Chapter 26
Lizanne
Three weeks before Christmas, Loraine decided the entrance hall was too empty. She ordered a tree that was less a decoration and more a structural hazard.
Lizanne and Rose spent ten minutes wrestling the trunk through the front door, cameras rolling. The thing began hemorrhaging needles the second it hit the marble, leaving a jagged trail of green toward the far corner.
Tori would love this when she came to clean the next day….
Lizanne carried the base; Rose took the top. Halfway across the hall, the weight shifted. Rose stumbled. Lizanne lunged to compensate. They ended up pinned against the wall, the tree wedged between them at a precarious tilt.
Rose started laughing first.
Lizanne felt the vibration through the branches—a frantic, muffled shaking.
Then she lost it, too. They stood there, braced against the wainscoting by what felt like several hundred pounds of shedding timber, while John kept the camera rolling.
Lizanne didn’t bother to glare. This was the messy, unscripted reality the show usually failed to capture.
“Cut! Perfect,” Loraine called out. She waved a hand toward the pool house. “Can we get the lovebirds in for the decorating shots? Klaus and Ben did their confessionals earlier and they were in some sort of spat.”
She meant Quinn and Kayla. Since the second week of December, they’d stopped hiding their relationship. Now they were the show’s secondary storyline, whether they liked it or not.
Actually, Lizanne was pretty sure they liked it very much.
While the focus had been on Rose and Lizanne, Quinn was becoming the main attraction rapidly.
And Lizanne had to admit, she didn’t mind it.
A second camera team, consisting of Klaus and Benjamin, was usually on Kayla and Quinn while a third filmed additional footage.
To say the house was full was an understatement.
“I’ll check,” Rose said. “Give me twenty minutes.”
***
The decorating lasted an hour, and by the time they were done, everyone was exhausted, including the camera crew.
Lizanne stood at the island, eating cold leftover rice from a plastic container when Rose walked in, headed straight for the fridge, and emerged with two clementines. She tossed one to Lizanne before leaning against the counter.
They ate in a quiet they had earned over the last weeks. It was a comfortable space that didn’t require conversation. Rose set her peel aside, turned, and looped her arms around Lizanne’s waist. Lizanne dropped her hands onto Rose’s shoulders.
Rose kissed her.
Lizanne pulled back slightly, looking past her through the window.
Out by the pool house, Quinn and Kayla were outside at the pool.
Their body language told the whole story: tight shoulders, sharp hand gestures.
The spat from earlier had apparently been reignited now the cameras were done for the day.
“Well,” Lizanne muttered. “That didn’t last long.”
“Quinn is a nightmare to argue with,” Rose said, watching the window. “He uses his ‘reasonable’ voice when he’s being a total idiot. She’ll figure him out. They’ll be fine.”
“You’re very confident.”
“He’s been my brother for twenty-five years. She’s been my best friend for ten. They’ll work it out.”
Quinn gestured at the counter. Kayla crossed her arms. Then she said something that made his shoulders drop. He reached for her hand, and the tension broke.
“See?” Rose said. “Anyway. What do you want for Christmas? The actual day. Not the one for the show.”
Lizanne looked back at the window. “I’ve never really done the whole production. My father didn’t believe in it. My mother had given up by the time I was born. We usually just ate Chinese food. Maybe there was a gift, maybe not.”
“That sounds lonely.”
“It was just a day in December. I didn’t have a frame of reference for it being anything else. And Trina didn’t really do Christmas either. New Year’s was her thing.”
Rose kissed her cheek. “It’s different this year.”
“I know. I’m still adjusting to that.”
“My dad made Christmas,” Rose said. Her voice softened.
“The tree went up the first week of December. Same music, same ornaments in the same spots. Every year. After he died, it felt hollow. My mother tried, but the spark was gone. When Daisy came along, I started doing everything exactly the way he did. I want her to have those memories. Especially since it was just us.”
Lizanne watched her.
“Maybe we can just do something small. Us. Quinn, Kayla. Mom. Pat…Maybe Craig and Peter?”
“I’d like that. And speaking of Pat,” Lizanne said and raised the buzzing phone.
“Hey Pat. You’re on speaker. Rose is here.”
Pat jumped right in without so much as a hello. “We’re number one on the platform. We’ve bypassed everything else.”
“Good.” This wasn’t exactly news. They had been number one for the last two weeks.
“The network wants two more seasons of Gilden Duchess. The reality show has boosted that to the top again too. They want to meet with you next week to talk about a possible spin-off. Gilden Duchess in the New World.”
“To go alongside the current show?”
“Who knows. I’m sure they’ll tell you. Tuesday at 11. Also – Rose, the CEO of Prime Esque wants you to plan his daughter’s wedding. Someone from his office will be in touch.”
She hung up before anything else could be said. Rose blinked. “The CEO? That… that’ll be a lot of coverage.”
Lizanne smiled. “They love you. You’ve seen the headlines. When they aren’t talking about how handsome Quinn is, they’re talking about you. Social media is full of adoration for the Delaney siblings.”
Rose stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her waist. “A few weeks ago, I was lying about a fiancé named Derek, and now people stop me in the street asking for autographs.”
“That is life when married to a celebrity. I should have warned you.”
“Well, I had a hunch, when I was told there’s a reality show involved.”
Lizanne leaned forward and kissed her when her phone buzzed again. She stepped back and sighed. Then, her lips parted.
I got your new number from Peter. Can we talk? Trina.
“Who is it?” Rose asked as she turned to get another clementine from the fridge.
“Just the studio,” Lizanne said and deleted the notification.
Why hadn’t she just told her? Lizanne wasn’t sure. Perhaps for the same reason Rose hadn’t told her about Jeremy’s card. Because the past was behind them now, and neither wanted it to intrude in their reality.
And yet, she could not deny that somewhere in the back of her head, she had that sinking feeling that the past wasn’t quite done with either of them.