Dahlia didn’t expect Cy to apologize after so many years. She also didn’t realize she carried his words with her all that time. She thought she dismissed them years ago, telling herself that he said them out of immaturity and selfishness. Yet somewhere inside, they still had an impact. His apology made her feel lighter.

Plus, after the success of her news segment, she hadn’t felt better. This was a long time coming. While Cy went to the vending machine back at the office to get a soda, she opened her office door, only to be bombarded with balloons and confetti.

“Congrats,” Nelle exclaimed. Brandon clapped.

Dahlia dusted confetti off of her shoulders and dress. “What’s this all about?”

“We’re celebrating your launch day.” Nelle rushed forward to show her something on the computer. “Your news segment from this morning got several thousand hits online, too.”

She looked at the numbers on screen. Her excitement climbed. “We did it. Nelle, Brandon, I’m so proud of you two. But you know this means more work, right?” She teased. “We have to start getting the second round of orders ready.”

Brandon shrugged. “Doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate.” The phone rang. He was closest to it, so he picked it up. “This is Dahlia Dean’s office.” His jaw slackened. “Yes...yes, she’s here. Hold on just a second.” He put the phone on mute.

Dahlia saw his tense face. “What is it?”

“It’s Keke Cramer’s rep. She saw you on TV this morning. Keke wants you to come to her new movie set and do her hair and makeup permanently this time.”

She could not believe her good fortune. “You know my answer. Tell her yes. I’ll be there as soon as she needs me.”

Brandon repeated what she said to Keke’s rep. “Her assistant? Hold on.” He put the phone on mute again and looked at Dahlia with a confused frown on his face. “She’s saying something about you having an assistant who goes by Shakespeare?”

She laughed out loud and had to cover her mouth when Cy showed up at the office door carrying his can of Coke. “Shakespeare will be there, too.”

Cy drew his eyebrows together. “Did I hear my name?”

Nelle looked around the room as though she were lost. “I know I had an exam the other day, but am I missing something?”

“That’s what I want to know,” said Brandon. He unmuted the phone. “Dahlia says he’ll be there, too. So you’ll have two set passes waiting for them? All right, then. Dahlia will see Keke next week. Thanks, bye.” He ended the call. “I don’t know what’s going on, but it seems like everyone else is happy.”

“Happy about what?” Cy gazed at them all.

Dahlia brought him up to speed. “Remember the Dead Disco Dream movie set and Keke?  She wants me to be her permanent hair and makeup artist. She already invited me to be on her next movie set.”

“Good job.” He congratulated her. “You’ll get billing in the film credits, won’t you?”

“I hadn’t even thought of that. I guess I will. You might be in the credits, too, Shakespeare.”

He groaned. She laughed at his response. Her poor interns exchanged clueless looks with each other.

“I’ll just be outside. Let me know when I have to get into character.” Cy took his exit.

Brandon watched him close the door. “I know he’s working for you, Dahlia, but it seems like you two have known each other way longer than this.”

Little did Brandon know, and little was she going to tell him. “Let’s order lunch and then celebrate before we have to get all this confetti off the floor.”

Dahlia recalled the conversation she had with Cy in the car before coming to the office. It felt unfinished. She guessed it might remain that way, and maybe it was a good thing.

***

DAHLIA SPENT THE REST of the week filling orders for her makeup line. The orders were increasing. At this rate, she would soon have to partner with a distributor to fill the large order number. Even so, there were worse things she could deal with.

Her house burglar alarm was one of them. The day after it went off, the alarm company sent a technical maintenance worker to her house to go over the system. He could find nothing wrong with it. He gave her the same diagnoses as the person on the phone and the police.

“Something must have triggered it,” he said. “Do you have raccoons around at night?”

She opted to get a surveillance camera installed.

The Iron Guard night patrol was there between the hours of six in the evening and six in the morning, allowing her to feel relaxed enough to get a decent amount of sleep. Each morning, she checked the news headlines to see if there were any updates concerning the masked man. Every day, she was met with disappointment when she learned there was no news and he could still be on the loose.

The following week, filming began for Keke’s new movie, a historical drama set in the early twentieth century. Dahlia appeared on set. Cy carried her makeup bags and equipment. “Are you ready for your close-up, my classically trained assistant?”

He paused under the weight of her bag of styling equipment, product bottles, and enough wigs to make everyone on set look like a fresh-faced Gibson Girl. “Is this is going to be a running gag? Because I think the joke has run its course.”

At least they were still able to joke after that hard conversation. Then again, Dahlia avoided bringing it up. She wondered if Cy intentionally did the same. “Not quite. I’m still having fun with it.”

“Apparently, so is Keke.”

He shot a glance at the actress’s dressing room. Keke stood in the open doorway, wearing a long, corseted evening gown. She tapped her foot. It was clad in a dainty silk slipper. “I’ve been waiting for you. I need to be on set in 40 minutes, and I have to have on ballroom makeup.”

“We’ll be right there.” Dahlia increased her pace.

“Oh good, you brought Shakespeare. At least you have someone to do the heavy lifting.”

She reached the dressing room. “It’s good to see you again. Thanks for thinking of me when you wanted someone to do your makeup.” She talked as Cy put her equipment on the vanity table. She began setting up.

“That foundation you used on my face was the most natural I’ve ever seen. It looked great under the lights.” Keke settled down in her chair, having to lift her skirts to avoid tripping. “This has to be the most awkward costume ever. I have no idea how women wore corsets back in the day.”

“I’m going to get a Coke.” Cy took his leave.

Keke watched him leave the room. “That man sure loves his soda. How does he stay fit with all that sugar and calories?”

Dahlia laid out her makeup brushes and began mixing foundation to get Keke’s perfect shade. “I’m guessing he does some pretty hardcore training. Think of boot camp.”

“Ugh. Why exercise when you can just diet?” The actress yawned as she reached for her can of sugar-free diet iced tea. “You remember seeing Mary’s ex at the memorial service, right?”

“I remember.” How could she forget? Dahlia felt a constriction in her chest.

“Everyone knows Trey got arrested for not paying his taxes, but I think it was Mary’s money, anyway. You didn’t hear it from me, but people who were close to them say he used to take her royalties and go out with other women. All of those ladies had a few coins to spare, too.”

Dahlia felt uneasy listening to Keke gossip. She still took note. If the ex-husband left the country for three years just so he could keep Mary’s money, then he was a smarmy person. Cy might be right about him.

The actress stopped talking for a moment so Dahlia could apply foundation to her face. She resumed when Dahlia reached for a beauty blender. “This corset is digging into my ribs. I can’t wait for the scene to be over so I can change into my sweats.”

“Haven’t you heard, Keke? Beauty knows no pain.”

“Ha, you’re not the one wearing this stupid thing. Actually, how would you like to wear an uncomfortable dress for an evening?”

Dahlia brought out fake eyelashes to apply on Keke. “Why would I do that?”

“There’s going to be a small industry awards dinner coming up on Sunday.” The actress closed her eyes so Dahlia could glue the eyelashes on her lash lines. “I need someone who knows what they’re doing to apply my makeup. I’m going to be presenting so you’ll have to be there for most of the night.”

She was so excited she had to be extra careful applying the eyelashes. Keke wanted her to do her makeup for an awards show. How could she pass it up? “I’ll be there. Why did you mention a dress? I usually wear something easy to work in.”

“Better look your best, honey. I might just introduce you do a couple other actors behind the scenes.”

She felt so grateful. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You help me look good. I’ll help you advance. Sorry I can’t say the same for your boyfriend.”

“My what?”

“Stop pretending, flower girl.” Keke was giving her nicknames now. “ If a man follows a woman around on set the way Shakespeare does you something has to be going on.”

Dahlia attempted to remain poised as she reached for blush and nude lipstick to apply to Keke’s face. “You have the wrong impression about him. It’s not what you think.”

“That’s what they all say. Feel free to invite him so he can hobnob with the other theater actors. I’ll make sure you have a plus one.”

She thanked her and finished her job of applying the actress’s makeup. She helped Keke get to her feet afterward and add another layer of petticoats to fluff out the skirt. She then helped the actress walk out on set. Filming began so she went back into the dressing room to clean up the area.

She turned off the vanity light. The room settled in dimness. She didn’t realize how dark it actually was in there. She fumbled to turn the light on when a hand came down on her shoulder. She let out a small cry and whirled around.

Cy stood there, a Coke in his other hand. “It’s only me.”

“Don’t scare me like that.”

“I didn’t mean to. I came in here a couple minutes ago and you were gone. I left but I couldn’t find you in the area.”

“I was helping Keke get on set.” She jumped once Cy opened his can of Coke. What had gotten into her? “She has a new gig for me. I’ll be doing her makeup at an awards show next week.”

She heard the swish-swish of fabric. Cy turned his back to her to look toward the door. Keke came padding to the dressing room in her slippers. “ I forgot my fan on the vanity table. Be a dear and hand it to me.”

Dahlia picked it up and gave it to Cy, who in turn passed it to the actress.

“Thanks, handsome. By the way, hope you and Dahlia have fun at the awards show. You’re going to be her date.”

Dahlia intervened. “What she’s saying is—”

“Perfect.” Cy raised his Coke can in the air in a salute before putting it to his lips. “That’s a good date night.”

“I thought you would appreciate it.” Keke winked at Dahlia before hoisting her petticoats and going back to film her scene.

Dahlia waited for the sound of the actress’s petticoats to recede. “I was trying to tell her we weren’t dating. Why did you let her think you were my boyfriend?”

“Let her think what she wants. I’m starting to see that it puts people’s guard down. It’s easier for me to be at your side the whole time you’re at this awards show if I pretend to be your date instead of your assistant.”

A question hung on the tip of her tongue. “You want to pretend to be my boyfriend after making it clear that the past is over?”

He tossed the empty soda can in the trash. “It’s still over. This is business.”

“You kissed me that night last week.”

“I told you, Dahlia. We never should have done it. It’s my fault for kissing you, and I shouldn’t have let things go so far.”

“You keep mentioning yourself like you’re the only one responsible. I wanted you to kiss me. Don’t I get to say something?”

His expression changed before he hid it behind a strong, stoic face. “What more is there to say? There doesn’t need to be emotion in this. It’s business.”

He could be so focused and calculating. A lot changed over the years, yet this side of his personality remained the same. His new job as her bodyguard only made those traits stronger. Dahlia wished she had known better.

She walked past him to go watch Keke on set.