Celia's Puppies (18 page)

“
Listen, she’s not
responsible for what her sister is or did,” Jacob said. “She’s
trying to help. Do you want her help? Or do you just want to judge
her because of her sister?”

Tanesha crossed her arms across her chest
and shook her head.

“
I can like or dislike
anyone I please,” Tanesha said.

Heather knocked Tanesha’s shoulder and
Tanesha laughed.

“
She does look like her
sister,” Jill said. “Just smaller.”

“
It’s a little creepy,”
Jacob said.

“
What did she want?” Sandy
asked.

“
She was supposed to pick
up her sister and the… what was it? ‘Bitch-ass’?” Jacob
laughed.

“
Needledick,” Jill
said.

The girls howled with laughter.

“
Ok, okay, this actually
isn’t so funny,” Jacob said. “Honey was supposed to pick them up so
we would know when they got here. But their plane got in early. She
was heading into the airport when she saw MJ, her sister and the
needledick leaving. She followed them. She said they were laughing
and talking.”

“
So what?” Heather asked.
“Why do we care?”

“
Because MJ? MJ, who has
been here all week? MJ, who played with Katy almost every day?”
Jacob looked to the ground. “MJ is definitely a part of their
plan.”

“
Their plan?” Sandy asked.
“What plan?”

“
They’re going to try to
steal Katy tonight.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven
Time to shine?

Friday afternoon — 4:30 P.M.

“
God damn it!”

Valerie heard Ramon scream then the crash of
his cell phone against the wall. She jogged the remaining steps to
the sitting area where she, Jill and Jill’s friends were supposed
to meet for their afternoon beauty treatments. From the doorway,
she saw Sandy, Tanesha and Heather standing stunned in the opposite
doorway. Ramon’s shoulders vibrated as he sobbed into his
hands.

“
What is it?” Valerie
placed her hand on his arm. “What’s happened?”

“
Oh Val,” Ramon said. “No
one’s coming. Wes called the hair stylist, your makeup girl and the
spa girl. He told them they would never work in Hollywood again if
they came.”

“
Really. He said that?
What a windbag.”

“
Val! They aren’t coming!”
Ramon continued sobbing into his hands. “You’ll never get ready
without your specialists. Oh Val... And the lingerie woman? She’s a
total no show. She must have had a call from Wes.”

“
What happened?” Samantha
Hargreaves walked into the room as if she owned the
place.

“
No makeup artist. No hair
stylist. No wrap,” Valerie said.

“
You’re going to lose your
Martin’s contract.” Ramon wailed.

“
That’s not going to
happen.” Samantha laughed at Ramon.

“
You don’t understand.”
Ramon flashed with anger. “This is Val’s moment and she must shine.
And Wes has destroyed everything.”

“
Sandy does my hair,”
Samantha said.

“
I’m not a professional
makeup artist, but I work at MAC,” Heather said. “I’ve won a couple
awards. I don’t have...”

“
Between Val and me, we
have enough make up to put blush on every person within the city
limits,” Samantha said. “Sounds like problem solved.”

“
Valerie needs her wrap.
She’s...”

“
What did you say about
the lingerie person? I assume you mean Cindy from SOL,
right?”

“
She must have had a call
from Wes.” Ramon’s words were emphasized by his quivering lower
lip.

“
We’ve known Cindy a long
time. I can’t imagine she gives a shit what that little man has to
say,” Samantha said. “I’ll call her.”

While Samantha dialed SOL Lingerie on her
cell phone, Valerie crossed the room to Sandy.

“
I wanted this to be your
fun day, not your work day,” Val said. “I could really use your
help. Would you mind?”

“
I’d love to do your
hair,” Sandy said. “Ever since you came back, I’ve been trying to
think of a way to ask or suggest. I’ll do Heather and Tanesha while
you and Jill get your wraps.”

“
Where’s Jillian?”
Unwilling to give up his emotional out pouring, Ramon moved onto
the next perceived problem. “Did she get a call from
Wes?”

Sandy, Tanesha and Heather laughed at
Ramon.

“
She’s attending to some
personal business,” Sandy said.

“
Cindy’s stuck outside
with the paparazzi,” Samantha said. “She’s been trying to get in
for forty-five minutes. We need to get her in here.”

“
Let’s get set up.” The
expert in all things beauty, Sandy took over the situation with
confidence. “Does anyone know someone who can do wraps? I can do
them or the hair but I can’t do both.”

“
My partner, Art, does
them. His mother used to give beauty treatments in her home to make
a little extra money. He helped her as a kid. He’s really
good.”

“
Oh Sami, he’s just
returned to the country,” Valerie said. “You don’t want him
to...”

“
He’s good. I’m sure he
wouldn’t mind,” Samantha said. “He has to be here because he works
for Alex. When he and Alex are bored, you never know what chaos
they’ll cause. This will keep him out of trouble.”

Ramon gasped dramatically as a tall,
muscular caramel-skinned man came up behind Samantha. Placing his
hands on Samantha’s tiny waist, the man’s gray eyes took in little
Ramon. The women shifted back and forth in response to the striking
man.

“
What’s going on?” Arthur
Rasmussen asked.

“
Val needs a wrap. Would
you mind?” Samantha said.

“
I don’t remember how to
make the...” Art’s eyes shifted from Samantha to Ramon. “Is he all
right?”

“
I’m fine. Just fine,”
Ramon said.

Valerie wrinkled her nose at Ramon. Samantha
looked up at Art. Smiling at her, he pulled tugged her closer to
him.

“
Sandy? Can you make the
stuff that goes in a wrap?” Samantha asked. “He’s just used a kit
when he’s done wraps on me.”

“
Sure,” Sandy said. “I
need to get my scissors and tools anyway. I have some here in
Aiden’s apartment. Will you let Heather do your make up? She’s very
talented. She’s always wanted to be a makeup artist, but she’s
never been able to afford formal training.”

“
Sure.” Valerie nodded.
“How about a Valium, Ramon?”

“
Valium?” Reaching into
his handbag, Ramon flopped onto a couch. “That’s a great
idea.”

“
Then it’s settled,”
Samantha said. “I’ll go get Cindy and we’ll meet back
here.”

“
What am I going to do?”
Tanesha asked.

“
Make drinks,” Heather
said. “We’ll need them.”

~~~~~~~~

Jacob looked across the couch to Jill.
Sandy, Heather and Tanesha took the ease and comfort with them when
they left. Jill had withdrawn into herself the moment the door
closed. He’d made a joke and a small comment, but Jill hadn’t
responded. Clearing his throat, he decided to jump in with both
feet.

“
Would you like to see our
room?”

Jill’s head jerked up from the blue blazer
and her button to look at him. She stared straight at him, then
slowly nodded her head.

“
I saved this to show you
in private,” Jacob said. He stood, then held his hand out.
“Please.”

Jill took his hand and followed him into
their new bedroom. In the middle of the room sat a King sized bed
with a feather bed topper. The comforter and sheets had creamy
butter yellow flowers that matched the walls. The bed rested on a
cream colored rug similar to her favorite rug from her apartment.
She could see the tips of the mountains through the two double hung
windows. She had sketched this exact room in her sketch book.

“
Mike had your sketch
book,” Jacob said. “We tried to match everything you
had.”

Jacob opened one of the two walk-in closets.
A Nordstrom’s gift card hung on the single hanger in the
closet.

“
That’s a gift from all of
us,” he said. “Maybe this weekend we can replace your damaged
clothing.”

“
I... “

Jill was gawking. Unsure of what to look at
first, she walked in small circles. The room seemed to have jumped
right out of her imagination. Here it was. For her. To live in.
Every single day!

“
We have our own bathroom.
Would you like...?”

Jill threw herself into his arms. She cried
and laughed at the same time. Jacob held on tight through the
roller coaster of emotion.

“
I also noticed that you
don’t wear the Marlowe Beauty,” he said.

“
It’s so beautiful. And so
big. I’m afraid I’ll break it or lose it. I...”

Stepping back, he slipped a three carat
diamond eternity band on her left finger. Her mouth fell open.

“
What? I?”

“
I thought you’d like to
have something you can wear at Pete’s,” he said.

Jill threw herself at him again.

“
I wanted so bad for you
to be Katy’s father. From the moment I saw you at Trevor’s party. I
thought, ‘Why isn’t that guy Katy’s father?’ But I could never
hope. I would never have dreamed it even possible and
then...”

“
I knew the moment you entered Trevor’s party,” he said. “I
felt that same pulse. But when I saw you, I realized you were the
‘Jill’ in Trevor’s bullshit ‘I have a child from a one night stand’
story. I never guessed that
I
was the one who had
the child from the single best night of my life.”

“
I’ve never felt as
valuable as I did that night. It stayed with me. I mean it’s
stupid,” Jill said. “One night stand and all. But after that night,
I felt alive and...”

“
Free,” he said. “Me
too.”

“
I’ve prayed that my
wizard – that’s what I called you – was happy somewhere. I pray for
my wizard every day. Because you healed my heart. No matter what
Trevor did… no matter what, I could handle it.”

He smiled.

“
And this ring is
perfect.” Jill spun in place. “Every little thing is perfect. I
keep thinking things will get hard. I mean, I know you’re still
healing. And my apartment’s a mess. Hell, my life’s a mess. But I’m
afraid it will get really hard. Because life can’t always be a
fairy tale but... I don’t care. If I can be this happy, I’m okay to
deal with whatever life has to offer. As long as I can do it with
you.”

“
Together. Yes, I feel
like I can do anything when you’re around. Whole.”

She kissed his lips.

“
We talked about me, you
know, after that night,” Jill said. “What happened to
you?”

“
I stayed in the room…
thinking… until I had to check out,” he said. “I felt that for the
first time ever, my entire life opened before me. I flew back to
Maine ready to resign from the stupid rehab, close my business,
packing my house and get off the fence with my girlfriend. I bought
a ticket to fly around the world at LAX. As long as I kept going in
one direction, I could travel for two years. I planned to leave in
three months.”

“
Travel the world. That
was your dream,” she said. “What happened?”

“
My father arrived about
two weeks later,” he said. “I hadn’t seen him in a year… or more,
probably. He was a wreck. It took him a day to get around to what
he wanted. And…”

He shrugged.

“
I had always done what I
was supposed to do. Always,” Jacob said. “For those two weeks? The
‘supposed to-s’ disappeared and I was free. Because of you. It was
the greatest feeling.”

“
Your father took it away
from you,” she said.

Jacob was silent for a moment.

“
Come see the
bathroom.”

He led her into a large spa bathroom. A
modern claw foot tub, large enough for two, took up one side of the
room. A two-person spa shower filled a corner. The toilet was
tucked away in a vented closet. Jacob pressed open the French doors
to a small balcony over looking the garden.

“
Wow,” she
said.

Coming out onto the balcony, she slipped her
arm around him. They looked out over Delphie’s bountiful vegetable
gardens and dwarf fruit trees heavy with ripening fruit. Delphie’s
bees happily danced near the back privacy fence. The balcony had a
small metal table, two chairs and a small metal bench.

“
I guess these tiny
balconies are popular in Paris,” Jacob said. “Alex told me about
them and helped me get the furniture. Just enough space to sit and
watch our world.”

“
This is gorgeous. Even
with the paparazzi, it’s gorgeous,” she said.

They sat watching the world for a few
moments.

“
My father didn’t take
away my sense of freedom,” he said. “I think I realized that love
isn’t enough. I was raised with the idea that love was enough. But
with love comes great responsibility. Love takes real work. My
father and I fought for three days. I was furious that he was doing
this to me, just when I was almost free.”