Page 55 of Reel Love

“You totally should!”

Summer calls Ben’s name to help carry bowls out from the kitchen.

Bodhi walks over and asks, “Hey, guys. Mind if I borrow my wife for a minute? I’m thinking she needs to put her feet up.”

Kalaine rolls her eyes at Bodhi, but she follows him across the yard to a chair he’s pulled out for her with a footrest in front of it.

Alana and I are left alone together.

“Thank you,” she nearly whispers to me.

“For loving you inTwisted?” I manage to tease her comfortably now that we’re alone.

She smiles softly at me. “For acting like we never met.”

If only she knew most of my reaction wasn’t acting.

“You’re welcome. You know you can trust me.”

She studies me for a beat and then she says something I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. “Yeah. I can.”

SIXTEEN

Alana

I'm done being scared.

I'm done living in a world

where I don't get to be who I am.

I deserve a great love story.

~ Love, Simon

And so it begins.

Blastedwill be released in theaters worldwide in seven weeks. My life is about to speed up like a German motor car entering the Autobahn. Press junkets. Talk shows. Media interviews. Special industry events. The premier. More photo shoots. Public appearances. I’ll live at my condo in Hollywood several days a week now. I take a deep breath, grab the garment bag from the hook on the back of my door and walk out to meet the driver who will take me to the docks.

Not in a car. No. This is Marbella. This driver will be taking me in a golf cart at the mach speed of ten miles per hour. I could walk faster.

Stevens is waiting on Joel’s boat. This will be our last daytogether. Joel comes back tomorrow after a delayed flight that kept him two extra days in Minnesota, or Wisconsin, or one of those states with great lakes and a lot of cheese.

“Good morning.” Stevens greets me with a soft smile and an extended hand to grab my garment bag from me.

He leaves his other hand out to help me board and our eyes connect as I step onto the boat.

“Good morning. Thank you for doing this. I know it’s beyond what you agreed to do for me.”

“I’m here. I may as well help out when I can.” We walk together to the helm and take our seats. Stevens raises one eyebrow at me. “Unless you have a bevy of men with pre-signed NDAs littered around the island awaiting your beck and call.”

I laugh out loud. “Actually, you’d be surprised how many NDA-carrying men and women I have connections to on this island.”

“I bet I would. Give me a ballpark.”

Stevens twists the key and we back out into the ocean. The cool morning breeze sends a refreshing shiver through me. I’d far rather spend a day out on the water than sit in a stuffy hotel room answering the same questions hour after hour all day.

“Well …” I consider downplaying the number of people it takes to sustain my day-to-day existence. Oddly, I want him to know. “There’s Aria.”

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