35
By eleven o’clock, the party was starting to thin out but it was by no means over. The music had been turned up outside and about ten or so guests were attempting to dance 60s go-go style near the pool. This included Ally and Jake who had arrived a couple of hours earlier.
Ally looked awesome in a multicolored paisley mini dress and white knee-high boots. She’d let her dark curls hang loose and matched the outfit with massive white hoop earrings. They swung in time to the music as she pumped her hands in the air. Jake looked amazing in his outfit, too. It was like he’d just stepped off the set of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in his tight gray pants, blue turtleneck and brown suede jacket. The best thing of all was their beaming faces. It was so great to see my oldest friend happy and paired up with such a genuinely nice guy.
Ally waved as I walked by. “Come and join us!”
“Give me a few minutes. I just need to check on some things.”
Ally nodded and I went inside. The food was finished for the night and the catering staff were already packing up in the kitchen. Poor old Jay would likely be hovering by the bar for a couple more hours yet.
After a short conversation with my personal assistant, who assured me everything was all taken care of, I turned to go back outside and bumped into someone.
“Ben! There you are. I haven’t had a chance to talk to you all night.”
“That’s OK. I was probably going to leave soon.”
“Oh? Really?”
I looked at him a little closer. He was wearing one of the plaid suits he’d borrowed from the production, but he didn’t seem his usual happy self.
“I didn’t see your girlfriend tonight,” I added. “I was looking forward to meeting her.”
His mouth flattened itself into a long thin line. “She didn’t come. We’re not together anymore.”
“Oh, Ben. I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you say so? Here we are in a celebratory mood and the last thing you must feel like doing is partying.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t want to be a downer.”
“Of course you’re not a downer. Do you want to talk about it?”
He gave me a shy glance from under his boyish long lashes. “You don’t want to hear about my love life.”
“Why not? I can’t say I’ve always made good decisions, but I’m happy to listen.”
His expression turned hopeful. “Actually, that would be awesome, but not here if that’s OK? I don’t want anyone to know I’m that pathetic, lovesick guy. I saw you taking some people on a tour of the house earlier. Mind if we walk and talk?”
“Sure. And you’re not pathetic. That’s just something we tell ourselves when a relationship doesn’t work out because we’re feeling sorry for ourselves. Come on, this way. How about I show you the library?”
“Everyone’s been raving about it. Yeah, I didn’t want to come across as negative tonight, but it’s hard. Have you ever been lovesick? Actually, don’t answer that. I doubt it.”
“Of course I have.”
“When?”
I stopped at the door to the library. I was usually a very private person, but what could it hurt? Ben was a sweet guy and it sounded like he could do with a boost. “Well, there was my first love. Or at least I thought he was my first love at the time. He was a guy I met during my modeling days.”
“How did you meet?”
“I was spending a week in Greece with some modeling friends.”
“Oh, right,” he said, a knowing sparkle appearing in his eyes. “You got lucky.”
I ushered him into the library. “We were young.”
“Like me?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“What about Duncan? Did you feel lovesick when that ended?” Ben asked.
That was a little too close to home and something I wasn’t prepared to talk about quite so easily. “That was more complicated.”
Ben followed me into the library and turned around a few times taking everything in. “Wow. This is great. No wonder you love it here. What about the new guy? Nathan? I hope he hasn’t made you feel lovesick.”
I stopped in the middle of the room and felt grateful for my acting abilities because I managed to flash him a bright smile instead of look embarrassed. Yes, Marc made me feel lovesick, I thought, but in a much different way. “Hopefully not. Fingers crossed.”
“Not even when you broke up?”
I covered a frown by turning to the window overlooking the pool area. Ally and Jake were still dancing and I felt a smile touch my lips. “We never broke up. Not really. It was just a break before things picked up again.”
“That’s what she said. When we broke up. That she wanted a break.”
I walked over and touched his arm. “But it’s not what you wanted?”
“No. I was really into her. I think all the celebrity bullshit scared her off.” He was practically pouting and I rubbed his arm in sympathy.
“Come on. I’ll show you the rest of the place.” He followed me back into the hall. “Ben, I’m not going to lie. This industry can be hell on relationships. If the celebrity doesn’t scare people off, others are only interested because you are a celebrity, so you need to be careful.”
“Trust me. I’m going to be. I never thought about all this stuff when I got the call.”
“To work on this movie?” I showed him the bedrooms and we waved to Kaden and the rest of the crew in the garage. I kept forgetting this was his first big break. He’d only acted on a few commercials and done some modeling before this movie.
“Nice set-up,” he said, when we retreated down the hall. “Yeah, I mean I was so blown away that I got the part I didn’t consider all the rest.”
“I’d like to say it gets easier, but that’s not necessarily true. You do get better at taking it in your stride though.”
“What about all the stuff with your dad?”
I’d been determined not to think about the situation with my dad tonight, and there was no way he could have known how much worse things had become. “It’s hard. Really hard. Having your personal life made public like that.” There was no point in sugar-coating it. He was a talented actor and his success in the industry would be determined by how well he held himself offscreen as well as when the cameras were rolling.
“Maybe that’s where I went wrong. I thought she got it because she was associated with the industry. Now I understand why so many actors date actresses,” he said.
I was about to point out that I was living proof that Hollywood relationships didn’t work either, but he touched my arm lightly.
“Hey, is it true you have a real life panic room? Call me a big kid but I’ve never seen one of those. Any chance we can take a look?”
I smiled. He looked like a little boy who had just asked if he could stay up late for a party. I hadn’t been showing people the basement, but if it would brighten his mood there was no harm in it. “So long as you promise not to tell anyone else, or they’ll get jealous.”
“My lips are sealed.”
I waved him up the hall again and into my bedroom, then pointed at the floor. “It’s really just a basement level they’ve made into a secure room. It’s not actually all that exciting.”
“It’s still cool though. Is that a secret door?”
I laughed. “Hardly.” I slipped my fingers through the circular handle embedded into the floorboard and lifted the panel in the floor.
“Awesome,” Ben breathed when a set of concrete stairs and a heavy-duty door was revealed. “I want one.”
“Let’s hope you won’t need one.”
I took each of the steps carefully in my precariously high boots and keyed in the code. The door released and opened. I stepped inside and turned the lights on.
“It’s like a bunker down here,” he said.
“I guess it is, isn’t it? I let the security professionals set it up for me.”
“It’s great. You’ve got everything you need down here. Food, water, you name it. And now good company,” he quipped, and I laughed.
I had to admit, they’d done a great job. Utilitarian metal shelves lined one wall with a few non-perishable snacks and some bottles of water. Other than that there was a small comfortable sofa and a phone hooked up to a separate line so I could call for assistance if I needed. I’d only been down here once before and, if I was honest, the place kind of gave me the creeps.
“See? Not all that exciting. I doubt I’ll ever need it but I guess it’s good to have.”
Ben patted the concrete wall. “Looks really solid. It’s a shame you didn’t have one when you had that fire at your old place.”
“Maybe.” I didn’t want to think about my scorched estate. “It was a different layout though. I’d never have gotten to a panic room in time.”
He walked back to the door. “No, you wouldn’t. But then I don’t think the fire reached your room, did it?”
“No, it didn’t, thankfully.”
He held the door open for me. “It was almost as if someone had planned it that way.”
I frowned. I wouldn’t put it past Martin Campbell, but he was in jail so I wasn’t going to dwell on it. “It doesn’t matter. I’m safe.”
“Yes, you are.” Before I could reach the door he closed it.
“Ben?” I stopped a few feet away, confused.
“Yes?”
“Why did you close the door?”
“Because you’ll be safe in here, Lena. With me.”