Page 134 of Reel Love

“I won’t stop you from doing anything. Have you not noticed that about me yet?”

“I have. It’s one of my favorite qualities about you.”

I step aside so he can pass by me. He grabs the pizza away from me and leads his way into my kitchen. I try not to think about my mother’s call. There’s nothing I can do about it now.

I’m not telling Stevens about the rumors. There’s no need. We can’t do a thing about them. They’ll blow over. He was disguised as a delivery man. It’s just another day in the life.

I’m on my second slice of pizza when my phone rings. It’s Caroline, my publicist.

THIRTY-SIX

Alana

Listen to me, mister.

You’re my knight in shining armor.

Don’t you forget it.

~ On Golden Pond

Ilook at Stevens, “I’m going to take this.”

I step out onto the deck to take Caroline’s call.

“Hey, Caroline.”

“Alana. I know your mother spoke with you. I need you to check a post on the StarNews feed on Instagram. I’m sending the link in a text right now. You know I try to shield you from a lot of this kind of thing and handle it myself, but I need you to be up to date so we can stay ahead of this. I’m assuming you had a man up to your condo. I’m not even going to ask you to confirm or deny that, because, at this point, the truth doesn’t matter. All we need to focus on now is what we do with what’s being said.”

I don’t bother to volunteer the truth since Caroline doesn’t want it anyway, and she’s right. In this case, the truth won’t help. If only I weren’t pretending to date Rex right now, this wouldn’tbe a feeding frenzy for the media. I could come clean. Or maybe, not. This kind of fiasco, the one looming on the horizon, is exactly what I’m trying to protect Stevens from.

“Is that it? Just check the Instagram link?”

“For now, yes. But, if I’m shooting straight, no. This is pre-release. You need the press of you with Rex—the happy couple reuniting before the film launches. The tabloids are buzzing about this mystery man and how he went into your place and never came out. It looks bad, Alana. You having a secret relationship when you were just trying to reconcile with Rex does not give the spine we hoped for.”

I let out a sigh. “They’re assuming the man was my guest. There are four tenants in my building.”

“That doesn’t matter. No one’s interested in an Asian mogul of finance, an elderly couple, or a hairstylist to the stars. They are not the reason adelivery manwould enter and not leave. And even if they were, you know the media is hungry for news about you. This is a crumb.” She shifts gears so quickly, my head spins. “Okay. Read the post. We’ll talk.”

There’s the telltale click and the line is dead.

I tap the link. There’s nothing really significant beyond what my mother told me. A fuzzy photo of Stevens entering the building. Another one of him pushing three on the elevator panel.How did they get that?Or did they manufacture it?And then speculation as to why a man would be coming into my condo and not leaving. A portion of the post raises the question as to whether I’m cheating on Rex so soon into our attempt to reconcile. There are thousands of comments already. I don’t read any of those. That’s a doom spiral I usually ask Brigitte to take on my behalf.

I drop the hand holding my cell to my side and stare out over the treetops. I look in through the sliding glass doors at Stevens. He’s waiting in my kitchen.

When I walk back inside, he takes one look at my face and asks. “What was that all about?”

I set my phone on the counter and pick up my slice of pizza, answering him before I take another bite.

“Apparently you were photographed going into my condo.”

“Did they get my good side?” Stevens is all smiles.

“Thankfully, no. The photo is blurry.”

Stevens glances at my face, studying me and obviously sizing up my concern. Then he stands and brushes my hair back, gently bracing his hands on my biceps.

“Hey. It’s going to be okay.” He’s that man playing violin on the deck of the Titanic. “Let’s play Scrabble.”

---