Page 29 of Ring My Bell

“Over here!” Gerald was waving his arms like one of those car dealership balloon guys, attracting the attention of everyone in the lobby. While it wasn’t an official meet and greet—that had been the previous night, the ticketed event Paige and Gerald had attended for recon— many of the festival participants were mingling in the lodge’s expansive lobby. The kitchen had brought out a buffet of snacks and hors oeuvres, and the bar was doing brisk business with both alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks.

“Oh my god,” Iggy muttered. “I think that’s Pepper Soames. Don’t look! Oh my god, it is her!”

“Who’s Pepper Soames?” I tugged him towards Gerald and Paige. Iggy dragged his feet, trying to look over his shoulder without looking like he was trying.

He failed miserably. The beautiful blonde he’d pointed out grinned in our direction. “She’s pretty.” I gave his arm another firm tug. “Come on, Gerald’s about to achieve lift if we don’t get over there.”

“Pepper Soames is just the most amazing model and performer in the history of the world, oh my god!” Iggy did a little bouncy-step thing, trying to see past someone with the audacity to stop in his line of sight. “Move, damn it!” he hissed. “Pepper Soames started out as a fit model for one of the startup houses in New York, but she’s a triple threat, okay?”

“I’m guessing you don’t mean singing, dancing, and acting.”

“Quadruple threat, then, because all that and she’s a kickass business owner. She started her own entertainment company a few years ago, focusing on marginalized voices. She’s queer and disabled, which was seen as, like, a quirky thing back in the nineties when she got started. Remember those kind of sketchy Benneton ads and those clothing companies priding themselves on having the most unique models?”

I made a face, finally dragging his attention back towards the direction we were walking. Gerald had at last stopped trying to become a large bird and was instead gesturing and talking rapidly with Paige, daring glances our way. “Yeah, some of those seemed really creepy. Fetishizing, almost.”

He nodded emphatically. “Her work in modeling and singing made her wealthy and famous, so she used that privilege to make the entertainment world more accessible and give non-typical models and performers a chance to build a career not focused on being fetishized or seen as some model example of their difference.”

“It sounds like I just found my new PR person to replace the one who retired last month,” a low, amused voice said from in front of us.

“Oh. My. God.”

“Hi,” Pepper Soames said, barely holding in her chuckle. “Can you promise not to freak out worse than you’re already doing?”

Iggy shook his head. “I’ve got him,” I sighed. “I’m Mathis Reisner and—”

“I know,” she said, smiling broadly. “I’ve heard a lot about the two of you. Gerald! Come over here before you hurt yourself.”

Gerald was already striding our way, a mildly stunned Paige in tow. “Pep,” he sighed. “I tried to call you back earlier, but you didn’t pick up.”

“I swear every year, this place picks three or four people to have shit signals and commits. Everyone around me has zero problems with their phones or tablets, but I’m over here missing calls and dropping video conferences.” She tugged the latest model of iPhone out of her shirt and rolled her eyes. “Now it tells me you left a voicemail. Ugh. Sorry, Ger.”

“You know her?” Iggy hissed. “Gerald! You know Pepper Soames!”

Gerald blushed to the roots of his bright-red hair. “She used to be my babysitter when we lived in Peoria.”

“You’re from Peoria?” Iggy’s voice was a weird whisper-screech, drawing more attention than not. “I thought you were from Manhattan!”

Expression a bit rueful and a bit sheepish, Pepper rolled her eyes. “That’s my official copy. I was born and raised in Peoria, but my first agent didn’t think that was a good for my mystique. So I went from Penelope Soames Gregory, gangly high schooler with gap teeth and no tits, to Pepper Soames, mysterious socialite with a ‘unique look’ and androgynous vibe. Throw in rumors about my parents being low-level Scandinavian royalty and ta-da.” She threw out some jazz hands. “Here I am.”

Shooting her a glare without any sort of heat, Gerald huffed. “Your dad’s a truck mechanic, and your mom’s the school secretary.”

Pepper stuck her tongue out at him playfully. “They retired, thank you very much. And I bought them a house, so phhttttt.”

Iggy’s screech spoke for all of us, I think. “What the hell is happening here? Gerald, start talking!”

Paige jerked their chin in the direction of one of the lodge’s conference rooms, where a mildly anxious coordinator stood by the door. We’d drawn quite a bit of attention already, so Pepper happily took us to the private room she’d requested before trying to find Gerald.

The coordinator gushed over Pepper and seemed to think we were her entourage, which Iggy was all too happy to go along with. “If I didn’t know where your mouth was just six hours ago, I’d be jealous,” I murmured in his ear.

He made a funny noise in his throat, watching Pepper gracefully dismiss the coordinator and lock the door in their wake. “If I wasn’t gay as a Macy’s Christmas window, I’d throw myself at her and present my belly for scritches. I still might, to be honest, but in a totally different way.”

Gerald nudged him hard enough to make Iggy bump into my side, so I took the opportunity to slip my arm around his waist and give him a squeeze. “Breathe, Ig. If you drop dead on me before tomorrow, our plan isn’t going to work nearly as well.”

“And that plan is what I want to talk to you all about,” Pepper announced, motioning for us to take up seats around the small conference table. “I’d have done this back in my suite, but there’s paps circling, and I didn’t think you’d want your big surprise to be revealed too soon.”

Iggy shot Gerald a glare, and I couldn’t help but scowl at him. “I thought we were keeping this secret,” Paige muttered. “Gerald.”

He made an unhappy noise low in his throat. “To be fair, I emailed Pepper before y’all came up with the whole,” he waved one hand, “hocus-pocus thing. I didn’t hear back from her until yesterday, and I didn’t want to get your hopes up.”

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