One Night with a Star (Second Chances Book 2) (16 page)

“Hey, if I can do it, you can do it.”

Jenny huffed. Why didn’t she want the solution to be as easy as that?

“I hate the idea of canceling my entire life and reconstructing it somewhere else just because of a man,” she answered her own question.

Tasha shrugged as she nudged Jenny aside in order to tuck the beaded shirt into a drawer. “It’s not canceling your life for a man. It’s changing your life so that you can be a family.”

Jenny winced. “That makes me sound selfish.”

“Well, if the shoe fits,” Tasha teased. At least Jenny hoped she was teasing. She shut the drawer and said, “Spence is pretty close-lipped about his friends’ business, but he did tell me about the changes Simon has made in the last year. If he’s willing to go through all that to change, maybe you could be willing too?”

Guilt? Was that what Jenny had been feeling? Forget guilt. The rock that dropped and twisted in her gut now was professional-grade shame.

“Whether I would be willing to uproot my life or not,” she tried to come up with another approach, “there are a lot more people who depend on this show than just me. The residents of Twin Pines like it. The local crew depend on it for jobs.”

“I’m not saying we should bend over and take it,” Tasha told her. “Spence says Yvonne has a plan. I’m just saying that the worst-case scenario might not be as horrific as you’re imagining.”

Tasha may have been on to something. By the time the two of them wandered downstairs, coffee had been brewed and Yvonne was pacing the living room like an executive about to hold a “Come To Jesus” meeting.

“Here’s the scoop,” she announced as soon as Jenny and Tasha joined them, coffee in hand. “No more wondering and worrying. Twin Pines has brought up some concerns about filming to the production company. These are things that may affect them in the long-run, things that weren’t at issue when we were filming those eight episodes last year.”

“So there is a real problem,” Spence said.

Yvonne shook her head, holding up a hand. “No, no. There are not problems. There are glitches, hiccups, and tangles, but there are not problems.”

Jenny glanced across to where Simon was sitting in one of the chairs, Daniel asleep with his head on Simon’s shoulder. That was a problem if ever she’d seen one. She may have been sitting on the far end of the sofa, but her heart was firmly in that chair with the two of them. That was a big problem, as far as she was concerned.

“So what do we do?” Spence asked.

“Funny you should ask,” Yvonne grinned. She paced across the carpet like a cross between a prowling tiger and a mother hen gathering up her chicks. “Word has just come down that the Twin Pines board is going to meet to discuss this sometime next week.”

“That’s what Dr. Brunswick said,” Simon chimed in.

“Exactly.” Yvonne gestured to him like a teacher awarding bonus points to a student who had answered a question correctly. “The production company wants to sway whatever vote happens in that meeting. If the vote goes against Second Chances, they intend to sweep in with lawyers, guns blazing. But they don’t want it to get to that point.”

“So what do we do?” Simon asked.

“The company has given me, and by extension, us, the authority to handle preliminary negotiations.”

“You?” Jenny blinked. She knew nothing about how the business of Hollywood worked, but this seemed strange.

“They want it done quietly and on a grassroots level,” Yvonne explained.

“How grassroots?” Spence asked.

Yvonne smiled. “They want us to woo the Twin Pines residents and their families, and therefore the board.”

“How?” Jenny asked.

“Well, for starters, they want us to throw a party for the residents and their families.”

“A party? How will that help anything?” Tasha asked.

“Public opinion, sweetie,” Yvonne explained. “Make the residents feel happy and loved by the production company, and they’ll bend over backwards to support our cause. We’ll wine them and dine them, and give them a presentation about all of the fabulous ways that Second Chances can make their lives better.”

A smirk twitched at the corner of Jenny’s lips. She suddenly understood what Tasha meant when she said that no one was really sure if Yvonne was an angel or a devil.

“When’s the party?” Simon asked with enough determination to suggest he would be there, hanging crepe streamers and balloons.

“The vote’s on Friday, so the party will be Wednesday night,” Yvonne answered.

“That’s not much time,” Simon said.

It wasn’t. Jenny knew enough about planning and executing events to know that four days was cutting it really thin. The buzz of excitement that had been keeping her from despair all day was beginning to wear off.

“I can’t help but think this is my fault still,” she said, flopping against the couch and rubbing her face.

“No, babe, no it’s not,” Tasha insisted.

“It really isn’t,” Spence backed her up. “Things like this just happen sometimes.”

Yvonne said, “If it’s your fault, then you fix it.”

Jenny’s eyes popped open and she sat straight. The urge to contradict herself and argue that it wasn’t her fault against Yvonne’s cold, smug look was almost too much to resist. That in itself was an eye-opener. When did she turn into the kind of girl who would lay down and let people walk all over her? That had never been who she was or what she was all about.

“Fine,” she told Yvonne. “I will. Just tell me what to do.”

“Show up and woo with the rest of us,” Yvonne said. “Put on your lowest cut top and your shortest skirt and laugh at ever joke the board members tell you.”

She should have been offended. Instead, Jenny peeked across the room to Simon. He wore a distant grin, as if he was imagining her in a short skirt and low-cut top. All right, maybe that kind of guerrilla flirting could be fun after all.

“I’ll do it,” she said.

And amazingly enough, a tingle down her spine signaled to her that her backbone had returned. She hadn’t noticed how fast it had withered away to begin with. All she knew was that she wasn’t going to let life kick her when she was down again. She would fight for Second Chances, and then she would fight for herself.

Chapter Fifteen

“So you really closed the deal that fast?” Ivy asked, popping up over the edge of Jenny’s cube as usual.

The last thing Jenny wanted to do was stop and chit-chat with a nosy coworker. She had the closing documents spread on her desk and was busy attaching sticky arrows to the sections that Simon and John and Margaret Kuhl would need to sign. They would be arriving any minute, and Jenny needed everything to run like clockwork.

“How can that old couple sell their house so fast?” Ivy tried again. She just wouldn’t take being ignored for an answer. “I mean, don’t they need to move their stuff?”

“The buyer is giving them as much time as they need to move, but he wants to go through with the purchase as soon as possible,” she explained.

Because he was trying to prove a point. Simon had insisted that he would build a life with Jenny and Daniel no matter what happened with Second Chances. She had doubted him in every way possible, digging in her heels. She had spent this whole time expecting to have her heart broken again.

It wasn’t going to happen. Simon may have thought he needed to make this show to prove things to her, but he was wrong. Seeing the way he had worked for the last few days, throwing all of his energy into setting up the party at Twin Pines had swayed her. He was doing all this so that they could be together. No one had ever gone to that kind of an extreme for her. Ever.

She didn’t know what to think.

“You said ‘he,’” Ivy pointed out. “So your client really is Simon Mercer?”

Jenny frowned up at Ivy. There was a little too much excitement in her eyes. “You’re going to find out as soon as the parties involved show up,” Jenny sighed.

“I can’t wait.” Said like a kid on Christmas Eve. Jenny just hoped they could get the whole thing over with fast. But Ivy wasn’t done. “So why are you doing all the work for the sale instead of the seller’s agent?”

Jenny let out a breath, rubbing her temples to fight off the headache that was forming. She shouldn’t have to explain tiny details to Ivy. She shouldn’t have to put up with her prying. Come to think of it, she shouldn’t have had to throw together paperwork and sit in a cube, far away from the sun, and bust her backside just to make a few dollars in commission. When had she gotten so tired of a job that she thought she loved?

“The Kuhl’s realtor broke his leg skiing in Vale last week, and he’s still holed up in a Colorado hospital in traction,” she explained. “I said I’d handle it for him.”

“Jenny, you’re so nice,” Ivy said, sing-song and with a glint in her eyes, as if she was thinking up ways to put Jenny’s niceness to work for her.

“Thanks, Ivy,” she answered with a smile that she didn’t feel.

As soon as the paperwork was signed and a key was handed over to Simon, she could put the house sale to bed and turn her attention to more important things. The Twin Pines party was that night. She’d coordinated with the home’s staff for refreshments, kept in touch with Yvonne about what the production company wanted the residents and their families to get out of the event, and even helped Simon find a large screen and projector to rent on short notice so that an episode of the show could be shown to residents, along with a never-before-seen backstage reel that would be on the special features for the DVD. Several of the residents had made the cut and appeared in that feature, something Jenny had no doubt was deliberate.

So many things to do, and one tiny little hiccup. She still had a full day’s work to put in at the office. A full day’s work that would consist of scrambling to make something out of nothing once her one deal was done. The other clients she had almost had changed their mind about their financial situation last week and backed out of their house search. They were the kids Ivy had tossed her way. Ivy hadn’t seemed at all surprised when they bailed.

“Oh my God.” The Ivy in question gasped at the same time as the bell on the front door jingled. “It’s him. It’s really him.”

Jenny drew in a breath, gathered the papers into neat piles, slid them into the company’s folder, then stood. The moment her head appeared above the wall of her cube, Simon saw her and smiled. That smile was the difference between Jenny wanting to curl in a ball under her desk or facing whatever came next.

“Hi,” she said, keeping it simple as she strode out of her cube and met Simon halfway across the office. “You’re a little early.”

Every eye in the office was on them when they met. Simon rested a hand on her arm and leaned in for a kiss of greeting. He must have been wise to what all of Jenny’s gawking coworkers were thinking. That simple kiss turned into something longer and hotter than it should be. Behind her, Jenny was reasonably certain she heard Ivy gasp.

“You’re going to get me in trouble,” Jenny whispered, grabbing Simon’s arm and steering him toward one of the two small conference rooms that the office held.

“Why?” Simon murmured back. “Those ladies looked like they wanted a show anyhow.”

“Yeah, well, if Carol, my boss, saw it, she’d probably have kittens and lecture me about appropriate behavior with clients.”

“What, you don’t make out with all of your clients in the office?” he teased her.

She jabbed an elbow in his ribs as they entered the conference room. Simon laughed, teasing her further by brushing his hand down her back as she crossed around him to take a seat. Yep, things between the two of them were about as full of potential as they could possibly get. So why did the whole thing feel like some sort of dream she would wake up from at any minute?

The Kuhls made it in a few minutes later. Jenny liked them. They were the kind of classic New England couple that she had grown up idolizing. She wanted to be as relaxed and free about life someday—although they could have Arizona, and she’d keep the ocean—as far as she was concerned. It only took a few seconds to sign the papers, and the rest of the scheduled half-hour was spent chatting about the house, about the life John and Margaret had spent there, and about the grandchildren they would be living near once the move to Arizona was complete.

The whole thing reminded Jenny of the residents of Twin Pines. They weren’t so lucky. Whether it was health or problems with family, those fantastic men and women couldn’t just pick up and move across the country to be with loved ones. The life they had right there at the home was their life, their neighbors down the hall were their friends. And the Second Chances crew. She couldn’t bear the thought of all that ending for them.

“You seemed a little distracted in there,” Simon told her as she walked him out to his car once everything was done.

She shrugged, which turned into rolling her shoulders in frustration. “I want to win tonight, Simon. I want to show Neil that he can’t ruin people’s lives just because he’s jealous. Those men and woman at Twin Pines deserve better.”

Simon smiled, then leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “And this is why I love you. The concern you have for people is beautiful.”

She eyed him warily. “Well, it’s a little bit pure determination to stick it to Neil for being a jerk, so don’t go assuming I’m Miss Altruism for Maine just yet.”

He laughed and kissed her again, this time on the lips and with more than just a hint of teasing. She could have stayed there all day in the chilly October morning, kissing Simon and imagining what their future might be if everything worked out. But they weren’t there yet.

With a sigh, she pushed away and ordered him to go back to working on the party. She had papers to process and more clients to find. The commission she would earn from the sale was enough to restore her to Carol’s good graces, but it didn’t solve everything.

“Are you two dating?” Gladys asked Jenny as soon as she set foot in the office again. Ivy and Laurel were hovering close too.

Jenny blinked. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” she said, veering back to the conference room to collect the papers.

“Because if you are dating, isn’t that kind of a conflict of interest?” Ivy spoke up, following her to the door of the conference room. “I just say that because I know you’re struggling to get back into the groove, and I wouldn’t want you to do anything that would mess up your, you know, future.”

Jenny let out a breath, clutching the closing papers to her chest. Her future. She wasn’t even sure what her future was at this point. Did she really want to kick around a realtor’s office, showing and selling properties and breaking her back in the meantime? It had been fun when she didn’t have anything else to worry about, but now she had Daniel. Now she had Simon.

Now she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life.

“I’m fine,” she told Ivy, marching right past her and on to her cube. All she knew was right then she had paperwork to process.

“If you say so,” Ivy continued, following her to the wall they shared and leaning on it to peek into Jenny’s cube. “Hey, do you think I can scan a copy of those documents so that I can have Simon Mercer’s autograph?”

“Leave me alone, Ivy,” Jenny snapped, glaring up at her. “Don’t you have work to do?”

Ivy gaped, a strangled sound coming from her throat. “Yes,
I
do,” she snapped, disappearing as she took her seat.

Jenny squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her face, careful not to smudge her make-up. Is this what she had to look forward to? Ivy turning into a vicious rival and mounds of paperwork as the two of them competed? The old Jenny would have put her big-girl panties and a pair of stilettos on and gone to town on the smarmy upstart’s ass, but the Jenny she was now dreaded the thought of that kind of competition. Whatever her future looked like, if this was it, she would have to take a page out of Simon’s book and do some serious soul-searching.

The idea stuck with her as she processed the papers. It wouldn’t leave. As soon as everything was taken care of, she snatched her purse, shrugged into her jacket, and headed out the door.

“It’s a little early for lunch, isn’t it?” Ivy asked as she strode past her cube.

“Hey, Jenny,” Laurel tried to stop her as she crossed by the front desk. “Are you going to see Simon Mercer again? If you do, could you take a picture for me?”

Jenny ignored both women, tried not to peek at the door to Carol’s office, and fled the building. As soon as she was outside, she took a deep breath of crisp, cold air. Something had to give.

She may have claimed her freedom for the day, but that didn’t mean she knew where to go. Her car seemed to want to go home, so she followed where it felt right to drive. The only place that seemed to settle her more than home was Sand Dollar Point, but Spence and Tasha had only just gotten back, and Yvonne had made the place into her own personal battle headquarters for the fight that was brewing with the Twin Pines board. No, her own home with her own family was far and away the better choice with the way she was feeling. Even more so when she saw that the garage door was open and her dad was puttering around with his tools. She parked, cut her engine, and climbed out of the car.

“Punkin’,” her dad greeted her with that smile of his that made her feel twelve and safe from the world again. “What are you doing home so early?”

“I dunno, Dad,” she said, wandering into the garage. She rubbed her arms as she went. “It’s so cold out here. Why are you working with the garage door open?”

Her dad nodded to a huge plow in the corner. “Time to hook the plow up to the truck,” he explained. “It’s easier to keep the door open.”

“It’s only October,” Jenny said.

“Remember a couple years ago when it snowed on Halloween?” he argued. “I’m going to be ready.”

That was her dad. Always ready for the worst, always the first person to rush to help others out of a fix. He’d made Eagle Scout as a teen and had lived by the whole “be prepared” motto ever since then. Jenny obviously didn’t inherit those tendencies. She wasn’t even sure if “be prepared” was the Boy Scout motto or Smokey the Bear.

“And I ask again,” he said, setting down the washers he was fiddling with and striding over to her. “What brings you home so early? Because that look on your face is not the happy smile I like to see.”

Jenny blew out a breath and took a few steps to wrap her arms around her dad. He hugged her back, making her wish that everything in the world could be that simple.

“I closed a deal on a house for Simon Mercer just now,” she told him.

He squeezed her, then held her at arm’s length. “You’re too good for him, sweetheart.”

“I don’t know about that,” she contradicted him. “I was wrong to bait the two of you the way I did when I introduced you.”

“How did you expect me to react to the boy who did that to my little girl?” He was trying to be cheery for her, but the anger of meeting Simon was still there.

“He’s actually a decent guy, Dad. You need to get to know him better.”

Her dad crossed his arms. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Why not?”

“Because it sounds like you’re telling me the two of you are dating or something.”

Jenny bit her lip and glanced down. Her dad was supposed to make everything feel better, make all the bad stuff go away. Now she just felt guilty.

“Your mother told me you broke up with Neil,” her dad went on.