custody is determined. She’s going to call me in the next few days to set up a time to see Katie this weekend.”
Whitney put her arms around my waist and rested her head against my chest. “I’m so sorry, Kyle. I know this is the last thing you need.”
“It is what it is. Sure, it sucks, but we’ll deal with it. Together.” I pulled back to look down at her. “Right? We’re a team in this.”
She smiled, and the heaviness lightened somewhat. “Team Webber. All the way.”
Then I kissed her.
Because how could I not?
Chapter 14
Whitney
It was the same unknown number that had been calling me for days. They never left a message, and I never answered it.
It was just after midnight, and Kyle was sleeping soundly beside me. I hadn’t quite gotten used to sleeping in a bed with someone. I was a woman who liked my own space. In all the years that I was Gavin’s side piece, we never slept in a bed together, and there had never been any other men in my life romantically. So lying beside someone night after night was weird.
But I was pretty sure I liked it.
My phone stopped ringing and then immediately started up again. This happened three more times. I was worried it would wake up Kyle and was getting the feeling that whoever was on the other end wasn’t going to give up, so I carefully wriggled out from beneath Kyle’s arm and tiptoed down the stairs.
I had become familiar with the creaks of the stairs. I knew what furniture to dodge in the dark. Kyle’s home was becoming as familiar as my own. I picked up Katie’s doll she had left on the living room floor and placed it on top of her toybox.
Closing myself in the downstairs bathroom, I put the phone to my ear. “Hello?” I said quietly, even though there was no way Kyle or Katie could hear me.
“Finally! You’re a hard woman to get hold of Galloway,” the gruff voice said.
I closed my eyes and silently berated myself for answering the call. It was one I definitely didn’t want to take.
“Hi, Roger.”
“That’s all you have to say to your dear friend after going incommunicado for months?” Roger Heiden guffawed. I could hear his intake of breath, meaning he was smoking.
“I thought you were trying to quit,” I chastised, followed by his noisy exhale.
“I can never hide anything from you. Well, I would have quit by now if you were here to keep nagging me.” Nothing like a late-night guilt trip to make you feel great about yourself.
“Maybe you should quit because you’re not a young man anymore, and you’re going to keel over from a heart attack if you don’t start taking better care of yourself,” I lectured. Roger and I had a unique relationship for Hollywood. He genuinely cared about me and me, him, though it got twisted up in all the dark machinations of the movie industry, there was a legitimate undercurrent of affection between us. Even if one of our first meetings involved him trying to seduce me and me reminding him he was old enough to be my father.
“Doesn’t seem to stop you from screwing Gavin Wiseley. He’s only five years younger than me, you know,” Roger pointed out drunkenly after I had naively told him that Gavin was different. I loved him, and he loved me, to which Roger had put his arm around me, shaking his head.
“You dear, sweet fool,” was all he said. But funnily enough, after that, we became friends, and when he made a movie, I was the makeup artist he took along. He was the only person I spoke to when I thought about leaving Gavin when the honeymoon phase had ended, and I realized how trapped I was.
“You’re a big deal, Roger. If you vouch for me, Gavin can’t blackball me, right? I’ll still get work if you hire me,” I had pleaded with him.
Roger had taken my hand and given me a sad look. “I don’t have the clout I used to have. Gavin is one of those rare breeds that gets more famous the longer he’s around. He’s stayed relevant. Everyone clamors to work with him. I don’t think there’s much I can do to help you with this. You should have hitched your wagon to me instead, but you were in ‘love.’” His dismissive derision had hurt, but it was the truth. I couldn’t leave Gavin; I had to wait for