“Either you let me talk, Mom, or put Daddy on the phone. I’m serious. Okay, that’s better. Now listen carefully and do not give me any guff.”
Thirty seconds of tense silence told him that Paige’s tone probably hadn’t impressed her mother.
“Whatever. Now first, don’t answer the phone. Screen the calls, Mom, and let the machine pick up. Second, just say no, okay? By that, I mean don’t talk to the gossip mamas in town, pleeease. I’m not a news story. I’m your daughter. My life, all our lives, is none of anyone’s business.”
God, he felt for her. She did not sign on to having her privacy trampled all over. Ignoring the fact she’d turned away from him, he went to her and wrapped his arms around her middle from behind. Relief surged through him when she relaxed and let him hold her close.
“We’ll come see you guys soon. Edward wants to talk to Dad.”
He chuckled, and she turned her head to look up and gave him a wink. In-laws. Holy crap. He was going to have in-laws.
“Mom, relax, okay? I love you guys, and everything’s going to be just fine. There’s what’s real, and then there’s what the media reports. You need to trust me.”
He didn’t resist when she turned in his hold, softly kissed him, and then stepped away, heading for the deck. He got it. She had some damage control to do with her parents. Maybe he should do the same.
Sitting cross-legged on a deck lounger, the sun warmed Paige while she took care of business. Wishing she had a change of clothes instead of her slinky black dress that was wardrobe department perfection for a morning-after walk of shame, she ignored everything going on around her and focused on the issues at hand. But there was only so much she could do from the deck of a Malibu beach house.
The terse conversation with her mother had been a wake-up call but instead of feeling peeved, she kind of got excited about wrestling that beast to the ground. She was a problem solver. People counted on her to put out the fire. Why should this situation be any different? Because she had a starring role? Pfft.
Mickey wanted to hear from her ASAP, and remarkably, Carolyn was using her head and cc’ing Paige what she was handling. The girl was proving to be savvier than her offbeat lifestyle had suggested.
She hadn’t read much else. There had been the usual requests for Gideon’s time and talents and a couple of long-winded dog and pony shows from a production company trying to pique their interest but nothing that required her immediate attention.
A bird flew by overhead. Looking up, she shielded her eyes from the bright sun and caught the glimmer of the diamond sparkling on her finger. An engagement ring. Edward gave her a family heirloom, something that had belonged to his grandmother.
Her heart filled with emotion. He was, at his core, a family guy. Edward wasn’t a player even though he certainly knew how to make it seem like he was. The indulged, kid-in-a-candy-store lifestyle at the beginning of his climb to fame hadn’t lasted long. Thank god and despite an early string of starlets and models, he’d been less a man-whore with each passing year.
She wasn’t completely dense. Pussy was still pussy, and a blowjob was practically Hollywood currency. But unless he was scoring top-secret strange in some alternate universe she didn’t have twenty-four-seven access to, it had been quite a long time since there’d been even the hint of a female in his life. Gideon’s life, anyway, because, besides her, nobody was in Edward’s life.
He was worried about her, and she felt bad about the way she’d initially resisted Moira and Mickey. It all came at her too fast, and she hadn’t had time to put the changes in her relationship with Edward into perspective before being sucked into the Gideon Affair. What a difference a day made.
Leaving the sunshine behind, she headed into the house in search of him. Managing was what she did. It was up to her to show him that she was handling the weirdness they found themselves in before he worried to death.
“I’m not sure, Dad. Probably a week. I want to take Paige to Denver first. There’s a hotel there she’d like to visit. Yeah.” He chuckled. “That one. A bunch of art, blah, blah, blah.”
She paused in the study doorway and leaned against the doorjamb enjoying the way he spoke to his dad. Steven was one of the good guys. So were his sons, and Edward adored his father. The man had been an excellent role model.
“Really?”
Paige heard a note of real surprise in the word. She wondered what had so affected him.
He followed up with a cheerful laugh. “No, nothing Marsh does ever really shocks me. How long’s this been going on?”
Marshall. Of course. Edward’s younger brother. The free spirit with a head full of dreams and a list of adventures to go on a mile and a half long. She smiled. Marsh was easy to like, and Paige knew that despite the half-assed dead head reputation he had, the guy was impressive smart. Like almost Big Bang Theory smart. She was in no way surprised to learn he was up to something. Good for him, whatever it was.
There was a bit more back and forth, and then, without warning, he turned and looked at her. She hadn’t moved a muscle, but he’d known she was there. He patted the sofa next to him and gestured for her to sit.
“We were thinking about driving an RV from there. Next stop Wyoming and then on to Montana when the movie is ready to shoot.”
Paige curled up next to him and put her head on his shoulder while his arm draped about her.
“Dad, listen … we’ll catch up later. For now, just chill. I have this. You and Mom aren’t to worry, okay? Paige and I have some stuff to sort out on this end and then we’re heading out. Let’s just keep that in mind and all the other stuff will blow over in time.”
After a round of I love yous and a few more jokes, the call ended. “Did you tell them?”
“Actually, no I didn’t. The story and pictures were enough for the moment. Did you tell your folks?”
“Uh … not really. Mom wasn’t listening anyway. I sorta promised we’d go for a visit. Thought we could do it then.”
He hugged her tight. “You do know it won’t take long for the news to get out. Right?”
“Could say the same to you,” she murmured into his neck. He didn’t respond so she sat up and gave him a questioning look. He said there were pictures. And a story. Maybe she’d better check it out.
“I need to get changed, and we should FaceTime Mickey before he has a stroke. So, how do you want to do this? I can call for a car, take care of business, and meet you later.”
“No.”
That shut her up. Oookay, then.
“I’ll take you home. We can contact M from there. Just let me grab my laptop and change my shirt and we can leave.”
He knew something, and he wasn’t saying anything. Well, she’d have none of that.
“Tell me. And don’t paraphrase.”
He wedged into the corner of the sofa, tilted his head on the back, and stared at the ceiling. “The FBI raided Alan Sperry’s ranch yesterday. They’ve detained him on trafficking charges. There were drugs and guns, too.”
“Oh, my god.”
“Right?”
“What does that mean?”
He sat forward and leaned his forearms on his thighs. For a good minute, he said nothing and just stared at his clasped hands. “I don’t know. That part came out of left field, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens next.”
“Okay. But you said there were pictures. And a story. Care to clue me in?”
“Shadow Gossip dot com ran their lame ass story. Their spin was that Phae, Joann, and I were in a love triangle. The usual insinuation about that fucking tape was in the story. Apparently, it's Phae and me now.” His disgusted shrug was to be expected.
“Then, this morning, as if it had all been planned, the Sperry story broke and so did pictures of us from Nobu. Right on schedule, Caro let it slip to some blabbermouth she knew at the gym that her two bosses were doing the nasty. Class performance from that one ‘cause everyone thinks we have a disgruntled employee to deal with. Didn’t take long for the goddamn dots to connect. Caro’s bosses, Gideon’s mystery dinner companion, Phae, Joann, our movie, and Alan Sperry. All tied up in one neat package.”