Cut to the Chase (6 page)

“Just be careful,” Paige said, holding up her camera. “This has a macro lens and can proficiently capture nose hairs.”

Before she could stop herself, Avalon raised a hand to her nose. She’d been one-upped and she loved it.

“Duly noted, Miss Cornish.”

Paige turned to open the door. “See you tomorrow?”

“I hope so.”

When the door clicked closed, Avalon sat still, absorbing the silence with the subtle significance of a poet’s pause. And like the first swirls of a buffeting wind that precede the rumbling thunder of an oncoming storm, something told her that fate was suddenly not fooling around.

*

“Wow,” Chris said as she looked over Paige’s shoulder.

Paige sat in front of the laptop at her desk and clicked through the shots she’d taken earlier on the set. They hadn’t been cropped or color corrected, but they were stunning.

Chris flicked open a can of Heineken and sprayed little bits of hops-smelling brew on Paige’s neck.

“Thanks,” she said as she continued to click through.

“Sorry. These are fantastic, Paige. You could do a whole book on her and I’d buy it.”

She nodded. She could fill a few books with these images. Avalon made the pictures almost come alive. Whether Avalon was running, discussing something with the director, or just grinning directly at the camera, she had made Paige forget about who she was photographing, letting her just record the action. Otherwise, she would have stared through the lens in a voyeuristic stupor. “I know. But I still have to arrange meetings with a few other actors to pull this all together.”

“So what was she like?” Chris stepped around her to prop her butt against the desk. “Crazy? Ferocious?”

“Amazing. She’s gregarious and assertive and untamed.” She laughed. “Everything I’m not.”

“Maybe a little of that will rub off on you. That is, if you get lucky enough for her to rub anything on you.”

She elbowed Chris. “Stop that.”

“I’m just sayin’.”

“Drop it.” She sat back. “But she’s really wild, Chris. She spouts off to the press and she doesn’t care what she says. I can’t explain it exactly, but being around her feels dangerous. I picture the LA River, after a huge rainstorm, and those people who go to watch and fall in. They get swept up by a swift and treacherous current and flail around, but they can’t do anything to get out of it.”

“I suppose your life isn’t your own when you’re in the public eye.”

“It’s a speed I couldn’t handle.” She pictured Avalon’s beautiful face and inviting smile. “She’s also very nice. She asked if she could help me carry my stuff.”

“Really?”

“I think she did it because she’d just embarrassed me.”

“What’d she do?”

“She accused me of looking at her ass.”

“Did you?”

“No!”

“I don’t believe you. The forces of nature would have pulled your eyes right to her tush.”

“Either way, she toyed with me. It felt weird.” And she’d also felt exposed, like Avalon knew she’d harbored an impractical and unattainable crush on her.

“She was flirting with you, Einstein.”

“She probably does that with everyone.”

Chris took a swig from her can as she perused the photos. “I just might have to visit the set. Who knows what crimes are being committed there. I might have to question one Miss Avalon Randolph.”

“You see, that’s just it. You wouldn’t think twice about walking right up to her and starting a conversation. I, on the other hand, am always the one that’s ten paces away, just watching.”

“But you aren’t this time. You’re working with her on this book. Just enjoy it and see where it goes.”

Frustrated that Chris was only confirming what Paige knew was the truth—a fact that would remain deeply buried, no matter how legitimate—she said, “Why are you assuming it’ll go anywhere? You have a bad habit of making romantic connections in just about any situation you see.” She lowered the screen of her laptop. “You could matchmake in the frozen-foods section of a grocery store, for God’s sake.”

“Don’t knock it. A whole lot of available people hang out by the single-serving section.”

She got up and Chris followed her to the living room. They flopped down on the couch and Chris propped her feet up on the coffee table with a groan.

She nodded toward Chris. “Hurt yourself again?”

“Yeah.” Chris grimaced. “A very large and drunk woman decided she wasn’t going to listen to my orders last night. She and I had to go to the pavement to discuss the matter further. I wrenched my back when we did our little do-si-do.” Chris took another sip. “Jen used to rub my back when I came home. I miss that.”

“You miss her?”

“No, not her. I just miss the caretaking. Our relationship never really went anywhere, you know? I never asked her to move in because it just didn’t feel right. Except for the back rubs.”

“Kind of like me and Marlene.”

“Exactly. Apart from the cheating and lying, she was just like Jen.”

She scowled at Chris. “I mean the caretaking part. Sometimes Marlene would make dinner or do my laundry…”

“She should have. Hell, she was unemployed the whole three years you were together.”

Paige always saw herself as the stable one. She was there to help Marlene. She hadn’t really assumed that the gesture would be returned. After all, wasn’t that what unselfish love was all about? “She had trouble getting work.”

“She had trouble getting out the door to go find work.”

“I suppose I made it too comfortable for her.”

“No, you were just being a good person. She took advantage of you. You know I’ve told you before that you don’t pay enough attention to your own emotional needs. You’re more driven to meet others’ needs, and Marlene trampled all over that.”

“I was stupid.”

“No, she was stupid. Stupid enough to hurt you.” Chris nudged her. “Plus, she constantly berated you about every little thing. Don’t beat yourself up. Marlene needed to move on and you’re better off for it.”

“I should have been more encouraging of her career.”

“She didn’t have a career! She had a whole bunch of pipe dreams. And by the way, you supported her in everything she wanted to do. And she thanked you by dating the women’s softball team.”

“Excluding the catcher.”

Chris laughed. “Only because you caught her before she could finish the entire job. You deserve someone who can’t even see the entire softball team because they’re too into you.”

“Does that exist?”

“I sure hope so.” Chris tipped her head back on the couch. “For both of us.”

Paige felt the sting of hurt that prickled around her desire for someone just like Chris had described. Someone who would see only her. A few times in her life she’d mistakenly thought that’s what she had. And maybe she’d had it for a moment, but it always seemed to leave so cruelly, without once looking back. If there had been enough room on the couch, she might have let herself crumple and curl into a miserable ball.

Though the scenes Avalon shot that day were complicated and demanded her complete attention, Paige’s presence floated around the edge of her awareness. She wondered what Paige was doing. Was she taking pictures at that moment? Was she making mental notes? Was she thinking about her like Avalon was thinking about her?

“Avalon,” the director said as they were readying the cameras to shoot her fistfight with Brent Hastings, her costar, “we’ll pick this scene up where the gun has been kicked out of your hand. I’m going to ask Brent to come as close as he can to your face when he throws the first punch. The camera angle is so close to parallel that it will only look good if we do it this way. As soon as he tries to hit you, you bend backward, avoid the blow, and then counter with the kick you rehearsed. You’ll have to aim close to his face, as well. Are you all right with that?”

“Sure.” These kinds of scenes really excited her. She was new to action movies and wanted to impress the director so she’d be considered for more.

Brent stepped up to her. “You ready?”

“Bring it on, pretty boy.” She returned the mega-million-dollar smile before the assistant director told the crew to roll.

“Speed,” the sound engineer yelled, indicating that the equipment was ready.

“Action,” the director called out.

She looked at the handgun on the ground, reacting to the fact that he’d just disarmed her.

“Evens the score, doesn’t it?” Brent’s voice was menacing in its condescension.

“Not quite.” She sneered as Brent tipped his shoulder back.

Her thoughts jumped and she was wondering whether Paige was getting this on film when a bright light exploded in her head. She fell backward and the back of her head smacked the rough pavement.

She closed her eyes and heard excited shouting, and suddenly someone was bent over her.

“Avalon! Avalon! Are you okay?” She felt Brent’s hand on her cheek. “I’m so sorry!”

The director swore at Brent and knelt by her side. “Get the set medic!”

“I’m fine,” she tried to say, but a rolling ripple of nausea gurgled in her stomach.

“Stay down,” someone else said.

Embarrassed, she stayed where she was, looking up at her repentant costar.

“It was my fault,” she told him. “I forgot to move back.”

The medic rushed up to her, and while he tended to her, she wholeheartedly hoped that Paige had missed the whole thing.

“You’re done for the day,” the director said when she was finally allowed to stand.

She had a small cut on her upper cheek that the medic said was already bruising. She had a hell of a headache, but the mortification she felt at her bumble was much more painful. The medic told her to keep the ice pack he’d given her and she reluctantly held it to her face.

“I’m fine, really.”

“Back to your trailer. I’ll have Penny walk you.”

“I’ll take her.”

Avalon turned to the new voice. Paige stood behind her, camera in hand.

“Shit,” Avalon mumbled.

She felt Paige’s strong hand encircle her arm. If only the first time they touched could have been more romantic and less embarrassing. She wanted to enjoy Paige’s closeness, but the slamming pain in her head kept her from the pleasure.

Damn
, she thought,
this sucks in every way but the one where it’s Paige that’s taking me away from the set.

*

They reached the door of her motor home before either of them said anything.

“I don’t suppose you were taking a smoke break or otherwise absent during that last scene.”

Paige was holding Avalon’s elbow, helping her up the stairs and inside. She probably didn’t need the assistance, but she accepted it. “I don’t smoke.”

Avalon tossed the ice pack on an end table and sat down on the couch. “So that means you got it on film?”

“Yup.”

She dropped her head in her hand. “Ughhhh.”

Paige sat down next to her. “What’s the matter? Do you need the medic again?”

“No, my head doesn’t hurt. But my self-esteem just got its ass kicked.”

“If it’s any consolation, it was a fantastic photo op.”

Avalon lifted her head and laughed. “Ouch! Okay, my head does hurt.”

“What can I do?”

“Delete those pictures.”

“Sorry, I can’t obliterate true drama.”

Avalon squinted in what looked like mock annoyance. “Then how about going over to that cabinet under the sink and fetching me some medicine?”

“Sure.” She jumped up and walked over to the sink. “Am I looking for a bottle of pills?”

“No. You’re looking for the bottle of whiskey,” Avalon said as she picked up the camera Paige had left on the couch.

“Keep your hands off that,” she said without turning around.

“How did you know I had your camera?”

“If it had happened to me, I’d be doing the same thing.”

“So you’re sympathetic to my embarrassing plight?”

“I am,” Paige said as she poured oak-tinged liquid into a small glass. “From awkward moments come graceful pictures.”

“Pour yourself some,” Avalon said. “Is that some famous quote?”

“I just made it up so you’d leave my camera alone.”

Avalon put the camera down and Paige returned with two glasses.

“Here.” She handed Avalon one. “I don’t know if this will help, though.”

“It certainly won’t hurt.” Avalon raised her glass to her and they both drank.

She grimaced as the liquid singed her throat and smoldered in her stomach. “Wow.”

“It’s a nice way to end the workday,” Avalon said.

After they both took another sip, Paige said, “What’s it like to have the paparazzi all up in your grill?”

“A necessary evil, I suppose.”

“What did they mean about going back to Club Raunch?”

“You’re probably the only one who hasn’t heard. That was where my ex and I broke up. It was a bit of a scene. Words and drinks were flying, and a lot of people caught it on camera. The whole scene got pretty ugly.”

“I’m sorry you went through that.”

Avalon’s nod seemed almost philosophical. Paige wondered what was behind that look.

“So, what does a photographer do when she’s not looking through a camera lens?”

She had to think for a moment. Her life had been fairly boring lately. “I originally thought I’d get a break after my last book came out. I was planning to take a trip somewhere. I like to go on photo excursions. The best part is getting lost and then finding things that I’d never have photographed if I’d stayed on track. But before I knew it, I was asked to get going on this project.”

“You’re behind your camera most of the time?”

She laughed, a little self-conscious. “No. I mean I have a life.”,

Avalon was watching her, an adorable sideways grin on her face that made Paige’s foot bounce in both nervousness and excitement.

“I do!” She couldn’t help but grin because she knew the stare was a challenge. “My best friend, Chris, and I do a lot of things together. I bike, sometimes. I…”

Avalon waited, which made it harder for Paige to think of anything interesting.