Chapter 28 #2
“They do on this set,” assured Bronte. “Because this set is gold. No status games, no sucking up, no special treatment. Every other thing I’ve worked on, the stars eat in their trailer.
But with this mob …” She gestured toward the director and producers.
“And Dorian Khan being so awesome, this is no kidding the nicest set I’ve ever worked on.
I don’t even care if it turns out to be a terrible movie. Seconds?”
Lily couldn’t resist another serving of the delicious paella and headed back to the buffet table, where the line had now slowed to a trickle. She accepted another generous bowl, turned around, found herself in someone’s way, was about to say excuse me and duck past … when she saw who it was.
“Lily!”
“Dorian!”
Lily stood there, her mouth open, clutching her paella with a rising sense of panic.
“What are you doing here?” he finally said, at which Lily could only manage a confused mumbling.
“Nothing. Just. Kitty—visit. Omigod. I’m so sorry.”
She shoved her bowl back at the server and sprinted back to her table.
“We have to go. Now!” she yelled, tugging furiously at her lanyard.
Before Kitty and Bronte could establish what was wrong, Dorian appeared with two bowls of the unlucky paella.
“Lily—please, it’s fine. Hi, you’re Bronte, aren’t you? Do you mind if I join you?”
Having stood up in confusion, everyone now sat back down again.
Lily shriveled, too horrified to even look up as Dorian politely shook hands with Kitty and Hanna, asked what they had seen so far, what they thought of it, and how they knew Bronte.
It was a perfectly normal, easy, amicable conversation, during which Lily stewed in a pool of hot embarrassment, unable to say anything at all.
How it must look! Like she was a starstruck stalker following him around the country—around the world even!
Exactly the deplorable behavior that he had suspected of her and her family, and she’d denied.
And nothing she could say would change the fact of it.
She could die when she thought of how easy it would be for Dorian to triumph in her misery with one look.
She dreaded the moment she would have to meet his eyes.
But as the conversation continued, it became clear to Lily that Dorian was doing his absolute best to be polite.
No, not just polite—actually friendly and engaged.
There was none of the distance and haughtiness he’d shown at Pippi or in LA.
He was smiling, even joking, not just with Bronte, whom he worked with, but also with Kitty and Hanna.
She had never seen him so comfortable. Surely this couldn’t be the real Dorian?
Maybe he was waiting for a chance to drop the facade and turn on her in fury.
Or maybe this was the only place Dorian could relax.
He was still a movie star on set, but he was just another part of the team, like everyone else.
“Copy that!” said Bronte into her headset.
“I’ll be right back,” and she slipped away, leaving a gap at the table and a gap in the conversation just as Lily began to hope that the situation would soon be over and forgotten.
She was just about to make a carefully framed comment to make it crystal clear that she wasn’t expecting to see Dorian, and indeed would never have come if she’d known he was here, when they were interrupted.
“There you are!” A young woman put her hand on Dorian’s shoulder and slid into the seat next to him with all the familiarity of a very close friend. Extremely close, thought Lily.
“I thought you got lost. Hi. I’m Sigrid.” She offered her hand and beamed an impossibly beautiful smile.
Lily couldn’t help thinking, with a little bit of resentment, that perhaps relationships weren’t so difficult for Dorian to manage after all.
“Sorry,” Dorian apologized to the young woman, then turned back to the others. “This is my sister.”
Ah! Lily felt a stab of relief, quickly followed by a rushing sense of her own foolishness.
She had no interest in Dorian or his relationships, she reminded herself, as she observed (with quite a bit of interest) that Sigrid’s dark skin, posh accent, and handsome bone structure were very much like her brother’s.
But her manner had none of his reserve, and within minutes Lily found herself chatting with her easily, as though they were old friends.
Sigrid turned out to be visiting from the UK, where she was studying psychology.
“Pippi Beach!” she exclaimed. “Of course, Dorian told me all about it. And the photos! My gosh. Paradise. I was in the Lake District at the time with some friends, up to my ears in mud, positively kicking myself that I wasn’t there with you.
But now here I am—desperate to spend time with my little brother—and he’s very selfishly making a movie. ”
“I did warn you,” Dorian put in.
“So I’m spending most of my time on set and the rest of it strolling around museums and gardens all on my own.”
Lily laughed. “I’ll be doing the same next week, when they go back to work.” She indicated her aunts. “Maybe we should join forces.”
“Yes, let’s!” Sigrid pounced. They proceeded to make such absorbing plans to visit exhibitions, libraries, and parks that Lily became completely unselfconscious about Dorian and indeed almost forgot he was even there.
“WE’RE BACK ON!”
The call went around the tent and the entire set and the party was swept up in some confusion about where they were all going next.
Bronte urged them in one direction to watch more of the stunt, while Dorian and Sigrid were needed somewhere else.
There was a lot of hugging and leave-taking, then somehow Lily found herself shaking hands with Dorian, feeling rather red in the face, apologizing again for bursting in on him at work.
“Don’t worry about it, really,” he assured her as he continued to hold her hand. He pulled her closer. “I’m very glad you came.”
And he said it into her eyes with such deep sincerity that it really did seem like a line from a Hollywood movie—a good one—and the others all stopped talking and stared a little.
Then he and Sigrid were both gone and Lily was faced with some very pointed looks. She was obliged to spend some time explaining that no, she really didn’t know Dorian Khan that well, and yes, she was as surprised as they were.