Loving David (24 page)

“Killjoy.”

Charlotte laughed. “So I’ve already set the DVR for ‘Access Hollywood,’ ‘Entertainment Tonight,’ ‘Extra’, and ‘E News Live.’ Am I forgetting anyone?”

“Who knows? Who cares?”

“I care. I love watching you be interviewed. You’re quite charming.”

David grinned. “That so?”

“Uh huh. And sexy. Very sexy.”

“I need to ring up William and tell him to book me on about a million more shows then, huh?”

“At least.”

“I noticed your bridal magazines last night. You look like you’re really getting into it.”

Charlotte twisted her ring around. “I told you, I never had a real wedding. I want this to be extra special.”

“How about I come out wearing a powder-blue tux? That would be special.”

The doorbell rang. Charlotte frowned, wondering who it could be. “No, that would be disgusting,” she said as she stood up to answer the door.

“What? I’ve always been told blue is my color!”

Charlotte rolled her eyes and opened the door and saw an impossibly tall woman with a swell of blonde waves cascading down her shoulders, puppy dog brown eyes, a black tunic, and a pair of skin-tight jeans that ran into over-the-knee black boots. Charlotte’s face fell as she realized who it was.

Olivia.

The woman smiled, her teeth sparking in the late afternoon sunlight. “Hi,” she purred, her voice deceptively smoky. “Is David here?”

Charlotte could only stand there, gaping at this beautiful freak of nature. Charlotte was mesmerized by how stunning she was.

“Who is it, love? You forget to pay the milkman?”

Charlotte’s hand flew to her throat and Olivia’s smile grew even bigger upon hearing David’s voice from the living room.

“Charlotte, who----?” David peeked around Charlotte and stopped in his tracks when he saw Olivia. She leaned against the doorjamb, smiled, and cocked her head to one side.

“Well hello, lover. Miss me?”

#

“What the hell are you doing here?” Charlotte heard David hiss over her shoulder. Charlotte was rooted to the spot, transfixed by the glossy Olivia, who merely kept her dazzling smile trained in David’s direction.

Olivia ran her tongue across the front of her tile-white teeth reminding Charlotte of a toothpaste commercial. “What do you think? Looking for you.”

“For what?” The hot rage of David’s voice made the hair on the back of Charlotte’s neck stand at attention.

“Well, I finished my movie, just got back into town this morning and,” Olivia smiled again. “I missed you.”

“How’d you find me ---- us?”

“I have my ways.”

“Fine. Now leave,” David said in a low voice.

“For what?” Olivia said, mocking David’s earlier words.

“Because my fiancée and I don’t want you here---- that’s why.”

For the first time Olivia’s gaze flicked over to Charlotte, who gulped. She felt like a ten- year-old with braces and greasy hair. Charlotte looked down at her feet.

“Well, well, well,” Olivia said, her voice a seductive taunt. “Looks like I’ve missed quite a bit while I’ve been gone.”

David placed a protective hand on Charlotte’s waist. “Yes, you have.”

Olivia narrowed her eyes. She glanced at Charlotte one more time before locking eyes with David. “Well, lover, I guess congratulations are in order.”

“Stop calling me that. And your leaving will be congratulations enough.”

“Aren’t you curious why I’m here?” Olivia pressed, not willing to be dismissed so easily.

“Not at all.”

“You know, I could really use the little girl’s room. Why don’t you be the gentleman I know you are and invite me in?”

“No.”

Olivia turned her attention to Charlotte, forcing her to acknowledge her, as if Charlotte could possibly be unaware of her presence.

“I
really
need to pee. You understand, right? You know how it is with girls.” Olivia winked at Charlotte, like they were two girlfriends sharing a delicious secret. Charlotte squirmed, her unfailing sense of decency gnawing at her. She heaved a big sigh, her shoulders slumping in defeat.

“You can use the guest bathroom. Second door on the left,” Charlotte said as David poked her in the back. Olivia’s face broke out into that large, high-wattage smile once again as she slithered past David and Charlotte into the house, the scent of gardenias trailing after her. Charlotte closed the door, and David shook his head in disbelief. Olivia strolled toward the bathroom, her eye darting around the living room, clucking her tongue.

“Well, this is really…cute.” Olivia cast a sideways glance at David. Charlotte winced at the open disdain Olivia had for her home. “Nothing at all like that mansion you were renting in Malibu. Remember that place? Practically needed a map to find your way around, huh? How long are you renting this place for?”

“We’re not renting. We live here together.”

“Oh. Oh wow---- okay. Makes sense then,” Olivia said as she gave Charlotte the once-over again.

“Bathroom is second door on the left,” David said, his jaw clenched in fury. Olivia winked at David before giving Charlotte the sweet yet deceptive smile she’d perfected before pivoting on her heel and heading to the bathroom. David waited until she closed the door before looking at Charlotte.

“Why the hell did you let her in here?”

Charlotte pushed her hair behind her ears. “It’s just the bathroom. What harm could that do?”

“Should have sent her to the gas station on the corner.” David shook his head and looked in the direction of the bathroom. “She’s up to no good,” he murmured. “As usual.”

They heard the toilet flush and the faucet shut off. Within a few moments Olivia emerged from the bathroom and once again gave Charlotte’s living room a snide appraisal with a slight sneer on her face.

“Alright,” David marched over to Olivia and began to hustle her to the door. “You’ve used the bathroom, now go.”

“But I haven’t told you why I’m here,” Olivia protested as she wrenched out of David’s grasp.

“I already told you, I don’t care why you’re here.”

Olivia looked at Charlotte. “Do you mind? David and I have some business to discuss.”

Charlotte felt like she’d been punched in the face. Had this woman just come into her house and ordered her out?

David scoffed. “Oh, no. You’ve got something to say to me, you say it in front of Charlotte.”

Olivia narrowed her eyes at David and then at Charlotte. “Charlotte. Charlotte. Oh, right.
Charotica
, because you write dirty books…” Olivia chuckled. “Clever.”

Charlotte inhaled sharply and felt the color drain from her face. David spoke again.

“
Charlotte
and I have no secrets, so whatever you have to say you can say in front of her.”

Olivia sighed and looked down at the floor, nodding. She snapped her head up. “Well, lover. I need a place to stay.”

“I’m not going to tell you again ---- stop calling me that. And so what, you need a place to stay?”

“So I need to bunk with you for a bit.”

Charlotte gasped, and David looked like he was about to choke. “Stay here? With us? Good God. I didn’t think even
you
had that much gall.”

“My place is being renovated,” Olivia continued as though David hadn’t said a word. “I got back before they finished.”

“Come off it, Olivia. You haven’t had a ‘place’ the entire time I’ve known you.”

Olivia chuckled. “Alright, so the Beverly Wilshire was all booked up.”

“Call your agent.”

“We’ve had a mutual parting of the ways.”

“You mean he finally dumped you.”

Olivia shook her head and laughed. “Oh, lover. You really do like to cut to the bone, don’t you?”

Charlotte looked at a confident Olivia using every trick in her book and then at a pissed David holding himself back from throwing her out. Charlotte stood in the middle of it all like a spectator at a tennis match gone berserk.

“I can’t help you. You’ll have to figure out something else.”

Olivia’s bottom lip began to tremble, and her brown eyes dissolved into pools of melted chocolate as they filled with tears. Within seconds she was heaving uncontrollably, a weeping, watery mess. Charlotte looked at her, disturbed, while David just dropped his head in frustrated defeat.

“David, you just don’t understand how terrible things are right now,” Olivia sobbed. “Ira’s being just
awful.
He called me this morning to tell me he was ‘terminating’ me as a client. And that was after he promised I could stay in his guest house when I got back to town. And all the money I’ve made him!” Olivia wiped her nose with the back of her hand, and Charlotte fought the urge to hand her a tissue. David just leaned against the couch, his arms folded in disgust.

“You knew that day of reckoning was coming.”

“But not now! I just… I just need some time to figure things out, get my head together, you know?” Olivia gazed at David, her eyes glassy with tears. “Let me stay here. Just for a little a while.”

“Forget it.”

“You’re just going to turn me out onto the street like some awful homeless person with nowhere to go?”

“Olivia, I know I can’t possibly be your only option, not with the literally
hundreds
of hotels in the Greater Los Angeles area that are more than up to your exacting standards. Besides, what happened to that big fat paycheck you just got?”

Olivia scoffed. “Oh God, David. I was behind on
sooooo
many bills. I had to pay Ira his share, my business manager, my PR person, my lawyer…” Olivia snapped her fingers. “I got left with nothing!”

David rubbed his eyes, and Charlotte peered down at the floor, wondering when her life had become an episode of “Days of our Lives.”

“Unbelievable,” David muttered.

“So,” Olivia sniffed, sensing a softening in David’s stance. “Can I stay? Just for a few days?”

“How much of that money got snorted up your nose?”

Olivia’s mouth gaped and she swallowed. “None. I told you after the last time that that was the last time.”

“And so what? After a few days what’s your plan?”

“I’ve got a few prospects. Just waiting for a few things to come in---- that’s all.”

David smiled and clapped his hands. “Forget it, Olivia. I’m done.”

Olivia shook her head, a torrent of tears spilling down her face. “Please David! I honest to God have
nowhere
else to go! Just for a few days.” Olivia whipped her head around to Charlotte, her eyes pleading. “Can David and I get just a few moments alone? Please.”

Charlotte sighed, actually thankful for the chance to escape. “As a matter of fact, I do need to run to the drugstore----”

“Charlotte----”

Charlotte held up her hand to stop David’s protests. “No, really; we need toothpaste… and asprin.” Charlotte picked up her keys and purse from the side table in the foyer before she gave David a quick peck on the lips. She glanced at Olivia.

“Nice meeting you,” she whispered before she headed out the door.

#

Charlotte had filled up her little red plastic basket with more toiletries than she would use in six months. She was still shaking over the encounter with Olivia and trying to keep her frayed emotions in check. Olivia was so beautiful it was almost sick. She was a strange case of being even more dazzling in real-life than on screen. Charlotte could understand why David’s head had been turned by her. But in those few moments, as David had said, Charlotte could tell all that beauty and charm was but a thin veneer stretched across a manipulative and shallow charmer. With all she’d come to know about David, looks aside, those two were a terrible match.

Charlotte peeked at her phone to see if David had called or texted with an update. Nothing yet. It couldn’t be avoided – she had to go back home. Charlotte checked out, cringing at the nearly $300 tab. The sun was setting in L.A., and a cool breeze had slipped in. Charlotte embraced the chill as she pointed her Jeep toward home, her anxiety mounting with each rev of the engine. She rounded the corner onto her street, her eye searching her driveway. Olivia’s rental car gone. Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief. All was well again.

Clutching her plastic bags, Charlotte unlocked the front door and listened for any sound of David.

“David? Honey, are you home?” Charlotte’s heart lurched at the silence. She set her bags on the couch and went through the house in search of David. Empty. Charlotte took a steady breath and forced herself to stay calm. She went about the methodical task of putting her things away while maniacally checking her phone every two seconds. Just when she was about to call David, the phone rang.

“Where are you?”

“On my way home. I checked her into the Marriott on Sunset.”

“Oh.” Charlotte sat down to the couch. “For how long?”

“A few days. That’s all.”

“What happens in a few days?”

“I’m trying to sweet talk her agent into letting her move into his guest house.”

“What if that doesn’t work?”

“It will. Trust me.”

Charlotte rubbed her forehead. “David, I----” she stopped herself. “Nothing.”

“Come on, don’t do that. David
what
?”

Charlotte pursed her lips and closed her eyes. “What is this hold she has over you? I mean, I get that she’s gorgeous and everything, but...do you still have a thing for her?”

“I can’t believe you’d ask me that.”

“Well? Do you?”

“My answer is an unequivocal ‘no.’ I told you she hasn’t got anybody else. I’m just trying to help her along is all.”

“It seems to me she’s pretty resourceful and always somehow manages to live another day.”

“Charlotte, that’s not fair. What about you and Ben----”

“
Ach
! Stop right there. Ben and I were married, so even though our marriage was a complete shambles, he was still my husband. So yes, because of that, I felt a certain obligation to him. You and Olivia were never married---- no kids. It has to stop somewhere.”