Page 4 of Fool Me

To hear as much as she could, Sadie worked at a sloth’s pace. She even accidentally on purpose allowed the napkins to slide off the back of the table so she’d have to retrieve and rearrange them, but she couldn’t stall forever. Hanging around even five extra seconds would make her eavesdropping obvious.

Besides, even a child could decipher this mystery. Julia and her co-star, Mark Briddle, were in a contract to fake date in the weeks leading up to, and probably a few following, the release of their much-anticipated romantic comedy, “Take Me Out.” Such arrangements were surprisingly common in Hollywood, and in this case, it had been wildly successful. The tabloids and talk shows fawned over “Marklia.” Even Sadie had been fooled by their act. But Julia secretly preferred man number two, the naïve guy with the cute butt, and they’d been photographed together in a compromising pose on some romantic island getaway for the stars.

Despite the gossip’s juiciness, a situation like this offered no hope for getting discovered. She picked up the empty cooler and began tiptoeing from the room.

“Stop!” a man’s voice yelled out. It sounded like Ronny Widner.

Sadie froze on the spot as her blood pressure ratcheted into panic mode. With a wave of dread, she realized too late the position she’d put herself in. They knew she’d heard everything about the fake dating contract and the incriminating photo, rendering her as dangerous as the photo itself! She might be fired. At best, she’d be forced to sign a nondisclosure to keep her job. Worst of all, she’d made herself a potential threat to two of the biggest names in Hollywood. Cursing her decision to enter the room in the first place, she made fists with her hands to still their shaking and began to turn around.

“No,” she heard Mr. Widner say next. “Stay as you are. Don't turn around.”

Oddly, he didn’t sound angry. He sounded…excited?

“I fixed it,” he said with a finality and triumph that suggested his words were no longer directed at Sadie.

“You fixed what? A sandwich?” Julia asked, her mocking tone familiar to anyone who’d seen one of her enemies-to-lovers trope movies. “The lunch girl did that, and it took forever. I’m starving.”

“No,” Ronny said. “Look at her hair. She looksexactlylike you from the back.”

Sadie continued standing still, but her insides squirmed. She knew exactly what a bug pinned to a display board felt, only worse, because the people who’d skewered her there had the power to determine the trajectory of the rest of her career.

“Her hair?” Julia said. “Oh! I see it. She’s shorter than me, though. Do you still think it could work?”

“Do you think what will work?” the second man said. “I don’t understand.”

“Her height doesn’t matter,” Ronny said, ignoring the other man’s question. “If this is the best shot they’ve got, it will work. Miss, can we speak with you for a minute?”

Reminding herself to breathe, Sadie steeled herself to face them.

3

Grant got the shock of his life when the deli girl turned around. Seeing her hair from the back had sent a little pang through his heart but discovering she actuallywasSadie Heppner made him wonder if he was an unknowing contestant on Hidden Camera for Losers.

Two years had passed since he’d seen her. The consensus amongst their classmates on the morning they’d graduated from Cal U’s theater program had been that Sadie would be on the big screen within months while he would end up back in Ohio asking people if they wanted fries with that. Grant hadn’t disagreed. First off, he’d only changed his major to theater during his junior year, while Sadie had been a dedicated thespian all four years. Then there was raw talent, which Sadie oozed from every invisible pore of her perfect skin. The ultimate triple threat, she could dance, sing, act—all with the grace and beauty of a goddess. Grant knew he hadsometalent, but any time he’d found himself onstage with her, he forgot his lines and could have been outdanced by a three-legged spider.

Yet, somehow, their outcomes had apparently gotten reversed. Hollywood movie posters would soon feature his name and likeness, and here she was serving him lunch. Probably he should feel some sense of triumph, maybe even revenge, but all he felt was shocked—well, that and a renewal of the soul crushing longing he’d carried for her since the moment she’d blundered into his life by accident.

He’d just finished unpacking was sitting in his freshman dorm room re-evaluating the life choices that had stranded a Midwest farm boy in the So Cal culture of sprawling Cal University, when a whitish glow crossed the corner of his vision. He looked up, expecting to see his new roommate returning, but a young woman stood in the doorway. Dressed in white shorts and a billowy white top, the light from a window at her back offered hints at the perfect curves of her torso and turned the jumble of her curly hair into a radiant halo of soft, strawberry-blonde light. Even her little leather shoes gleamed white below slim, tanned legs. Her large, round eyes, a strikingly light blue, stared unblinkingly back at him as if the two of them already shared some special secret between them.

His heart did a fish-flop in his chest, his mouth becoming as parched and dusty as summer days working the family’s farm. He dared not move, lest he break the spell, but he desperately wanted to know what their shared secret might be.

Finally, her pink bow lips formed the words, “Sorry. I’m…,” and she was gone.

He leapt from his chair, but the hallway was crammed with move-in day students, their boxes, and their harried parents. The only place he could still see her was behind his closed eyelids, where she had etched herself in gold in his memory like the ancient paintings of holy saints. He leaned against his doorframe, cursing his slow reflexes as he waited for his pounding heart to slow. And then it hit him—this had happened to his father the first time he’d laid eyes on Grant’s mother. His father hadknown. Until that moment, Grant had rolled his eyes at the family lore. Surely, love at first sight was a myth. But, somehow, and despite all the other uncertainties in his life, he knew one clear and perfect thing: he would find her. And if his heart had anything to say about it, he would marry her someday.

As it turned out, he’d gotten one part right. He had seen her again, many, many times. He’d even gone out with her roommates on and off. And after he’d switched majors from business to theater, he’d played opposite her in several stage productions. But he certainly hadn’t married her. He’d never even asked her out—not out of shyness, but because she spent four years making it painfully clear how much she disliked him. In fact, unlike most every other woman he knew, and for no reason he could decipher, she full on loathed him.

Standing in front of them all now, Sadie licked her lips nervously. “I hope you like your sandwiches?”

Julia advanced on her with an extended hand. “Hi, I’m Julia Menlo.”

Sadie’s ice-blue eyes were wide and unblinking. “I’m Sadie. I’ve seen all your films. A lot. On the lot. I mean, I like them a lot…and I’ve seen them a lot. Like…lot.”

Grant smiled inside. The woman who’d owned every role he’d ever seen her play was now so starstruck she couldn’t put a sentence together! Yet even dressed in a hideous green apron, she outshone her idol, Julia.

How long had Sadie worked right here on the StarMont lot with him, and he hadn’t known? His heart did another fish-flop as an idea struck. Perhaps their second surprise meeting was a second chance, and a kinder one. Maybe bygones could be bygones, and her face would light up with happy recognition when she finally glanced his way?

Julia continued in a chummy, we’re-all-old-friends-here-aren’t-we manner. “Oh, that’s so kind, thank you. I…I wonder then if you might be willing to do me a small favor? You see, some creep took a photo of me being kissed by someone. It was a one-time, silly thing, and it only shows the back of my head, but it ended up looking like I was kissing somebody other than Mark. Uh. You’ve heard of Marklia?” Sadie nodded. “Well, we really are tight but?—”

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