“Okay, babe. We’ll head over to Dylan’s in a bit.”
“I’ll see you there.”
I grabbed my coat and slipped on my UGGs and went out the back door with my Strongbow. I was just heading down the path when my phone chimed in my hand. I glanced at it.
Cary: Thank you.
I stopped in my tracks, and I reread the message. A few times.
“Hey, pretty lady.”
I looked up. Amber was standing on the other side of the low gate in the fence, with a glass of wine in her hand, looking a little flustered as a group of kids streaked by, shooting each other with water pistols.
“Hey.” I smiled. “Having fun?”
“I’m overrun.” She gestured over her shoulder, where Dylan’s family members were spilling out of the house, onto the back deck. Music was playing and kids were screaming. “Hey! Spray me again and I dunk you in the ocean!” she called out to a couple of little boys who blurred past, but she was smiling.
“Strong genes in that family,” I observed. “Hope you’re on top of the birth control.”
Amber laughed.
Just then, her boyfriend swaggered out onto the deck, looking incredibly virile sans shirt and beer in hand, his auburn hair drifting over his eyes in the breeze. He looked every ounce the rock ’n’ roll drummer and underwear model he was.
“Does he know it’s November?” I asked her.
“He’s impervious to the cold,” she said, admiring her man’s assets.
“Taylor,” Dylan called over when he noticed he was being ogled. “Come join us.”
“I will. In a while. I was just going for a little walk.”
“Get her a beer, Dylan,” one of his brothers-in-law called out. There were a few of them lounging in the hot tub/pool.
“You want a drink?” Dylan offered. “Take it with you?
I lifted my Strongbow. “I have one.”
“Cool. Well, come over anytime.”
“Thanks. I will.” I reached my bottle over the gate and tapped Amber’s glass in cheers, then continued along the path, down to the water and out to the very end of the dock. I took a big gulp of fresh air, then sat down with my bottle of cider.
I hadn’t been sitting there a minute when the dock vibrated beneath me. I turned to find Merritt approaching.
I’d liked Cary’s studio manager from the moment I met her, though I’d never talked to her much outside of work. And I hadn’t talked to her much at all since Cary fired me. I’d avoided everyone who still communicated with him, even Ash at times, because it was just too painful.
Merritt wasn’t at the wedding last night, though I was pretty sure Summer would’ve invited her. Maybe she’d come to the barbecue to make up for missing the wedding? I knew it was a pretty big deal she was here. She didn’t exactly seem to party with the Players much. She’d even brought her little boy to the barbecue.
“Mind if I sit down?”
“Nope.”
I did, kind of. I wanted to be alone. But I didn’t want to be rude. And the dock wasn’t exactly mine.
She sat down next to me and dangled her legs off the dock. “You’re coming to the barbecue?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.” She sipped her beer. “I guess it would be obnoxious to ask you how you’re doing, so I’m not going to. Unless you want me to.”
“I’ll pass on that.”
“I figured,” she said gently.
Silence fell, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.
“Do you ever get used to it?” I asked her. “Being around all the superstars?”
“Well, you either get used to it, or you find another job, I guess.”
“Yeah. I guess.”
“You can’t really hold it against them. The superstar thing. It’s obvious why everyone likes them. I like them, too. You can’t fault them for being talented, charming, sex symbols…”
“And yet you sound sarcastic right now.”
She laughed. “How about you? Is it strange, having your best friend marry a rock star?”
“No. I think it’s stranger for her than it is for me.” I shrugged and took a sip of my drink. “I mean, that part hasn’t really changed my life any. Except that I now get invited to the big parties, too.”
“Yeah. I guess that’s nice. But you get invited to them yourself these days.”
“So do you, I’m sure. Yet you don’t seem to come out much.”
“Well, I have two other jobs. One of them is night shifts in a bar. Plus, I have my son.”
“Right.”
“I think we have it pretty good,” she said. “We get to just pick and choose the perks we like and leave the rest. It’s not like that for them.”