Chapter 10 Game On
Game On
Vivian
Well, of all the nerve. Calling me a liar right to my face!
I am. I get that. But still. You don’t call someone out right to their face!
You say it behind their back like a normal person.
And you know what? I may be a liar, but at least I have manners.
I never would have said that whole thing about ‘no one respects a liar.’ That was quite awful, really.
He just told me he doesn’t respect me. Again, to my face.
Also, he refused to eat the pancakes and bacon I lovingly prepared for him and his son.
(They were fabulous, by the way. Henry must have said so at least twelve times.
He also said they were “to die for,” which is unbelievably cute.) It’s Ben’s loss, quite frankly.
He’ll never know what he missed out on because I’ll never make pancakes for him again.
It was all I could do not to grab the lunch I made him and toss it in the garbage.
But I didn’t. I took the high road and told him to have a great day, because, as I already mentioned, I have manners.
And now, I’m curling my hair into big beachy waves while I wait for Dominic to wake up.
We’re going to have to go public today—before Ben gets home from work and ruins everything.
I was going to spend the day writing up scripts and googling good video locations, but instead, I’m going to have to kick my plan into high gear.
Frank’s plane lands at noon, so I’ve decided we’ll pick him up at the airport and go straight to Paradise Bay Resort and set up the shoot at the burger bar there.
We can tell the world it’s the place we first met, which will lend some authenticity to the whole thing.
We can even tell the story about him eating the salad. It’ll be wonderful!
And by the time Mr. Morality Police gets home, it’ll be a done deal.
Dominic and me together forever. Or, well, for a while anyway.
My stomach churns a little and that nagging voice in my head starts to clear his throat, but I silence him.
No way, voice of reason, you’re not right about this one and I’m not listening.
If I listen, I might cave, and if I cave, I won’t go through with this, and if I don’t go through with this my career is over, my reputation is ruined, Dominic is never getting to Broadway, and Frank is out of a job.
I glance at the clock. It’s almost ten. That’s it. I’m waking Dominic up. I hurry to the kitchen and heat up a plate of breakfast for him, then take it to his room and knock on the door. After a second, I hear a very sleepy “Hello?”
Opening the door, I say, “Morning, future hubs. I brought you breakfast in bed.” I flip on the light and walk in. “My signature pancakes and bacon. You’ll need to fuel up because we’ve got a busy day ahead of us.”
He sits up and rubs his eyes. “Is this what it’s like to have a wife?”
“You mean having meals lovingly prepared for you while you get your beauty rest?”
“No, I mean having my sleep interrupted by someone who has planned my entire day for me.”
I consider his words. He’s not wrong. “Umm, yes.” Putting on a wide smile, I say, “But … yummy breakfast? Hmm?”
“That’s very nice of you but I don’t eat bacon. Or pancakes.”
“Just like your brother,” I mutter, plucking a piece of bacon off the plate and having a bite.
“What? Ben loves that stuff.”
“Really?” I ask, my heart sinking a little.
“Yeah, he’d eat that every day if it wouldn’t give him a heart attack,” Dominic says. “Why? Did he say no when you offered him some?”
Nodding, I say, “I have a bad feeling that he doesn’t like me that much.”
Shrugging, he says, “Ben can be a little guarded. He’s been through some stuff, but he’ll come around when he gets to know you.”
No, he won’t. “I hope so, but in the meantime, we have to get rolling. My videographer arrives at noon so we’ve got to get to the airport. And we need to post our first video together today, preferably before we pick Henry up from school.”
“Today?” He looks shocked, which makes me panic a little.
Offering him a confident smile, I say, “Uh-huh, yes. The sooner the better. Frank’s not cheap so we’ve got to make use of his time while he’s here. And we’ve got so much to do—staging an engagement, picking a venue, planning the wedding…”
Dominic nods, then throws off his covers to reveal navy silk pajama bottoms. “Okay, we better hurry then because I have a lot to do to get camera-ready.”
“You look great, believe me.”
He gives me a look that says I’m insane, then says, “I need a haircut, a facial, a proper shave, oh, and I should pick up a new outfit. I don’t have anything that’ll do.”
No! No way do I have time for any of that. “I’m sure we’ll find something fabulous in your closet.”
Shaking his head, he says, “Not for this. We need the right look for this. Old money casual.”
I chew on my lip for a second. He’s definitely right about that, and the fact that he’s thought of it shows how perfect he is for the job. “Okay, we really have to hustle then.”
“Oh, I can hustle. Believe me.”
You know when people claim to be great at something, but they’re not?
Like when you were a teenager and some boy says he’s the best skateboarder in the city before he attempts to slide down a railing, only to land on his nuts and need to go directly to the hospital?
Yeah, that’s how good Dominic is at ‘hustling.’
He was in the shower for close to forty-five minutes doing a ‘deep scrub’ of his entire body, then spent twenty minutes picking out the perfect outfit to wear to the store to buy the perfect outfit (which I paid for, by the way, because as it turns out, the cast members of a nightly show at a resort don’t make the kind of cash needed to pull off old money casual).
We pull up to the airport to see Frank standing on the sidewalk in the shade.
Frank is surly on a good day, and at the moment, he’s in full surl—a stark contrast to all the arriving tourists who are delighted with their good fortune to be here.
He looks pale, tired, and miserable with his enormous equipment bag and his suitcase at his feet.
I’m sure the fact that his flight landed twenty minutes ago and I wasn’t here isn’t helping his mood.
“There he is!” I tell Dominic, pointing.
“You mean young Christopher Lloyd?”
I stare at Frank’s shock of brown hair that’s sticking up at all angles, his bright green and yellow Hawaiian shirt and jeans, and nod. “Yup. That’s the one.”
Dominic pulls over, screeching the tires of his Jetta, and I unbuckle and get out before he’s fully stopped. “Frank! So sorry we’re late!”
Dominic rushes around to greet him, his arm out for a handshake.
Frank glances at his hand, then gives it a lackluster shake. “Well, if it isn’t the love of Vivian’s life.”
Oh, the sarcasm’s flowing freely today. I smile at him. “Yup. This is Dominic James. Dominic, Frank Mosley, talented videographer and editor extraordinaire.”
Frank gives him a deadpan expression. “She does this.”
“Does what?”
“Acts all nice and complimentary.”
“Oh,” Dominic says, furrowing his brow. “But really she’s … not nice?”
“No, she is. She’s from the Midwest. It’s just annoying is all.”
Dominic gives him a big nod, even though he still looks a little confused. “Ahh, okay. Good to know.”
“Anyway,” I say, pulling up the handle on Frank’s suitcase. “We need to run. This is a no-parking zone, and we have to hurry if we’re going to record the big reveal video before we pick up Henry from school.”
Dominic hurries to the trunk and opens it while Frank follows with his equipment bag. “Who’s Henry?”
“I’ll tell you on the way to the resort. Get in.”
We make a stop at the resort’s spa for Dominic to get a haircut and a shave, but I drew the line at the facial.
Frank and I wait in the air-conditioned spa lobby, sipping cucumber waters and listening to music that includes far too much flute for me.
Well, for me at the moment anyway. I’m in a panic.
I need the “William Tell Overture” or maybe Britney Spears’ “Work Bitch.”
I bounce my leg while Frank flips through the spa services pamphlet. “This place is nice. I’m surprised you put me up here.”
“Dominic can get a deal,” I answer. “In fact, we’re going to meet with his bosses tomorrow. Pretty sure we can do the wedding here in exchange for free publicity.”
“Nice.”
“Yes, it will be.” I cross my leg, then uncross it and go back to bouncing.
“What’s got you so worked up?” Frank asks.
“Dominic’s brother hates my guts and wants to sabotage this whole thing, so we’ve got to get the first video posted before he gets off work today. That way it’ll be too late to turn back.”
He sets the pamphlet down and sniffs. “And why does he hate you exactly? Is it because you’re irritatingly sweet?”
“Having a bubbly personality isn’t something that bothers most people,” I tell him. “And no, it’s because he doesn’t approve of what we’re doing and he doesn’t want his brother tangled up in all of this.”
“He’s right.”
“He’s an overprotective ass,” I tell him, thinking about all that delicious food he refused to eat. “And he’s about to lose his live-in babysitter, who, by the way, wants more out of life than wiping noses and … and the other gross stuff you have to do when you look after children.”
“Children are the future, Viv, and caring for them is a sacred responsibility,” Frank says. To anyone listening, he sounds sincere, but he hates kids almost as much as he hates happy people and puppies.
“Yeah, well, Dominic has done his part, and now he wants his life back. I can give him that, only it’ll be much better because I can help open some doors for him in the New York theater scene.”
“Ah, I see. Suddenly this fake marriage thing sounds like a brilliant idea.”
I glare at him. “Look, it’s not the best situation. I get that. It’s not even a good one, but it’s the situation we’re in. If LornaLuvsScrewingPeopleOver hadn’t screwed me over, we wouldn’t be here, but she did, and I had to act fast—which I did—to save both our jobs.”
“Thank you,” Frank says dryly.
“You’re welcome,” I answer in a curt tone. I check the time, my gut tightening some more. “Oh, forget waiting. Let’s go set up the shot at the burger bar.”
“Burger bar? Can we grab some lunch?”
I suddenly realize how hungry I am. “Sure.” Standing, I say, “I’ll go tell Dominic to meet us down there.”
And he better damn well hurry, or this entire thing might be over before it begins.