CHAPTER TWELVE
It Happened One Morning
I woke up the next morning between sateen sheets in a comfy king-sized bed, my phone vibrating nearby. The pale light of morning seeped in through the blinds.
Nick was dozing next to me, his breathing deep and noiseless. Seeing his bare, muscled back brought to mind thoughts of the night before. It turned out watching him eat ice cream was an excellent preview to the coming attractions. I didn’t know what time we finally made it to the bedroom, but it had been late. The last thing I remembered was drifting off, his breath warm on my neck.
My bothersome phone continued to vibrate. Not wanting to disturb Nick, I snatched it from the nightstand and carefully crawled out from under the covers. My clothes were bundled next to the bed, bra face-up on top, the cups holding the shape of invisible breasts. I fastened it quickly and pulled on my underwear before padding out into the hallway to take the call.
The display showed my editor’s number. And that it was 7:22 a.m. If it were anyone else I’d let it go to voice mail. She was one of those workaholic types who assumed everyone was hard at work whenever she was. Which was pretty much all the time.
“Morning, Jackie,” I said, talking past the sleepy croak in my voice.
She started in without preamble. “Hey, I’ve got a lead I want you to follow.”
“Okay. Can it wait until I’ve had my coffee?”
“No. I’m hearing Tyler Sloan is out of Night Bus at Sony. I need you to look into it.”
“What’s Night Bus?” I asked.
“It’s the working title for the remake of It Happened One Night.”
My sleep-fuzzy brain struggled to focus. The title tickled something in the back of my mind. “The what?”
“Keep up, Kate. Sloan is out. I’m hearing rehab. See what you can find out and write something up by the end of the day. Think you can handle that?”
“Sure. No problem.“
This was a big deal for me. Not the story, Jackie asking me to write it. I was the junket girl, the red carpet girl. Until now I’d been a glorified stenographer. But this was close to actual investigative reporting. It was the first breaking news assignment she’d ever given me.
“If it’s true we should start thinking about follow-up pieces,” she continued. “But let’s get the details first.”
“Got it.” I was fully awake now, energized by the possibility of breaking out of my professional rut.
“Ping me when you’ve got something and we’ll figure out an angle.”
I ended the call and exhaled for the first time since picking up the phone.
I tiptoed back down the hall and peeked through the bedroom door, hoping for one last glimpse of sleeping Nick before I had to go, but he was already awake. His cheeks were pinkish, eyes half open, hair sticking out from his head in wispy tangles. He gave me a slow, sleepy smile. This might have been my favorite Nick of all. Or at least a close second to Post-Awards-Show-Gift-Bag-Bearing-Rumpled-Tux Nick. They were basically tied.
“Sorry. Did I wake you?”
“I should be getting up anyway,” he said, tamping down his mess of hair. It didn’t make much of a difference. “I was worried you’d left, but then I heard you out in the hall. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, it was my editor. She doesn’t respect appropriate business hours.”
“What are these so-called ‘appropriate business hours’ you speak of?”
I gathered my dress from the floor and stepped into it. It was strange to feel so exposed considering all we did last night, but in the harsh light of day I wasn’t ready to be strutting around in my underwear in front of Nick yet. He motioned for me to sit on the bed so he could help with my zipper.
“She gave me a story. A real story.”
“See, I told you it would happen. This is good, right?”
“Yeah. It’s . . . mmm . . .” I trailed off, caught up in the delightful sensation of his fingers skimming along my spine as he zipped me up. “Hey, weird coincidence, did you know they’re remaking It Happened One Night?“
His fingers froze mid-zip. “That was fast.”
I turned around sharply to face him. “What was fast?” I said, trying not to sound like a vampire who’d just been given directions to a blood bank.
“Um... I don’t know.” He bit his lip. “What were we talking about?”
“I said ‘It Happened One Night.’ You said, ‘That was fast.’ What does that mean?”
“Forget it. I was thinking of something else.” He threw back the covers and stepped out of bed in one quick motion. I got a lovely view of his back side, but he didn’t turn around. He spoiled the view with a fresh pair of boxers from the dresser.
“You know something.” I pointed at him, accusing but playful.
“I can’t talk about it.” He avoided my eyes.
“Why not?”
“Because I can’t.”
“That’s evasive. Come on. This is my chance to show Jackie I’m more than just a junket girl. If you have any information about this it would really help me.”
“It’s complicated,” he said.
“They’re looking at you for it, aren’t they? Blink twice if I’m right.” That earned me a quick grin but no blinks.
“I can’t confirm anything on the record. Can we drop this?” He picked up his shirt from the floor and pulled it over his head. I felt the distance between us widening.
“What about on background? I’ll say ‘a source close to the production.’ I won’t use your name.”
He came back to the bed and sat beside me with a sigh. I could tell I was wearing him down.
“It would be totally off the record?” he ventured.
“Totally,” I promised. “Journalist’s honor.” I crossed my heart and held up two parallel fingers.
“No such thing. But I’m going to hold you to that anyway.” He moved closer to me, so our thighs were almost touching. “They made me an offer last night.”
“Wow. Okay.”
So he was Tyler’s replacement. That explained why he was so reluctant to talk about it.
“Yeah. That call I was on when you got here? That’s what it was about. My agent should be reviewing the contract as we speak.”
“Is that why you put the movie on last night?”
“It was already queued up in the player. I wanted to show off the system. It wasn’t any kind of premeditated thing.” His eyes were mischievous and the touch of his hand on my knee raised goose bumps all over. I knew he was doing it on purpose.
“Don’t distract me. I’m working now. Would you mind if I got my pad out and took notes?”
“You’re really hot when you’re in intrepid reporter mode, you know that?”
“Stop trying to change the subject. What about Tyler?”
“He doesn’t know yet.”
“Doesn’t know they offered you the part?”
“Doesn’t know he’s off the film. As of last night, at least. And we’re sort of friends. Not close friends, but still. It would suck for him to read it online before he hears it in person. They’re ramping up production pretty quickly.“
“So they’re firing him? He didn’t quit?“
“Court-ordered recovery. That’s all I know. You can say I’m up for the role, just give me a chance to talk to Tyler first.”
“When are you planning to do that?”
“We’re supposed to have lunch today. I should be able to talk about it after.”
This revealed more about Nick than I think he realized. It wasn’t Nick’s fault Tyler had been replaced, but he wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings.
“I can wait until after lunch,” I told him. “But you should know, if Jackie has heard about this, it’s probably already out there. It’s lucky I was—“ I stopped mid-sentence. Something had occurred to me. Something horrifying.
“What?” Nick asked, searching my face for the reason behind its sudden lack of color.
“No. Oh, no,” I said, standing up so I could pace the floor.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s not a coincidence. She knows.”
“Who knows what?”
“Jackie knows I’m seeing you. That’s why she put me on the story.”
I thought I’d earned this on my own merits. It turned out, Jackie wasn’t giving me a shot because she thought I deserved it, but because of my relationship with Nick.
“Maybe she thought you were ready?”
“No, it doesn’t add up. Why would she all of a sudden put me on this story unless she thought I could get something out of you?“
After what had happened at the press conference I figured something like this might be coming sooner or later. I was hoping for later. I wasn’t sure if our relationship was fully formed enough to survive out in the world yet. I was counting on a few more weeks, maybe even months, of gestation before going public. How would things change when our faces were splashed all over celebrity gossip shows? There was also the fear that from that point on, no matter what I did, I’d be tied to Nick, personally and professionally. The former I didn’t mind so much, but the latter worried me.
“God, this fucking town,” he said.
“If I write the story I’ll be confirming it for her.”
“If you don’t write it, won’t that be just as bad?”
He wasn’t wrong. What if this was my only shot and I blew it? It might have ruined any chance I had of getting another assignment like this. It wasn’t just any story; it was a nice, fat exclusive with a big star known for playing hard-to-get with the press. It could lead to bigger things for me. How could I not write it?
“I can’t write it,” I said.
“You have to,” he urged gently. “This is your career. Didn’t you already agree to it?“
“I didn’t know what I was agreeing to at the time.”
“How about this: let me settle things with Tyler and then I’ll have my publicist work up a press release and make sure you get it before anyone else. It’ll be a scoop, but it won’t look like you got any special favors.”
“That could work,” I said, managing a smile. “But there’s still the issue of our secret being not so secret anymore.”
“You really think she knows?”—I gave him my best “no duh” look—“How do you think she found out?”
There was only one person who knew about us and had the bandwidth to spread it all the way up to Jackie so quickly. But I’d have to deal with Adam later. First, I had a story to write.
The story came out that afternoon, but not under my byline. Variety ran it with the headline “Nick Archer To Replace Tyler Sloan in Night Bus.” The Hollywood Reporter had it too. Soon after, Buzzfeed picked it up and then it was off to the races. By late afternoon, every entertainment news site had the story and I still hadn’t heard back from Nick.
He wasn’t returning my messages, so I was avoiding Jackie’s. She was only going to tell me what I already knew: if you’re not first to break a story you might as well be last. Most of the sites reporting the news were linking to directly to the stories in the trades. That traffic should have been ours.
I’d never understood the appeal of reporting these behind-the-scenes dramas. It wasn’t like anyone outside of Hollywood cared who was replacing who. It wasn’t like it was life or death. But it was important to Jackie, so it had to be important to me.
I sat at my desk, staring at the blinking curser on my busy computer screen. I’d already written a story based on the information I had, but hadn’t posted it yet. None of the stories so far said anything about Nick getting an offer before Tyler knew he was off the project. That was a juicy tidbit. If I published some previously unreported details and the piece got traction, Jackie might forgive me for missing the deadline. Nick wasn’t calling me back, and the deadline was approaching. I had to write something.
I logged into the site’s back end and added a new draft post with my copy and headline: “Night Buzz: Did Sony Throw Sloan Under the Bus?” The question mark was tabloid code for rumors and speculation. Not long after joining Hollywood Beat I discovered I had a knack for concocting tempting clickbait headlines. It wasn’t something I was proud of. I filled in the summary, tags, and other metadata.
All that was left was to find an image to go with the piece. I typed Nick’s name into the search box and my screen filled up with pictures of him. Nick on the set of Guts and Glory, a production still from The Carriage House, various talk show appearances, behind-the-scenes photos, and red carpet events. There was one of him presenting at the S.A.G. Awards the night of our first kiss. I typed in Tyler’s name and chose a picture of him instead.
I was debating whether to go ahead and push the story live when my phone vibrated on the desk. I picked it up on the first buzz. “Before you say anything,” Nick said, not even letting me get a greeting in first. “There was nothing I could do.”
“You could have called or sent a text. Given me a heads up. Where have you been all day?”
“Stuck in meetings. Lunch with Tyler didn’t go well. He’s . . . not doing great. They screwed him over pretty badly. Then I had to meet with the studio to sign the contracts and as soon as I left they sent the press release to Variety. It’s been a crazy day.” He sounded tired and stressed. I was almost inclined to feel sorry for him.
“Did you even try to fight for me?”
“Come on, that’s not fair. I didn’t have the chance. It was all done before I knew anything about it.”
“You knew how important this was to me.”
“I did. I do. I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you. I promise. Did you get your story done?” I could picture his expression on the other end of the line, a squinty grimace.
“No, I was waiting for you. You could make it up to me by giving me some quotes now. I’ve got to turn in something before the end of the day. That would be a big help.”
“I wish I could, but they’ve got an exclusive set up with Entertainment Weekly.”
“If you recall,” I said, tamping down my frustration and resisting the urge to swear. “You were the one who convinced me to write it in the first place. You said I had to.”
“I thought I could work it out. But your site isn’t . . . There’s a certain way these things are done. You know that. Even I can’t fight the system.”
I was glad he wasn’t there so I could be mad at him without having to look into those baby seal eyes of his. “But you hate the system,” I said.
“And this is exactly why. I’m sorry, Kate. After last night this is not how I wanted today to go.”
“I’m sorry too,” I said. “Can we talk later? I’ve got to finish this.”
“Could you come over tomorrow? There’s something else I wanted to talk about.”
“I guess.”
He was quiet for a while, but didn’t hang up. Finally, he said, “I really am sorry.”
I sighed. “You said that already.”
“Felt like I needed to say it again.”
“Well that’s great, but unless you have an exclusive quote for me or a time machine there’s not much you can do. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I disconnected the call without waiting for his answer. Returning to my laptop I added a few additional sentences to the copy and clicked on the “publish to live” button.