Page 52 of Wildest Dreams

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Saturday, I meet Kendall for lunch at Big Ol’ Butts BBQ. My neck is sore from sleeping on the air mattress, but it’ll be worth it to see Kendall’s face when she returns to her refurbished house.

“Are you okay?” she asks after the thousandth time I roll and rub my neck.

“Yeah, I just slept on the air mattress last night. Patsy had the house emptied yesterday and I had nowhere else to sleep.”

“Pierre! You should’ve told me. You could’ve stayed at my place.”

“Are you sure? Don’t get me wrong—I loved staying with you last time, but I didn’t know how you’d feel about people seeing me leave the next morning.”

“It’s fine,” she says. “I’m trying to do a better job of letting things go.”

After lunch, I walk her back to her place, then head to the house to pack an overnight bag and grab my laptop. I go straight back to her apartment and don’t leave until I have to report to set Monday morning.

KENDALL

Spending the weekend with Pierre is magical. I can’t get over how natural it all feels, like we should be together forever. Sometimes I feel like I’m in a daydream and need to pinch myself. Other times, I want to slap myself for getting in this far over my head, knowing full well that his movie is wrapping soon and I’ll go back to my quiet little life alone.

For the first time, I don’t want that.

I wish he could stay, but I know he can’t. Even if I ask him to, I’m afraid he’ll say no. I need to do what I’ve said I would all along and accept that this is a short-term fling.

But, my God, it’s been heaven.

Patsy continues to miss work since she’s helping Pierre fix up the house. She assures me she’ll be done by the weekend, which is good because I need her next week to help with end-of-quarter filings I have to work on for some of the local businesses.

I’m also a little anxious about the house. Our friend Micah runs the local antique store and has apparently been helping her, which makes me giddy with anticipation because everything Micah touches turns to gold. I know it’ll be exquisite, but I don’t know if it’ll make me want to stay there again, which is all Pierre wants. I hope I don’t disappoint him or my friends.

In the meantime, he continues to stay at my apartment during the week. He’s working on scenes being shot all through the night, so he’s sleeping in my bed while I work during the day. Knowing he’s a staircase away makes me feel warm and secure and gives me something to look forward to every day when I get off work. We always eat dinner together before he heads out, and each evening I’m left with a kiss on my forehead and the smell of his cologne in my sheets. Even when he’s not here, it’s paradise.

Friday afternoon, Patsy finally makes an appearance at the office. She’s finished the house and is so excited she can barely contain herself.

“Let’s go see it!” I say.

“Absolutely not. This was Pierre’s idea. He should be the one to take you to see it.”

“But you did all the work!”

“It wasn’t work. It was fun!”

“We’ll arrange a time for all of us to go together. How about that?”

When Pierre comes downstairs, Patsy shows him photos of everything on her phone, and a few times he looks like he’s going to cry.

“I want to go now, but I’ll be late to set if I do.”

“Yeah, we don’t want that again,” I say.

We agree to meet at the house Saturday at noon. Patsy makes arrangements for her mom to watch her two youngest boys while Garion has the three oldest at the ballpark.

* * *

The next day, Pierre gets in at five in the morning and sleeps for five hours. I stay in bed with him and listen to him dream as I read a book on my iPad. It’s been a while since I read a romance novel. I was too cynical to read after my divorce, but I’m finally in the mindset to allow myself to escape to a happy place.

We both shower after he gets up, grab lunch at Bread Crumbs, and go to the grocery store to get more rotisserie chickens in case Bertha shows back up.

“You haven’t mentioned Marina this week,” I say as we’re driving through the canopy of oak trees in the historic district of Magnolia Row.

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