Untangling The Stars (21 page)

“My plan?”

“Yes, your plan. You’re toying with a man’s career, Dr. Foxglove. I hope it’s not in the name of research, though I’m sure it would make a lovely book deal.”

Wow, right for the heart
. That was twice she had been accused of using her romantic involvement with Guy to pad her own research agenda. Frankly, it was insulting. She couldn’t help but be defensive. “My interest in Guy has nothing to do with research. It’s a relationship. With feelings and that kind of thing, if you’re familiar.”

“You do know that he’s threatening to pull his contract on
My Bleeding Heart
, don’t you? How do you think that might play out in the headlines if he were to actually go through with it? I can’t imagine it would be too attractive on any of our CVs if Guy Wilder walked out of a deal because he was ‘in love’ with his biggest critic.”

“He mentioned it, but what he does with his career is his choice and has nothing to do with me.”

“Doesn’t it though, Alessandra? It certainly has a fair amount of people on this side of the camp worried. Think about all the people on that show, all the other people’s livelihoods he’d be impacting if the top star blew the gig for everyone. It’s a hard trick even with Hollywood magic to write the lead character out of the script and keep a show going.”

She knew it was bait—
knew
it was bait. The success of a primetime show didn’t pivot on one character, and it was ridiculous to think that it would. Leading characters were regularly killed off, sometimes before they even knew it was happening. But Madeline had a way of shaping questions to feed on your deepest insecurities. She’d make one hell of a journalist if she’d ever be willing to step off her mighty podium. She’d already questioned Andie’s academic integrity and now was appealing to her more charitable nature. Andie didn’t want to know what other tricks she had in store for her.

Andie cocked her head, but didn’t answer. Nothing she said would have deterred Madeline’s line of questions. It was better to stay quiet instead of adding fuel to the fire anyway.

“Besides, my resources tell me that your institution isn’t too thrilled with the attention you’ve been bringing in. And it was mentioned that you were overheard in a rather heated argument with one of your co-workers regarding a charitable event that seems to have lost your attention in the interest of other more
personal
matters.”

“Your sources are wrong. Everything is just fine in my world. I think you’re more worried about your own.”

The Doberman across the table smiled, if you could call it a smile. She was going in for the kill. Andie had never seen a smile that looked so mean—an evil sort of bend that reminded Andie strongly of Pennywise, the clown from
It
. Anyone who had a smile like that couldn’t be up to any good. “Alessandra, you don’t really believe in fate, do you? I mean, honey, of all the classrooms on campus, do you really believe that Guy stumbled into yours by accident?”

Frostbite bit though Andie’s veins as she understood, immediately, what Madeline was hinting at. “You can’t be saying that this was all some sort of plan?”

“Couldn’t it be though? What better way for Guy Wilder to
accidentally
enjoy a nice ride at the top of every media headline in Hollywood by cozying up with a pretty little blonde professor who actively campaigns against pop culture romance and getting her to fall in love with him?”

Andie felt like she might throw up. She tried not to look too obvious as she laid her napkin on her lap, praying it would be able to shield the contents of her stomach from splattering on the lap of her dress.
Don’t do it Andie, you know how much you hate going to the dry cleaners.

“Besides, Guy has been looking to move from fantasy roles to something more…” She paused and pretended to finger the sharp end of her hair. “…serious, and take his audience along with him. What better way than to align himself with the equivalent of a film critic who happens to have immediate access to a segment of his target market? Come along, Dr. Foxglove, use some of that brilliance to deduce the other more likely reasons that Guy Wilder has made such an interest in some everyday girl like yourself, and turned his back on the supermodels who he could take to his bed instead. It’s a much prettier photo op with two professionals. And, I don’t think that would sit very well for your university either.”

The Mad Man’s word struck home, seeming to make purchase on every one of Andie’s most secretive of insecure thoughts.
Oh my god, she’s right. She’s got to be right. That makes so much sense.
Madeline didn’t miss Andie’s brief falter and must have known she had the upper hand. She laughed, and the sound was so cold and untouchable it sounded distinctly like glass shattering. Vomit was rising in Andie’s throat, but luckily, Madeline cut it off. “Don’t get upset, dear. Unfortunately, he
did
wander into your room, much to my disappointment, totally by accident. And worse, he actually does seem to be rather genuinely fond of you. So that is
one
point in your favor, but I promise you that it doesn’t count for much in the scheme of things.”

That didn’t make Andie feel any better at all.

Madeline leaned across the table so she could whisper her next words so that only Andie would hear them. It was like she was delivering the last personal stab in the heart with a serial killer’s glee. “But, as you so well know, the truth isn’t always what the media likes to talk about. I’m sure my version would make a
very
compelling story. You two may very well go off and live happily ever after, but you’re not taking me down with you. I’ll make sure you both go down in flames before I see even a hint of tarnish on my reputation that I can’t handle my clients.”

Andie gulped. Was the Mad Man threatening her? Yes, yes she was. The problem was, no one would ever believe it.

Madeline calmly laid a one-hundred-dollar bill on the table and stood up to leave. “Do what’s best, Alessandra. Walk away from this and save both of you while you still can.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

It took a lot to rattle Andie Foxglove, but the Mad Man’s words spread through her like poison ivy. Either she had lost some of her edge or she had really,
really
underestimated Madeline Mann. She knew they were just that—words—and words that had been curated with the intent to do harm. In fact, Andie probably should feel better if she had the strength to read between the lines of Madeline’s words. In the midst of all the verbal assassination that she’d had done to Andie and Guy’s relationship, she’d also validated the fact that Guy really did care for her, and that he was more concerned about their relationship than advancing his career. But, somehow that actually made Andie feel worse. Love should be about compromise, not sacrifice.

The whole damned thing felt toxic, and seemed to confirm the doom theories that had been occupying more and more space in her mind. She knew from experience—both in work and in her personal life—that the most perfect-feeling romances were always the ones that went down in flames first, and hers and Guy’s looked like it was about to catch on fire. It would cost him a career to be with her, and could very likely cost her hers to be with him. Unfortunately, unlike Guy, that wasn’t a price she was willing to pay. She wasn’t sure if that made her selfish or just realistic. Nevertheless, by the time Andie began to make her way home that evening, she had gone from sick in her stomach to on the verge of requiring life support.

Everything just sucked.

It sucked even more when she showed up to the gala planning session and was greeted by the stony faces of Elizabeth, Melody, and Denise. Tandy didn’t even bother to look up.

“Hi, guys. Sorry I’m late. Got held up on campus.” The words came out too fast and Andie had to fight to keep her voice from shaking.
These are your
friends
, Foxglove. Get a grip.

Elizabeth gave Andie big eyes and buried her face in whatever Tandy was so busy looking at. Melody regarded her like she was trying to decode her with an inner polygraph, pick up on micro facial expressions like emotion psychologist Paul Ekman. Denise, characteristically, didn’t play into the tension in the room. That was the plus of her being more interested in studying brains of primates addicted to cigarettes than the petty goings-on of everyday humans. The downside was that she lacked the tact of diplomacy, and didn’t bother to sugarcoat her observations.

“Hello, Andie. The tension between you and Tandy is making Elizabeth and Denise uncomfortable. Would you like to discuss it and clear the air so we can finalize gala details?”

Tandy shot angry eyes at Denise who blinked back innocently. Andie took a gulp and sat down in the nearest chair. Discuss it she could do, but she didn’t want to be the one to open up that can of worms. She searched the table for a scone. She’d rather play offense and shove something in her mouth so someone else could talk first
.
Unfortunately, the table was annoyingly empty of anything to snack on.
Damn.

“Dr. Foxglove has apparently decided that her personal life isn’t worth sharing with her closest friends, nor is using her personal network of connections to help out with the fundraiser that
she
chairs.”

Andie could hear the smug air quotes around the words “personal network.” She rolled her eyes at Tandy and spoke, instead, to the other three ladies. Well, at least the other two, since Elizabeth had her eyes glued to the piece of paper in front of her and didn’t look up. She had probably been instructed to stay on Tandy’s side of the fence—or else.

“And Tandy thinks that peoples’ personal business should become a matter of public record and that it’s totally acceptable for one of those ‘closest friends’ to barge in someone’s office swinging.” She knew it sounded like a whiny sibling in sister-on-sister warfare, but it couldn't be helped. Andie’s feelings felt like they’d been stung by a bee. A big pink bee.

Tandy scoffed and pinched her arms around her chest.

Andie gestured at Tandy, as if to emphasize her point.

“Now be fair, both of you. Let’s break this down,” ventured Melody carefully. “Andie, I totally understand you wanting to keep your private life to yourself, and I know you can’t possibly be having a fun time of it being out and the open in such a hyper-public way right now. But perhaps if you would have shared this with the people closest to you, we could have known and been better prepared to support you. It’s not like any of us wouldn’t have been happy for you, even if we were concerned about potential fallout and how it would affect
you
, Andie. On the other hand, knowing you had such a close relationship with someone like Guy Wilder
would
have been helpful for the event, and it did feel a little out of character that you were so closed off about it. Though I don’t think any of us—” She cut her eyes at Tandy. “—would be in the right to
assume
he would be involved with the gala. Nor would it be right of any of us to confront you so rudely about it.” She kept her eyes pointed on Tandy. “That was out of line, Tandy.”

Tandy seemed sincerely shocked to have been called out on her behavior. She blinked in Melody’s general direction as if trying to find her inside a beam of bright lights. “Well it’s not like I just bulldozed her, thank you. She fought back like a cornered cat.”

“Was I not supposed to defend myself, Tandy?” Andie knew she should have waited for one of the other girls to mediate, but she couldn’t. Like hell was she going to be put in the wrong for reacting! Of course, she wasn’t exactly proud of how she had reacted, but that was beside the point.

Tandy sputtered. “Well I hope I never see you actually confront someone, if that was your idea of defending yourself. I had to run out of there before you came unglued.” Her voice was shrill and high. She sounded like someone had pinched together the lips of a balloon, and it was screeching out air right before it was let go to spin through the air.

Andie slammed her hand down on the table so forcefully that it made everyone but Tandy jump in their seats. “I will not apologize for fighting my way out of a corner. You had
no right
do what you did. Own up to something for once, Tandy.”

“Ladies, let’s not get upset,” Melody’s expert voice cut in diplomatically. If she could control a courtroom full of rowdy people, it should be no stretch for her to handle a small circle of angry women.

Tandy gave Andie a smug, lopsided smirk that meant nothing good. She put both palms up—a proclamation of good intentions—and addressed the group with a voice low and overly-soft. Like quicksand. “Maybe it would be a good idea for Andie to take some time away from things. You know, let the world calm down a bit. We can handle things from here, Andie, and take a little off your plate so you can have some time to sort things out without worrying about us. I know you must be so exhausted, honey.” Her words were thick and so sweet that they nearly gave Andie a cavity just listening to them. Tandy had managed to take “get more flies with honey” to “drown them in honey so they can’t fly away.”