Catch a Rising Star (17 page)

He looks up and catches me staring. I feel my cheeks warm, and he gives me a puzzled frown. I need to say something to break
the tension. “I, um, you’re a great dad.”

Gentleness spreads over his face, and I catch my breath as his eyes trail downward to my mouth. He wants to kiss me! For saying
he’s a good dad. David reaches out and squeezes my hand. In the second it takes me to recover from his touch, he leans across
the bench and presses warm lips to my cheek. “Thank you,” he says. “That means a lot.”

We look deeply into each other’s eyes and something electric passes between us. Something real. A beginning, I think.

“Well, what a coincidence!”

What? Who dares to interrupt my moment with Dreamy Dad? I barely refrain from uttering a groan as Rachel Savage, accompanied
by Julie Foster and Trey O’Dell and two little kids, barges right in and stands in front of me. Freddie was right! They are
pals. And probably conspiring together at this moment how they might make my life at work even more miserable than it already
is. I have to admit—albeit grudgingly—that Rachel is radiant in tight white pants and a white suede jacket, lined with faux
fur. Her black hair is twisted into two braids falling adorably on either side of her head, giving her the appearance of a
beautiful Indian princess. She turns a gorgeous, intimate smile on David. I feel sick as he bends forward and kisses her cheek
in greeting—didn’t he just do the same thing to me? What is this—par for the course for this guy? Does he kiss anyone who
smiles at him? Suddenly I’m not feeling all that warm and fuzzy.

I clear my throat and haul myself to my feet, giving the too-beautiful-to-be-real woman a nod and trying on my best “genuine”
smile. “Rachel, congratulations for landing the role of Lucy. I’m sure you’ll bring a unique energy to the character.”

Disbelief flashes in her dark eyes. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was about to ream me. But then she wouldn’t make
a scene in public. You never know who’s watching.

“Thank you, dear,” she gushes. “Let me introduce you to my nieces, Katie and Nellie.” The girls are miniatures of their aunt
and carry the same haughty expressions that don’t seem to go with their angelic faces any more than it goes with Rachel’s.
Besides, they can’t be more than eight and ten, and high and mighty attitudes on little girls are never becoming.

“Nice to meet you, girls.” I give them each a smile. They don’t smile back. What a surprise. “This is Jenn and that’s her
brother, Jeffy. They play on our show.”

“We know that,” Katie, the older of the two girls, says like I’m some kind of moron—which is exactly how I feel. Sheesh. I
should have let David introduce his own kids.

“Girls, you remember Mr. Gray,” Rachel says to her nieces. (I suppose she’s speaking to them, anyway, even though her eyes
are roving over David shamelessly.) “This is a pleasant surprise, running into you, David.” Her voice is low and husky. What
a Jezebel! I cut my gaze to David’s face, but I can’t tell what he’s thinking. There’s no way he could not be affected by
her beauty and that new size two bod she’s flashing around like she’s God’s gift to men or something. I hate to say it, but
she’s not acting very broken up over the end of her marriage.

Julie steps forward. “I hear you had a little trouble with today’s scene, Tabby.”

I see satisfaction, even challenge in her beady little eyes. Why does she have to be so mean and scary?

“That’s what we’re doing here,” David says. “Tabby is trying to get used to being around the twins.”

“Oh, it’s too bad you’re having such a hard time, Tabby.” Rachel
sounds
and
looks
like she really means that. But come on. She’s not a bit sympathetic to my plight. As a matter of fact, if I had to guess,
I’d say she’s gloating.

Trey snorts and speaks up in an apparent need to insert himself into a situation where he’s been ignored so far. “My wife
is hanging out with the father of my children.”

What an idiot.

David presses his lips together in a grim line while Julie and Rachel give Trey a cursory chuckle. Julie slips her hand through
his arm possessively. “Just remember who your real wife is, darling,” she says, looking straight at me as though to warn me
away. Good grief. Why can’t she just believe that I never went after her former husband, and I’d definitely never go after
this one. Even if I weren’t a Christian—he gives me the creeps.

“Come on, Daddy. Let’s go skate!” Jenn is tugging on David’s jacket sleeve.

“Oh, good idea.” Rachel turns to her nieces. “Girls, lace up and let’s get going.”

“We’re going to take off,” Trey says. He kisses Rachel on the cheek like they’re all the best and oldest of friends. Julie
bends and hugs her. “We’ll see you on the set tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” I can’t believe she’s starting so soon. “But Taylor’s going away party is tomorrow.”

Julie’s eyes flash dislike for me. “Yes, we don’t plan to have a break between days. Rachel’s character is in the middle of
the Felicia story line so Rachel will have to jump right into the role of Lucy.” She gives me a knowing look. “But she won’t
have a problem with anything I’ve written for her. She’s a real pro.”

I squirm beneath the little dig. She’s definitely making reference to the trouble I’m having with the twin scenes.

“Good to hear,” I say, tight-lipped.

Julie’s face shapes into an expression of smug satisfaction at my discomfort. “Well, we’ll be seeing you, Rachel. Bye, Tabitha.”

“Bye, bye.” Rachel wiggles her fingers in a wave, then sits with a sexy pose. She lifts her own skates from her bag. Figures
she’s going to show me up in front of David and the kids. “I just love skating.” She smiles up at him. David averts his gaze
as she leans a little too far in her low-cut collar. “Remember when Kylie, you, and me used to skate on the river back home?”

“Yes, Kylie was a great skater.” David really doesn’t want to talk about this. I can tell.

But Rachel seems to need to take a little trip down memory lane. She looks up at me. “Kylie, David, and I are all from the
same town in Wisconsin. They were childhood sweethearts. David the captain of the debate team, and Kylie head cheerleader.
They were always an unlikely pair.”

David’s lips quirk up with a bit of amusement. “Kylie was always just a little out of my league.”

Rachel’s cheeks darken a bit. “I didn’t mean…”

“It’s okay, Rach. Our differences were the things that kept us from making a successful marriage.”

“I know she loved you.”

“I’m sure she did.” David clears his throat and abruptly changes the subject. “Well, I’m going to take the kids out to the
rink.” His eyes rest on me. “You going to be okay sitting here?”

“Oh, you aren’t going to skate, Tabby?” Rachel’s eyes are innocently wide and shine with just a touch of delight. “But you’ll
miss all the fun.”

This chick is clearly challenging me. I suck in a breath. There’s only one thing I can do. Take her down.

And really, how hard can it be to remember how to skate? Granted I wasn’t that great at it when I was a kid. But even if I’d
been a young Michelle Kwan, it’s been more than ten years, closer to fifteen since I had on a pair of skates. I’ll be polishing
the ice with my behind. I have a choice to make. Let her show me up while I sit on the sidelines or go down fighting.

Let no one say that Tabby Brockman is a coward. Swallowing hard, I stand and head to the rental booth.

“Where are you going?” David catches up to me and falls into step.

“To rent my skates, of course.”

“Tabby, you don’t have to prove anything,” he says wryly.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Come on. Just sit and observe. There’s no shame in that. We’ll call it research. Which it is, remember.” He stops in his
tracks, as though I’m going to agree to what he’s just said, but I know if I don’t keep moving, I just might take the easy
way out. “All right,” David calls after me. “Have it your way.”

“I intend to,” I fling over my shoulder.

I have to stand in line five whole minutes. And five minutes in a line when Miss Rachel is doing spins around the man I .
. . well, I mean the father of the children who are playing my children. I can’t let her get by with it, can I?

“Size seven and a half,” I tell the guy at the counter. I want to add “stat,” but restrain myself.

“Fresh out.”

I stare at him for a second, thinking I must have heard wrong. “What? How can you be out of size seven and a half?”

“You’d think it wouldn’t be possible,” he says with a shrug and a mocking grin. “But here we are, all out of that size. What
are the odds?”

Smart aleck. I give him a snarly glare, and he gives me attitude. Punk. O-kay. “Do you have a seven?”

“Yeah, but I suggest going with the eight if you’re determined to skate in the wrong size.”

Oh, sure. My feet are going to slide all over the eights. There’s no way I’d be able to stand up, let alone skate. I toss
him a condescending smile. “Yeah, thanks. The seven please,
kiddo
.”

He shrugs. “Suit yourself.”

“Thanks, I will.” Ten minutes later, I regret that decision. My feet kill me the second I lace into the foot corsets, and
again, I’m faced with a choice. Go back to the arrogant rental kid and admit I’ve made a mistake or once again go down fighting.
And so I choose B. Go down fighting. And I do. Go down that is. The second I hit the ice, I—well—hit the ice.

I try to stand up, but even hanging on to the wall, I can’t seem to get a foothold. “Need some help?” Rachel’s mocking tone
shoots through me like a stream of acid. She comes to a graceful stop and crosses one foot over the other. Show-off.

“No thanks. Just getting my sea legs.”

“Okay. Don’t say I didn’t offer.”

“I won’t.” I wave her on and down I go again. She laughs and skates away. Note to self: keep two hands on the wall at all
times. Also, set fire to Rachel Savage’s dressing room at first possible opportunity.

“May I?” My heart skips a beat as David slides to a stop and holds out his hand. Funny how my reaction to his offer is so
much different than when Rachel did it.

“Thanks. It’s starting to come back to me.” I take his hand, and he helps me stand, then slips his arm around my waist to
steady me.

“Like riding a bike. Stay with me until you get your footing.”

Be happy to, Romeo.

I think this experiment in family life is sort of a failure. Here I am, hanging onto David for dear life while Rachel buzzes
by me, laughing and chatting with Jenn and Jeffy as well as her two nieces. What is she? Aunt of the year? As much as I hate
to admit it, she does have a way with the younger set. I should probably keep my eye on how she relates to them and then emulate
it during my scenes.

I’m starting to freak myself out.

“You okay?” David’s voice breaks through my introspection.

“Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”

He clears his throat, as though weighing whether he should state the obvious, which is that Rachel is stealing my time with
those kids. They were supposed to start forming a relationship with me today. Instead, they don’t know I’m alive.

The phone clipped to my waistband blares the
Friends
theme. “Help me stop so I can answer that, will you?”

“Sure.” His voice is filled with amusement, but I don’t care. I’m just concerned with his strong arms keeping me from falling
on my rear while I answer this call. He steadies me, and I reach for the phone.

“Hello?”

“Tabs?” My sister’s trembling voice reaches through the phone, and I’m immediately on alert.

“Shelly, what’s wrong?”

“I-I think I’m losing the baby and Mom can’t leave Dad and I can’t reach Mikey. Brian is taking me to the hospital. Can you
please meet me there? I-I really need family with me.”

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” I hang up and whip around to David. “I have to go. It’s an emergency.” Tears burn my eyes.
“My little sister thinks she’s losing her baby.” God must be the one keeping me on my feet as I skate off the rink and hustle
to the bench without waiting for an answer. My heart is in my throat.

David sits in front of me and starts unlacing one of my skates. I see his lips moving, and I assume it’s in silent prayer.
He wiggles the too-tight skate and frowns. “This is too small. Your feet must be killing you.”

I nod. “They are. The guy didn’t have the right size.”

To his credit, he refrains from responding as he peels the other skate from my burning feet.

“Thanks.”

“I’m going to round up the twins so we can take you to the hospital.”

“There’s no need for that, David.” I touch his shoulder. “I’ll take a cab. The kids haven’t had nearly enough time to skate,
and they deserve it after working so hard today.”

He stands and apparently catches Rachel’s eye because in a minute she skates off the ice, Jenn and Jeffy in tow. “What’s going
on?” she asks.

“There’s been an emergency and Tabby has to leave. I’m driving her, so we’ll need to leave too.”

The twins send up a howl of protest. “You said we could eat at Rock Center Café.”

“I know, Jenn,” David says. “But some things can’t be helped. We’ll do it again soon. I promise.”

“We’re hungry, Daddy.” Little Jeffy’s voice is trembling.

“We’ll drive through McDonald’s as soon as we get Miss Brockman to the hospital.”

“Look,” Rachel says. “We’re going to be here for a while, and I promised my nieces supper at Rock Center Café too. Why don’t
I look after Jennifer and Jeffy for you?”

David hesitates, and you can’t blame him. Under any other circumstances I know he’d say thanks but no thanks. But a couple
of things stand in Rachel’s favor. She’s a well-known daytime actress, and the kids already seem to like her really well.
Darn it. Anyway, he looks at the kids, who apparently take this as a signal that they should begin to beg.

“Please, Daddy,” Jenn pleads.

“It’s really no trouble at all.” Rachel’s perfectly glossed lips curve into a smile. She reaches into her pocket and pulls
out a card. “Just in case you don’t have my cell phone number, it’s on this. If you haven’t called by the time we’re ready
to leave, I’ll take them to my house, and you can collect them from there. Okay?”