Incidental Happenstance (57 page)

            The next morning, Dylan met with Stan and explained that he was leaving. “To hell with the contract,” he told him. “This is my life we’re talking about.” They worked out a compromise—Dylan would film the rest of the necessary scenes using a double for Penelope that morning, and then he’d release Dylan from the rest of the contract. He had enough footage, he said, to complete the movie if they could use doubles for the other love scenes. They could even cut Bora Bora out completely and film the scene here with a few rewrites, which would save the production company a ton of money anyway. They’d done enough to cover the basic storyline and he thought they could fill in the rest. Dylan shook Stan’s hand, thanked him profusely, and flew back to the trailer to start packing his bags.

            He had a lot of things he needed to fix because of that woman—she’d done a hell of a lot of damage to his life. The first thing he did when he left Stan’s office in the morning was to pull Jessa’s phone out of the drawer in the kitchen—he hadn’t touched it since the day he took it from her and the battery was dead, so he plugged it in and powered it up, standing over the counter and scrolling through her contacts.  He tried “Mom,” and got an answer on the second ring.

            “Hello?” the familiar voice chirped, and Dylan sighed with relief that he’d found her>

            “Jessa,” he said, overwhelmed with the emotion of hearing her voice. He’d been so unfair to her; hadn’t even given her a chance to explain, and he didn’t know if he deserved her forgiveness.

            “Dylan?” she asked, her voice full of confusion.

            “Oh Jessa, I’m so sorry. I never should have doubted you for a second. Penelope…”

            “Of course it was her,” she said. “It’s about damn time you came to your senses.”

            “Jessa, I don’t know where to start. She’s ruined everything.”

            “Tell me what she did, Dylan. It’s been driving me crazy not knowing.”

            He started at the beginning—with his own stupidity and lack of faith—telling her how Angela had hired an actress that looked like Jessa to wear the same scarf and hand out his private phone number at the airport. “When the girl on the phone described you to a tee, I just lost my head,” he told her. “Angela was there, telling me how you’d said I’d be sorry…I still shouldn’t have doubted you though, but I did, and now I really am sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”

            “Tell me the rest,” she demanded. “and I’ll think about it. You were a complete ass, you know—I never once gave you a reason to doubt me, but you never even gave me a chance to explain.”

            “I know,” he whispered. “Believe me, I’m kicking myself for that too.” There was no doubting the sincerity in his voice, and Jessa’s heart nearly broke at the sadness she heard there.

            “What else, Dylan?” she asked, the rough edges in her voice softening. “I need to know.”

            He told her the whole story breathlessly, his anger simmering in every word. She listened and didn’t interrupt, taking it in but having a hard time believing anyone could be so cruel and selfish.

            She waited until he finished the story before exploding. “Are you fucking kidding me?” she screamed so loud that Dylan had to hold the phone away from his ear. “I can’t believe that anyone could do something so horrible! And Angela was in on it too? I don’t even know what to say!”

            “I can’t even begin to tell you how pissed off I was last night—I’m still absolutely livid,” he growled. “It was all I could do not to wring her neck—both their necks, actually. I spent most of my evening dealing with the police—giving statements, and then stayed up all night reading Tia’s letters. It just killed me reading about how much pain she’s in,” he whispered. “She’s not going to get away with this, I promise you.”

            “I’ll have a little something to say about that too, you can bet on it. She’s going to pay!”

            “She may have ruined my life,” Dylan said sadly. “Damn straight she’s going to pay.”

            “Holy shit Dylan, poor Tia! She doesn’t know any of it does she? What are you going to do?” 

        pa    “Oh God, Jessa, I have to go find her. They changed her phone number and her email address, and this isn’t something I can say in a letter that’s going to take weeks to get to her—it has to be face to face, and it has to be now. I need to get back to the States as soon as possible—today, if I can. I’ve got a few hours of work to do this morning, but I’ve already started packing and I…”

            “I’ll get right on it,” she interrupted. “Just do what you need to do there, and I’ll handle everything.”

            “Does that mean you forgive me?” he said with a huge sigh of relief.

            “Of course I do Dylan. I knew it wasn’t you—it had to be her doing—but you had to figure it out for yourself, and I’m so glad you finally did. But I’m still seriously pissed that you doubted me, and for that,
you’re
going to have to pay,” she added with a smirk.        

            “Have you found another job?” he asked hopefully.

            “I haven’t even looked, actually, I’ve been on kind of a holiday; catching up with my family and all that. Why,” she added coyly, “are you looking for an assistant?”

            “I am in the market,” he said smiling. “If you’ll come back, it’ll be with full pay for the time you’ve been off, and I swear I’ll never doubt you again.”

            “That’s a deal!” she exclaimed, then her voice softened. “I’ll be happy making my first order of new business helping you and Tia get back together again. This had to destroy her, and she doesn’t have a clue. Give me your new number, and I’ll start right now, and call you as soon as I have something.”

            “You’re an angel, Jessa, do you know that? I swear I’ll make it up to you!”

            “You already have.”

            He gave her the number and ran out of the trailer, jumped in a golf cart, and rushed over to the little studio. So many emotions coursed through his veins that he knew, beyond a doubt, that he’d give a stellar performance.

Dylan threw the last of his things into his suitcase and looked around the little trailer he’d called home for the past few months. The last thing he grabbed was the picture that still sat on the little shelf above the couch—the picture of him and Tia in Paris. “I’m on my way, baby,” he said to her image before he tucked it in his carry on and went outside to pace, waiting for Jessa’s call.

            It was forty five minutes before his phone rang, and he answered on the first ring. “What have you got?”

            “It’s not great, but none of them really are,” she said. “There’s a flight that leaves at 7:30 tonight, with a twelve hour layover in San Francisco that’ll get you there at a little after five tomorrow morning, Chicago time. Friday morning, that is. It’s the best there is—most of the other available flights have two stops, and are even longer. It’s twenty-eight hours of travel time not counting airport waits before and after, Dyl.”

            “I’ll take it,” he said, looking at his watch. It was nearly 3:00, and it was a little overan hour drive to the airport—that would get him there just about the time he needed to be if he left in the next twenty minutes or so. He’d have to find a ride, fast. “Thanks so much—at least now I know it’s only hours before I can see her again.”

            “That flight’s going to be a bitch, though,” Jessa said.

            “God knows I’ve slept on planes before.” He was about to click off, but remembered a crucial detail. “Bloody hell—I get there Friday morning, you said?”

            “Yup. Bright and early.”

            “Shit. I have Tia’s home address, but she’ll be at work by the time I get through customs, get my luggage, and get a ride. I have to see her right away. I know she works at a school, obviously, but I don’t know which one. Could you…”

            “Consider it done. I’ll find out and arrange for a limo to meet you at O’Hare. I’ll call you back in a few minutes once I have the flight all booked, and again when I have Tia’s info, just so you know. If you don’t hear from me on that before you fly out, buzz me from San Fran, and I’ll fill you in. Oh, one more thing,” she added. “There are showers in the lounge at San Fran, so bring a change of clothes. You can’t show up to see her all grungy after more than a full day of traveling.” 

            She thought of everything, he thought, and he was so lucky to have her back. “I love you!” Dylan yelled into the phone, elated.

            “I know you do, Dylan,” she smiled, happy to have her life back. “Now get the hell out of there, will you? You’ve got a plane to catch!”

            Dylan clicked off the line and called Gary, his guitar prodigy from the editing department. They’d become friends, and had played together a fair amount over the time they’d been here. “Gary, it’s Dylan,” he said hurriedly. “I need a favor—can you sign out one of the staff cars and take me to the airport? Like, right now?”

            “Hell yeah, dude—I can do that. I can be there in, like, ten minutes. Does that work?”

            “It’s perfect,” Dylan answered, shoving the phone in his pocket and running in to grab his bags.

***

            Lilly was busy at her desk and didn’t notice the limo pull up in front of the school or the man who got out of it until he was standing inside her office. When she looked up, her heart nearly stopped.

            “Hi,” he said quickly. “Ah, I desperately need to see one of your teachers; is class in session yet?”

            “Oh. My. God,” Lilly whispered as she recognized him, feeling the heat rush to her face and putting both palms down on her desk to steady herself. “You’re…” but she couldn’t quite get the words out.

            Dylan saw the photo he’d signed, all those months ago, tacked to the bulletin board beside the woman’s chair and reached back into his memory for a name. “You must be…Lilly, right?” he asked, remembering. “Tia told me a lot about you.” He put out his hand and she giggled nervously before taking it.
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            “You’re…” she stammered again.

            “Dylan Miller,” he said. “Nice to meet you, Lilly.”

            “Wait a minute,” Lilly said, shaking her head. “You’re
Tia’s
Dylan?” He nodded. “I should have known!”

            He smiled then, and Lilly thought she might faint. “She didn’t tell anyone about me, did she?” he asked rhetorically.

            “She told us plenty about you,” she said, “but not that you were…well, you!”

            “I should have guessed. But Lilly?”

            “Yes?” she answered, still unable to catch her breath.

            “I’ve been traveling for thirty five hours and came here straight from the airport. It’s really urgent that I see Tia. Can you arrange that for me? Please?”

            Lilly shook her head, trying to get back her composure. “Now just a minute,” she scolded, hands on her hips. “She was in love with you, you know, and what you did hurt her so much. So before I do anything, I’m gonna ask you one time—and you be straight with me, hear?” Dylan raised his eyebrows, willing her to continue. “Are you going to hurt her again? Cause she’s a prize, that girl, and I won’t watch her go through that again.” She folded her arms across her chest protectively, and Dylan liked her immediately.

            “That’s not my intention at all, and it’s what I really need to speak to her about,” he said, trying to hold on to his patience. “I know she’s a prize, and I have so much to explain to her—I really can’t wait another minute.”

            “So it’s good news you’re bringin’ her, then?”

            “God I hope so,” he breathed. “Please Lilly?”

            The tone of his voice and the look on his face convinced her completely. “Well, they’re in a staff meeting right now, but if you follow me, I’ll see if I can interrupt. It isn’t every day a celebrity like you visits our school, so I think maybe the boss’ll make an exception.”

            “Thank you,” he said, relieved, as he followed her down the hall. His heart was thumping nervously and he was having a hard time finding his breath. He was just steps away from seeing her again, and every cell in his body ached to go to her, to wrap his arms around her. He knew, though, that he’d have to explain things first if he even stood a chance of holding her again. An audience was fine with him too—by tomorrow the whole world would know what Penelope had done and that suited him just fine.

            Lilly stopped at a door and poked her head in. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said excitedly, “but there’s someone here to see one of our teachers, and I know that if I didn’t bring him in to meet all of you I wouldn’t live to see the end of the day.” She looked to Ned, the principal, for his OK.

            “That’s fine Lilly,” he said. “Our speaker is stuck in traffic and has to reschedule, so I was going to call it short anyway.”

            Lilly’s eyes were positively blazing, and everyone watched the door. “Now you all stay in your seats, you hear? The man’s got something to say, and I don’t want you all jumpin’ up to greet him before he’s had a chance to say it. Got it?”