spun on the guy.” She shook her head and glared at Julie. “My point is that he can’t come in here and tell you how to live your life.”
Elena sipped her green tea. “Maybe not, but I think he’s probably right about this,” she said, her voice full of the worry of a mother. “You lived here longer than I thought you would.”
Julie looked at her mother, never having any idea she felt that way. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that when you bought this house, I had a little nervous wiggle in my stomach that it was too close to the street and a potential hazard if you got too famous.” She shrugged. “Guess what?”
“You got too famous,” Abbey said, answering the question. She’d been fairly quiet up until now, listening to the conversation as she absently scrounged in her purse for something.
“Great.” Julie peered at her mother over her own cup. “You think I should move too.”
Elena sighed. “I think I’d feel better knowing you lived in a gated estate.”
“But I like that I know my neighbors,” Julie protested. It was one of the things that made her feel normal and kept her grounded in reality instead of the craziness of the often-ridiculous world of show business.
“I know.” Elena sighed. “But sometimes we have to do things we don’t necessarily want to do in order to...you know...” She shrugged again. “I don’t know. I just think he’s probably right.”
Cal lifted a skeptical eyebrow. “I think he’s a pain in the ass. I don’t even know why you called the guy. You pay a security company to watch your house. You should’ve called them.”
“All they’re going to do is pitch me more of what they’re selling.”
“That sounds like Troy Mills talking,” Cal replied drily.
Julie scowled. Just because Cal had guessed right didn’t make Troy’s assumption wrong. She ignored her best friend. “Abbey, will you work up a list of realtors for me.” Her assistant jotted down the order on her ever-present notepad and Julie continued, “Until then, does anyone want to drive around with me this weekend just to see what’s out there?”
Cal and Elena exchanged glances. Abbey went back to burying her head in her bag.
Elena’s eyes lit with definite excitement. “You know me. I love to shop. We found this place together. No reason we can’t strike gold a second time.”
Cal shook her head, clearly frustrated with the idea. “I know when I’m outnumbered. Fine. I’ll come along, but I’m doing it under protest.”
Julie sipped her tea and smiled. “Noted. Abbey, what about you? Want to come along?”
Abbey looked up, her eyes wide. “I’m sorry. What? What’d I miss?”
Julie had never seen her so distracted. “What’s up? You’ve had your nose buried in your purse since you walked in the door. Spill, what’s going on?”
Groaning, Abbey sat on the floor and dumped her purse onto the carpeting. A ton of garbage fell out. It amazed Julie that Abbey could be so organized with her boss’s life, but not her own. “I lost something.”
Elena leaned forward. “Are you sure it’s in your purse? Maybe it’s in the car or your apartment.”
“No, I think I know what happened.” She started tossing everything back in her bag and leaned against the chair next to Elena’s. “I think when I pulled out my wallet at Starbucks, the piece of paper slipped out of my purse. I was too busy catching up with an old dance buddy I hadn’t seen in months and wasn’t paying attention.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “Dammit.”
“What was on the paper?” Cal asked.
“A phone number and email address.” She shook her head. “Shit.”
“Whose phone number and email address?” Cal lifted a brow.
Abbey glanced at Julie. “The guy I told you about.”
“What guy?” Elena said, jumping into the questions. “How come I didn’t hear about this?” Elena had been trying for months to get Abbey to go out, but Abbey insisted her schedule was too full to include a guy. Between Julie’s schedule, dance classes and trying to make the occasional dance audition, she swore she didn’t have time for a man.
Abbey had told Julie about the elevator incident...how the hunky guy had calmed her down when she’d hyperventilated. Julie had never seen Abbey anything but calm and cool, but she understood how being trapped in a broken elevator, thinking you might fall to your death, could be a little unnerving.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” Abbey explained to Elena. “I met a guy in an elevator and