Page 23 of Breaking the Rules
“Waverly! How was rehab?”
“Are you ever going to drink again?”
“Xavier, are you on the job, or are you dating again?”
She smiled and waved and looked every bit the happy to be home again actress.
Xavier shoved their way through the crowd to the waiting Invictus SUV at the curb. He held the door for Waverly and Kate before sliding in next to them and slamming the door on the hoard.
“Well, that was pleasant,” he said dryly.
Waverly smiled grimly.That entrance should send a message, she decided, peering out her window.
They pulled away from the curb, and she realized she hadn’t given Xavier her new address. “We’re not going to my parents’ house are we?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Your house.”
Invictus’ research department, most likely. Waverly wondered if he’d kept tabs on her all these years. While refusing to use his name in conversation, she’d fallen down the rabbit hole of Internet searches occasionally over the years. Every office opening, every high-profile case, and because the tabloids never forget, every date he was captured on. Had he shut her out completely, or had he slipped, too?
They made their way north on the freeway toward Calabasas, and Waverly used the drive to text her parents and Mari to let them know she was home. Four seconds after she sent the text, her phone rang.
“Hi, Mom,” Waverly answered.
“Darling! I’m so glad you’re home,” Sylvia Sinner chirped in her ear.
“Me, too. How are you and Dad?”
“Oh, we’re just fine. We just finished up with the trainer trying to regain our youths. I’ve got a late dinner tonight with a producer to talk about a certain part,” she said airily.
“You got it, didn’t you?” Waverly asked with a smile. Her mother had been up for a part in a family drama that was creating quite the pre-production buzz.
“Of course I did. We’re talking about casting tonight for some of the other parts, and there’s a daughter role. It’s not a huge part, but it’s tortured and beautiful.”
“Really?” Waverly said, knowing where this was going.
“No pressure here, darling. But it would only be about two weeks of shooting in January, and how much fun would it be to do a movie together?”
A few years ago, it would have been an impossibility. And now? Sylvia’s sobriety had changed their entire family for the better.
“Can you send me the script?” Waverly asked. It wouldn’t be bad to be attached to a project to help dilute the rehab news.
“Already in your inbox,” Sylvia said brightly.
“I’ll take a look tonight.”
“Glad to have you back, sweetheart! Now, we’re still going to have to talk about this rehab stuff. Dinner tomorrow?”
Waverly pinched the bridge of her nose. “It really wasn’t a big deal, Mom. I told you on the plane it was more for stress than anything else.”
“I know, but we’re still going to talk about it,” Sylvia said firmly.
“Dinner tomorrow is fine. I need to talk to Dad anyway,” Waverly said, eyeing Xavier. “He sent me something that I’m not happy about.”
Xavier winked at her.
“It will be good to clear the air,” Sylvia predicted.
“Yeah. Listen, set an extra place. I have a feeling someone is going to tagalong to dinner.”
