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She hadn’t walked far from Jack’s, only up the street and around the corner, and she knew that if she continuedwalking, she’d end up someplace she definitively did not want to be.
She pulled out her phone, realizing she could use some advice, and that there was only one person who knew the extent of what was going on. She stepped out of plain view in case Jack came looking for her and shoved herself uncomfortably close to someone’s hedges to sit on the short stone wall.
Lila answered after four rings. “Hey, Gem. I’m kinda busy. What’s up?”
Gemma heard the distinctive sounds of camera equipment being loaded into a car. Athump, a scoot, and a trunk closing. Lila must have been off to film something.
“He has a girlfriend, Lila.”
The packing sounds stopped.
“He what?”
“You heard me. Agirlfriend. And not just anyone, Angelica freaking Reyes.”
Lila sucked in one of her huge, signature gasps.“The Bond Girl?”
Until that moment, Gemma had forgotten Angelica had in fact played the most recent in the storied line of superspy love interests.
“Yeah,” she said like a deflated balloon, if a deflated balloon could speak.
“Oh, Gem.”
The ache in her chest compounded at the sound of Lila’s sympathy.
“I knew this was too good to be true.”
Lila mulled her response. “How did you find out?”
“Believe it or not, I went to his house with him. We wereat lunch, and then he had to deal with something at work, so I went with him. He’s a screenwriter, and we found out he quit the show he works for and signed a new contract to move to Scotland. That was news to him, so he came home to deal with it, and Angelica showed up. She’s kind of awful. She thought I was his assistant.”
Lila scoffed. “Obviously, she’s misguided and not that bright.” Gemma softly smiled at her immediate offense on her behalf. Lila was quiet for a thoughtful beat. “That’s a lot to learn in one go, Gem. And you’re at his house now?” The surprise in her voice was obvious. Gemma had to admit, it was a surprising turn of events.
“I was, but I left. And get this: he’s my dad’s neighbor.”
“Shut up.”
Gemma could hear her gape over the phone.
“I know. I didn’t say anything as he drove us here, and after the Angelica bomb went off, I started walking up the street because I don’t have my car. It feels—”
“Like a big fat sign?”
Gemma didn’t want to admit that she’d had the same thought. She sighed. “So, here I am hiding in someone’s hedges with a guy I don’t want to talk to up one end of the street, and a guy Ireallydon’t want to talk to up the other. Can you come get me?”
There was a pause, and then the packing sounds resumed.
“I would, but I have to catch the light for this live shoot. You know how it goes: when it’s gone, it’s gone. I’d hate to miss out on the opportunity right in front of me...”
Her message was not subtle. Lila would drop anything to come to her rescue no matter what, and the fact that she was leaving her to hide in someone’s hedges in theHollywood Hills said very clearly that she did not think Gemma needed to be rescued.
“When I said earlier your efforts to find me a boyfriend were reaching concerning levels, I hadn’t considered actual abandonment.”
“I’m not abandoning you; I’mencouragingyou,” she said over her car door closing. “And the prospective boyfriend is not the direction I’m figuratively pushing you, in case it’s not obvious.”
Gemma glanced toward her father’s house. Lila was one of the root-for-reunion people in her life. Her intentions were pure, but with two adoring parents who loved each other as much as they loved her, she would never fully understand Gemma’s strained relationship and the reasons she avoided it.
Lila’s car started in the background. “And besides, you can call a ride if you don’t want to see him. Gotta go.”
