Really Something (18 page)

“Sugar-pie, it's about damned time you were here to save my ass,” Jerry said later that morning. Clearly, reuniting with his right-hand girl had Jerry Wiggs in a good mood. Or what passed for a good mood in Jerry Land.

For the first time since she'd started working for the despot-in-training, she was glad to be with Jerry, too. Because he kept her too busy to think about Duncan. And the chaos her heart had her in. In nearby towns, she'd found a dry cleaner, a shoe polisher, a tailor, and an organic grocer, not for Jerry, but for Brock Dudley, the star of
Sorority Slumber Party Slaughter,
who had yet to come out of his trailer.

He was having his auras read, Jerry told her. “Apparently his colors are off. Either that, or he left his brain back in California. Actors.” Jerry cursed. “Remind me again why I work with these Hollywood loonies.”

“Because you're a director. And that's your job.”

“Oh yeah. I should have listened to my mother and gone into podiatry like my Uncle Lenny.” Jerry ran a hand through his short white hair and cursed again. He'd expanded his off-color vocabulary by several new words today. “With Brock's aura in the wrong rainbow, I don't think we're going to get a single inch of film shot today.”

“Sky's kinda gray anyway,” Allie soothed. “So call the shoot off early. We're supposed to go down to the WTMT-TV studios and film that promo piece at three anyway.” Jerry stared at her, openmouthed, as she rattled off instructions. “Then you and Scotty can come back here, map out the plan for tomorrow. I'll have a chat with Brock's psychic and make sure she and you are on the same color wavelength for tomorrow.”

He was silent for a second, but Allie was done worrying whether Jerry would fire her for speaking up.

“You are a freakin' godsend,” Jerry said, grabbing her arms so tight, for a second she thought he might kiss her. Then he let her go and stalked away, screaming at the top of his lungs for Scotty and Leath, looking almost…happy.

Or as happy as Jerry Wiggs got.

One career disaster averted. If only her personal life were so easy to clean up.

A glint of metal caught Allie's eye. She broke away from the set crew and strode down the sidewalk, then onto the grassy area beside the house. “Hi, Katie.”

“Hi.” Katie raised the leash with the calm, patient dog on the other end. “Ranger here needed a walk and well, I thought I'd come down. You know, see you at work.”

Allie bent down and gathered the young girl into a tight hug. Allie could only imagine what it had taken for Katie to leave the house and come down here, especially considering how much of the town had gathered at this particular spot. “It's good to see you. Really good.”

She grinned. “It's good to be outside. You were right, it was time for me to get out of that house.”

Allie noticed, though, that Katie had parked her chair on the side of a tree, out of view of most of the people standing across the street. “Why don't you come on over to the set? I'll introduce you around. You can meet our star, if I can get him out of his trailer. He's having aura issues.”

For a moment, an excited light shone in Katie's eyes. Then, just as quickly, it dimmed. She gripped the armrests of the chair—her security blanket—and shook her head. “Maybe…another time.”

Allie decided not to push it. Katie had made great strides in the last few days. Forcing her to go too far out of her comfort zone could send her scurrying back to the safety of that bedroom. That, Allie knew, from her high school years. Knew far too well. “Okay. One step at a time.”

“Or in my case,” Katie replied, with a small smile, “one roll at a time.”

They shared a laugh, then Katie sobered and toyed with the brake on the side of her chair. “I also came down here to ask you something.”

“Sure. Anything.”

“Will you come to dinner tonight?”

“Of course. I've basically been there every night.”

“I know, but…” Katie paused. “I wanted tonight to be special.”

Allie heard her name called, and she glanced back to the set, signaling to Jerry that she'd be there in a second. “What's special about tonight?”

“Nothing. I just…” Katie drew in a breath, gave Ranger a pat, then met Allie's gaze. “My brother is really happy with you and it means a lot to me to see him happy.”

“He's happy with me?”

“I may be crippled, but I'm not blind, Allie. He's falling head over heels for you. You're the only thing he ever talks about. ‘Allie said this. Allie did that.'” Katie gave her a good-natured, teasing smile.

Joy soared through Allie, then was just as quickly chased back to the ground by a dose of reality. Duncan might be interested now, but she knew better than anyone how fickle his heart could be.

And how quickly it would change if he found out her real identity. How fast would he back away, run into another woman's arms, as he had that night?

How quickly would he turn away, once he realized she'd been lying to him all this time? She'd woven a web of deceit, and untangling it would surely cost her the very thing that she now wanted.

“Well, that's sweet, Katie,” Allie said, swallowing the dose of reality that had hit her hard. “Maybe we'll keep in touch after I go back to L.A.”

Hurt flickered across Katie's features. Allie cursed the decisions she'd made, but she couldn't go back and undo them. It was far too late. “Go back to L.A.?”

“That's where I live.” But it didn't feel like home, not anymore.

“Well, duh, I knew that.” Katie scowled, the easy mood gone, Katie's defenses back in place. “Anyway, I don't blame you. I'd leave this town in my dust, too. If I could. I used to have plans to do that, you know.”

“I think a lot of us…” Allie shook her head. “I mean, a lot of people do. Want to leave small towns like this one.”

Katie gave her a curious glance, then went back to fiddling with the leash. Ranger, finally sure he wasn't needed, let out a doggie sigh and settled his head on his paws. “I was going to leave this place, go to California, maybe get into acting or something like that, didn't matter as long as it was far from Tempest and someplace warm. Carlene and I had plans to leave town as soon as we graduated.”

“Carlene?” The word was a squeak. And then, Allie remembered, the social life of her sister's that she'd been so envious of, so she'd tried not to pay attention to it, tried to ignore it. The names that had flitted in and out of those conversations—Darla, Cassidy, Mia….

Katie.

Carlene had been good friends with Duncan's sister?

“Yeah, Carlene.” This time, Katie's gaze met Allie's, direct, clear.
Knowing.
“Carlene Gray. Do you know her by any chance?”

“Uh, the director needs me on set. Busy day, the first day of shooting and all.”

“You know, you kind of look like Carlene. Or at least, how she looked back in high school. She was all skinny and blond, a dark blond, but still…You have similar face shapes, too. There's just something about you…” Katie rolled her chair a little closer.

Allie let out a laugh that sounded high-pitched and nervous. She took a step back, hopefully out of Katie's too inquisitive gaze. “Well, there are plenty of blondes in the world.”

Undaunted, Katie rolled closer again, straining her head upward, staring at Allie. “Are those colored contacts? I meant to ask you before, because your eyes are such a vibrant color of green and I saw a commercial for a pair like that once.”

Oh shit. That was
way
too close. Katie was fitting pieces together faster than the world jigsaw-puzzle champ. “You sure you don't want to see how a movie comes together?” Allie said, the words a rush, wanting to do anything to distract her from the subject of Carlene. And Allie's true identity. “Especially since you used to be interested in acting?”

“No. I can't go over there. It's not about people staring or what they might say. It's because…” Her voice trailed off, then she raised a finger and pointed at the tree. “That's where it happened.”

Allie's gaze followed to the huge oak tree at the driveway's entrance, its side scarred, the bark missing in a gnawed-off chunk. The grass and weeds had grown up around it, as if trying to mask the damage to the wood.

Here. It had happened here.

Oh, no.

Allie took in the farm again, seeing it with new eyes, guilt filling her chest. How could she have allowed Jerry and his crew to come out, stomp all over, and make a mockery of the place where something so tragic had happened? She looked at them now, Jerry with his careless disregard, not seeing this place as anything other than a commodity. A means to make his movie.

What a mistake. She should have found another location. It was too late now, too late to undo it.

“That's where the accident was, wasn't it?” Allie asked, her voice soft, tender.

“It wasn't an accident,” Katie said, then turned away. She pushed off with her chair, the dog jumped to his feet.

“Wait, Katie, what do you mean, not an accident?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head, then recovered her smile, albeit a mellower version. “I should be getting home. Bye, Allie. See you at dinner.” The conversation was clearly over.

Katie wheeled her way toward a van that Allie now saw had been waiting a few yards down the road. The new private duty nurse was behind the wheel and came around the vehicle as Katie approached. With quick, efficient movements, she pulled Katie's wheelchair onto the ramp, locked it into place, then raised the platform. It made a sluggish, jerky journey up, the motor whining and groaning before Katie disappeared behind the doors.

People turned and watched the van leave, their gossiping whispers carrying like leaves on the wind. Around here, Katie's first public appearance was bigger news than Neil Armstrong's hop-skip across the surface of the moon.

“Hell of a kid, isn't she?” Vanessa said, coming up to Allie. She'd arrived on the set earlier today, providing much needed support for Allie, especially in between Jerry's tantrums. And, since her husband owned the local delivery business, no one thought much of Allie and Vanessa's frequent conversations, especially since she helped ferry Jerry's overnight packages back and forth. It was the perfect cover for Allie to connect with her friend.

“Yeah.” Allie turned to face Vanessa. “Did you know her?”

“Not well, but my little sister did. They were on the cheerleading squad together. She was full of piss and vinegar, my mother used to say.”

Allie laughed. “Still is.”

Vanessa's face softened. “Good. Glad to see some things don't change.”

Jerry's sharp voice barked over the walkie-talkie in her hands. “Brock's threatening to quit. Says this project isn't aligned with his star sign or some such shit. Break time's over, Sugar-pie. I need your ass back here.”

Allie rolled her eyes. “I gotta go. His Majesty is calling.”

“If it's okay, I'll walk with you and hang out for a little while longer. I have an hour of freedom left until the kids get out of school and I have to go back to mommy prison.”

She and Vanessa fell into stride together, covering the grassy field that led to the farmhouse at an easy pace. Across the way, Allie could see a cowering Leath, looking red-faced and petulant as Jerry laid him out for some new infraction. “Poor Leath. He's still trying to find a coffee shop that can make Jerry a latte.”

“In Tempest?” Vanessa arched a brow. “Good luck with that.”

“Jerry will live. I'll be back at my old job soon enough. And then Scotty go can back to working on his bachelor's degree in sucking up.”

Static crackled on the walkie-talkie, then Jerry's voice again. “Hurry your ass up, and get this offense to humanity away from me before I have to fire him myself.”

Allie increased her pace, then slowed. “What am I doing?” She turned to Vanessa. “Why should I go back to work for that jerk?”

“Because it's your job?”

“Exactly,” Allie said. “It was my job, but never my dream. Working for Jerry was only a way
toward
my dream. This whole thing with the movie, with finding the location was one step closer to proving to Jerry that I can handle a project of this scope. And you know what? I can handle it. I
did
handle it.”

“So when you get back to L.A.,” Vanessa said, “ask for a promotion. After that, you can work your way up—”

“Work my way up? Why? Because slow and steady has done such a good job of getting me there in the last five years?” Allie shook her head. She toed at the soft fertile earth, the decision firming in her mind. “No. I don't want to wait anymore. I want to make my own movies. Now.”

“How are you going to do that? You have to find financing and, I don't know, a million other things that go into movie-making.” Vanessa touched Allie's arm, her gaze earnest, filled with concern. “I don't want to be a wet blanket on your idea fire, Al, but I also want to see you pay your rent, too.”