InHap*pily Ever After (Incidental Happenstance) (49 page)

            “Well, you
have yourself a fantastic girl here,” he said. Ryan shot an angry look at Lexi
and Bo’s protective instincts reared up. He stood up taller, looking down at
Ryan from his large frame. “You’re a lucky man; I know you appreciate how
special she is.”

            The dude
glowered at him and wrapped his arm tightly around Lexi’s waist. “As if I need
anyone to tell me that,” he spat.

            They continued
their silent face-off for a moment longer until Tony walked over and put his
hands on Bo’s shoulder, breaking the tension. “Bo, Lexi—great to see you two
together again,” he smiled. “Great ratings for your show, by the way, did Jessa
tell you? Thanks again for coming on; especially on such short notice.”

            “Glad to do
it, Tony.” Bo forced a smile, and couldn’t help but get in one more dig before
he made his exit, for the moment, anyway.  “I couldn’t have asked for a better
co-star.”

            “She’s got a
face for TV, that’s for sure,” Tony agreed. “You look great, Lex.”

            “Thanks,
Tony,” Lexi said awkwardly. She could literally feel Ryan’s anger in the way he
was digging his fingers into her hip. “This is my fiancé, Ryan Stallworth.”

            “Ah yes,” Tony
said, shaking his hand. “You’ve got a great girl here, Ryan. Congratulations on
your upcoming nuptials.”

            “Thanks,” he
replied coldly before practically pushing Lexi back down into her chair and
taking a seat himself. “We’re very excited.”

            Tony looked at
Lexi with raised eyebrows and she shrugged. He took the hint, and made his
exit. “Well, nice meeting you,” he said, adding, “Take care, Lexi. See you
again soon.” Bo followed him, leaving Lexi with Ryan’s wrath.

            “What’s that
supposed to mean?” Ryan asked as soon as they were out of earshot. “You running
off to California again or something?”

            “I’m sure he
means at the wedding, Ryan,” she said, exasperated. “He and Dylan are good
friends.”

            “How nice for
them.”

            Lexi glared at
him, but kept her voice low. “You know Ry, I really thought you were over this
whole jealousy thing. This is my best friend’s engagement party, in case you
hadn’t noticed, and you’re really sucking the fun out of it. What’s up with
you?”

            “It’s all
about you, isn’t it? You’re just soaking this shit up. Pardon me if I’m not
impressed that you’re on a first name basis with all these celebrities.” He
slammed the rest of his drink, and pounded the glass onto the table. “Maybe
you’d have more fun if I left—then you could do your schmoozing without me
getting in your way.”

            “I want you to
be part of my life, Ryan, not exclude yourself from it.”

            “I don’t know
what your life is anymore, Lex,” he slurred. “But I do know that I’m having a
harder and harder time fitting into it.”

            “That’s
bullshit and you know it. I’ve included you in every…”

            “Included me?”
he interrupted. “You mean put me neatly in a corner so you can go about your
business, right? Because that’s pretty much the way it feels on my end.”

            “That’s your
fault, not mine. You’re the one who’s behaving like an ass.”

            “Yeah? Well
I’m so sorry that I’m an embarrassment to you.”

            Lexi sucked in
a big breath and let it out slowly. It wasn’t that she hadn’t noticed that Ryan
separated himself from the group when they were out together, but she really
hoped that he and Dylan would get to be friends and made a point to try and
include him. “Listen, Ry. I understand that you feel left out of the whole
equation, I do, and I’m really sorry about that. I also get that I have a
history with some of these people and you don’t.  I know it’s hard to
understand, but these are real people, regardless of what they do for a living.
And they’re nice people, the ones I know anyway, so it’s not fair that you
don’t even give them a chance. Dylan’s a great guy; so is Bo—and Tony, too. If
you got to know them, you’d realize that, and you’d build your own friendships
with them.”

            Ryan mimicked
playing a very tiny violin. “And that’s where we’re never going to agree, Lexi.
I’m not going to bend over backward to impress your celebrity friends.”

            “I’m not
asking you to impress them, Ryan—I’m just asking you to be yourself. It’s like
I don’t even know you sometimes, and I don’t like it.”

            “And that,
ladies and gentlemen, is what we call irony,” he said, tipping his empty glass
in her direction. “Do you know how many times I’ve thought the exact same thing
about you?” He stood up to get a refill and left her wondering what the hell
was going on. She scanned the room while he was at the bar, and watched with a
heavy heart as Bo flirted with Joi Dowling, lead singer for
Sparrows at
Sunrise
. Apparently, it was going to be another stressful evening. 

            Tia sang along
with InHap’s first album as she folded laundry and watched the snow fall
outside the window realizing, not for the first time, that since she’d met
Dylan she found herself drawn to the harmonies rather than the melodies. It
felt good to be doing mundane things like sorting socks and folding
sweatshirts; it was a nice, normal thing to do on a Friday morning.

Her
life was full of harmony lately, and it was about time, in her opinion, The
media buzz had dwindled to a low murmur thanks to Hollywood and its seemingly
endless supply of marriages, breakups, babies, arrests, and rehab check-ins.
Dylan had left for Seattle, but the distance between them was proving to be manageable—there
was only a two-hour time difference between them, which allowed them to keep in
close contact on a daily basis. Jessa was staying with her on and off, dividing
her time between working for InHap and keeping an eye on Tia. She knew that the
primary reason Dylan was having her stay was because Tia insisted he ease off
the constant security once their story died down, but she didn’t mind at
all—Jessa was a great friend and was positively invaluable when it came to the
wedding plans. Lexi was a great help, as well, and Tia was impressed with the
positive attitude she’d maintained since her own wedding had been put on the
back burner. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that Ryan was a bit of a shit at the
engagement party, but for the most part, Lexi and Ryan seemed to be getting
along better lately, too, which was a relief after the tension they’d had
between them for the past few months.

Her
friends had gotten over the initial hoopla over Dylan’s real identity and
although she was still wary with strangers, she’d fallen back into pretty
normal relationships with the people who mattered to her. As normal as they
were ever going to be, anyway, she figured.

Harmony
was good.

 Tia
put the clothes away and turned on the television as she started pulling bowls
and pans out of the cupboards and placing them on the counter in the kitchen.
She had another task to master today, and she was really looking forward to it.

            “Hi everyone,
and welcome to
Chit Chat
! Please welcome your host…Dottie Miles!” said a
disembodied voice as the camera panned over a live studio audience. A lithe
redhead appeared at the center rear door and danced down the main aisle,
high-fiving and fist-bumping audience members before deftly leaping onto the
stage and taking a bow.

            “Oh thank you so
much, really, it’s great to be here today!” She waved at the audience, deep red
lips peeling back from impossibly white teeth in a genuine smile.  “Please help
me welcome my co-hosts…two of the most fabulous people I know, Abigail Cross
and Lynne Davies!” Another wave of applause rose as a a blonde and a brunette
darted out from the two side entrances and made their way toward the stage,
waving and similarly sharing high-fives with the guests. They, too, leapt onto
the stage where they joined Dottie in a group bow before taking their seats
behind a long table dotted with the usual coffee mugs and several colorful
flower arrangements.

            “Thank you,
thank you very much!”

            Tia might have
turned the channel if she wasn’t up to her elbows in ground beef and spices.
God, she hated daytime television with its cornucopia of talk shows sandwiched
between quick-loan and injury lawyer commercials; but it was some background
noise—a distraction—as she tried her hand at something new. She decided, after
a revelation that Dylan had actually never had homemade meat loaf, that she was
going to try cooking so that she could make him a proper meal when they were
back together again.

            “You’ve never
had meat loaf. Seriously?” she had said when they were talking about their
favorite childhood food memories.

             “It isn’t
really an Aussie thing and anyway, once I was on my own, the word ‘homemade’
was very rarely in the name of my usual meals. Now Alicia, my sometimes
cook-slash-housekeeper-slash-surrogate Mum in Colorado makes a mouthwatering
chicken meat pie and her fried chicken is to die for—can’t wait for you to meet
her, by the way—but I don’t remember hearing the name ‘meat loaf’ ever
mentioned.”

            “Wow. I can’t
even imagine making it to adulthood without ever eating a meat loaf. What about
hobo steak? Pot roast? How often are you even at the house in Colorado?” It led
to a huge discussion of Dylan’s favorite foods growing up and things he’d never
tried; and Tia decided that while he was in Washington, she would take the time
to practice cooking not only foods that she had loved as a child, but Dylan’s
favorites, as well. She’d spent hours chatting with Kelley and had pages of
recipes and tips about how to cook meals Dylan had enjoyed as a boy. She’d even
found a couple of places close by that carried some of the meats more common in
Australia; and although her mouth wasn’t watering over cooking or eating things
like kangaroo, emu, and alligator, she looked forward to surprising Dyl with a
little taste of home as well as sharing some of her own favorites.  Today, she
was making meat loaf the way her mom always made it. She scooped the chopped
celery off the cutting board and added it to the bowl, mixing it in with her
hands.

            “Thank you
again for inviting us into your living room today,” Dottie continued. We’ve
been getting some great feedback about the format of the show, and are really
excited to make it what you want it to be! Keep sending us those emails,
tweets, and don’t forget to like our Facebook page so you can be part of the
Chit Chat community. Remember, we like to talk about pretty much everything, so
send us your story ideas, too, and we may even invite you to video chat with us
live on the show.”

            Lynne piped
in, “Remember, you can also send us your videos, your favorite recipes, your
gardening tips…we cover it all.”

            “Meat loaf,”
Tia said to the TV. “Two pounds ground chuck, two eggs, lightly beaten, two
stalks of celery, finely chopped, one half of a yellow onion, finely chopped…”
she dumped the onion into the bowl and continued mixing.

            “I ‘Dot’ the
I’s,” Dottie smiled…

            “I Cross the
T’s,” Abigail added…

            “And I do
whatever I damn well please!” Lynne finished.

            “Oh God,
really?” Tia groaned, looking briefly at the screen. “Could you be just a
little bit cheesier? …half a green pepper, finely chopped…” She added it to the
mixture.

            Dottie smiled,
and looked at the camera. “We’ve got big news to talk about today—the
earthquake in India, the plane crash in Norway, and the riots in California—but
that’s all bad news. When I go to a friend’s house, I like to start with some
light gossip before we hit the heavy stuff. Who’s got the gossip?”

            Abigail held
up a copy of
Person to Person
. “Well, looks like this ‘Martini is
shaken, stirred, and poured down the drain,” she joked, referring to the
headline.

            “Ah yes,
another Hollywood love story with a nasty ending ladies and gentlemen; what a
surprise. Seems like Martin Forbes and Tina Provost have filed for divorce,
citing ‘irreconcilable differences.’”

            “Do you think
one of those ‘differences’ might be Jillian Scoretti, perhaps?” Lynne asked.
“She and Martin haven’t exactly been keeping their affair a secret.”

            “There was no
prenup, either—Tina’s going to make out like a bandit.”

            “What’s going
on lately?” Dottie said. “It seems like there’s been a huge influx of
infidelity the past few months. Here’s another article just sent to me by Faith
Mahoney from Lincoln, Nebraska—thanks Faith!—about yet another
politician…people who ask for our
trust
.” The headline popped up on the
screen and Dottie summarized. “Senator Paul Husteller was arrested yesterday at
his office on charges of fraud and misappropriation of campaign funds. It seems
that Senator Husteller needed the money to keep his mistress fed, clothed, and
housed in a fancy apartment near his office. His wife of fifteen years hasn’t
been reached for comment.”