Page 23 of Reel Love

“Oh, he loves her alright,” Ben continues to rib me in his usual way.

“I love her body of work …” I feel heat creeping up my face. “Her movies, that is. I admire her acting.”

“Artistically speaking,” Kai teases, obviously enjoying my moment on the hot seat.

“Yes,” I agree. “Artistically speaking. Of course.”

“She’s gorgeous. I’m pretty sure you noticed.” Ben teases. “Not as gorgeous as you, sweet mother of my child,” he leans in and plants a kiss on Summer’s temple.

“Yeah. Yeah. I hear you,” Summer swats playfully at Ben. “It’s okay. She is beautiful. I was starstruck when I first met her too, and I don’t get intimidated easily.”

“She is pleasant looking,” I say. Then I add, “She has good bone structure and incredibly symmetrical features.”

Symmetry is a proven measure of beauty. The more symmetrical the features, the more likely other humans will assess the person as beautiful. Alana is nearly perfectly symmetrical, and since there’s no such thing as absolute perfection in nature, she’s as close as one can get. I’ve noticed her beauty when I watched her films, along with admiring her skills as an actress, of course. She’s not only beautiful, she’s very talented. And she does martial arts, if that is actually her in those scenes. It could be a body double. Whoever it is, she’s impressive.

Summer bursts into laughter. “Yeah. Maybe it’s not the best idea for you to meet her in person. I don’t know how she’d respond to being told she’s symmetrical.”

“It’s the highest form of beauty to the human eye,” I explain.

“Well, if you want to meet her, let us know,” Summer says. “She likes to keep to herself, but sometimes I can coax her out to an event with enough begging and cajoling. If you’re interested, I’ll make it happen.”

“I think I’m better off admiring her from afar.”

“If you say so. But she’s just a normal person—like me or you.”

“Babe,” Ben says, wrapping his arms around Summer’s waist playfully and possessively. “You are anything but normal.”

He kisses her temple and tugs her near.

“Anything but normal? That’s almost as bad as symmetrical,” Summer smiles playfully in my direction.

Ben nuzzles his face in Summer’s hair and murmurs, “You’re amazing, babe. Beyond amazing.”

I arrive at the boat a full hour ahead of schedule. Today’s the day I meet this elusive movie star. Her assistant, Brigitte, called two days ago to explain the need for a water taxi today and a few other times this week. I’ll have to remain on the mainland once we’re over there because her meeting is only a few hours long. It wouldn’t be worth coming home and heading back out. I’ll go to Costco for Mom since it’s one of the stores we don’t have on Marbella. I won’t mention why I’m in Ventura to my mother. It really wouldn’t matter what star it is, Mom has no chill when it comes to situations like this. She’d probably be down here on the docks trying to board the boat right now if she knew I was taxiing anyone famous.

A woman approaches the end of the pier. Her nearly white-blond curly hair spills over her shoulders. Considering this cove is private and only used by people who dock their boats in this harbor, I assume she’s my passenger. She’s a little too far away for me to tell who she is, but the closer she gets, the more sure I am. She’s wearing sunglasses, but not the gigantic ones she had on Saturday. These perch high enough on her face to fully reveal her cheekbones. She’s Layna … from paint class. And I know where I’ve seen her now.

Layna is Alana.

Alana Graves.

The sudden urge to jump ship rolls through me like a physical force, and I have to fight the desire to catapult myself off the back of the boat before she gets any closer.

Alana Graves.TheAlana Graves.

Alana Graves is walking toward me, and I’m her driver, and she’s going to sit with me in this boat, alone, for an hour.

Get a grip, Ren.

Great. Now I’m talking to myself and using my childhood nickname. This is bad. So bad. And amazing. So amazing. But mostly, it’s bad.

She’s getting closer and my pulse is quickening, my mouth going dry, my palms, just the slightest bit clammy. Not good. Not at all.

She’s just a human.

Human. Just human.

“Just human!” I shout from out of nowhere when Alana is barely ten feet from the boat.

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