An Uncertain Affair (The Affair Series Book 2) (5 page)

Tuesday
morning, Dane and Valerie were in the studio to shoot a last-minute holiday
campaign for the local farmers’ market. Valerie was creating quick, low-cal
veggie snacks and fruit-based New Year’s cocktails. This is where Valerie shone.
When there was little glamour to a recipe like cucumber and carrot rounds with
pickled ginger and wasabi sauce, she made it look remarkably delicious.

Valerie
had her paintbrushes out, shining up the carrots with a touch of mineral oil
while Dane was setting up the camera. “Hey, Dane, do you have a few minutes?”

“Sure.
What’s up?”

“I
wanted to talk to you and Valerie.”

“Uh-oh.
We didn’t get it, did we?” Valerie said, putting down her brush to join Dane
and me at the counter.

“No,
the job is ours,” I said, without much fanfare.

“So
what’s the catch?” Valerie asked. “If it was all good news you’d be on top of
the world.”

“Well”
-- I looked at Dane and back to Valerie -- “they’d like to work with their own food
stylist on it since she’s familiar with the recipes, and have you work as her
assistant.” I held my breath, waiting for her reaction.

Dane
shook his head, staring at Valerie. “No, I’ll only do it if Valerie’s with me
as the lead.” He turned to me and asked, “Can’t we counter?”

“Adele
was adamant. It has to be this arrangement or nothing.” I cringed as Valerie
and Dane exchanged glances again. It was as if they were having a conversation
without speaking to each other.

After
a moment, Valerie chimed in, “I’m in if Dane is.”

Her
quick acceptance of the situation completely surprised me. I looked over at
Dane, and he glanced at Valerie for true confirmation, but when she nodded, he
said, “If Val’s okay with it, I guess I can work with that.”

My
anxiety over the whole conversation sent my speech into overdrive. “I know it
isn’t the ideal situation, and you guys are so great for agreeing to work this
way. I think this book is going to be huge for everyone involved. We can talk
more about it after the shoot today.”

“Good,”
Dane said, his eyes fixed on Valerie. He walked over to her and put his hands
on her shoulders. “Are you sure about this, Val? You’re my right-hand girl, and
if I need to dig my heels in, I will.”

“Yes,
I’m sure. We all need this project, and I’m not going to be the one to hold up
the process by being a prima donna. I’m just happy they’ll still let me assist.
Who knows, maybe I’ll learn something,” she said, rolling her eyes with a bit
of sarcasm.

Dane
hugged her and said, “You’re the best. We’ll talk details and formulate our
‘must have’ list for them after the shoot.” He looked at Valerie and then at me,
and said with a big smile, “Go team!”

Dane
put on some upbeat music to lighten the mood, and get some energy going. I
could tell Valerie was still a little frustrated, though. Working as the
assistant would be a huge departure for her on so many levels. That kitchen was
her domain. She had spent three years fine-tuning it, and she was used to being
in charge. This arrangement would not be easy for her.

It
was an enormous relief for me to get that conversation off my plate early in
the day. Valerie was much more of a team player than I’d ever expected. I went
back to my desk to let Sergio know I could indeed be “his hero.”

Hi,
Sergio,

I
spoke with Dane and Valerie this a.m., and they are open to working with
Nicole. We’re meeting after our shoot today to discuss it further. I’ll be in
touch later with more details.

Thanks,

Bridget

Bridget
Stone

Studio
Manager

Pratt
Photography

503-555-2345

I
wanted to add a personal note, but I didn’t know if anyone else could access
his office e-mail. It was way too early in the scheme of things for our love
affair to be common knowledge. He wrote back quickly.

Fantastic
news, Bridget! I am copying Adele here, too, so she can draw up the contract. She’ll
get it over to you tomorrow. I’m so happy to be working with you and Dane on
this. I know it will be amazing.

Talk
with you later.

Best,

Sergio

That
would be the last hurdle. The contract. I’d have to scrutinize the details of
Adele’s terms very carefully. She was a shrewd businesswoman, and I knew Pratt
Photography was not her ideal choice. She could try to structure it in such a
way that we wouldn’t agree to their terms and have to walk away. Undoubtedly,
it would be an extensive legal document with lots of “wherefores” and what-not,
but that’s what lawyers are for - to translate.

I
was getting in a groove, and it felt really good. Sally Creighton popped into
my head. She was the one who had set up this opportunity for me, and I wanted to
tell her how well it was going. I dialed her number, but I got her voicemail
and left a message.

“Hi,
Sally. It’s Bridget. I just wanted you to know how great the job with Dane
Pratt is working out. We just landed the gig shooting the food for Sergio
Ramirez’s new book. It’s going to be an amazing project, and I’m just so happy
here. Thanks for all your help and advice. You’re the best. Hope to talk to you
soon. ‘Bye.”

**

The
farmers’ market execs arrived just as I finished setting up a buffet lunch for
everyone. We ate and reviewed the shot list for the afternoon. Dane and Valerie
were totally buttoned up, so the shoot wouldn’t take long.

Around
three o’clock, I walked back to the studio to see how the shoot was going. The
mood was very light, everyone laughing and exchanging family holiday nightmare
stories. Christmas was right around the corner, and I was dreading it. Another
holiday in a lifetime of holidays to come when I couldn’t be with my family. As
I watched Dane and Valerie work, I thought,
This is my new family.
It
felt good.

I
got back to my desk and checked my phone. There was a text from Sergio and a
couple of voice mails.

U
got away early this am. Thinking abt u. r u free 2nite?

I
responded quickly:
Yes! Where & when? Thinking abt u 2. XO

As
I waited for his response, I checked the voicemails.

“Hi,
Bridget, it’s Sally returning your call. I’m so glad to hear things are going
so well for you. I’d love to talk with you about Sergio’s project. Call me when
you can. I should be around this afternoon if you have time to talk. ‘Bye.”

“Hello,
my sweet. It’s Sergio. I just wanted to hear your voice. Talk to you later.”

Sergio’s
message made me smile. He was so considerate and kind. Even the sound of his
voice made my stomach twist with a tinge of arousal. Dane poked his head around
the corner. “Wow, that’s an electric smile. What’re you so happy about?” he
asked.

I
could feel my face flush. “Nothing specific,” I said, trying to sound
nonchalant. “I was just thinking about how much fun we’re going to have working
on this book.”

“Uh-huh,”
Dane said, not buying it. “Well, whatever. I think we only have one more set up,
and then we can talk about the book. Can you print out the proposal so we have
it as reference?”

“Sure.
Oh, by the way, Sergio said Adele would send a contract over tomorrow, so now
it’s really official.”

“That’s
great. I’ll be glad to get the business out of the way so we can begin planning
the creative. We need to build a formal calendar, too, and lock down the dates.”

“I’ll
print out some calendar pages so we can talk about it.” As Dane went back to
the studio, I wondered how long I could conceal that I was seeing Sergio. It
was going to get much harder when we were all working together.

Within
the hour the farmer’s market execs were gone. Dane and I sat at the kitchen
counter as Valerie finished the last of the clean-up. “That was a really fun
shoot,” Dane said. “It’s so refreshing when a client gives me so much creative
freedom.  I hope Sergio and Adele will be equally trusting.”

“I
hope so, too,” I said. “Sergio’s a pretty creative guy, but I know he totally
respects your work. I’m sure he’ll give you room to do what you do best.”

Valerie
joined us at the counter, and we began dissecting the proposal and creating a
schedule. Dane looked at the calendar. “There’s really no time to get this
going until after New Year’s. I mean,
maybe
we can squeeze in a couple
of meetings, but there’s no point in even trying to prep this until after the
Christmas madness is over. If we can wait until after the first of the year,
everything will go much smoother.”

“I
doubt that will be a problem,” I said. “Sergio’s really busy with holiday
parties. I’m sure he’ll be glad to put it off until he has time to think about
it.”

Valerie
added, “I’d like to get to know their stylist a little bit, too, before we’re
in the thick of it. Do you think they would mind if I called her to set up a
meeting?”

“She’ll
be part of our crew, so we can set up any meetings we want to. I’ll let Sergio
know out of courtesy, but, it’s our call.”

Dane
thought for a moment and asked, “Are you dealing with Sergio directly on this,
or is Adele the point person?” He seemed a little suspicious that Sergio was so
communicative with me.

“Well,
I’m sure I’ll deal with Adele on the business side of it, but Sergio
specifically said he wants to work closely with you, and he wants me to manage
the project. He feels like we get what he’s looking for with this book even more
than Adele does.”

Dane
and Valerie looked at each other, a little surprised. “Wow,” Dane said. “That’s
unusual, but I’ll take it. Adele gives me the creeps.”

“Well,
we’ll see if that changes, but that’s what Sergio told me before Adele was
back.”

Dane
raised an eyebrow. ”So, how much have you been talking with Sergio? I hadn’t
heard about any communication past Saturday night except for last night when
they said they wanted their food stylist. What’s up, Bridget?”

“Nothing!
We’ve talked a couple of times, and I think he’s a great guy.” Dane didn’t
pursue it any further. He was suspicious that something was going on with
Sergio. I would have to be more mindful of what I said around him.

We
cranked on the to-do list and timeline for another hour. It was almost five-thirty,
and we’d all been there since the crack of dawn. Dane suggested we break it up
early. When the contract arrived, we’d have to make sure we were in sync with
Sergio and Adele, and that would take some serious brain power.

Checking
my phone, Sergio had texted back:
8:30 @ Buena Comida. C u there. Kisses.

I
confirmed:
C U then. XO

I
knew I would have to talk to Sergio about how we were going to work so closely
together and not get distracted by our strong attraction to each other. Probably
better to confront it sooner than later. The last thing I wanted to do was to
jeopardize my job or disappoint Dane. I wasn’t ready to lose another “family.”

**

On
my way home, I returned Sally’s call.

“Hi,
Bridget!” she answered warmly. “How are you?”

“Hey,
there. It’s good to hear your voice. I’m doing fine. How’re you?”

“Same
ol’, same ol’,” she said, very matter-of-factly. “So, tell me about the project
with Sergio Ramirez. It sounds very exciting.”

“Oh,
it is. We’ll be shooting the food for his new book. It’s going to be very
upscale with recipes from Buena Comida. We’ll begin the whole thing right after
New Year’s.”

“Will
you have an opportunity to meet Sergio?”

“Actually,
we’ve already met. He came to the studio last week with his culinary director. They’re
really nice and very professional. Sergio has even cooked dinner for me. He’s
an amazing chef.”

“I
was afraid you were going to say that. Bridget, I have to caution you. Sergio’s
a very high-profile guy. If you’re photographed with him, your identity could
be compromised. It hasn’t been very long since you disappeared from New York. Those
guys don’t just quit looking. Even though we publicized that you were killed in
a car accident, they know there’s a chance you’ve been relocated. If they
recognize you, you could be in danger all over again, and so could he.”

That
thought had never even crossed my mind. “Oh, Sally, does this nightmare ever
end? Will I ever have a life where I’m not looking over my shoulder all the
time?”

“You
just have to be careful and not take risks. If you were simply working with
Dane and shooting beautiful food, chances are no one would ever be the wiser.
But now you’ve involved a celebrity, and if you work closely with him, your
picture could easily end up in the press. Just stay at arm’s length, and don’t
go out in public with him. It’ll be fine.”