Chapter 3 #2
“Look—”
“You go—”
“You speak—”
Fuck’s sake! I repress a growl of frustration. How can this be so difficult?
Marv’s in my face now, his palms upturned, his expression one of utter incredulity at my incompetence.
“Piper, I’m sorry,” I say quickly. “I’ll shut up and let you speak.”
More silence, then she takes a breath. “I … I just want to check that you’re okay with this.”
Her voice is hesitant, and that makes me feel even shittier about myself and this whole ridiculous mess she’s been shoved into.
“I’m fine,” I reply, sounding anything but. “Don’t worry about me.”
Marv throws his hands in the air and stomps over to the window, staring at the street below. I wish he would just fuck off. It’s impossible to have a conversation with him listening in.
“Should I buy you a ticket?” she asks. “For the train and the bus? Or should we hire a car?”
“I’ve got a car. I’ll drive us.”
Marv spins around. “Good idea. Me, Cara, and the stylist can ride with you, too.”
“No, we’re not fucking carpooling,” I grit out.
“I don’t think I can handle him for six hours,” Piper says.
“You and me both.”
“And we need to talk, to get our stories straight.”
What does she mean by that? We’re not going to tell her family we’re faking it?
“Yeah, sure,” I reply. “Can you message Marv with your address and what time to pick you up on the sixteenth?”
“Oh … okay.”
I hear the hurt in her voice. What have I done now?
“Piper?”
“Yes?”
“Have I said something wrong? Not at the coffee shop, where I said everything wrong. I mean just now.”
Again, there’s a painful silence before she finally speaks.
“Am I not important enough to know your number?”
“What?”
“Well, you changed it years ago and didn’t give any of us the new one. And now I have to go through Marv to get in touch with you?”
Oh fuck. “No! Of course you can have it. I just didn’t know if you wanted me to have yours. Hang on. I’ll message it to you now.”
I don’t wait for a reply, immediately bringing the phone down and sending her my contact details.
“Call me anytime you want,” I say. “Okay?”
“Okay.”
Christ, this conversation couldn’t be any more stilted and awkward if we tried.
“I’m gonna go now,” she says quietly. “I’ll send you my address.”
“Okay.”
“Bye, Brody.”
“Bye.”
She hangs up and I stare at the phone screen.
A slow hand clap breaks the silence.
“And the Oscar doesn’t go to … Brody Fucking King.” Marv jabs his finger in my direction. “You’d better up your game when you get to Hideaway Harbor. You’ve got to sell it, or people will know it’s fake, and you’ll be in even deeper shit than you already are.”
I head back to the couch and collapse onto it, simultaneously wired and exhausted. I feel my thirty-one years like they’ve been doubled. What the hell am I doing? Who even am I anymore?
The couch shifts as Marv sits down. “It’s gonna be okay. I promise.”
“You’re still fired.”
He pats my knee. “Yeah, yeah. Just wait till the New Year, huh? When you’ve got the job and everything’s coming up freaking roses again.”
I huff. If roses need shit to bloom, then my life’s got more than enough right now.
My phone buzzes in my back pocket, and I pull it out.
Unknown: This is Piper. You can pick me up the day after tomorrow at ten
Just under forty-eight hours till I see her again.
My heart’s beating too fast, my mind racing with questions I’m not sure how to answer. Should I bring gifts for the Locke family? For Piper? What is she into now? Does she still draw? Outside of designing office company mascots, of course.
And what the fuck am I going to say to Ethan? Hey, buddy! Sorry I missed being the best man at your wedding because I was doing some dumb fashion shoot. And shame I couldn’t make the birth of your kid or your wife’s funeral because I was too chickenshit to ask for time off.
Nausea rolls in my stomach. I can’t do this. I can’t face him.
Wanting to block everything out, I close my eyes. But in the darkness, all I see are the tabloid headlines gleefully chronicling my fall from grace. Then Piper’s face as I lived up to my reputation as an unpredictable asshole.
“The last thing I want is to be famous, or infamous, because of you.”
Fuck. I need to apologize.
To her. Ethan. The whole Locke family.
Opening my eyes I gaze at the slate-gray clouds, wondering what the sky is like over Hideaway Harbor right now. What Ethan is doing. What his kid looks like.
Marv’s right. Going back will give me closure. Then I can move on. Hopefully with the acting job of my dreams.
“Cara, sweetie, I need you to pick up some gifts when you’re out, okay?” Marv’s on his phone and pacing again. “For Brody to give Piper and her family.”
“No,” I say, rising to my feet. “I’ll do it.”
“Fifty to a couple hundred bucks each. Ask the assistants what are the most popular gifts this year.”
I grab the phone from him. “Don’t get anything. I can do it.”
“You sure?” Cara asks. “If you tell me what you want, I can pick them up now.”
I press the fingers of my free hand to my forehead. I have no fucking clue what to buy them.
Cara’s a smart cookie as well as kind, because she continues, “We can go together. I’m around Harper’s age, and I’ve seen her socials, so I can suggest a few things she might like. And perhaps something for Piper, too.”
Relief floods through me. “Thanks. Can we do this now?”
“Of course! I’m a block away, so I’ll meet you at the front of your building.”
Marv pulls up the collar of his coat as I make my way to the elevator, following me.
“You’re not coming with us.”
“Nah, I’m gonna find a stylist to come with us. Get them to sign an NDA.”
“No stylist.”
“They can do the whole family.”
“What the fuck, Marv, just stop!”
The elevator doors open, revealing a prim old lady from the floor above, holding a toy poodle dressed in as many layers as she is.
Did she hear me?
Marv nods at her as he steps inside. “Ma’am.”
The woman gives me a filthy look.
Turning away, I gaze at my reflection in the polished chrome walls. Despite the designer clothes and expensive hair cut, I look like I haven’t slept for days.
I force my mouth into a smile as fake as the relationship I’m going to have with Piper. But my heart still flutters.
I’m going to see her again.