“Don’t worry, Leah,” Trudy said as she flicked a long ash from her smoke. “I have a pair for you, too.” She took a drag off the cigarette and blew smoke. “By the way, I don’t see anything.”
“See what?” Leah asked.
“Flowers. Diamonds. Anything the Extreme Bachelor might have shown up with to lure you into his den of luuuuv.”
Michele and Jamie sniggered. One would think the three of them had laughed enough yesterday, when they had screeched like night owls over the orchids.
Leah waved Trudy’s smoke from her face. “After yesterday, I don’t think we need to worry about orchids.”
“Good thing,” Michele piped up. “Nicole Redding was fit to be tied yesterday, and you are on her team now.”
“She was?” Leah asked, surprised.
“Mm-hmm,” Michele said, nodding with great authority. “Everyone knows she’s still got a thing for the Extreme Bachelor. Apparently, he broke up with her, and Nicole doesn’t like being blown off. Can you even imagine breaking up with a big star?”
Frankly, Leah didn’t want to imagine Michael with Nicole at all. “Well it just goes to show you,” she said, adjusting her backpack. “You can’t trust a carload of orchids.”
“So how do you know him, again?” Jamie asked, her shades back down.
“I knew him a few years ago in New York.”
“You dated, right?”
Why did the word date sound so trivial? It had been so much more to her, so much deeper. She avoided Jamie’s gaze. “Right,” she said with a shrug. “It was a long time ago.”
“I think he is regretting the breakup, or whatever it was,” Jamie said as they turned to walk into the gym. “Orchids are not cheap. It was really sweet.”
“Don’t let them fool you,” Leah uttered, and began walking.
She wouldn’t admit it, of course, but that was the thing sticking in the back of her mind, too. Not only were orchids not cheap, but they weren’t exactly easy to find on such short notice. And the note. The note. It still gave her a shiver, those two little words, I remember. She would have kept the flowers, but Nicole Redding had made her feel so small and inconsequential with all her talk of dating Michael, and Trudy had laughed at the whole thing, and Leah had suddenly felt like a chump. That was why she had torn the flowers off the tree and handed them around.
But the rest of the women thought the gesture of orchids was swoon-worthy, judging by the way some of them were surrounding him yesterday, hanging on his every word. She could practically see them drooling when he’d smile and touch the flower they wore in their hair, or make some complimentary remark. Great, she thought. Have at it.
But this morning, for reasons she did not understand, she was regretting that act. She didn’t want any of them to have the orchids.
The four of them walked into the gym and were met at the door by a perky girl who looked like she might be all of twelve, who cheerfully told them they would begin scene blocking today. She asked for their names, checked them off of a list, and told them where to report after changing into scene-blocking clothing, which the four of them took to mean shorts and T-shirts.
Fortunately, Trudy and Leah were in the same group, assigned to the western half of an old empty bay, one street over on the lot. They walked over a quarter of an hour later, pausing between buildings so Trudy could smoke. “I really ought to give up the damn things,” she said, grinding the butt out with the heel of her sneaker. When they arrived, there were a handful of soccer moms milling about, one of the stunt doubles, a couple of people in street clothes sitting in chairs—there were always a couple of people in street clothes sitting in chairs—and Michael and Jack were standing at the far end, looking at some paper, both of them dressed in knee-length jersey shorts.
Her heart skipped—after the other night, she wasn’t ready to appreciate how hot he was in flimsy jersey pants. She hadn’t remembered how muscular he was—he had a butt that wouldn’t quit, sturdy, well-shaped legs, and broad shoulders. When she looked at his arms, she was reminded of a day they had spent on Rex’s boat off Long Island. The winds had been calm, and they had been floating in serene waters. She and Michael were on a deck chair, his arms wrapped securely around her, arms that held her like two bands of steel, and he’d said, “I wish this day would never end.” Had he known then he’d be leaving soon? Had he truly regretted it?
“Hey, this should be good,” Trudy said, her face lighting up as she took in the group. “I’m starting to really like Jack, ya know? He’s got that sexy super-stud thang going on,” she said, and tossed her tote bag against the wall. “And fortunately for him, I’ve got that sexy super-chick thang going on,” she added with a salacious wink, and sashayed away, her eyes locked on Jack.
Leah hadn’t noticed until that moment how short Trudy’s shorts were.