Deceived 5 - New Beginnings (6 page)

Another week had passed and another few inches were added to my protruding baby bump. I was really looking pregnant now, but thanks to my shopping trip with Nina I was feeling much better about how I looked. Elyse had given each outfit her stamp of approval, as well.

And then there was Patrick. He enjoyed me being pregnant and doted on me every moment he could. If I needed to sit down, he’d rush to my side and ask if I needed an extra pillow for my back. If I sighed, he’d ask me if I felt okay or if I needed anything. Every night when we got home from work, I’d stretch out on the couch, put my feet in his lap and he’d give me a foot massage. Then he’d tell me how beautiful I was, and that he couldn’t wait to see his daughter. Every day, I fell in love with him all over again.

Everything in my life was going great, better than anything I had ever imagined, and today, as I stood with Elyse at Ricky’s commercial shoot, I couldn’t stop smiling. As it turned out, Ricky hadn’t needed the extra prodding from Nina to see the benefits of the Japanese commercial.

I’d been glad when I’d heard he’d asked Elyse to come along so I’d have someone to keep me company as Patrick was busy, moving from one side of the set to the other, hovering around Ricky like a nervous stage mother. It was amusing me to see him encouraging Ricky with little tidbits of advice about how this commercial would boost his exposure. I could almost see how he’d be with our daughter when she did something like dance or karate or some type of sport.

I turned to Elyse and said, “This is exciting, isn’t it? Very Hollywood.”

Elyse agreed, “I’ve never seen a commercial shoot before. It’s very elaborate. Look at all those lights and geez, a ton of people just for one simple commercial. And how they’re treating Ricky. It’s like he’s a star.”

A young Asian man came up to us and politely interrupted in a heavy accent. “Would you please stand over here?” He made a sweeping gesture with his hand, indicating where we should stand. Then his eyes glanced down to my stomach and he smiled.

“Of course, so sorry,” I said, embarrassed I hadn’t thought about whether or not Elyse and I should be somewhere specific. “I guess we are in the way. We’ll just watch from the side, thank you.”

The man smiled politely at us again, and then waved his hand to another assistant and spoke in Japanese. He then pointed to where he’d instructed us to stand. A moment later, the second assistant came over carrying two chairs. He set them down, gave us a polite smile, and headed off. We settled into the chairs and my feet breathed a sigh of relief. We had a perfect view of the set and now I didn’t have to stand. I was really enjoying myself now.

A few minutes after we’d taken our seats, Ricky came out of his make-up session and had a brief conversation with the director of the shoot. Elyse leaned toward me and said, “He looks a little nervous.”

I agreed with her, but I also noticed that he glanced over in our direction every so often, so I wasn’t sure which part he was nervous about: the commercial, or having Elyse there watching. I asked, “I wonder how he feels about having to wear make-up. That’s kind of out of his comfort zone, don’t you think?”

Elyse smiled that dreamy smile that women in love – or at least very strong like – get. “I’m not sure what’s out of his comfort zone. He’s used to being in the limelight, and it takes nerves of steel to drive a race-car. I would think he’d be pretty comfortable with all this attention, but then again, he isn’t acting those other times he’s in front of the cameras. I hope all of this doesn’t throw him off.”

We settled back into our high canvas chairs as the director called for everyone to take their places so the shoot could begin. The same young man who’d given us our chairs took Ricky by the arm and positioned him next to the car.

Elyse perked up and said, “God, he looks really good up there, all dressed up in that tuxedo.”

I couldn’t blame her for ogling him. He definitely looked good up there. He stood next to a white, top-of-the-line Lexus that practically sparkled in the intense lighting, creating a sharp contrast to the black of Ricky’s tux.

We both watched eagerly as the director gave instructions to Ricky. We were too far away to hear the actual words, but we could tell from his gestures that it was time to start. He first positioned Ricky’s body at just the right angle, his face, and then his arms, with one hand stuck in his pocket, creating the image of a handsome, confident man with his stylish car. It was definitely interesting to see how much work went into making someone look relaxed.

Then the director walked off the set and returned momentarily, escorting a beautiful Japanese woman. She covered the distance gracefully, her tall, slender body swaying gently as her long legs carried her toward Ricky and the car.

Elyse’s eyes popped open wide and she gave a nervous little laugh. “I didn’t know there was a female lead in this commercial. Did you?”

“Well, yes. She’s one of the top models in Japan.” I nearly kicked myself as soon as the words left my mouth. That wasn’t helping the situation. I tried again to brush it off. “You know these car commercials. They always have to have hot women in them.” Wow, I really sucked at trying to make things better.

“Yeah, but she’s hot. Like
super hot
.” Elyse wrinkled her nose.

I reached over and patted her hand. “Don’t worry, Elyse. It’s just a commercial. It’s just pretend.” But I could tell she wasn’t convinced. Hell, if it had been Patrick up there, I wasn’t so sure I could’ve been talked out of walking on stage and dragging him off.

We turned our attention back to the illuminated scene before us. The director had stepped back to his chair and the action was underway. Ricky started by striking his pose next to the car, and then he turned to the woman and embraced her. He gazed into her eyes, lifted her chin gently with his fingers, and then gave her a passionate kiss. I had to admit, he was a good actor because he looked like he was really enjoying that kiss. A very thorough kiss from the looks of it.

I saw Elyse shift uneasily in her chair. She shot a quick glance my way and gave me a little crooked smile. “It’s all pretend, right?”

I nodded. She definitely had more self-control than I did.. If our positions had been reversed, I wouldn’t have just been dragging my man off stage. I would’ve been giving the model a few choice words and maybe even a good punch in the nose.

“No wonder he agreed to this commercial.” This time her words were edged with jealousy.

Just when I thought the kissing scene was over and the action would move on to something else less bothersome, the director yelled out, “Cut!” He ran up to Ricky and the gorgeous woman who was still smiling after the kiss. The director chattered to her in Japanese, then announced in English, “Do it again.” He hurried back to his seat.

The make-up artist ran up and dabbed some powder on the woman’s face, then swept her long, black hair to the side, getting it into place so the camera could shoot the kiss without any obstructions. It wasn’t until she did this that I realized, my stomach sinking, that the kissing scene was going to be shot several times. The final version of the kiss would likely be a huge close up, zoomed in on Ricky devouring those luscious lips. Poor Elyse, I thought, this had to be horrible for her. At least the commercial was only airing in Japan. I could only imagine what seeing it on TV would do. I didn’t understand how actors could do it.

The make-up girl ducked off the set just as the director called for the action to begin again. Ricky struck his pose, then moved in for the kiss, this time moving slowly and taking even longer on the kiss, as the two of them twisted into what seemed like an eternity of a lip lock. As they kissed, the strap of her slinky black dress slipped off her shoulder, exposing her bare back to the camera as Ricky’s hand ran over her smooth skin. He pulled back from the kiss and gazed down at her breasts which, though I couldn’t see because her back was to the camera, I was sure the dress had slipped off far enough for Ricky to get an eye full.

Three long takes later, Elyse was fit to be tied and I didn’t blame her. I was getting more than a little annoyed myself. The director was never happy with the kiss, or maybe it had to be shot from different angles. It didn’t matter. Watching Ricky kissing the beautiful model over and over again was getting to Elyse and by now she was noticeably upset.

She slid off her high-seated director’s chair and said in a tight voice, “I think I’ve had about enough of this. Why did he bring me to this shoot? Just to watch him kiss another woman?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ricky looking our way, a concerned expression on his face. I watched him glance over at Patrick, who was busy at work on his laptop and hadn’t noticed what was going on. I loved my husband, but sometimes he could be clueless.

“Um…well…” I didn’t know what to say to keep her here.

Before I could get anything out, I saw Ricky excuse himself from the set and jog over to us. He took Elyse by the arm.

“Elyse, wait. Please don’t leave,” he pleaded. “What’s wrong?”

 
“What’s wrong?” She stared at him. Maybe it wasn’t just Patrick who was clueless about stuff. “I didn’t come here to watch you shove your tongue down some other woman’s throat. Your little groupies might go for that kind of thing, but it’s not my style.” She turned to go.

Ricky held on to her arm and pulled her around to face him. “I’m sorry, Elyse. I didn’t know they would need to shoot the kiss over and over. I didn’t even know the commercial had a kiss in it until I got here today. I’m sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable.”

I could hear the sincerity in every word.

“Well,” she said. “It just looked like you were really enjoying it up there.”

“No.” He shook his head. “Honestly, I didn’t feel anything when I kissed her. I swear, it’s all professional.”

Elyse’s sour expression softened and I could see her muscles relax as Ricky’s eyes begged her for forgiveness. I hoped she’d give him a second chance. Losing someone over a misunderstanding was so pointless.

“Have a seat and this’ll be over soon,” he continued. “I want you to stay. I like having you with me.” He gave her a soft smile. “And, if you’re not too mad at me, I’d like to take you to lunch as soon as this is over. What do you say?”

She hesitated, then said, “Okay. I guess you’re right. It’s kind of silly of me to get upset. These kinds of things come with the territory when you’re a celebrity.”

Ricky brushed the back of his hand across her cheek and then gave her a light kiss on the lips. “Alright then, it’s a lunch date. Let’s get this thing over with…”

“Oh, wait,” Elyse interrupted, her eyes twinkling. “When you’re done, don’t change. You should wear the tuxedo to lunch.” She winked and Ricky’s face broke into a wide smile.

I smiled, too, relieved that the tension was cleared from the air. Elyse returned to her seat next to me and Ricky hurried back to the set where the director was waiting impatiently.

One week stacked up on another and my belly kept getting larger. Working during my pregnancy wasn’t so bad. Since the bulk of my work was done at a desk, I could stay off my feet most of the time, though it was getting harder to reach my keyboard. My biggest discomfort these days, however, wasn’t from my pregnancy. It was Elyse. She was driving me crazy with all of her jabbering about Ricky. I didn’t know if it was the hormones making my emotions spin out of control, or what; either way, I was tired of hearing about it.

The two of them had officially been dating for about a month and Elyse had never been happier—or more annoying. I was delighted, of course, that she’d found a great guy finally, but I’d never imagined she would be so obsessed. At work, she’d burst into my office and tell me about her last date with him, in way more detail than I ever wanted to know, and then two seconds after leaving, she’d text me with the details of what he’d just said to her in his text message. A couple times, she even went so far as to copy his text, word for word, so I could read it, like I needed a microscopic, play-by-play action of their relationship. I loved Elyse like a sister, but I’d had it with all of her ‘Ricky this,’ and ‘Ricky that,’ so it came as a welcome distraction when Nina called, asking if I wanted to meet her for lunch. At least if she talked about Ricky, it wouldn’t be to tell me the latest thing he’d done in bed.

I collected my phone and purse and headed across the hall to Patrick’s office. I poked my head in, giving his door a little tap to get his attention. “Hey, hon. Can I interrupt? Do you have time?”

Patrick swiveled his chair around, greeting me with a broad smile as I walked in. “For you, baby, I always have time.”

No matter how annoyed I was, whether at Elyse or something else, seeing the love in his eyes when he looked at me always made me feel better. I stood in between his legs as he circled his arms around my stomach, gently laying his ear to my belly.

“You do that a lot and I have to ask, are you listening for the heartbeat?”

He lifted his head and splayed his hand across the surface of my stomach. “I’m just listening for a hello from our little girl.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think she can talk yet, silly.”

He grinned and leaned close to my stomach. “Hello, Victoria. This is your daddy. Can you hear me?”

“Are you trying to talk to the baby through my stomach?” My heart swelled with love. I now understood why some women said they’d never loved their husbands more than they did when they saw him with their children.

“What?” He smiled up at me. “I heard this is supposed to make them smart. You’re supposed to talk to the baby and play classical music. It’s supposed to help their cognitive development.”
 

“You’re really weirding me out, sweetie. You need to stop reading those books Ryan’s giving you.”

He laughed and began placing little kisses all around the sphere of my protruding belly as I continued.

“You’re maybe going a bit overboard.”

He stopped kissing my belly and looked up at me as he said, “That’s okay. I’m allowed to act weird. I’m pregnant.” He grinned. “I read in the book that men can sometimes feel what is called, ‘sympathetic’ pregnancy pains. They actually feel pain like the women do.”

I slapped his arm as he stood up and said, “Oh, stop it. And stop reading
my
books
. Women are the ones who feel all the pain, not men, you dork. Weren’t you raised a good little Catholic boy? Don’t you know that was part of the curse God put on Eve?”

“I must’ve slept through that part,” he said. “What did God tell Adam then? We’re off the hook as far as the pain thing goes? No pain for men, just the pleasure of sex? Go forth and copulate with as many women as possible just to populate the earth?”

I rolled my eyes and said, “Yeah, that’s what a guy would think. But, no, not exactly. God let men off the hook when it comes to pain.”

“Are you feeling any pain right now?” He was only half-teasing.

“Only the big pain in my butt called Patrick.” I poked his arm.

He frowned with a mock look of hurt on his face and said, “I can’t wait until you get your body back from the hormone aliens who came and took my even-tempered Chloe away.” He gave my belly another kiss.

“Don’t worry, everything will be back to normal once the baby comes.” I took his hand and squeezed it. I knew he was joking, but I wanted to make sure he knew that once the baby was born, I’d be back to my old self.

He ran the back of his free hand down my cheek and looked into my eyes. The expression on his face softened, and he said, “I really do love you, no matter how crazy your hormones make you. I can deal with anything when it comes to you.”

He kissed me, a soft gentle kiss, the kind that spoke of something deeper than passion. I leaned into him for a minute before pulling back. I didn’t want to keep Nina waiting.

“I’m going out to meet Nina for lunch, if that’s okay.”

“I kind of figured you were going somewhere when I saw you had your purse. Are you and Nina like BFF’s now?”

“What? No, we’re just going for lunch.” Where was that coming from?

“You have been doing a lot of things with Nina lately.” He shrugged. “Elyse is going to be jealous. I know how you girls are with your girlfriend stuff, very territorial. Meow…cat fight.”

I smiled at the last part as I thought for a moment about what he was saying. I hadn’t seen it that way, but Elyse had been acting a little standoffish lately whenever I talked about Nina. I refused to let myself feel bad about it, though. “Elyse is too busy with Ricky. She doesn’t have time for me anyway these days.” I hoped he couldn’t hear the undercurrent of hurt my own words brought. I forced my tone lighter. “Go on and get back to work.” I gave him a quick kiss and pulled my phone out of my purse to check the time. “I have to go now or I’ll be late.”

Patrick was still smiling as I hurried away as fast as a pregnant woman in my condition could manage.

*****

Fifteen minutes later, I paid the cabbie and rushed inside the small restaurant where Nina had told me to meet her. As I walked in the door, she waved to me, already seated at a table for two near the back. I plopped down in my chair.

“Whew.” I blew out a breath. “Sorry I’m late.”

“No problem.” Nina smiled at me. “You look great, Chloe. That top really accentuates your eyes. How are you feeling?”

“Oh, thanks.” I hooked my purse over the back of my chair. “I feel great. Just get a little winded some times.” With the way I was panting, the statement felt a bit obvious.

The waiter came over and placed glasses of water on the table, then paused, waiting for our attention. It wasn’t until I looked up first that I realized Nina hadn’t stopped looking at me the entire time since I sat down. Just as I was starting to get uncomfortable, she broke her stare and glanced down at the menu in her hands.

“Are you ladies ready to order?” the waiter asked.

“Yes, I am,” Nina said. “Do you need more time, Chloe?”

“Um, I’m just going to have a salad.” Nina’s surprising attention had gotten me a bit flustered.

“You should have the Asian pear salad with chicken. It’s really good.”

The tone in Nina’s voice almost made it sound like I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Still, I wanted to eat healthy and I trusted Nina to look out for me as well. “Okay, I’ll have that,” I told the waiter. Maybe Nina really was taking over the role of my best friend.

The waiter nodded and then disappeared to put in our order. Nina leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table, and said, “So I’ve decided to go forward with my plans to open a store here in New York.” She beamed at me with delight, obviously excited about her new prospect.

“That’s great, Nina,” I said sincerely. Before I could ask for details, she was already giving them to me.

“I already found the perfect spot on Fifth Avenue and I don’t see any reason to wait, so I’m moving forward as quickly as possible.” The words poured out of her, her enthusiasm clear. “You’ll love it. It’s going to be trendy and bright, with modern window designs so people walking by will see it and want to come in. You know what I mean?”

“Do you mean like a high-end couture boutique or maternity clothes?”

“Oh, definitely high-end couture.” Nina made a dismissive gesture with her hands. “The maternity clothes market seems a little high on competition here. But I have big plans for high-end clients. The storefront will have immediate eye appeal, and the interior will create an entire atmosphere for the shopper that will make them feel like they’re part of a world of wealth and cutting edge fashion. And the store will carry clothing with unique designs that can’t be found anywhere else. Not like your grandmother’s old style department store, but modern and chic.” She was bubbling with excitement. “So what do you think?”

“Wow, that all sounds,” I searched for the right word, “amazing. I’m sure with your expert experience from your other stores in Florida, you’ll be a success with this one, too.”

Her eyes gleamed as she smiled at me. “And the best part is I want to hire you to do my marketing for the opening.”

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Really? That’s fantastic. I’ll tell Patrick…”

“No, Chloe,” she interrupted. “I just want
you
to do my marketing. You don’t need Patrick’s advice. You’re better at knowing women’s clothing preferences than a man. Plus, you understand how women think when it comes to shopping. What do men know?”

I smiled, pleased that Nina had such confidence in me, and excited that this would be the first client I had landed all by myself, without Patrick’s help. I tried to keep my voice professional and not sound like an overexcited schoolgirl. I barely managed it. “I’d love to market this project.”

Nina leaned back in her chair with a satisfied smile and said, “I think this calls for a celebration. I’m going to order champagne.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but before I could speak she continued, “I know, you can’t drink. That’s okay, I’ll order you sparkling Perrier water and we’ll have the waiter put it in a champagne glass.”

When the waiter returned with our meal, Nina put in an order for the most expensive champagne in the restaurant, my water and two champagne flutes. I knew it wasn’t the first time he’d gotten that request, considering all the reasons people didn’t drink, but a quick glance down where my belly was almost touching the table gave him mine.

Nina saw him looking, and after he walked away, she asked, “How do you get a seatbelt over that when you have to drive?” She laughed.

I shrugged, “It works. But mostly I try not to drive. That’s why I took a cab today.” I couldn’t imagine what I would do if I lived in a place where not driving wasn’t really an option.

We ate our salads and chatted some more about her new store, Nina filling me in on more details of what she had planned, as well as a schedule of when she wanted the opening to happen. After a few more minutes, the champagne arrived. The waiter filled her glass first, then mine with the water before giving us a polite smile and leaving.