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SondraBeth glared at her with disdain. She picked up Pandy’s phone from the table and held it out to her. “I want you to call Doug Stone,” she commanded.
“And say what?” Pandy balled up a piece of bread and tossed it to an iguana.
“Invite him to the island.”
“No,” Pandy said stubbornly. She was reminded of the incident with the director. Like that scenario, this one was bound to go wrong. And she’d be left feeling like an idiot.
“Why not?” SondraBeth asked.
“Because I don’t want to look stupid.”
SondraBeth sighed. She gazed out at the water. “I always have your back. Why can’t you have mine?”
“I do,” Pandy insisted. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew there was no way out of the situation but to go along with it. “Fine.” She picked up her phone. “It won’t work, though. You said it yourself. I suck as an actress. I’ll never pull it off.”
SondraBeth raised one eyebrow. “You’re a better actress than you think. If you call him, he’ll come.”
Pandy rolled her eyes and decided she might as well get this over with. Doug probably wouldn’t answer anyway; if he did, she would pass the phone over to SondraBeth.
The phone rang and rang. Pandy was about to hang up when Doug answered breathlessly, as if he’d been searching for his device.
“Well, if it isn’t PJ Wallis,” he drawled smoothly, sounding like he’d been hoping she would call.
Shocked, Pandy giggled and said absurdly, “Paging Doug Stone.”
“Paging you right back. Where are you?”
“I’m with SondraBeth Schnowzer. We’re on a private island in the Turks and Caicos.” She smiled at SondraBeth, who gave her a thumbs-up. Taking a breath, Pandy summoned her sexiest voice. “Want to come?” she asked.
“To the island? With you and SondraBeth?” Doug paused while Pandy found herself silently begging him to say yes. This, in spite of how she’d insisted she was so over him.
Ugh. She was being such a girl.
“When do you want me?” Doug asked.
Pandy’s eyes widened as she realized that he might actually be joining them. She sat up straighter, and with a sly wink at SondraBeth, purred, “How about now?”
SondraBeth motioned wildly for Pandy to hand her the phone so she could give him instructions. And then, like two teenage girls who have just pulled a prank on a boy they both have a crush on, they collapsed onto the table in riotous laughter.
* * *
Doug arrived early the next afternoon. He took a short hopper plane from the big island of Providenciales, arriving with two island staffers and several cartons of supplies. It was windy, and as Doug emerged, head tucked, from beneath the flap of the door, the plane began wobbling back and forth like a mechanical toy. Doug looked startled and then slightly afraid.
“Run, Doug, run!” Pandy shouted from the golf cart next to the runway, where she and SondraBeth were waiting to pick him up.
“Run, Doug, run!” SondraBeth seconded.
Doug was dressed in a flowing white shirt and camo pants, a canvas duffel bag slung over his shoulder. He came right up to Pandy and slid his hand under her hair, tilting her head back and giving her a showy kiss.
“I’m so glad to see you two lovebirds back together,” SondraBeth said with a smirk.
“Enough.” Pandy giggled and pushed Doug away.
“Hello, friend.” SondraBeth smiled coolly at Doug and, taking on the persona of the grand lady, coyly tipped her head for a kiss on the cheek.
Pandy felt an unpleasant click and realized that
she was jealous. This was not good. It had taken but one kiss to stir up all those scrambled feelings of being “in love” with Doug—feelings that she rationally knew weren’t real, but which were capable of causing pain nonetheless.
