Dropping The Ball - A New Year’s Billionaire Romance - Weston Parker Page 0,4
when I followed him onto the carpet. Granted, Hollywood stars would fall down laughing over what I classified as pandemonium, but there had to be at least a dozen people out there screaming their questions at me.
Channeling my inner diva, I followed my manager’s advice and pulled my shoulders back as I walked into the party on his arm. A wide smile was fixed on my face, and I even waved at a few faces I recognized from back when I regularly made an appearance in the entertainment pages.
“Rylee!” Tani called as she attempted to rush to my side. The door swung shut behind us, drowning out the reporters’ questions.
My friend’s face was flushed with excitement, and her green eyes narrowed at everyone who dared not move out of her way. When she finally reached us, she embraced me like she hadn’t seen me in years. “I’m so glad you’re here. I would’ve called the babysitter to give her the night off if I hadn’t known you were coming.”
“We all got ready together at your house,” Jules said, arching a perfectly tweezed, pitch-black eyebrow at her.
“Your babysitter has had every night off from working for you for almost a year,” I said. “I’m sure she’s happy not to be given another night off. Did you manage to get away from your place without Cash raising the roof?”
She sucked her lips into her mouth, shaking her head with her eyes widening. “Nope. It’s not called the Fuck-You-Fours for nothing. Unfortunately for him, this mama of his has had an attitude for a lot longer than he has. If I survived the tantrums thrown by the people in this very room for so long, you can bet your asses that I can handle the tiny human I created. Sometimes anyway.”
“I’ve heard you say at least ten times that you’d take the prissiest of directors over that boy any day,” Jules teased. “Changed your mind now that you’re back among the stars?”
He drew out the last words and rolled his eyes even as he showed us his best jazz hands. Tani lifted her shoulders while she laughed. “I might have forgotten just how prissy they can be. Now that I’ve remembered, would anyone else care for a drink?”
“Me,” I said immediately, but Jules shut me down with a look when I went to move to Tani’s side. “But you’ll have to get it for me. I’m not supposed to look like I’m hiding behind my manager or longtime friend. It’s a mingle party, and I’m expected to mingle this evening.”
He gave me a satisfied smile. “Acceptance. Excellent. If we could work on delivering those lines with a little more enthusiasm, I might actually believe you’re a brilliant actress.”
“I’ve never been that good,” I said.
Tani nodded her agreement with me. “Do you know I’ve been asked three times tonight where Ry had gone, why she went on a break, and if she was coming back? I only got here about ten minutes before you did.”
“Goody,” I muttered, but lifted my chin when they left to get those drinks. We’re sure going to need them tonight. Mine wouldn’t be alcoholic, but still, I could always take a sip if I needed a moment to think.
As soon as they left my side, people started closing in. I’d never been afraid of crowds and I wasn’t now. I just wasn’t used to being bombarded anymore. Other performers, designers, directors, scriptwriters, and even a few people I thought might actually be their mothers approached me.
All of them asked the same basic questions. How are you? Are you back? Where did you go?
No one knew why I really took a break from Broadway but the rumors had been aplenty. The grapevine had carried a full harvest of speculation when I’d first announced I would be taking some time off. The phrase “heard it through the grapevine” had taken on a whole other meaning to me, considering that I’d heard about my own secret pregnancy via the tabloids. I’d also heard that I’d been brainwashed by aliens, had fallen in unrequited love with my last director—who was married—and a whole host of other things.
News spread like wildfire in this town, but rumors? They spread like only a good old-fashioned STD at an orgy could.
“Excuse me,” I said to the latest trawler fishing for the “truth,” and kept my head down as I made my way to the bathroom. Jules and Tani had been bringing me drinks for the last hour,