I loosen my fingers and glide my hand along his forearm, just to show him so. If he notices that I notice the goosebumps on his skin, he doesn’t mention it.
“That’s good,” he says. “We should get to know each other a little better.”
“To sell it,” I say.
“Yeah, to sell it.”
“Maybe you could come over to my place around seven tomorrow?”
He nods and takes out his phone. “Yeah, give me your number and you can text me the address.”
I notice there’s a picture of him and another girl on the screen, and swallow down my disappointment. I give him my number and take Gigi back, then stand up and get ready to go. Getting lost in something fake with an actor is stupid. It’s a business arrangement pure and simple.
“We should probably leave separately, just in case,” I say.
He seems a little startled by the shift in my mood, but agrees with me anyway. “Should I bring dinner?”
I shrug. “I like Thai. I’ll probably be hungry around then.”
He grins. “Okay, sounds like a plan.”
He stands as I walk towards the office door, and calls out my name just before I open it.
“Yeah?” I ask, turning to face him.
“It was really good to meet you.”
“You too,” I reply, then practically run to my car.
Chapter Three
I drop Gigi off at home and go for a run to work out the nerves in my system. I go for one mile, then two, and on the third time that I’ve completed my regular trek around the neighborhood I decide that the situation calls for the big guns.
After a quick shower, I decide to drop by Kendall’s house. She’s in the middle of starting up a small editing studio, and while her business partner Jordan is busy doing some of the office construction himself, a lot of the editing work is falling to Kendall. She sticks her head above water every few days, and knowing her she’s probably out of patience and out of food.
I stop by the grocery store to pick up some sustenance for her, opting for a lot of ready-made food that she can just pop in the microwave without having to think about it or plan too much. I throw in a couple of bottles of good wine, because every hard-working girl needs a little luxury in her life.
It takes seven knocks and ten minutes for her to finally open up her door, and when she does, she looks like a complete madwoman. The bags under her eyes look almost comical, her hair is coming out of a bun that she probably put up at least two days ago, and she has a pencil tucked behind one ear, a pen behind the other. She’s wearing a pair of glasses on her face and another is pushing her hair back.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this bad.
I definitely should’ve bought more wine.
“Skye?” she asks, a little confused, like she’s seeing a mirage.
“When is the last time you slept?”
A few seconds pass, then she shrugs. “I don’t know.”
I step around her to get inside, and head to the kitchen to put the groceries away. The place is a disaster, but her desk is pristine. Typical.
“I explicitly told Jordan it was his responsibility to keep you from getting like this,” I say, feeling a little angry. I know he’s busy, but he’s her friend too and he knows how she gets.
“He’s been working on the studio. He came over yesterday and I pretended to take a nap.”
“How do you pretend to take a nap?”
“I snuck my laptop into my room and pretended like I was sleeping.”
I sigh. “Kendall.”
“I know, I know.”
She watches me as I hoist the bags onto the island.
“You brought me groceries?”
“I know you, and I’m guessing you ran out of food from the last delivery I had sent over.”
She hums noncommittally. “This morning, actually. I had peanut butter smeared on toast, a bagel and an egg. You don’t want to know what I did with them, but I will say that they absolutely don’t go together.”
I wretch at the thought. “No kidding. Well, now you have some pre-made meals and a couple of bottles of wine. Please don’t make anything weird with any of them.”
She places her hand on her heart. “I promise.”
She sneaks out at some point while I’m putting her food away, and I find her back at the desk. Of course.
What this woman needs is an intervention.
“You better save what you’re working on, because I’m going to remove your power sources in five minutes. Then you’re going to get up and take a shower while I clean up this…absolute mess that you’ve been living in.”
She slides around in her chair and looks for a few seconds like she’s going to fight me on this, then thinks better of it.
“Ten minutes, and you have a deal.”
I know better than to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. While she works, I get to picking up her dirty clothes and get a load of laundry going. At the twelve minute mark, I forcibly remove her from her chair and send her into the bathroom after frisking her to make sure she wasn’t smuggling any hidden electronics.
I decide to order a pizza instead of raiding the pre-prepped food I bought, so she can have it through the week. I have her apartment mostly clean and a second load of clothes in the dryer by the time pizza arrives.
Kendall walks out into the living room wearing her PJs a few minutes later. Her hair is in a wet bun and she looks a lot more relaxed than she did when when I got here. She wraps me up in a tight hug.
“Thank you for taking care of me,” she says, voice muffled by my shoulder.
I squeeze her tight. “Just returning the favor.” I can’t count how many times she’s kept me company on set, brought me chicken noodle soup when I was sick, or let me cry all over
