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She was supposed to be helping Poopy the Party Planner make sure everything was running smoothly, but she’d mainly been gaping at all the stars who’d showed up. According to Poopy, this was the most important party of the summer, and a bunch of celebrities that Bram and Georgie didn’t even know had begged for invitations. Georgie kept telling Poopy, “No purse designers,” which Chaz hadn’t understood until Georgie explained it, and then Chaz had to agree.
The ballroom’s polished walnut moldings and paneled wooden ceiling gleamed in the light of the crystal chandeliers. Lavender-and-blue-plaid taffeta overskirts topped the round, custard-yellow tablecloths. Blue mop-top hydrangeas inspired by the show’s opening credits served as centerpieces, the bouquets spilling from bright yellow teapots. A spun sugar model of the Scofield mansion rested at each place setting, along with a silver picture frame holding an engraved menu bearing both the Scofield family crest and a small paw print of Butterscotch, Scooter’s cat. Four large television screens set up around the room silently ran episodes of the show.
Chaz saw Aaron coming toward her with a cute, but kind of nerdy-looking, brunette who could only be Becky. Aaron wouldn’t have had the guts to ask her out if Chaz hadn’t hounded him. Thanks to Chaz, he’d never looked better. “All you have to do is wear a really good suit,” she’d said when she’d talked him into coming as the Scofields’ lawyer. “One that fits. And make Georgie pay for it.” One thing about Georgie. She wasn’t cheap. She’d even sent Aaron to her dad’s tailor.
With his good haircut, contact lenses, body that was getting thinner every day, and real clothes instead of those geeky T-shirts with video game crap all over them, he was like a different person.
“Chaz, this is Becky.”
Becky was a little plump, with shiny dark hair, a round face, and a shy, friendly smile. Chaz liked how hard she was trying not to stare at all the famous people in the crowd. “Hi, Chaz. I love your costume.”
“It’s kind of lame. But thanks.”
“Becky works in the H.R. department for a health care company,” Aaron said, as if Chaz didn’t already know that, just like she knew that Becky’s parents came from Vietnam, but Becky had been born in Long Beach.
She took in Becky’s V-neck white blouse, short black skirt, dark tights, and four-inch black stilettos. “You make a great chauffeur.”
“Aaron suggested it.”
In fact, Chaz was the one who’d suggested to Aaron that Becky come as Lulu, the Scofield lawyer’s sexy chauffeur. She’d figured Becky would be super-nervous about tonight, and wearing something simple would be one less thing for her to worry about.
“It was sort of Chaz’s idea,” Aaron said, even though Chaz wouldn’t have busted him if he’d pretended it was his.
“Thanks,” Becky said. “The truth is, I’ve been kind of nervous about tonight.”
“Pretty great first date, right?”
“Incredible. I still can’t believe Aaron asked me.” Becky looked up at him and gave him this big smile like he was super-hot, which he wasn’t, even though he looked a lot better than he used to. When Aaron smiled back at her the same way, Chaz felt a stab of jealousy. Not because she wanted Aaron for a boyfriend, but because she’d gotten used to taking care of him. She liked talking to him, too. She’d even told him about all the crap that had happened to her. But if he and Becky got serious, he might onl
y want to talk to her. Maybe Chaz also felt a little jealous because she’d like to have some really, really, really nice guy who wasn’t a sleazeball look at her the way Aaron was looking at Becky. Not now, but someday.
“That’s Sasha Holiday,” Aaron said, pointing toward a tall, thin woman with long dark hair. Half glasses dangling from a chain rested on the bodice of her sophisticated black sheath. She was just like Mrs. Scofield’s social secretary, except a lot sexier. “Sasha’s one of Georgie’s best friends,” Aaron told Becky.
“I recognize her from the Holiday Healthy Eating ads,” Becky said. “She’s gorgeous. And even thinner than her pictures.”
Chaz thought she looked too thin and sort of tense around her eyes, but she didn’t say anything.
She and Aaron and Becky stood there, trying not to stare at the stars who were showing up—Jake Koranda and Jack Patriot, all the actors from Skip and Scooter, plus a bunch of Georgie’s costars from her movies. Meg waved at her from across the room, and Chaz waved back. Meg’s date looked like a loser, and Chaz thought she could do a lot better. From the look on Meg’s dad’s face, he thought so, too.
Chaz was surprised to see Laura Moody, Georgie’s old agent, come in, but not as surprised as Poopy, who looked like she was going to have a heart attack. Laura had been invited before Georgie fired her, and no one expected her to show up.
“Where are Miss York or Mr. Shepard?” Becky whispered to Aaron.
It sounded weird hearing somebody call them that. Aaron glanced at his watch. “They’re going to make a big entrance. Poopy’s idea.” He turned red. “I mean Poppy.” He frowned at Chaz. “Stop laughing. You’re being infantile…and unprofessional.” But then he laughed and explained to Becky that the party planner had serious attitude, and he and Chaz basically hated her.
As they sampled the hors d’oeuvres, Rory Keene came over to talk to them, which was super cool, because it made everybody in the room think they were VIPs. Laura came over, too. She didn’t act like she was embarrassed being here, even though everybody knew Georgie had fired her and even though she didn’t seem to have a date.
Poopy and the waiters began steering all the guests toward the grand foyer for the bride and groom’s entrance. Chaz started to get nervous. Georgie was used to being onstage, but tonight was different, and Chaz didn’t want her to trip or do something equally embarrassing in front of all these people. The musicians began playing an overture by Mozart or somebody. Bram came into the foyer from a door on the first floor. This was the first time Chaz had seen him in a tuxedo, but he acted like he wore one every day—like James Bond, or George Clooney, or Patrick Dempsey, but with lighter hair. He looked rich and famous, and Chaz felt a swell of pride that she was the one who took care of him.
He moved to the bottom of the grand staircase and gazed up. The music swelled. And then Georgie appeared, and Chaz felt that same rush of pride. Georgie was glowing and healthy instead of starved and sunken-eyed. Chaz had made sure of that. She glanced at Bram and saw that he thought she was beautiful, too.
Georgie had insisted they travel to the party separately, so Bram was seeing her for the first time. He’d half expected her to appear in Scooter’s skunk costume, as she’d threatened. He should have known better.
Georgie looked as though she’d run naked through a crystal chandelier. The gown formed a slim column of sparkling ice that molded beautifully to her tall, slender body until it reached her knees, where it flared gently to the floor. A fine clasp of crystal lace caught the fabric at one shoulder, leaving the other bare, and a delicate lace panel cut a diagonal swatch across her body—offering the faintest and most ladylike glimpse of flesh.
This was what audiences had waited eight seasons to see—the vision they’d been cheated of by his destructive behavior—Scooter Brown’s transformation from homeless orphan to an elegant woman with a generous spirit and lively openness that no Scofield had ever possessed. He was shaken. He could trifle with Scooter, but this intelligent, sophisticated creature felt almost…dangerous.
Her hair was perfect. Dark, soft curls pinned back, with a few left free to dip around her face in a stylish tousle. For all Georgie’s insistence that she relied on April for everything, she had a strong sense of what worked for her, and she hadn’t made the mistake of letting anyone get near her naturally pale skin with a tanning air-brush. Nor had she decked herself with too many jewels. A pair of spectacular diamond chandelier earrings dangled from her earlobes, but she’d left her slender neck bare to make its own statement.
