Page 73 of What I Did for Love
All morning Bramcouldn’t seem to keep his clothes on, and by lunchtime, Georgie wanted to hit him in his delectable bare chest. He was either wandering around the backyard in nothing but his swim trunks sipping from one of his bottomless tumblers of scotch or—and this was the kicker—climbing an extension ladder half naked to clean out some gutters he said were clogged, as if anyone in Hollywood cleaned out their own gutters.
He was punishing her for slipping out of bed to spend the rest of the night in her own room. Tough. Their relationship was about debauchery, not the intimacy of nighttime cuddling.
She tried to escape to the kitchen, but Chaz was a total pain, refusing help and ignoring all of Georgie’s suggestions. And Meg was no better. When she saw Georgie carrying around her video camera, she draped a scarf over her head and pretended to be one of Michael Jackson’s kids, which was funny but not exactly what Georgie had in mind to record. She finally shut herself in her room to rereadTree Houseand think about Helene.
In the afternoon she set the table. Despite the possibility of rain, they were eating on the veranda, which managed to stay dry during all but the biggest storms. She arranged a centerpiece of artichokes, lemons, and eucalyptus leaves in a blue pottery bowl. It was a little lopsided, but she liked the way it accented the bright yellow place mats and cobalt plates. Once she added a couple of chunky candles, it would be perfect.
She sensed Bram coming up behind her just before his hand curled around her bottom. “Why’s the table set for seven?”
“Seven?” The time had come to deliver the news, but she acted as though she’d never heard the number before. “Let’s see. You, me, Dad, RoryandTrev, Laura, Meg…Yes, that’s right.”
His hand, which had been exploring her bottom, came to a dead stop. “Did you say…Rory?”
“Uhm…”
“Rory Keene is coming to dinner tonight?”
“You never listen when I tell you things. I swear, my voice is just white noise to you. It’s like we’ve been married forever.”
“Rory?”He abandoned her bottom.
“I’m positive I mentioned it.”
“I’m positive you didn’t! Are you crazy? Your father hates my guts. I only have two and a half weeks left until that option expires, and I don’t want him anyplace near Rory.”
“I’ll take care of him.”
“Like you’ve done such a good job taking care of him so far.”
“I thought you’d be happy.” She attempted a pout and wasn’t surprised when she couldn’t pull it off.
“Rory loves that script,” he said more to himself than to her. “If I could just get her to trust me.”
“From what she told me, that’s probably a lost cause.” As he paced the veranda, she replayed her conversation with Rory. When she finished, she said, “Why did you bring those cretins out to L.A. with you?”
The bitterness he kept tucked away escaped. “Because I was a stupid kid. I didn’t have a family, and I thought—I don’t know what I thought.”
Georgie had a fairly good idea.
He hunched his shoulders and looked away. “The guys told me Rory made the whole thing up. I wanted to believe them, so I did, and when I finally wised up, she was long gone. By the time I found her, my career was in the tank, and let’s just say she doubted the sincerity of my apology.”
“And now she has her revenge.”
“It’s not over till it’s over. She wants that script, and she can get it a lot cheaper working with me than trying to snatch it up after my option expires.” The same guy who’d once blown off three days’ shooting to go deep-sea fishing was suddenly all-business. “We need to be on top of our game tonight. She likes you, and I’m fully prepared to take advantage of that. Lots of touching. Affection. Not a single wisecrack.”
“Everybody will think we’re sick.”
“I’m counting on you to help make sure I get some time alone with her.” He took in her lemon and artichoke centerpiece. “See if you can find a florist. I’ll hire a bartender and someone to wait tables. And we need to get a real chef in here.”
She held up her hand. “Stop right there. No florist, no bartender, and Chaz is making do-it-yourself kebabs. Chicken, beef, and scallops.”
“Are you crazy? We can’t serve Rory Keene kebabs.”
“You’ll have to trust me. Remember, I have a purely selfish interest in convincing Rory to back your project. If you screw this up for me…”
“Georgie, I told you. Helene has to be cast—”
“Leave me alone. I have things to do.” Mainly she had to help him convince Rory that he was the person to make the film. If Rory saw how well he could behave these days, she might forget his past idiocy.
