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Not that Maddox was particularly pleased that I was still attached. We’d been talking most nights. I’d been tempted to fly out to Savannah to see him, but I needed to handle Martin first. God forbid the press found out that I was seeing someone else. It would be a nightmare.
So, I’d gone along with Martin’s plan. My stylist had sent over a stunning champagne dress that highlighted my tan skin and fit my body like a glove. I was in thousand-dollar shoes. My hair and makeup had been professionally done. Photographers would be on standby to snap a picture of our perfect moment. I had to make it through one little dinner, and then this would all be over.
With a breath, I pushed through the restaurant and out to the ocean-view dining. Heat lamps were on for the chilly December evening. Martin stood as I approached the cabana-style bed he’d reserved for us. Or more likely, his assistant had reserved for us. A perfect place to be seen.
“Darling,” Martin said, drawing me in close and pressing a hungry kiss on my lips.
“How was your trip?”
Martin grinned, taking me in. “First, look at you. Jesus, Josephine, did you get more gorgeous since I left?”
“Hair and makeup,” I assured him with a laugh.
He moved his finger in a circle, and I turned for him, giving him a private show. We settled onto the cushions, and he snapped his fingers at a waiter.
“French 75, right?” he asked, remembering my favorite drink.
I’d fallen in love with the drink the night we’d gone skydiving and he’d insisted we try this speakeasy in the middle of nowhere. He ordered me one everywhere we went from then on. It was something about the gin and champagne, mixed with the sweet lemony flavor, that brought me right back to why I’d fallen for Martin in the first place … and not just the boy I’d swooned over on the television in high school.
As soon as my drink arrived, Martin launched into the most fascinating tale of the new film he’d spent the last two months working on.
And that was the thing about Martin—he was fascinating. Everything he did was a fun, new adventure. He wanted me to be part of every one of those journeys too. It was how we’d started. He’d gotten me to go skydiving with him. Then, we’d surfed on a private Malibu beach. Then, he’d flown me to Hawaii on a whim to snorkel and see a waterfall. It was a miracle that our first appearance together had been here in LA. We’d lived a crazy, private life before then. That was the Martin that I’d seen myself falling in love with. Not the one who acquiesced to see me when his publicist could fit me into his busy schedule.
By the time the first course came, I’d forgotten my earlier apprehension. Martin talked enough for the both of us. I didn’t even have to pretend to enjoy his company because I did. He was charming, personable, the heart of any party. In fact, he was my perfect complement.
Anyone would think I was insane for giving him up for the guy who’d broken my heart in college. And yet I always had this suspicion that Martin couldn’t love anyone more than he loved himself.
“My sweet,” he said, tipping my chin with his knuckles.
“What was that?”
“You went somewhere far away.”
I laughed to cover my discomfort. “Sorry. It’s hard to believe you’re home. It’s been so long.”
“I’ve been monopolizing the conversation. Tell me what you’ve been doing. You visited your little friend from home while I was gone, yes?”
I bristled at him describing Marley as my little friend from home but didn’t let that show. “Yes, Marley. We grew up together. She had Thanksgiving at her apartment in Cambridge with her brother and friends.”
“That’s adorable,” he said. “Thank God we’re not apartment living anymore, eh?”
I laughed softly. “Absolutely. I don’t miss that at all.”
Which was true. But I hated that he always put down people who made less than us. Marley was going to change the world. Who cared where she lived?
“Well, I’d like to meet all of these childhood friends of yours.”
“You would?” I asked skeptically.
That didn’t sound like Martin. He was all about the next big and better, not about the past. It was why he had no idea that the brother that I’d mentioned was Maddox or any of our history. It didn’t concern him, so it didn’t matter.
“Of course. Maybe after the holidays, we can go visit, and I can meet these mysterious friends. Marley, and the other one is … Delilah?”
I blinked in surprise. “Uh, yes. Delilah. We call her Lila.”
He snapped his fingers. “I knew it. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“I would,” I said uncertainly.
But I was also confused. As much as I liked Martin, I’d always felt like our lives were separate. There was a line in the sand that was before and after Academy. And the before had never mattered to him.
