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kandace
I’d startedthe day focused on this afternoon and this evening. On the hope—even though I shouldn’t be thinking that way—that I wouldn’t have to pick between Eli and Joystick.
And now that I was actually out with Eli, we’d been having so much fun all the way up to meeting Isabella. She was gone, shooed away by him, but the strange encounter had moved into my head. As Eli and I continued our stroll toward the restaurant, I tried to grasp more tidbits of information about the town, to continue our tour.
It wasn’t happening.
Carly had mentioned the woman who was Diego and Raul’s ex-wife a few times. Carly didn’t speak about Isabella in any good terms, and I didn’t blame her. The ex had abandoned her daughter as a baby, and came back into their lives after more than five years gone, claiming she’d just wanted to see her daughter.
It sounded like a mother with regrets, turning her life around.
Except that apparently Isabella really wanted access to Raul’s family ties and money, and wasn’t interested in her own baby girl at all.
This couldn’t be the same woman, though. Could it? Here on the other side of the world, cast in a movie to play the part of her ex-husband’s cousin, looking just like Carly had described, down to the snooty tone and stunning accent?
Which was harder to believe—that it was really the same Isabella or that it was a coincidence?
I could probably confirm with Carly somehow, but if I said something to Eli and wasn’t sure, it could color his opinion of what might be a stranger, and make things tense for him for no reason.
What should I do? Did I need todoanything?Hey, Eli. That woman you’re working with might or might not be a rude, snooty, neglectful woman who tricked Joystick into flying her to Italy so she could gold dig a little.
He worked in Hollywood. He probably encountered people like that on a regular basis.
“Earth to Kandace.” Eli’s tone was playful as he stepped into my path. He placed a finger under my chin and tilted my head up, to search my face. “Where’d you go?”
I tried to give a reassuring laugh, but it came out sounding forced. “I’m right here.”
“Not so sure about that. You seem lost in your own head. It wasn’t Isabella, was it? She’s gone now.”
“I know, but pushy, rude people like that…” I didn’t know what to say. “I guess she kind of left an air of killed mood in her wake.”
The way Eli dragged a thumb along my bottom lip sent shivers up my spine that shook away the lingering meh. “She’s like so many of the others—anything she said, anything she did, it doesn’t matter. She’s not worth the wasted thought.”
I could sink into his soft touch all night. Especially if it turned harder as things went on. “You’re right.” And even if that was the same Isabella that Carly talked about—it seemed like too much of a coincidence for her to not be—I wasn’t going to ruin a good night because of her.
We resumed walking again, and stopped a few doors down in front of a pizza place. Lyndsay had told me I had to try it, and that Idefinitely needed to avoid that big pizza chain down the street. Eli had heard something similar from the film crew, so we decided to stop for dinner.
It was cozy inside—dim lighting, low hanging lamps over wood tables, and an actual jukebox in the corner that looked like it had been there since the town was founded more than a hundred years ago. I realized jukeboxes hadn’t been around this long, but maybe this was the first ever.
We ordered food, grabbed our drinks, and found a table. Eli held out my chair and scooted it in for me as I sat, before taking the spot across from me.
This was sonormal. Or might be if we were sixteen and high school sweethearts. Then again, my teenage years weren’t really like this. I was so focused on school, on basically raising Andrew, that I didn’t really date. Not much after, either. I loved this.
“You react so differently to celebrities than most people,” I said.
Eli fiddled with his straw wrapper. “Growing up around it, I figured out they were people too. Some of them are assholes, some are sweet, and most are like that Isabella woman—as fake as bad CGI.”
Great analogy. “Now I’m curious, is there anyone youwouldgo gaga over?”
“I don’t name drop. It’s tacky.”
It had its time and place, but I liked his humility. “This isn’t name dropping, because the assumption is you haven’t met them yet. Besides, I asked you.”
“I have met him, but I’d still be star struck if I ever ran into him again.”
Our waitress arrived with our pizza, set it on a raised tray between us, and handed us both plates. The scent was heavenly, and Eli made sure I picked my piece first.
We were both silent for a moment, aside from moans and sighs of appreciation as we dug into some heavenly pizza.
