46. Chapter Forty-Six
And the Ella Malloy Spa manager adds a note to the schedule, “Olivia Chase and Graham Crowley are coming in for a couple’s massage. Is this under the right name?”
* * *
I took Loki for a run. When Milo got home, we hit the gym. By ten o’clock, I had begun pacing the house, and by midnight, I decide to call Christina to see why she hasn’t arrived.
My call goes unanswered.
Loki is standing right next to me. I have the feeling he’s worried about her too. Maybe I should head over to her house and check on her. She was probably exhausted from today and just headed home. I know I’m exhausted. I don’t remember fight scenes between us taking so much energy.
Just as I decide to grab my keys and head out, my phone rings.
“Hey, are you okay?” I answer quickly having seen her name pop up on the ID.
“Yes,” she says, but it’s curt and quick.
“Why didn’t you come over? I was just heading to you,” I say, moving to the bowl by the door to get my keys.
“No. Don’t. I don’t want you to,” she says, but the words are choked. “I’m fine. I’m going to bed.”
“Christina, is everything okay?”
“Fine,” she says, but again, it’s laced with something dark.
“I’m coming over,” I say with Loki on my heels as I start for the door.
“You will not,” she shouts through the phone. “I don’t want you here.”
“Honey—”
“Just don’t,” she shouts again. “I have to go.”
“Wait,” I shout back. “C’mon, what’s going on?”
“Goodbye, Graham,” she says, and the line goes silent.
I stand there with my trusty dog, keys in hand, looking down at my phone. What in the hell just happened?
I can’t let it go like that, so I text her. Just tell me you’re okay and safe.
A few moments later, I get a text back. I’m fine. Goodnight.
I stare down at the screen on my phone. “Well, I guess we’d better just go to bed. I’m not thinking her evening went well.”
Loki turns his head up to me and lets out a whine. He’s feeling this as a loss too.
I run my hand over his head to give each of us some calm. I turn off the lights and we head to bed.
* * *
Loki and I are at the set early. I’m hoping to find Christina before we get started. I have to know what happened last night after her meeting with her father.
Instead, I have Jean-Claude headed my way. His lips are pursed. His eyes are narrowed. His fists are tight at his side.
When I see him eyeing my dog, I manage Loki behind me a bit. He’s a docile dog, but if this man comes at me with fists, I can’t guarantee my dog won’t attack.
“I told you not to fuck this up!” He shouts at me, and I wonder what it is that I’ve done to have everyone angry with me. “We have three more days of shooting!”
I hold up a hand to ward him off.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He snorts out a laugh. “Get your shit together,” he says through gritted teeth as he passes by me.
My jaw is tight, and my heart is racing now. Instead of heading toward my trailer, I start for Christina’s.
As we approach, Penny steps out of the trailer, and her eyes go wide.
“Hi, Graham,” she says, her eyes moving between me and the trailer. “I was just headed out to find you.”
“Where is she?”
Penny purses her lips, but she doesn’t answer.
“Penny, I need to talk to her.”
She winces at that. “She says she’ll be on set on time.”
“Is she here?”
Again, Penny’s mouth tightens before she hands me a manila envelope. “She wants you to have this.”
I take the envelope and look back at her. “What is this?”
“I need to go,” she says, turns, and hurries off.
There’s a throbbing in my head, and I look up at Christina’s trailer. I don’t know if she’s in there or not, but she’s made it quite clear that I’m not welcome.
“C’mon, boy. Let’s get settled.”
We turn to walk toward my trailer when I see Sandra hurrying my way.
She’s the only person who has smiled at me.
“Good morning handsome,” she says before she hands me a cup of coffee in a Styrofoam cup, and then takes a sip of the one she has in her other hand. “I looked at the call board. You’re not even expected for another two hours, but I figured you’d be here.” She shifts a look at Loki. “He’s friendly, right?”
“Sure,” I say, but I’m not sure what realm I woke up in this morning. He might turn on me too.
“What’s that?” She nods to the envelope in my hand.
“I have no idea.”
Her smile widens. “I think I know. C’mon, let’s go inside and chat.”
There is nothing I want less, but I follow her back to my trailer. As she steps inside, I see the door to Christina’s trailer open. Both Christina and Penelope Mondragon step out, and Sebastian Yates follows.
What the actual fuck?
“Graham, let’s talk. I have more meetings,” Sandra says.
I watch Christina walk away with Sebastian Yates close behind her. I’m sick—physically sick.
“What are Penelope and Sebastian doing here?” I ask as I smell the scent of Sandra’s cigarette lighting.
“They’re talking business, just as we are.”
I turn to her. “I didn’t agree to anything yet. I have a few days left.”
“And why didn’t you sign to begin with?”
“You know why. I can’t sign if I’m attached to Christina. Her father was very clear. I get the movie if I break up with Christina.”
Sandra leans up against the counter and takes a long drag from her cigarette. Loki pulls against the leash, so I take it off, and he hurries to the back, into the bedroom where I know he’ll hide until she’s gone.
“He told you to break up, so you proposed?”
“I don’t want to lose her. It shouldn’t be either/or,” I argue.
“What’s in the envelope, Graham?” She nods and I wonder how much of this she already knows.
I pick up the envelope and drop the contents on the table. A packet of papers slides out, and then something bounces on the table and into the bench seat. When I go after it, tears immediately fill my eyes.
I pick up Christina’s engagement ring and hold it in my fingers.
“What the fuck is this?” I ask, raising my eyes to Sandra.
The corner of her mouth curls up. “It’s her decision,” she says, and in that moment, I know Sandra is part of this. “Christina signed to do the Penelope Mondragon movie.”
I bat my eyes. “Same clause?”
“Of course. Her father is producing it.”
I narrow my gaze at her. “Her father is producing it? He doesn’t believe in the genre. Why is he?—”
“Really, Graham? He’s a control freak. If you want that part, then you accept this. She has.”
I shake my head. I don’t buy this. This isn’t how this ends.