CHAPTER 21 DANNY
We meet the president and head back home, and it’s Tuesday afternoon when I get a call from Brad.
“You’re breaking into Hollywood now?” he asks.
I laugh. “Why would you ask that?”
“I just fielded a call from a Hollywood director asking if you have availability the last week in November for a bit part in the new Alexis Bodega movie when they’re filming in Vegas,” he says.
“Fuck yeah I do,” I say.
“What’s going on with you and her?” he asks.
“Why don’t you focus on making the deals and I focus on my personal life?” I suggest.
“As your agent, you know those are one and the same to me, right?”
I sigh. “Yeah. We’ve got a thing going on, but it’s under the radar and nobody can know.”
“Be careful, man. She’s got a powerful team behind her, and you know her Bodegiacs fandom goes fucking nuts over every move she makes.”
He’s right—something I’ve thought about a little, but something that helps me sort of understand where her father is coming from.
She’s a hot commodity, so hot that her fans mashed her name plus the word maniacs to create the title of her fandom, and the fact that she even gave a dick like me a second glance makes me feel like the most grateful man alive.
“You know your warnings will forever be dismissed, right?” I ask.
He laughs. “Yeah, I know. But I’ll continue issuing them anyway. It’s what you pay me the big bucks for.”
“Right. So RSVP me as a yes to the role and find out where I need to be and what the fuck they’re going to have me doing.”
“You got it, Brewer. I’ll be in touch.”
I call Alexis as soon as I hang up with him, but she doesn’t answer. I don’t want to tell her I got a part over text, so I just hang up and hope she’ll call me back later.
She does—much later, in fact, when I’m at Nick’s place in the middle of another poker game. I wait until my round ends before I excuse myself and head out to his front porch to call her back.
“Hey,” she answers. “Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I’ve been dealing with this wedding stupidity all day, and then I found out my dad’s taking steroids for arthritis in his knee, and it’s like, jeez, when did he get so old?”
I chuckle. “My mom does old people things, too, but she’s only in her fifties.”
“My dad is, too,” she says. “He never seemed old to me until this prescription thing, but he also plays pickleball and stares out the front window drinking his coffee. Those aren’t spring chicken activities.”
“My mom will walk laps around the mall before the stores open. And she’s in a pinochle group with women in her town. I don’t even know how to play pinochle, and I’m at a poker party right now.”
She giggles.
“It’s hard seeing them get older, isn’t it?” I ask, the teasing tone gone from my voice.
“It is.”
I clear my throat. “I called earlier to let you know my agent heard from the director. They offered me a part.”
“They did?” she breathes.
“They were checking my availability for the last week in November.”
“That’s when we’re in Vegas,” she says, and I hear the excitement in her voice. “Oh thank goodness. We’ll have actual time together again.”
“Have you told Brooks about us?” I ask. I’m not sure why I ask. I’m setting myself up for disappointment.
“I haven’t told anybody. Have you?”
Let me get out the fucking list. “Yeah, I’ve told a few people. My mom and sister, Coop, Rush. And my agent. But that’s it. My close inner circle.”
“What did they say?”
“Well, Brad—my agent— warned me about the Bodegiacs. My mom and sister were both really excited and obviously want to meet you. And Coop and Rush both knew something was different since I was declining the chance to go out.”
“Aw, you were?” she asks softly.
“I wasn’t in the mood when I was missing you,” I admit.
She’s quiet for a beat. “I want to meet your family.”
I open my mouth to tell her I don’t know if we’re there yet when I realize…that’s the old Danny talking. The inner voice who’s scared of all this relationship shit. It’s not the new Danny—the one who told this woman he loves her just the other day.
“They’re coming out here for Thanksgiving. Any chance you can swing getting here early for filming?” I make the offer before I can stop myself.
The thought of seeing her with my mom and my sister is both terrifying and thrilling. And as much as I feel for her, if my closest family members can’t see it, then we might have bigger problems than we realized.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
I don't have a ton of confidence that it'll work out given how she’s on lockdown, but there's always a chance.
* * *
A week later, I find myself at the airport picking up my mom, sister, and nephews.
So far, filming seems to be going well for Alexis, but she hasn't given any indication that she'll make it to my place for Thanksgiving, which is tomorrow already.
But that also means it's less than a week until I get to see her again. I've been counting down the days like a kid who makes one of those paper chains where you get to rip one off every day and celebrate that you're one day closer to whatever exciting event is coming.
And seeing Alexis? Definitely an exciting event.
We've managed to sneak in a little bit of time to talk here and there, but in general, she's had very long days on set where she's in the hair and makeup chair by six in the morning and is filming until midnight.
I believe her, but that doesn’t stop the negative voice in the back of my head telling me she’s just busy with wedding plans.
I think she's excited for the Thanksgiving break that's coming her way except for the fact that she's going to be stuck in Los Angeles with her dad and Brooks to celebrate the holiday—and maybe even her future father-in-law, too.
As for me, I'm just excited to have a little time with my family. Even though I'm officially in the off-season now, life has been keeping me too busy to make the trip to San Diego to hang with my mom or to Dana Point to see my sister.
I pull my ballcap down low over my eyes, and it usually does the trick well enough to keep the media away. But I know the type of frenzy that will ensue if this thing with Alexis ever goes public.
I've seen the way the paparazzi follows her around.
I know she has to leave in her car with Gregory and duck down low so nobody sees that she's in that Yukon when her dad and Brooks leave in different Yukons at the same time.
She has little tricks of the trade to try to throw people off her scent, but somehow she hasn't figured out a way to escape her father.
But I’m in the picture now.
And I’m going to find a way to get her out of this.