Page 23 of December Wishes
Fleur pulled out her phone, although she had to lift her sunglasses to read her message.
“I know we said you would be completely off on Christmas to visit your family…”her manager, Carmen, wrote,“but we received an opportunity for you to make an appearance at…”
Fleur stopped reading. What was the point, when she knew she would turn it down?I haven’t spent a holiday with my family all year.She was busier than ever, and that included having a girlfriend who had a family of her own. Jalen and Fleur had planned to have Christmas with the Stonehills since Halloween.We actually haven’t had much time together since then.Fleur spent Thanksgiving in Italy, attending a fashion show that one of her dear friends headlined. Her parents would meet them in Los Angeles for New Year’s, where they would have a nice few days to themselves in Fleur’s gated community.
Which was why they were spending time in Paradise Valleynow.This was Jalen’s last chance to see her friends for the rest of the year, and Fleur couldn’t say she hated hanging out with them, either. They were delightfully normal compared to everyone in Hollywood! Even Fleur’s parents couldn’t compare now!
“Hey!” The door flung open. Jalen popped in and sat across from Fleur at her table. “Sorry I’m late. Heaven had a problem with her sink, and you know how she is. Even when I tell her I’m not really in the biz at the moment, she keeps saying she’d rather have me do her work!”
Fleur grinned. “That’s because she trusts you.” She flipped over her phone. “Lots of people in this town do, and I think that’s awesome.”
“Aw, you know you don’t need to be a random Tumblr post to make me feel good, hon!” Jalen finished taking off her coat and draped it over the back of her chair. “Hang on. Gonna go bother Skylar for some pizza.”
“There’s no cheese left.”
“Cool. You see any Canadian bacon in there, though?”
Fleur grimaced. “Like I’m checking for pineapple.”
“Did you hear what Joan ordered the other night? Krys told me they came here to pick up pineapple andanchovy.” Jalen waited for Fleur to make a sour face before getting up to order her lunch. “Right? Nasty.”
I’d love to see that show up at a party in Beverly Hills.Fleur snorted. Maybe she’d try it at her next party. See how quickly the Hollywood types ran screaming from her house and spread the news to the tabloids that“Fleur has the strangest taste in pizza!”Would Carmen consider that good image management?
Jalen sat back down with two slices of pepperoni. The smell of greasy meat instantly gave Fleur a headache. Every time she attempted to shake it out of her nostrils, Jalen picked up a slice and presented it right in front of her girlfriend’s face.
Fleur loved her. She swore it.
“What’s up with your phone?” Jalen asked that with a mouthful of pepperoni. Fleur had been so distracted by her girlfriend’s choice in deli meats that she didn’t notice her phone was ringing. “Been going off ever since I got here.”
“It’s Carmen.” Fleur could say that without looking. “It’s the end of the year, so she’s trying to cram my January schedule when I’m not filming the show, since she has to take the last couple of weeks off.”
“Carmen? Taking time off? Does she know how to do that?”
“Considering she’s trying to schedule me stuff to do on Christmas, I highly doubt it.”
Jalen dropped her pizza onto her plate. “A schedule? On Christmas?”
“I’m going to turn it down, obviously,” Fleur said with a scoff. “We already have plans, and I might have the crazy idea to do something personal on a national holiday. Crazy, right?”
“Hell, yeah! Christmas at my folks’ place! Can’t wait for you to taste my mom’s cookies. She makes the best no-bake cookies on the coast. Pretty sure they’re illegal in Lane County.”
Fleur couldn’t help but laugh. “Sounds great. Exactly what I need after a crazy year like this one.”
“A good kind of crazy, right?”
Fleur cocked her head. Yeah, it had been a crazy year. Even before she met Jalen, everything had pulled her in ten different directions, and she constantly feared drawing and quartering was her ultimate fate. Hollywood was relentless like that. Yet the day she decided to shirk all responsibility and run away from her adult life had brought with it an unexpected boon.
I’m looking at that boon right now.
“It’s been a great kind of crazy.” Fleur took Jalen’s hand on top of the table. “I can’t wait to slow down for a little while and simply focus on us and my job. And, you know, maybe figure out where we want to go in twenty-twenty?”
Jalen’s grin was always big enough to suck Fleur in like it was nothing. “You’re the first girl I’ve ever dated who said that and itdidn’tsound ominous.”
“You know me. I try to keep things light.
“Me, too!”
The great thing? Jalen was so earnest in the way she said that. No sarcasm. No cynicism. Fleur knew that a bitter attitude wasn’t limited to Hollywood, but she was always pleasantly surprised to find someone as straightforward as Jalen.She’s become my rock.Love didn’t always have to be about sex and romance. Sometimes it was about realizing the person in front of you is the one who will see you through everything.Everything.
