I’m just busy.”
“Vanessa, don’t shut me out.”
I look at him and sigh. “Avery gave me a happy dress to wear tonight.”
“A happy dress?”
“Yes, she says I’ve been happy lately. I have been because of you. I’m sorry I got upset last night. I was mad at myself, not mad at you.”
I shut the door. “Why were you mad at yourself?”
“Because I wanted to be included. I understand completely why you need to spend time alone with your girls, I do. But my first reaction was that I was jealous. I was mad at myself for behaving that way. I just couldn’t help it.”
“You’re lucky Keatyn’s office is full of windows,” I say.
“Stop grinning,” she says, giving me a swat. “And stop with the sexy eyes.”
“I have sexy eyes?”
“You know damn well you do. Do you want to stay here while I make a call? Might as well learn more about what I do. It’s not always pretty.”
“What are you gonna do?” I ask.
“A little PR blackmail.”
“Interesting.” I take off my jacket, lay it on the couch, and then roll up my sleeves.
“Now, you’re stripping?”
“Just getting comfortable.”
Tyler knocks on the door, interrupting us. “I just got a call from a tabloid that I ‘leak’ things to on occasion. She said that Knox’s assistant told her
off the record
that Vegas was a publicity stunt and that someone, who would surprise us, leaked the photos.”
“What did you tell her?”
“Well, you told us to say no comment so I said
no comment
.”
“Perfect. I’m just getting ready to call that someone and persuade him to confess that he pushed out the photos.”
“Oh, how are you going to do that?”
Vanessa tosses a photo in Tyler’s direction. He catches it out of the air.
“Oh, my stars! Parker Hudson?” He holds the photo up to the light. “Where the hell was this party and why wasn’t I invited?”
Vanessa laughs. “Show Dawson.”
He hands it to me. My eyes get big. “Jeez. You could have warned me.” I turn the paper on it’s side and tilt my head. “Wow.”
“It all works just fine, Mr. Johnson,” Tyler teases. “I know these things.”
“I’m sure it does. But I’d prefer not to see it.”
“Well, here’s hoping that Parker prefers everyone not see it. Hush, you both, I’m going to call him.”
Tyler sits next to me on the couch in rapture. If I didn’t know he was gay, I’d think he had a crush on Vanessa.
“Isn’t she just amazing?” he says to me. “Did you see her handbag today? Brand new. I heard there’s a wait list. She’s always one of the first ones they call. Lucky bitch.”
I chuckle, but Vanessa shushes me. It’s kinda hot.
Kinda like being scolded by your hot teacher.
My mind starts wandering as she puts the call on speaker and says, “Parker, how are you? Thanks for agreeing to chat with me.”
“My publicist made me,” he says.
“Well, he’s smart because we have some publicity to talk about. I’m just gonna cut to the chase, Parker. I know that you sold the photos of Vegas to the tabloids. Jennifer was supposedly drunk and you thought she was trying to make you jealous. I’d even bet a lot of money that new girlfriend of yours—the playboy bunny—whatever her name is, encouraged you to sell them.”
“Uh,” he stutters.
“You don’t have to answer, Parker. It’s okay. So you sold the photos. The press ate them up. You made a tidy sum that, you will be announcing today, will be donated to Jennifer’s favorite charity.”
“The fuck I am. I didn’t sell anything.”
“Parker, Jennifer texted you sixty-one photos. All of which have been sold to the press. You tried to split them up, but I know people and they told us that it was you. Makes sense, as no one else would have a selfie that Jennifer took herself. Now, I know you are hot. Your fans love you. But recently, I received just one photo of you. A photo of you so damning, you’ll be swimming in a shit sewer of bad PR from which your career will never recover.”
“Bullshit.”
“Hang on, Parker. I’m going to use my cell phone to text you the photo.”
She obviously had it pre-loaded into her phone, because all she does is hit send.
“I just heard your phone vibrate. You must have gotten it already. Amazing how fast photos can travel nowadays, isn’t it? I wonder what would happen if all the mothers of your teenybopper fans caught wind of this.”
“Oh, fuck,” Parker says.
“The perfect comment,” Vanessa continues. “Now that I have your attention. What are you going to do tonight?”
“Announce that I sold the photos because I’m an asshole. That I’ll be donating the proceeds to the children’s foundation she supports. She did it on purpose, didn’t she? She knew that I would do it. She was just pretending to be drunk. I heard it was a publicity stunt.”
“I have no comment on that, but I do have another comment. I’d like you to do a few interviews with the press. I’d like you to publicly apologize to Jennifer for being the douche that you are. Never once did she come out and tell anyone why she broke up with you. She never told them you were a lying cheater. She has class. It’s time for you to tell the truth.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Oh. I see. Okay. Well, nice chatting with you. Um, you might want to notify your PR firm about what’s coming up. You know, so they can prepare.”
“Fuck. Fine. Fine. I’ll do it.”
“And you’ll dump the bunny. She isn’t good for you.”
“Yes, yes. I’ll do it.”
“Perfect. Then it will stay between you and me. Cheers, Parker. Have a great night!”
She hangs up and Tyler stands up and claps. “I want to be you when I grow up. Spectacular performance. Now, you need to get going, or you will be late for your appointments. And by the way, I saw the dress Avery brought you, To. DIE. For. See you tonight.”
He rushes out of the door, already on his phone.
I saunter over to Vanessa and sit on the edge of the desk next to her. “If Tyler’s gonna die, that means your dress is probably going to make me hot.”
“I haven’t even seen it yet. It may not even fit me.”
“Uh, huh.”
“Fine. I peeked. It’s gorgeous. I’m hoping I can do it justice.”
“Wear your red lipstick. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“Six-thirty. I need to be there early.”
I lean in and kiss her. “You really are amazing.”
Asher Vineyards — Sonoma County
ARIELA
I had so much fun catching up and reminiscing, and maybe getting a little drunk, with Maggie tonight. As I plop down on the bed and am trying, unsuccessfully, to get my boots off, my phone dings.
I fall off the bed trying to get it, hoping it’s Riley.
Coffee Kyle:
So did you go? Did you see him? Is there a sweet job waiting for me?
Me:
Yes. Yes. Unfortunately not.
Coffee Kyle:
So what happened when you saw him?
Me:
The first time he saw me, he was pissed I was there but gave me the hottest kiss.
Coffee Kyle:
Mine would have been hotter.
Me:
Don’t mess with me. I’m a little drunk. And there was a lot of emotion in this kiss.
Coffee Kyle:
I'm just teasing. So a kiss. Then did you have hot angry sex?
Me:
I wish. No.
Coffee Kyle:
Come on, give me the scoop. I sat through a six-hour movie with you. I need to know the rest of the story.
Me:
I don't think this story is going to have a happy ending, Kyle. It’s all kind of a mess.
Coffee Kyle:
So, truth. I saw the Vegas photos. That's really what made me text you. How are you doing?
Me:
I’m a bit of a wreck but I'm busy. I got a job running a big swanky event. You know what? I could really use some help. Would you want to be my assistant?
Coffee Kyle:
Do I get to ass—ist you in the bedroom?