The Friends We Keep

The dress was the most expensive article of clothing she owned. The Alexander McQueen pleated leaf crepe design had a squared-off sweetheart neckline that was cut low enough to be supersexy without showing too much. The dress itself was fitted to her hips, then flared out before ending well above her knee.

She’d nearly decided to wear something else. After all, this was a dress she’d bought for an event while she’d still been married to Eric. The need for something new had passed quickly. Her life hardly lent itself to fancy events, so why spend the money when she could recycle?

Jairus smiled at her. “We’re going to have a good time. We’ll watch the movie and then later we’ll talk about it. Hell, we can spend a couple of hours trashing Eric. I’m game. Or we can go back to my place where I’ll try desperately to seduce you. Desperate being the operative word.”

Despite the nerves, his words made her relax. She smiled at him. “There’s something wrong with you.”

“I’ve been told that before. I wonder if it’s true.”

She stared into his dark eyes. He was very sweet. Not just with her but with Tyler. He was funny and kind and dependable. He got her. Talk about an unexpected bonus, she thought.

He held out his hand. “Ready to beard the lion in his den?” He frowned. “Is it lion or dragon? Do either of them have beards? Who thinks this stuff up?”

She laced her fingers with his and turned to the entrance to the theater. A few photographers stood waiting. There were small crowds of fans, there for the movie stars. Nicole wondered how many people were already inside and if she would see Eric at all. Not that she wanted to. It was just being at a movie premiere was so surreal, she wanted to be prepared.

“I’m ready,” she said firmly, hoping that by saying it, the words would be true.

“Then I am, too.”

They joined the short line of people being let into the theater. The photographers glanced at them, then away. They weren’t anyone, she thought humorously.

The lobby walls were covered with huge posters from the movie Disaster Road. There were sofas and comfortable chairs set up in seating areas. Servers circulated with trays of appetizers and glasses of champagne. A hundred or so people stood talking.

Nicole wondered how many were with the production and how many were guests.

“Did you read anything about the movie?” Jairus asked.

“No. I thought about it, but then figured we were going to see it. Did you?”

“No. I wanted to be surprised.”

“Let’s hope it’s a good one.”

She laughed. “I alternate fear and apprehension.”

“That it will be good?”

The question surprised her. “I expect it’s going to be great. I don’t mind if Eric does well. I don’t wish him ill.”

“A lot of ex-wives wouldn’t be so generous.”

She thought about the article his ex had written and the horrible things she’d said about him. “I’m not vindictive. I have flaws, but that’s not one of them.”

A voice over the loudspeakers directed everyone to their seats. She and Jairus went upstairs and sat in the balcony. The theater quickly filled up and Nicole spotted the stars, the director and Eric down in front. The executive producer appeared onstage and introduced himself and the main players, then promised to answer questions after the showing. Then the lights dimmed and the movie began.

Nicole hadn’t known what to expect. Knowing Eric as she did, she wondered if she would hear his voice in the dialogue or see parts of him in the story. She’d been curious whether parts of their life would be woven into the action. What she hadn’t expected was to find the hero’s wife to be a caricature of herself.

The wife was blonde, shrewish and obsessed with her body. A former dancer, all she worried about was exercise and what she ate. She was a nag and so over-the-top annoying that she became the comic relief in a fast-moving action plot.

Nicole felt herself flushing. Heat burned on her face as she saw just enough of herself to know there was no mistaking what Eric had done. He’d taken the very worst parts of her and had blown them out of proportion to add humor to the story.

No wonder he hadn’t wanted her to read the screenplay. She’d been his muse, but in the worst way possible.

Three-quarters of the way through the movie, the bad guys kidnapped the wife and the audience actually cheered. When the hero kissed the new love interest, Nicole heard sighs. And at the end of the movie, the wife was cast aside as the action star took up with his new lady love.

She didn’t know what to say or do. Of course that wasn’t her. She wasn’t obsessed with her body. Yes, she cared about being healthy, but part of that was because she owned an exercise studio. It wasn’t wrong to want to be fit.

She told herself that Eric’s view of her was like a fun-house mirror—the truth was distorted. Yet a part of her wondered if that was how he really saw her. How much was poetic license and how much was his version of the truth?

The lights came on. She forced herself to relax, to smile, to turn to Jairus and say, “What did you think?”

“It was better than I thought it would be,” he admitted. “I didn’t like the hero as much as I could have, but it was good.”