Page 83 of Stone Promises

I think if I would have met her before Chad and I got together, I might not have been so accepting. It was always just my dad and me. I’d sworn off men and anyone who turned his eye would have just been an intrusion. But now . . . Now I think if Denise can bring him even a fraction of the happiness Chad brings me, my dad deserves that.

Before I know it, I’ve not only made Chad’s cookies, but I’ve whipped up one of his favorite dinners as well. Chicken casserole with broccoli and rice. We didn’t get a chance to eat anything healthy today while traveling from L.A., and it would be a shame to let any of the food they provided go to waste.

Chad and Cole come home just as I’m taking dinner out of the oven. I turn to see Chad leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, staring at me in awe. He closes his eyes, drawing in the aromas of my labor. “Are you for real, Mallory Kate?” he asks, not moving from where he stands.

“What?” I say. “I just feel bad that you have to travel so much and work such long hours. I wanted it to seem like you were at home for a change.”

He pushes off the wall, taking long, purposeful strides over to me. His hand comes around me, pressing into my lower back as he pulls me against him. He puts his forehead on mine. “Whereveryouare, that is home to me,” he says.

~ ~ ~

I’m not sure which would be harder, watching my boyfriend do scenes with the queen bitch of Hollywood, or the sweet, nice woman she’s transformed into after rehab. I mean, Courtney is someone I could see hanging out with Mel and me. If she hadn’t been in Chad’s bed, that is.

Funny thing, I had never met her before they started filming a few weeks ago in L.A. I’d only heard what Chad and Hayden and the others would tell me about her; and then there was everything I had seen on TV and read in magazines. But it’s hard for me to picturethisCourtney as that horrible person. She’s nothing like the stories they would tell me. Stories about the diva who would throw a tantrum if her very specific kind of bottled water wasn’t in her dressing room.

She wasn’t always that way, though. Chad said before she started doing drugs, she was much more like she is now. Nice. Accommodating. Breathtakingly beautiful.

It makes me wonder if they would still be together if she hadn’t gone rogue. What would have happened if she were still that person? Would she have been with him at the club the night of the premiere? Would he have even seen me that night; and if so, would he have bothered to look me up after?

Thoughts such as these plague me as I watch them have casual conversation between takes. As I see them laugh and banter the way Chad and I have always done.

Yesterday, after they wrapped up early due to technical issues, he invited her to go climbing with us. When we were in L.A., Chad took me to the place he trained for the movie. He taught me to rock climb so we could spend some quality time together on his days off in Sedona.

Well, I shouldn’t say he invited her per se. More like she found out what we were going to do and showed such an interest it would have been rude not to ask her along. Still—rock climbing was supposed to beourthing. And since she hadn’t been properly trained, Chad pretty much had to spend the entire time teaching her what to do even though he chose the easiest climb. It had me wondering if her nice-girl act is all for show. Is it some elaborate scheme to win him back?

“Whatever it is that you’re thinking, stop it.”

I turn around to see Noreen has snuck up behind me. “What is it that I’m thinking?” I ask.

“I see the way you’re looking at them, Mallory. They are the leads in this movie, it behooves them to get along. Believe me, them hating each other would make this so much worse.”

“For whom?” I ask, looking back at them.

She touches my shoulder, bringing my attention from them back to her. “I’m telling you, that man only has eyes for you.”

I nod as if I agree with her. Sweat trickles down my cleavage as the sun beats down on me on this sweltering day. We walk over and sit down in chairs under a tent.

“Hayden tells me you’re all Thad talks about when they are together,” Noreen says. Then she laughs. “He says it’s starting to get pretty disgusting. He calls Thad a love-sick puppy.”

I try not to smile, but don’t do a very good job of it. “Thanks, Noreen.”

I look back to try and find Chad, wondering when they’re going to do the cave scene. I saw it on his call sheet, and I could tell this morning at breakfast that he was nervous. InDefcon One, they spent so much time in a cave that he became claustrophobic.

“I’m worried about him,” I tell Noreen. “You were there last time, right? When he freaked out in the cave? What if it happens again?”

She nods. “Hayden and I tried to convince the studio to make a set so he wouldn’t have to actually film in a cave again. But when Thad found out about it, he told them not to. Said it would cost too much and take too much time. He said he was fine and he could do it.”

“You didn’t see him this morning,” I say. “He’s trying to be all big and brave about it, but I think it’s a real issue for him.”

“He’ll be fine, Mallory. He’s an actor. He canactlike he’s not claustrophobic.”

“I hope so.” The words are barely out of my mouth when John, one of the ADs, comes running over. I don’t like the way he’s looking at me. I don’t like it at all.

“Ms. Schaffer, please come quickly.”

I jump up out of my chair. “What is it? Is he okay?”

John pulls me along by my elbow, guiding me through the maze of trailers, tents, and cameras. “I think he’s having a panic attack,” he says. “He ran out of the cave and won’t go back in. This could set us back days; weeks if we have to build a set. So if you think there is anything you can do, please help him.”

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