The moment Ella saw the sign for the retirement community, her stomach muscles tightened, and a wave of nausea washed over her. It wasn’t that she was nervous about meeting Fae--although she was a little. It was more the fact that the people inside were going to scrutinize her ID, and she hated the fact that the name on the license wasn’t her own.
“Are you all right?” Charles asked, pulling into a parking spot.
“Oh, my. I’d forgotten just how busy I was that summer.” Fae held Ella’s phone in her hand, the screen shaking slightly as the woman battled old age and her nerves. She was scrolling through the pictures slowly, taking each one in. “I completely lost myself in my work that summer and did an awful job of paying attention to my friends and family.”Ella wasn’t sure what to say. She hadn’t realized that all of those paintings had been done in one summer. If that were truly the case, then she could only imagine the long hour
“That’s lunch! Be back in one hour. That includes traveling time!” Jackson, the director, shouted through his megaphone on the setof Rome’s movie.The scene they’d been working on was particularly difficult, so he was ready for the break. When he’d originally auditioned for this movie, he’d wanted to play this part because it would push his acting to new levels, but it was also emotionally draining, so he was glad to have a few minutes to go into his trailer and recoup. While most of the rest of the cast and crew w
“You sure are awfully quiet,” Charles remarked as he drove Ella back to the house. His voice brought her head around, the cityscape blurring in the corner of her eye as she realized she hadn’t seen any of it anyway.“Sorry. Just lost in thought.” She smiled, thinking for once the thoughts she’d been lost in were productive and satisfying, not terrifying and pessimistic.
The restaurant was busy with the lunch time crowd as Rome walked in the door, glancing around and quickly finding Al’s familiar face in the back. The executive lifted his hand, a smile on his face. Rome returned the smile and waved before heading that direction, skirting around a waitress and a young girl who was clearly not having the best day as she shouted at her mother and flung her chair backward across the tile floor with a screech.It wasn’t an elegant restaurant, that was for certain, but the casual atmosphere of Shooters made it a hit with the you
A glass of sweet tea on the table next to her, Ella sat on the back patio, her laptop poised on her knees, as she finished adding a banner to her website. It was starting to come along, everything falling into place, and before long, she’d be ready to reveal her new enterprise to the world.Over the last few days, she’d spoken to Fae several times, running ideas past her and getting her take on most of the details. Fae was like the grandmother she’d never had, always encouraging her and also coming up with moments of inspiration that sent Ella off in
Two months later…Nervous energy percolated through Ella’s veins as she sat in the back of the limousine, trying not to wring her hands. This was it--the night she’d been waiting for ever since she’d returned to California. She may have snuck into the state in secret, but tonight, every eye would be
Ocean waves wetted the sand a bit more with each surge that rolled toward Ella’s bare feet as she sat in her favorite spot, laptop hugged against her chest, her eyes focused on the horizon in the distance. Above her, the circling gulls called to one another, their song haunting, yet beautiful and comforting in a way that anchored Ella to her new home in Abalone Cove and reminded her that this place had been special for hundreds of years before she and her husband Rome came to own the large beach house behind her. She had no doubt this place would offer solace to others looking for peace long after she was gone.
The sound stage was much quieter than Rome liked. Often, when a movie was being filmed, the down time between shoots was full of incidental noise. Workers in the background preparing the next set. The technicians moving their equipment. The chatter of other cast members as they discussed the upcoming scene or simply sat around carrying on a conversation. Today, since Rome was the only one on the set other than a robot, it was relatively quiet. Even the next set being constructed mimicked the soft pitter patter of rain rather than the torrential downpour he would’ve normally been listening to.
Nervous energy bubbled throughout the theater. Dressed in probably the most amazing gown she’d ever seen in her life, including her wedding dress, Ella sat next to Rome holding his hand, and waiting for his award category to come up. The long red ball gown shimmered in the dim light, its full skirt moving and flowing when she walked like butterflies’ wings. If Rome’s category didn’t come up soon, she thought she might explode with anxiety. It already seemed like they’d been waiting for half a day, even though it had only been a few hours since they’d gotten into the limo and made their way to the famous theater in Hollywood where the biggest award show of the year was always held.
It was a gamble. Attending Henry’s funeral was a risk because there would be people there who knew her as Ella Sinders, and as Juliet stood on the periphery, watching the black clad mourners gather around the casket where the pastor was speaking, she spotted the one person she most needed to avoid in the whole world--her father.Of course he was there. Even though Henry’s father had disowned him after he stabbed Rome and then killed himself, refusing to even fly his son’s body back to his native France or attend the funeral himself, Lloyd Sinders had
The fuzzy feeling in his head radiated down his entire body as Rome tried to open his eyes and found it much more difficult to do so than he’d ever experienced in his life. The realization that his arms and legs were heavy, that there were tubes protruding from various body parts, and that there was a steady beeping sound in the darkened room reminded him of what had happened as his eyes finally opened a crack.“Oh, thank goodness!” His mother’s sobbing voice was not at all what he wanted to hear upon realizing he was still alive, that Henry ha
Sitting in the hospital waiting room, Ella was doing her best to keep herself together, but she was struggling. The ambulance had arrived quickly to the scene at Capressies, where Rome lay in her arms, bleeding from the wound in his back near his lung. Henry had buried a six inch steak knife to the hilt. Whether or not it had collapsed Rome’s lung, she didn’t know. No one would tell her anything.The police had arrived a few minutes after the ambulance. While the EMTs worked to stabilize Rome, the officers had asked her a slew of questions about what had h
Not seeing Henry had become nearly impossible. Juliet had absolutely no desire to see him whatsoever, but his constant calling and insisting that she go out with him was getting old. Now that he no longer had control of Rome’s contract, she decided it was time to rip off the band-aid. She’d already told Parker that they were just going to have to be friends, a realization he hadn’t taken well, but she thought he’d get over. She wasn’t sure how Henry would react.She walked into Capressies knowing he was there already. She was purposely tw
Rome walked into the sound stage building, dreading every step he took closer to another day of pretending to chase around unicorns and annihilate them. Drew’s acting was almost as atrocious as the script. The little girl wasn’t bad to work with, but she could only be there for a few hours each day. He spent most of his time listening to Guy argue with the set construction team, hating his life, and praying that the lawyers would hurry up and process the sale of his contract from Henry to Lloyd. It had been two weeks since the Montage show, and so far, nothing had changed, even though he’d only given Lloyd one week to get it done initially. Every day, he walked past the Vinune, wrapped and stored in his living room so that if and when the sale went through, he
“Well, tell me all about it!” Fae insisted as Ella came into her room at the nursing home and settled onto the couch. She had two cups of tea ready on a silver server. Ella wondered how she’d managed that without a kitchen but figured Fae had her ways. The staff absolutely adored her, for good reason. “Did you have a nice time?”Ella smiled at her, slightly amused that she was most concerned about whether or not Ella had had a pleasant experience. She honestly couldn’t say that she had, but she’d choose her words carefully for
Walking away from his wife when she clearly wanted to talk to him wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but Rome knew it was more important for Juliet to speak to Henry at the moment. She could talk to him later--at home. Besides, he wasn’t sure he wanted to speak to her considering what he’d done. The bottom line was, they’d gotten what they wanted. Or, they would, as soon as Sinders sent him the finalized contract.He stood in the back of the gallery, speaking to actress Chrissy Indiana, not hearing a damn word she was saying, despite the fact that
Schmoozing the filthy rich wasn’t something even Juliet enjoyed (Ella despised it) but it was part of her job as owner and chief executive officer of Montage, so she put her head down and did it. So far, it had made her a lot of money. After her first show, months earlier, she didn’t think it was possible to bring in much more revenue at one event, but she’d been very wrong. Even without the Vinune, she was going to make three times more money than she had at the first show, in profits alone. She was sitting in a good position to be able to buy Henry’s entire company outright if she wanted to.