Get a Grip (Hollywood Nights) (16 page)

             
“You have a sister?” Frankie looked at her as if this was news. Sure, May was rarely mentioned, they went by different last names, but still.

             
“Yeah, May. She went to school with us.” Ivy looked at Frankie. She seemed a bit shocked by it. “She looks just like me. Surely you remember her.”

             
“I’m so embarrassed!” Frankie suddenly said.

             
Ivy looked at her and waited for the explanation.

             
“Ivy I thought you were the same person! I thought you changed your name for Hollywood. Oh my God! You know we hated you in high school because she stole Shay’s boyfriend. He played…”

             
“Basketball?” Ivy shook her head. “Yeah, he’s the reason she had to be home schooled. I have a seventeen year old nephew from that relationship.”

             
“Wow!” Frankie was still in shock. “I’m so sorry. Does Shay know?”

             
Ivy nodded. “She didn’t tell me about the boyfriend part, but she was relieved to know there were two of us. I guess everything makes more sense to me now.”

             
Frankie nodded and changed the subject to current events. “So tell me about Bo.”

***

              Bo watched as an awkward Jonas Gunner took a seat next to his older brother, Jed. Bo wasn’t sure what all did or did not transpire with Jonas and Ivy off set, but it was enough that they had made out quite a bit on set.

             
He cleared his throat and said, “Bo.”

             
“Jonas.”

             
Jed quirked a brow and looked from him to Jonas and then back. “Did I miss something?”

             
Bo was not going to be the one who explained this particular situation.

             
Jonas cleared his throat and said, “Ivy and I were in The Benefits of Friends and Lovers together.”

             
“I don’t think I saw that.” Jed admitted. Bo restrained the smile. He knew Jed was out of the country when the film came out so he was not at the premiere. One thing he knew about Jed Gunner is that he rarely had time for fluff. That meant if he didn’t attend a premiere to support his family, he didn’t see it, because most of what the rest of his family worked on would be considered fluff.

             
“It’s rated R for content,” Jonas said and took a long swig of the beer that was sat in front of him.

             
“Oh my God.” The waitress just realized who he was. “Oh my God. Oh my God!”

             
“It’s Jonas, actually.” He shook his head and smiled at the girl. Bo was certain if clothes could spontaneously disappear hers would have. “Can you do me a favor?”

             
“Oh my God, yes. Anything. An-y-thing.” Bo wondered if this was the way male wait staff reacted to Ivy. He hoped not, but some part of him knew this was typical for people like them.

             
“I’m going to be here a while. I’m with my brother and a friend. Could you keep it secret for me?” Jonas winked at her. If people could spontaneously combust, Bo was sure she would have.

             
“Yes. Definitely.” She was so serious about it.

             
“Thank you. It means a lot to me.” Jonas said.

             
“Before you leave could I get a picture?” she asked shyly.

             
“As long as I can sit here in peace, I don’t see why not.”

             
He was clever. Bo had to give him that credit.

             
The girl practically skipped away from them. She was elated.

             
Jed brought them back to the moment with, “So you made out with his wife in that movie is what you’re telling me.”

             
Jonas closed his eyes. “Yes.”

             
“Awkward.” Jed laughed.

             
They both started talking at the same time. Jonas said “Yes” and Bo said, “You could say that.”

             
Jed had a good laugh then. Bo was sure they were both glaring at him.

             
“But she is out with Frankie right now.
She
knows this right?” Jed asked.

             
“Of course she does. It was a movie. We were friends off set.” Jonas said as he took another long sip of the beer.

             
Bo grunted. It was so difficult to be sitting there next to a guy his wife had made out with. Worse, a guy that made him stress whether or not Ivy compared them. No one ever ‘Oh My God’d’ him on sight.

             
“Okay, I don’t know what happened between the time she left me and started with you, but she was a virgin when she came and a virgin when she went. We didn’t. She’s a good girl, Bo. You know that.” Jonas gave him such a serious expression.

             
“It’s just a little weird. I mean I know it wasn’t real, but I worked on that movie with you two.” Bo admitted.

             
“You gotta get used to that, man. If you’re going to make it work with a high profile actress like Ivy, you gotta deal with the fact that she will end up in another movie and she will end up with a leading man. Unless you take up acting that is likely going to be someone else.” Jonas said it with an honesty Bo couldn’t be mad at.

             
“And it will suck,” Jed groaned. “Shay has a leading man in this thing. It took me a minute to come to terms with the fact that this is theatre not a movie, so she has to do it over and over again. Night after night. Sometimes twice in one night.”

             
Bo shivered at the thought. “I guess you’re right. I mean I’ve seen her do it for years, it’s just now, you know, she’s mine.”

             
“Why do you guys look likes someone just pissed on your table?” Buddy, the husband to Janice Gunner and an actor himself asked as he sat down in the last seat at the table.

             
Jed supplied a recap. “Jonas made out with Ivy in a movie. Bo just married Ivy. We were talking about how difficult it is to see people make out with your wife. You can relate.”

             
“Now it feels like someone pissed on my table.” Buddy laughed. “Yeah man, it sucks, but that’s the job. You know that. The only one of us who doesn’t have to deal with that is who Jonas and Ivy.”

             
Jed was taking a sip of beer and almost spit it back out. He cleared his throat and said, “Maybe just Ivy.”

             
“Do you have to tell this story?” Jonas asked and his cheeks turned pink.

             
“Hell yeah,” Buddy said.

             
“I think it will be good for Bo to hear that even the mighty Jonas Gunner gets jealous now and then.” Jed nodded and looked to Bo. “Shay kissed Frankie in front of Jonas to piss him off.”

             
“What…when?” Buddy looked to one of the brothers then the next.

             
“You guys had just left. It was the night I brought Shay to dinner at Jonas’s house and he wouldn’t stop badgering me about work.” Jed laughed. “God I love that woman.”

             
Bo looked at Jonas who had a bit of a screwed up expression on his face. “Yeah, it sucks.”

             
Bo laughed then. Hell if Jonas could deal with Jed’s wife kissing Frankie, he could handle what happened between Ivy and Jonas in the past.

Buddy laughed too. He said, “So I guess Ivy is the only lucky one not facing this dilemma.”

             
Bo pulled at the base of the beer bottle and turned it a full three sixty before admitting, “Well. She kinda has to deal with the fact that my ex-fiancé is married to my older brother and she did meet her.”

             
“Jesus,” Buddy said. “She wins.”

             
“Yeah,” Jed agreed. “That sucks more.”

             
Everyone looked at Jonas and he said, “Nope. That is still not another woman kissing your wife.”

             
Everyone busted out laughing.

***

“I feel so bad for you. You’re stuck here with us and three kids.” Janice Gunner said as she looked out the window of the quiet restaurant. “I think it might snow tonight. Can you believe Jed wants us to move here? It’s eighty degrees back home.”

             
Ivy laughed. “Yeah it is a bit nippy.”

             
“Play with me,” Buddy Junior said and handed her a truck.

             
Janice mouthed the words I’m sorry. Ivy smiled as she rolled the truck across the table towards him. “It’s fine.”

             
“They are probably three beers in and we are sitting here drinking tea and playing cars. Are you sure you want to hang out with us?” Frankie laughed.

             
“Beer. Where? A bar? Do they have nuts there?” Ivy was already in a panic. She was trying to remember if he had that damn pen on him. She had hers, but she was freaking out. Bars usually had nut bowls. People touched things and passed things and… how could he go to such a place?

             
“Are you all right?” Janice asked.

             
“He is allergic to peanuts. They have peanuts in bars. I don’t know if he has his allergy medication.” Ivy was fumbling through her purse for the phone. She called. No answer. She called again. No answer. She sent a text. No response. “Oh my God. I have to go. I have to go.”

             
“Well wait, we’ll come with you,” Janice said as she stood. “I’m sure Buddy or Jonas would have called if he wasn’t okay.”

             
“No,” Ivy said as she pulled on her jacket. “There isn’t time for that. I didn’t have time to call for help and he was already swelling up. They won’t have time. I have to go.”

             
Frankie, Janice, the two babies, and Buddy Junior were all ready to go within moments. Ivy felt terrible for ruining this for them. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to go, really.”

             
“You don’t even know where you’re heading, Ivy. Come on. I know where they are.” Janice was a comforting older sister. Ivy knew how easy it was for her to mother people. She had come to visit Jonas several times when they had worked together.

             
Ivy tried, and failed to breathe deeply, remain calm. She tried again to call, to text. By the time they arrived at the sports bar and grill she was a bundle of nerves and energy. None of it good. They entered the building and Ivy could hear people saying her name. It was packed with people, mostly men.

             
When they found them in a relatively secluded section Ivy wanted to jump for joy that he was okay. She wanted to run over and hug him. Then she wanted to strangle him for not answering the phone or her text messages. Unfortunately, that was the emotion that stood out the most.    

             
“Bo!” She said it louder and more forceful than she intended. All four of the men jumped as they looked around towards her.

             
He looked stunned. As he stood he asked, “Is everything okay?”

             
Buddy was already standing and heading to Janice to take the baby. Jonas looked at Frankie as though she could communicate through telekinesis or something. Jed Gunner held off a knowing smile and shook his head.

             
She was immediately embarrassed. Bo was obviously worried something had happened to her, but everyone else knew she had stormed in there mad at him. She fumbled for words, “I called and…it’s a bar…and.”

             
He shook his head. As he walked towards her, Frankie moved to take his seat.

             
He was a step away from her when a guy interrupted with, “Can I have your autograph?”

             
Bo folded his arms and waited. Ivy didn’t even look at the guy before she bit out, “Not now.”

             
She stared to close the distance between her and Bo. She needed to apologize to him for showing up and yelling his name like that. She didn’t have time for fans at that moment.

             
“What a bitch.” She heard the guy mumble from behind her.

             
“What the fuck did you just call my wife?” She watched Bo react in front of her. The ever calm, ever cool, ever collected Bo Bliss immediately transformed into a hulking, angry, husband ready to kick that guy’s ass.