23. Avery
3 months later…
“We’re going to be late…”
“So?” Duke licks his way down my collarbone. I sigh, arching against him even as I try to pull away. “People are late to parties all the time. It’s pretty much expected.”
“Not when we’re the ones hosting it!”
“Oh.” He lifts his head and gives me a lazy grin, eyes crinkling at the edges. “Maybe you’ve got a point.”
I laugh. “Plus gossip travels fast in Blackberry Cove, so you’re going to have to hold that thought.” I tell him, disentangling myself and straightening up my clothes, which look exactly like someone’s been making good work of taking them off.
“Wait,” Duke catches my waist. He gives me a long, slow head-to-toe look, raking over my still half-naked body.
“What are you doing now?” I mock-complain, even though that look in his eyes makes my knees weak, every time.
“Holding the thought.”
Duke finally releases me, and reaches for his T-shirt. I check my compact mirror, and manage to wipe away my smudges of lipstick, but nothing is hiding the flush in my cheeks, or sparkle in my eyes that says, yes, I just had a fantastic orgasm, thanks for asking.
Oh well.
“Come on,” Duke says, swinging the door to the trailer open. “Let’s get this shindig over with.”
I giggle. “Don’t try that grumpy routine with me, mister,” I tease him affectionately. “You’re the one who suggested we throw it in the first place!”
“Temporary insanity,” Duke says cheerfully. “We were in bed. I can’t be expected to make rational decisions when you’re naked.”
He helps me down from the portable construction cabin that’s parked on the edge of the beach estate. The project is just getting started, and running water and electricity is still a long way off, so Duke brought in the trailer to use a basecamp for operations– and, ahem, privacy when I swing by on his lunch breaks.
And coffee breaks.
And “hey, I missed you, it’s been two hours since you were inside me” breaks.
I mean, he did say it was important to pace yourself on a massive rebuilt like this.
But this evening, we’re hosting a party to celebrate the official groundbreaking on the project, so the clearing overlooking the beach has been transformed into a glimpse of what the future could hold. Tiny string lights swoop from posts around the future terrace, there’s folding trestle tables, flower vases perched on the broken-down walls, and electrical cables snaking over to the generator to run speakers and spotlights as the sun goes down.
It’s not fancy, but it looks great to me.
I check my phone again as we set up the last details. “Any news?” Duke asks. I shake my head. I finally signed with a new agent just last week, and she said she’d start sending any casting notices that looked interesting. Still, I know it’s going to be an uphill battle. After I walked out on Max and the role in Annihilation 3, he spread it around Hollywood that I was “difficult” and a total prima donna to work with. Added to my tabloid trash fire, it’s taken months to find a new agent who actually believes in what I want to do. But now I finally have someone on my team, I’m hoping this is the beginning of my comeback. Again.
But in the meantime… let’s just say that there are worse places to be than Blackberry Cove, with the man of my dreams.
“We’re here, and we brought pizza!” Brooke calls, arriving with Tessa and Jackson– and a towering stack of steaming boxes in their arms.
“Angels,” I beam, then eye the sheer volume food. “Although, you didn’t have to bring so much. It’s just going to be a small gathering.”
“Are you kidding?” Tessa laughs. “We stopped by to get ice at the grocery store, and Linette and Earl were there?—”
“Larry from the garage, Maggie, JJ and Fraser, JJ’s mom—” Jackson continues.
Brooke nods. “Everyone said they were going to swing by.”
“Everyone?” I echo, with a gulp of panic.
Duke gives my shoulders a squeeze. “Relax. If there’s one thing this town would never do, is show up empty-handed.”
He’s right. As the guests start arriving, and don’t stop, I see, I didn’t have to worry. The snack tables are soon full-to-overflowing with homemade goods and takeout boxes, bottles of wine and beer and huge buckets of ice. Someone takes over as DJ, and by the time the sun sets and some of the guys light a bonfire on the shore, everyone’s talking, and dancing, and having a great time.
I grab a soda, and drift over to where Brooke and Tessa are catching up with her friend JJ, who’s visiting from Scotland with her hunky artist boyfriend, Fraser. “Look at you, kicking back in Blackberry Cove,” JJ greets me with a hug, teasing. “I never thought I’d see the day.”
I laugh, relaxed and happy. “Some things, you don’t see coming.”
“Tell me about it!” JJ beams. “I never thought I’d be living in some remote cottage in the wilds of Scotland.”
“It’s a perfectly comfortable house,” Fraser objects, laughing. “And we’re barely an hour’s drive from town.”
“Hush you,” JJ grins, slipping an arm around his waist. “I’m selling a romantic story here. The tortured artiste and his fabulous muse. That would be me,” she adds, and we all laugh. “Did I tell you Fraser’s latest art show completely sold out?”
“Congratulations,” I tell him, as Fraser looks equal parts proud and uncomfortable.
“And I just got hired on as researcher for this great new historical movie,” JJ adds. “About Amelia Earhart.”
My head snaps around. “Not the Madeline Marrone project! That’s going into production?”
She nods. “In a couple of months.”
Brooke squeezes my shoulder supportively.
“Do you know who they’ve cast?” I ask, bracing myself. It’s been radio silent about the role, and as much as I’ve held out hope that maybe I still have a shot, I’ve always known that one day I would wake up to see that Jennifer or Scarlett or Sydney booked the role of my dreams.
But JJ shakes her head. “No idea. I hope it’s someone nice. The actress on my last project was such a nightmare, she made you look like a dream,” she adds, and I have to laugh in protest.
“I swear, I wasn’t that bad. And people change!”
“They sure do.” JJ looks past me, and I turn to follow her gaze. My old director, Reeve, has arrived, with his new wife, Ivy. I haven’t seen them since my disaster of a wedding, but I guess they took the whole event as a cautionary tale, because apparently, they eloped right after with three guests, no fuss, and just a lavish honeymoon in Italy. Now, Ivy has a book on the bestseller list, and Reeve just wrapped another buzzed-about movie.
Clearly, married life agrees with them.
“Look at this, the gang’s all back together,” Reeve grins, greeting Jackson with their usual backslapping, and giving Tessa a big kiss on the cheek. Duke comes to join us too, wrapping his arms over my shoulders.
Reeve looks around. “Man, I can’t believe it was only a year ago we were all here shooting the movie.”
“And you hated me at first sight,” I murmur to Duke, teasing.
He grins back, squeezing me tighter. “It’s a thin line, baby…”
“Actually, it’s eighteen months,” Jackson speaks up, giving Tessa a besotted look. “Sixteen days, and a few hours too. At least, since I saw you for the first time. The second time around,” he adds.
“Awww,” JJ teases them happily. “You’re sickening.”
“Literally.” Tessa adds, before giving a delighted smile. “I thought the morning sickness would go once I made it through the first trimester, but…”
There’s a beat, and then everyone explodes with congratulations.
“Oh my god!” I hug her happily.
Brooke celebrates. “This is amazing!”
“Amazing… and gross, and tiring, and did I mention all the vomit?” Tessa corrects me, but she’s beaming at the news, and Jackson is smiling just as wide.
“I was wondering why you told me to find another leading man for the next project,” Reeve says, shaking his head.
“I’m going to be taking some time out.” Jackson grins. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
“Miss what?”
We turn. Hazel has arrived with Josh, and I can see her kid, Lottie, already making a beeline for the buffet table.
“Tessa’s big news,” I explain, greeting her with a hug. It feels like only yesterday she was running ragged at that wedding trying to get me down the aisle. Now, I couldn’t be happier we failed– and that she and Josh are still going strong. “Did you hear?”
“About the baby?” Hazel grins. “Way ahead of you.”
“What?” JJ protests, and Tessa gives her a hug.
“Who do you think I’ve been calling for advice every time I freak out over a bodily function? She’s been there, and seen it all.”
“Good point,” JJ agrees. “And hopefully, I never will!”
My phone buzzes in my pocket. It’s an LA number. “I think it’s my agent, I’ll be right back,” I tell them, slipping away to a quiet corner of the ruins, overlooking the beach. Duke’s been telling me about the sunroom he wants to build here, and I can’t wait to have my morning coffee looking out at the ocean. In his arms.
“Hello?” I answer, trying to block the laughter and music.
“Avery, hi. It’s Maddy. Madeline Marrone?”
I gulp. “Maddy, hi, what’s up?” I ask, trying to sound casual, even as my heart is racing wildly in my chest.
She’s probably calling to let me down gently, I try to tell myself. Break the news in person that she’s going with someone else– the way I always knew she would.
“… so if you’re still available, I don’t have your new agent’s details so?—”
“Wait, what?” I interrupt, realizing I missed everything she just said. “Could you repeat that again?”
“I was asking if you can make an October start date,” Madeline says. “I know it’s last-minute, but financing just came through, and I want to shoot this before winter. If you still want the role,” she adds, and I just about fall to the ground in a dead faint.
Do I still want it?!
“Yes!” I blurt, stunned. “Oh my god, yes! Wow,” I try to catch my breath, pacing. “I’m sorry, I just… I haven’t heard from you, and I was so sure you’d moved on.”
Madeline chuckles. “To tell the truth, I wasn’t sure about your commitment to making a film like this. But when I heard you turned down Brady Hendricks, and walked from that action sequel… well, I respect that. I’m excited about what we can do together.”
My heart sings. “Me too.”
We make arrangements to get on a proper call in the morning, and hang up. I rush back to the party on cloud nine, arriving just as the others are chorusing, “Dig! Dig!” at a reluctant-looking Duke.
“The trucks don’t get here until next week!” he protests, but Jackson presents him with a shovel all the same.
“It’s tradition,” I call, enjoying his grumpy misery as the center of attention. “You smash a bottle of champagne at a ship launch, and you break ground at a breaking ground celebration!”
Duke sighs, and wields the shovel, digging it into the dusty ground. “There. Satisfied?”
Everyone cheers.
I go to kiss him, still flying from my news. But before I can say anything, Tessa hands me a plate of cake.
“Avery, you better prepare for the nightmare of construction,” she warns me. “Even reenovating the BB almost drove me mad.”
“Oh, I’m keeping well clear of this mess,” I declare brightly.
“We’re staying at my place until this place is completely done,” Duke explains.
“Also… I’m going to be on set all fall,” I add, beaming. “Shooting a movie.”
Duke grips my hand, searching my face. “Wait, was that?—”
“Madeline calling.” I nod. “She wants me for the role!”
Duke whoops, picking me up and spinning me around in a whirl of pure celebration. “I knew you could do it,” he says, finally setting me down. But he doesn’t let me go, he cups my cheeks in his hands, beaming down at me. He looks so proud, it makes my heart sing even louder. “I told you, once people see your talent, they’ll all fall in love with you– the way I have.”
“It’s because of you, too,” I remind him, glowing. “If you hadn’t encouraged me to send her that audition tape…”
He kisses me, slow and deep. “You made it happen. This is all you, baby.”
“I thought we had a rule about that word,” I tease, and his gaze turns hotter.
“You’re right. I’ve been holding that thought long enough.”
Duke grabs my hand, and starts pulling me away from the party. I laugh in protest. “Duke! We can’t! Someone will notice…”
“No, they won’t.” He pauses long enough to kiss me again, and I swear, I could melt for him right here. “They’re all wrapped up in their own happy endings,” he says, giving me a smoldering wink. “Now I’m going to go give you yours.”
And who can argue with that?
THE END