Page 84 of Not the Bodyguard's Princess
She checked her dressing room for any personal items one last time. The ball Andrew bought for Princess sat in the corner. Leaving it there, she turned off the light. “Take me home, Blake.”
The driver had pulled the car up to the studio exit. Blake held the back door open with his good arm. He’d ditched the sling earlier in the week. An extra bodyguard sat in the front seat. Blake sat next to her in the back. “Your grandmother would like you to visit her.”
“I’ll call her later. I need to go home.” The few hundred yards between Claire’s mansion and Jordan’s cottage was only a separation by mutual agreement. If Grandma wanted to see Jordan, nothing could prevent it. But not tonight. Tonight was for chick flicks and ice cream. At least if someone wrote a script, that was what would be in it—a way to mourn the two weeks of silence.
* * *
Adam didn’t bother knocking before walking into Andrew’s apartment. “I see you are still in the same position you were last week. Is that the same shirt? Please tell me you’ve at least showered.”
Andrew glared. “Did Mom talk you into coming?”
“Nope.” Adam turned off the TV. “September did.”
“I haven’t even talked to her.”
“Apparently she isn’t the only one you haven’t talked to.” Adam pulled the coffee table over and sat down inches from Andrew. “She says you haven’t called Jordan since getting shot. Two weeks. What are you thinking?”
“Thirteen days if you don’t count the day they sedated me.”
Adam ran his hand down his face. “I know you like to make your own mistakes and not repeat ours, but this one is stupid. For one, you are moping around here instead of being in PT. And don’t tell me for a moment you couldn’t be working on some desk things. You are the best planner we have. And two, you are going to let love walk away or just hide from it.”
“Look, I’m not making the same mistake you did.” Andrew lowered the footrest on the recliner. “It wasn’t love. She needed me to fool the press. To feel safe. Do you want to read the note she left? You heard her on TV. Besides, I’m going to resign from Hastings as soon as I can. I wasn’t meant to be in the family business.”
Adam jumped up and paced to the other end of the room. “Little brother, I have never wanted to punch some sense into you before, but right now I wish I could. I saw you with Jordan before the video became public. I saw how much you cared. Dad’s been over this with you. It. Wasn’t. Your. Fault. But what you are doing right now is. Stop lying to yourself.”
Andrew stood, ignoring the dull ache in his side. “Go ahead throw a punch. It will make us both feel better. Or would you rather keep telling me you told me so? My entire life, ‘I told you’ so’ is all I have heard from everyone.”
“This is messed up, bro. I only came to tell you to call Jordan, not pick a fight. We are all worried about you. None of us has been injured working this job like you have. When Deidre told us you’d been shot...” Adam shook his head. “It was as bad as when September told me what happened to her. Mom and Dad told us not to come up to the hospital. We had to make sure things kept running and our other clients were covered. Between Alan and me, we had to buy a new Mortimer, the punching dummy for the gym. Abbie damaged hers as well, with Alex’s help. We all love you. Don’t you get it?”
Andrew ignored the moisture he saw in Adam’s eyes. “So what? Now you are all going to gang up on me?”
“Abbie volunteered the jet if we came and put you on it.”
“Of course she did. She’s been bailing me out my entire life.”
“No, she’s been treating you like a sister does, like your guardian angel. We have always been a team, and we will never leave you behind.”
“I’m surprised she isn’t here now.”
“She’s in the car.”
For the first time in two weeks, Andrew laughed. “Get her in here. I need some sisterly advice.”
* * *
Compared to the weeks in Wisconsin, the first of November in California felt like summer. Jordan joined Grandma on her back porch for breakfast.
“How often did you not have a next project lined up?”
“At your age?” Grandma sliced her strawberry into neat circles. “I took a year off to have your father, nurse him, and get back in shape. They didn’t have very good pumps then, and I wanted to promote breast-feeding, so working even six hours on a set wasn’t feasible.”
“Donnetta keeps sending over offers. I don’t know what to try out for next. Sometimes I feel like my entire life has been one role after another.”
“Do you regret that?”
“No, you kept me in line, prevented me from becoming a child-actor statistic. You and Blake were honest about the dangers. Even if I hated your involvement, I knew you were right. Looking back, I know you gave up part of your career to oversee mine.” Her dog jumped into her lap.
“I didn’t give it up. I made a choice. Yes, I could have hung on to a few parts and cameos, but making sure you knew you were never alone was better.”
