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He waved her off. “Go. I need to head back to my office and gather a few things to bring home for the weekend.” The look on both women’s faces told him they didn’t want to be so rude as to leave him. Not after helping Ellie. “Go,” he insisted. “Honestly. It will take me ten minutes to get my stuff and lock the office up. Then I’ll be on my way to Ethan and Kara’s.”
Ellie’s lips pursed, and Sofia’s eyes searched his face. After a beat, she nodded. “Say hi to the family for me,” she said.
He nodded. “And I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said, directing his comment to Ellie. She nodded but didn’t say anything as Sofia ushered her out of the room. It wasn’t until he was back in his office that he realized he didn’t have her number.
He smiled. Guess he’d just have to stop by and see her in person.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“I’m fine, Harry,” Ellie said, assuring her PA that her impromptu trip to Mystery Lakedidn’t signal the end of the world. In fact, it felt just the opposite. With a throw blanket draped over her shoulders, and the warmth of Sofia and Josh’s guest room wrapping around her, she felt more relaxed than she had in months. The view through the sliding doors helped, too. The lake sparkled in the morning sun, as if sprinkled with diamonds, and the trees looked doused with white frosting. “I just wanted a few days away. That’s all,” she added.
Harry hemmed and hawed for a few seconds. He’d been her PA for nearly a decade and knew her well enough to know she wasn’t telling the truth. Or not the whole truth. The trick was convincing him to let her get away with it.
“What about the fitting?” he asked. She had a wardrobe fitting at the end of the following week for the film she was scheduled to start shooting in April.
“I’ll be back for that. Promise,” she said. He’d have to deal with the fallout if she missed the appointment. Or had to reschedule. And she didn’t want to do that to him.
“I also scheduled you for your Oscar dress fitting.”
Although no one could see, she made a face. The Oscars weren’t her favorite Hollywood event—not even when she’d been nominated. Not even when she’d won. But she had to go. At least the after-parties made up for it.
“I’ll be ready,” she said.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked again.
“You’re mother-henning me, Harry. We’ve had this talk before,” she countered sternly, although he’d hear the smile in her voice.
“Well, someone has to,” he shot back. A familiar response. “You work hard and deserve some luxuries in life—like me taking care of you.”
“I don’t know if I deserve you, but I am lucky to have you.”
“Now you’re going to make me cry.” He wasn’t exaggerating. Harry cried at the drop of a hat. She and Ricardo teased him about it all the time. Little did he know, though, she envied him and his easy show of emotion. If Hollywood had taught her anything, it was that emotions are best saved for when in front of the camera. Any other time, they could, and often were, weaponized against you.
“Why don’t you and Ricardo take a few days off? Go to that spa you like in La Jolla. It will be my treat. Or take a trip.”
Harry stifled a whimper then sniffled. “That’s not necessary. We’ll take a few days, but we don’t need the spa visit. Although that’s very thoughtful of you.”
She debated insisting, but in the end let it drop. Harry and Ricardo were grown men, and Harry knew her well enough to know her offer had been genuine.
“You promise you’ll tell me if there’s anything I can do for you while you’re visiting Sofia and her hunky man.”
Ellie smiled. Joshwasa hunk. All of the Warwick men were easy on the eyes. Although she found her thoughts drifting to one in particular—one with amber eyes and a trim goatee.
“I will,” she assured him, forcing her thoughts back to the conversation.
“Any chance Josh has any single brothers? Or cousins?”
“You’re a married man, Harry,” she teased.
He snorted. “Not for me. For you! Ricardo is all the man I want, thank you very much. But your response tells me all I need to know about the sorry state of your love life. Or lack thereof.”
She rolled her eyes. “You didn’t need my reaction to tell you anything you didn’t already know.” It had been ages since she’d been on a date. And even longer since she’d been in any sort of relationship. It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested. It was just that getting to know someone took energy, and she hadn’t met anyone who caught her attention enough to warrant putting that energy in. She smiled ruefully at her reflection in the glass door. Basically, she was too lazy to have a love life. As pathetic as that was.
Then the doorbell rang, and fate, that fickle bitch, called her a liar. Because shehadmet someone who caught her attention. Just knowing who stood on the porch had her heart rate kicking up. Asher had texted Sofia earlier and said he’d stop by. He could have asked Sofia for her number and called with the results of her test. Instead, he’d opted to deliver them in person. Maybe that meant he wanted to see her again. Although a not-so-small part of her acknowledged that the results of the scan might be bad and he didn’t want to deliver them over the phone.
“I need to go. Sofia is calling me,” she said.
“Liar. You don’t want to talk about your dry, shriveled up, wasteland of a—”
