Page 6 of Three Little Wishes

He looked as if he was about to nod when they were interrupted by a familiar male voice. “Camilla, what are you doing here?”

No. It couldn’t be. She widened her eyes at Hugh.

He raised his hands. “I had no idea, Cami.”

Pinky leaned past Hugh. “Giselle, we’re ready for you now.” Her black-slicked lips twisted in a smirk that she directed at Camilla before her face transformed, welcoming Giselle with a warm smile as if the two were BFFs.

For all Camilla knew, they could be. They were Gen Zers and were obviously into older men. Last year, Giselle had stolen Camilla’s husband, Jeff, from her. Now her ex-husband, she reminded herself.

Hugh put a hand on Camilla’s shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. Although if Pinky had shown him the tabloids’ front pages from a few months earlier, it was possibly a warning squeeze and not a supportive one.

“I’m here until at least ten tonight. But I’ll give you a call, and we’ll grab lunch tomorrow. Okay?” He ducked his head to meet her gaze.

She nodded. “I’d like that, thanks.” He had no idea how grateful she was. He’d saved her from looking like an idiot in front of her ex.

She took some measure of pleasure in knowing that Jeff would be furious that her friendship with Hugh might give her a leg up over his girlfriend. The fact that both Jeff and Hugh’s assistant thought the gorgeous model had a chance to beat out Camilla made her stomach turn. The woman might be beautiful but she couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag.

“Sorry. I need to get by,” Giselle whispered, her shoulders hunched around her ears as if she expected Camilla to make a scene. Camilla rolled her eyes. She could only imagine the lies Jeff had told her. He’d had a field day with the press.

Or maybe Giselle felt guilty for breaking up their happymarriage. Camilla snorted at the idea that her marriage had been a happy one as she stepped aside to let Giselle by. Camilla hadn’t realized how unhappy she’d been until a week after catching Jeff and Giselle in her bed.

She turned to leave, which brought her face-to-face with Jeff, his eyes narrowed as he looked from her to Hugh. She wanted to smack his too-pretty face. She wasn’t a violent person but her ex brought out the worst in her, which had unfortunately been enshrined on the front pages of the tabloids forever.

“You got this, Cami?” Hugh asked.

She nodded, wondering where Gail was. “I do, thanks.”

For the past few months, her assistant had been running interference with Jeff to avoid more bad press. But Camilla wasn’t about to let him get a reaction from her today. She wouldn’t put it past him to have the paparazzi on standby.

He used to be a publicist and had taken over her PR when they started dating. She should’ve listened to Gail. She’d advised her not to hire him and then not to marry him.

Gail hadn’t liked any of her previous husbands either, but she really, really hadn’t liked Jeff. Sadly, Camilla had been head over heels in love with him.

She looked over her ex-husband’s shoulder, waving and smiling as if someone were there. The second he turned to look, she hurried past him.

He grabbed her arm. “Don’t think I’ll let you get away with this, Camilla.”

She stopped, looked down at his hand and then pointedly at the actresses sitting in the chairs in the hall.

He let his hand fall from Camilla’s arm before leaning into her and whispering fiercely, “If you mess this up for Giselle, you’ll be sorry.”

“The only way your girlfriend has a chance at this part is if you called in some favors. And despite what you like to think, you don’t have that much pull, Jeff.”

Sadly, these days, she had less pull than he did. She wasn’t worried as much about Hugh as she was about the producers. She didn’t know who they were, and they held the purse strings.

She hooked the strap of her Coach straw tote over her shoulder. “You might want to think twice about sabotaging my chances of getting this role, Jeff. If I don’t get it, I won’t be able to afford your alimony payments.” At least at their current amount.

That would be the one and only positive of not getting the role. She’d been angrier about having to pay Jeff alimony for the next two years than she had been when she’d discovered him in her bed with Giselle.

“I don’t think that will be a problem. All you have to do is sell the house,” he said with a smug smile. “In fact, with the rate of inflation, I’m thinking of asking for an increase.” He waited for that to sink in before adding, “Now, if you were to put in a good word for Giselle with Hugh, I might—”

He didn’t finish, and not because Camilla had punched him in the nose, rendering him speechless, but because Gail had appeared at her side and looped her arm through Camilla’s, whisking her away.

“Don’t say a word,” Gail warned, her gaze moving from left to right. “You don’t know who’s listening, and the last thing you need is more bad publicity.”

By the time they reached the lobby, Camilla was practically shaking with suppressed anger. “Did you hear him? Did you hear what he said to me?” she asked, unable to stay quiet any longer.

She pushed open the glass doors, yelping when a gust of wind and rain whipped open her dress. She fisted the fabric in her hand to keep it closed while joining Gail under the umbrella she held over her head. “Please tell me I didn’t flash anyone who had their phones out.”

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