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Georgie didn’t have the stomach for this reunion, and she began to move away, only to be stopped by her father’s reply. “I’m afraid I don’t have much to say to you these days, Lance.”
Lance didn’t seem to know how to respond. “Paul…This has been hard on everyone, but…”
“Has it?” her father said. “The way I see it, it’s mainly been hard on Georgie. You seem to be doing just fine.”
Lance looked stricken, and Jade’s forehead crinkled. Georgie was touched. “Go ahead, Dad. I don’t mind.”
“I mind,” he said and walked away.
The corner of Bram’s mouth curled. “I don’t understand it. Dad was in such a good mood last night when the two of us made plans to go fishing.”
Georgie studied him. Since when had Bram Shepard become a person she could count on? As for her father…Had he snubbed Lance out of respect for her or only to salve his own pride?
She took extra time with her hair and makeup, but dressed in jeans and a plain white T-shirt so she didn’t look as though she were trying too hard. When she came downstairs, she found her houseguests on their cells nibbling an assortment of cereals and muffins. Chaz stood at the stove, making eggs by request, and Lance mouthed that he’d like two scrambled egg whites. Next to him, Jade interrupted her phone conversation to order up hot water for herbal tea. A helicopter buzzed overhead. Georgie saw Paul through the French doors talking to someone on his cell. Laura sat in the dining room with a notepad, her phone to her ear. At the kitchen table, Rory furiously scribbled a note to herself in the margin of the Los Angeles Times front page, while Meg, perched on a counter stool, was doing her best to reassure her mother that she was all right.
Bram carried a case of bottled water in from the garage. He looked up at the ceiling as the sound of a second helicopter joined the first and began to circle. “There’s no business like show business.”
Word had leaked out even more quickly than she’d expected. Georgie imagined a photographer hanging off the skids, his telephoto lens pointed at their house, willing to risk his life to get that first picture of her with Lance and Jade. What would a photo like that bring?
Six figures for sure.
She filled a coffee mug and slipped outside into the shelter of the veranda. The whirl of helicopter blades was louder here. Her father, leaning against one of the twisted columns, saw her approach and ended his phone conversation. They studied each other. His eyes looked tired behind his rimless glasses. Maybe things had been easier between them when she was little, but she didn’t remember it that way. Still, he’d been a twenty-five-year-old widower left to raise a daughter alone. She cradled her coffee mug. “Are you still signing autographs for Richard Gere?”
“I signed one just yesterday.”
He’d started getting requests when his hair had gone silver. At first, he’d tried to explain that he wasn’t Gere, but people hadn’t always believed him, and some had even made comments about stuck-up movie stars. Paul eventually decided he wasn’t doing Gere any favors by pissing off his fans, so he’d started signing. “I’ll bet it was a woman,” Georgie said, “and I’ll bet she loved you in An Officer and a Gentleman. People need to get over that. It wasn’t your best film.”
“True. They conveniently forget about Unfaithful and The Hoax.”
“What about Chicago?”
“Or Primal Fear.”
“Nope. Ed Norton stole that one from you.”
He smiled, and they both fell silent, neutral territory exhausted. She set her coffee on one of the tile tables and made herself act like a grown-up. “I appreciate what you said to Lance earlier, but the two of you had your own relationship. It wouldn’t be right for me to spoil that.”
“Do you really think I’m going to pal around with him after what he did to you?”
Of course not. Her father cared too much about her image to be seen with Lance Marks.
A jagged ray of sunlight cut a silver blaze across his hair. “You delivered a moving defense of Bram earlier,” he said, “but I doubt anyone believed it. What are you doing with him, Georgie? Explain it to me so I can understand. Explain how you could instantly fall in love with a man you detested. A man who’s—”
“He’s my husband. I don’t want to hear any more.”
But the gloves were off, and he came closer. “I hoped by now you’d have finally figured out the kind of man you belong with.”
“What do you mean, ‘finally.’ I already figured it out, remember? And that marriage wasn’t exactly a rousing success.”
“Lance was never the right man for you.”
It was the helicopters. They were making so much noise they’d distorted his words. “Excuse me?”
He turned away from her. “I supported you with Lance, even though I knew he’d never make you happy, but I’m not doing it again. I’ll say the right things in public, but privately I’m going to speak my mind. I don’t have the stomach to start up the pretend game with you again.”
“Wait a minute! What are you talking about? You introduced me to Lance. You loved him.”
“Not as your husband. But you wouldn’t hear a word of criticism.”
