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“I’m Candy Moore, and this is Stalkerpalazzi! I’m live at the Seaview in lovely Oahu, with Lacey Hall and her new, hot, hot husband! Oh-em-gee,Eric!” Both girls squealed and crowded in closer. “How’s married life treating you? Are you so, so happy?”
“Uh, yeah, we’re thrilled.” Eric’s smile was threadbare. I noticed his voice was hoarse, like he’d been yelling. I leaned into the camera and beamed like I meant it.
“Sothrilled,” I chirped. “We’re in love in paradise. What could be better?”
A crowd was forming — tourists, hotel guests. Curious onlookers, phones out and snapping. I could feel Eric’s tension radiating off of him in waves, and I wondered about what Sam had said.Washe okay? Sam had seemed worried more than anything else. Hurt, yeah, suspicious, but mostly concerned.
“I love this,” said Candy. “I ship you so hard. What’s your favorite memory so far, of your marriage?”
Eric coughed. “All of them? It’s hard to choose.” He slung his arm around me, his cheek hot against mine.
“For me, it’s how kind he is.” I kissed his damp forehead. “He’s always considerate, always thinking of others, no matter how tired he is, or what’s going on. To me, that’s the essence of the perfect husband, someone I can depend on. Someone who cares.” I blew a kiss to the cameras, backing away. “Great to meet you, Candy. I’m a huge fan of your channel.”
Candy squealed at that, and tried to chase us, but Eric’s driver stepped forward and herded her back.
“All right, that’s enough. You girls step back now.”
“Lacey! I’ll tag you! Relationship goals!”
We backed into the foyer through a storm of shrieks, cameras flashing, people trying for selfies. The elevator was waiting and we piled on, and sagged together against the back wall. Eric let his head fall back.
“Who evenwasthat?”
“Candy Moore. Her whole thing is, she finds out where celebrities are going, and then she waits there and she doesthat.”
“And she gets paid for that? We ought to get royalties.”
I laughed. Eric groaned and massaged his temples.
“Are you okay there? You don’t look so good.”
“Got a lungful of water. We were shooting my raft scene.” The elevator stopped, and he straightened up with an effort. “Ever have a day where you’re tired from the start, then everything piles on you and nothing goes right? I swear, we were shooting, and there was this wave, this massive freak wave, justwhoosh, out of nowhere. It sucked me right under, then Berg was all… Berg, and then the rain came, and it ruined our shot. Berg’s making noises about going again.”
I felt tired just listening to Eric’s rant. Tired, and a little bit sympathetic. I’d had days like that too, and they were the worst.
Eric smiled weakly. “Don’t get me wrong. I love this job. I love showbiz. But some days, I swear, it’s completely…”
“Exhausting?”
“The weird hours, the fans, the constant demands. Fake waffles when you’re starving. Real waves in your face.” He pressed his palms to his eyes like he had a headache. “I miss, you know, normal days. Pizza. Bad movies.”
I pressed my lips together. I knew I should walk away. Eric’s bad day wasn’t my problem, and after our kiss, I needed some distance. Eric made me feel things I shouldn’t be feeling. Things I didn’t want to feel, because he didn’t feel them.
“We could do that,” I said, against my better judgment. “Order a pizza. Watch something goofy.”
Eric’s brows twitched. “You want to?”
Last chance to back out.
“Sure, yeah, let’s go for it. You pick the movie.”
CHAPTER 12
ERIC
Iwoke up to Lacey bundled into my arms, and my head fizzing withdéjà vu. In the first fog of waking, nothing made sense. Where had she come from? What had we done? Had I somehow contrived to marry her twice?
Then it came back to me — her ordering pizza, pretending to get my half with pineapple and anchovies. Me throwing a pillow. Her throwing it back. Both of us flopping limp on the couch, paging through pay-per-view till we settled on… what? We’d started out with some horror flick, low-budget splatter, and ended up laughing so hard we thoughthey, why not try the sequel, keep those laughs coming?From there, we’d slid into janky sci-fi, a B-movie marathon that might’ve stretched through the night, except we conked out some time around sunset. I’d caught Lacey dozing and jogged her arm.
