Chapter 13 Hailey
Hailey
If this was one of the romance books that I secretly read between more serious books, I would have woken up romantically spooning with Tori, my panties wet with arousal. Then we would have shared a sweet morning breath-free kiss.
Unfortunately, this was my life, so I woke up with fuzzy teeth, a desperate urge to pee, and a famous movie star snoring loudly in my ear and hogging my blanket.
She’d had her own blanket when we went to bed, but a quick look showed it was now on the floor.
I wasn’t surprised. Tori was a restless sleeper. She’d been thrashing around all night.
I made my way to the bathroom, emptying my bladder and brushing my teeth before I returned to the bedroom. Tori pushed up to her elbows, sending me a sleepy smile.
“Why are you up so early?”
I frowned. “It’s seven a.m.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“I usually start work at six,” I explained. “Sleeping until seven is a luxury for me.”
I didn’t mention that I’d slept better than I had in a long time, likely because she was there. Despite her snoring and thrashing, it was somehow comfortable having Tori in my bed. Maybe I was just lonely or something. It had been a while since I’d dated anyone.
“Do you know you snore?” I asked, picking up her blanket from the floor and tossing it on the bed.
She winced. “Oh yeah, it was the dairy. I’m lactose intolerant and it makes me congested.”
“You ordered a latte with milk yesterday,” I reminded her. “And you ate cheesy potatoes and biscuits with butter. And candy with milk chocolate.”
“Yeah, none of that really agreed with me, but to be honest, it all tasted so good I decided to risk it.” She winced, her hand going to her belly as it made a loud, ominous sound. “Speaking of which, I need to go to the bathroom.”
“I’ll go make coffee,” I said, hightailing it out of the room.
After a very long time in the bathroom, Tori came out to the kitchen, looking a little queasy. “Sorry about that.”
“Why are you sorry? Everybody poops,” I said lightly. “There’s even a book about it.”
“There is?”
She looked so shocked I had to laugh. Then again, it wasn’t every day that two total strangers spent the night together without having sex and then talked about their bathroom issues.
“Yeah, you’ve been missing a lot while you’re living in your fancy mansion.”
Actually, I’d seen the book in the library, but I liked busting her chops.
“How do you know I have a fancy mansion?” she asked.
“Educated guess.”
The phone in her hand started beeping.
“Your mom again?” I asked, even though it was absolutely none of my business.
It just didn’t set right with me that her mom had ripped her off like that. I didn’t even know the details, but I saw the devastated look on Tori’s face when she mentioned it. I didn’t need to be an intuitive to figure out it was bad.
“No it’s Pepper. She’s my assistant and I guess the closest thing I have to a friend.”
She paused to tap out a message, then looked up at me. “She wants to know if she should send us anything.”
“She knows you’re here?” I asked in surprise. “I thought you were in hiding.”
“She has a tracker on my phone,” Tori explained. “But it’s okay, she’s actually the one person in my life that I trust.”
Another sad tidbit about America’s Leading Lady, as one site had called her when I pulled up a search on my phone.
I didn’t have Wi-Fi here, but I wasn’t above doing the occasional internet search over my wireless.
I’d scanned maybe three articles this morning before I stopped, realizing that pretty much everything written about Tori was either a lie, a salacious rumor, or both.
“Since you can’t have dairy, I won’t offer you any cereal,” I said. “But I could make you a piece of toast.”
Tori shook her head. “No thanks. I can’t eat this early in the morning.”
“What’s your plan today?” I asked, sitting across from her and sipping my coffee.
She’d invited herself to stay here last night, but we’d never discussed how long it would be before she headed back to L.A. I assumed a woman like Tori could only slum it with the common folk for so long.
“I don’t have one. What are you going to do?” she asked.
“Well, the weather is going to be nice, so I was planning to go hiking before we get back to nonstop rain. Then I’ll come home and do some laundry.”
“I’ll go hiking with you, if that’s okay.”
I frowned. “You don’t have any clothes or hiking boots.”
She was already thumbing something into her phone. “Don’t worry, Pepper will have what I need here in an hour.”
Sure enough, less than an hour later we heard a knock on the door.
When I opened it, there was a box on my stoop, but it was addressed to me not Tori.
I opened it, pulling out a couple days’ worth of casual clothes, two bras, a three-pack of bikini underwear, hiking boots, a lighter jacket, two wigs, a trucker hat, and a pair of oversized sunglasses.
I stared at everything in amazement. “Pepper works fast.”
“She’s the best,” Tori agreed.
“The place we’re going to is pretty secluded,” I told Tori. “It’s a little too far out and too hilly for a lot of casual hikers so hopefully no one will bug you. But it’s definitely not an easy trail.”
“That sounds perfect, I can get a workout in at the same time. Burn off some of the calories I ate yesterday.”
“Does everyone do that in Hollywood?” I asked.
“What?” She cocked her head, the motion endearing.
“Talk about food and weight all the time.”
She paused, and I could practically see her rewinding the conversation. “Huh, I guess I do talk about that a lot.”
“You’ve mentioned something related to weight or calories at least half a dozen times in the twenty-four hours I’ve known you,” I said.
“There are way more interesting things to talk about than women’s bodies and weight.
I understand you’re trying to meet some impossibly high standards for your career, but maybe you can try going a day without worrying about it. ”
She stuck her hand out to shake. “It’s a deal.”
After we shook, she held onto my hand, her eyes fixed on where our skin touched. I knew she could feel that now-familiar buzzing between us. When she leaned towards me, I met her halfway, pressing a quick kiss to the corner of her mouth before I pulled back. She looked disappointed.
“We’d better not start that,” I said, feeling equally disappointed. “Then we’ll be making out all morning instead of hiking.”
“There are worse ways to spend the day,” she grumbled, but she pulled on the athletic jacket Pepper had sent over and then tucked her hair under the trucker’s hat. “Let’s go before we change our minds.”