Over Exposed (24 page)

The women turned to look at him as he closed the door.

“How is he?”

Daisy's question was almost timid, as if she was afraid to hear the answer.

Greg raised an eyebrow, asking a silent question. He had no problem discussing anything in front of Sabrina, but this was Daisy's private life they'd be talking about.

Daisy smiled and nodded. “Ever gallant, aren't you? It's okay. I like your Sabrina. She seems like good people.”

Which for Daisy, Greg knew, was the highest praise.

“Did you know his mother's dying?”

“What?”
From the screech in her voice, Greg took that as a no. “I didn't even know she was still in touch with him. Jesus, why the hell didn't he tell me?”

Walking to the counter, he saw Sabrina turn and grab a mug, fill it, and set it in front of him. It was such a simple gesture and it made him want to get on his knees and profess his undying devotion.

But would she accept it?

“Maybe because he didn't want anyone to know,” Greg continued. “She's a pretty hardcore addict. Has been for most of his life. The drugs are finally taking their toll and she's not expected to make it more than a couple of weeks.”

Daisy's eyes had started to fill with tears and now they dripped down her face. And when Sabrina reached for her hand, Daisy gripped it like it was a lifeline.

“I'm so sorry, Greg.”

Greg frowned. “What? Why?”

“About Neal. I should have figured out what was wrong. I should've warned you. I knew he wasn't up for filming—”

“Daisy, none of this is your fault.” Greg shook his head. “And Neal's been holding it together for the most part. The footage we've got so far is amazing. Seriously. He's waiting for you. He wants to talk. Just let him, okay? Then take tomorrow off. I'll rearrange the filming schedule. I wanted to get a few more takes with Amanda anyway.”

Nodding, Daisy set her mug on the counter, gave Sabrina a smile, then walked over to him for a hug. Minutes later, Daisy was dressed and headed back to her own room.

As the door shut behind her, Greg couldn't stand the silence any longer.

“Seems like you and Daisy hit it off.”

Sabrina's smile was sweet. “She reminds me of my mom a little. Crazy in love with a guy who isn't all that good for her.”

Not “good enough.” Neal just wasn't “good” for Daisy. Sabrina had nailed that on the head.

“So,” he said. “Brunch.”

“Are you really sure you can take the time? We can—”

“Yeah. I'm sure.” What he really wanted to do was take her to bed, get her naked, and stay inside her for the rest of the day.

But he also wanted to get out of the city and away from everything making his life hell at the moment. He wanted to spend some time alone with Sabrina doing something as normal as sharing a meal.

He'd given some thought to surprising his parents with a visit but knew it'd probably freak out Sabrina. You didn't just throw a woman into a meeting with your parents. She'd want to take a knife to his balls.

“Let me leave a note for Sebastian, then we'll take this show on the road.”

*  *

They left the hotel in his car, a sleek, black Dodge Challenger that Sabrina loved on sight.

“Do you mind if we drive for a while?” he asked. “I feel like I've been cooped up in either the hotel or the farmhouse. I need a change of scenery.”

“Sure. I've got the day off.” And there was nowhere else she'd rather be.

“First, I'll feed you. Wouldn't want you to expire from starvation.”

She laughed, like he'd wanted her to. “Which just means you're hungry.”

“And here I thought you didn't know me that well.”

They drove for a while, but Sabrina turned to him when it became obvious that they were headed out of the city.

“So where are we going?”

“Up to Chester County, to one of my favorite diners.”

“Didn't you grow up outside of West Chester?”

“Yeah. My parents still live in the area and so do my sister and her family.”

“Have you seen your family recently?”

“They came down to the set a few days ago.”

He hadn't asked her to come to the set. The thought made her chest tighten. She couldn't help but think he didn't want her there. Then again, she wasn't sure she wanted to be exposed as the woman sleeping with the director.

And yet, here she was in a car with him.

Make up your mind.

“So this place,” she said instead of asking more intimate questions, “what's so special about it?”

“Well, it's still owned by the couple who opened it thirty years ago. Their children run the place now. Haven't changed a thing. It still looks like a dive and no one would ever consider changing it.”

“You know the owners?”

“Yep. Went to school with their daughter and son-in-law. Pam runs the dining room. Her husband, Tim, and I go way back. He's a year older but we graduated together because he lost a year fighting leukemia.”

“Oh, wow. That must have sucked.”

Greg's mouth tightened. “It was fucking awful. But Tim . . . he never complained. Just put his head down and barreled through. He was supposed to go to Hollywood with me but he knocked up Pam our senior year and I left without him.”

“Are they still together?”

“Uh-huh. Pam's great. You'll meet her in a few minutes. She's also completely crazy.” Greg's quiet laugh held wry amusement. “Guess she had to be to put up with Tim. Love the guy like a brother, but he's one of those mad geniuses. Know what I mean?”

She thought she might but she liked hearing him talk so she shook her head.

“Smart as hell but he can't remember what he had for breakfast and he always has to be doing something. That's why he's great in the kitchen.”

“So he cooks at the restaurant?”

He nodded. “Make sure you get the chicken and waffles. Best damn food you'll ever eat.”

“Did you warn them you were coming?”

“No.” He frowned at her. “Why should I? They own a restaurant. It's not like I'm dropping by to eat at their house. Besides, they know I'm in the area and I always make a point to stop by. Every time I do, I swear my goddaughter gets more beautiful.”

The smile on his face made her heart trip. “What's her name?”

“Alexis. I remember holding her for the first time when I came back for her baptism. She was so small and I'd never held a baby before. Hell, I'd practically never seen one before. But now my best friend is a dad and he's expecting me to be responsible for this little human if anything happened to him and Pam. I almost said no.”

“But you didn't.” And she knew he wouldn't have. Greg never turned his back on his friends.

He paused for a minute. “I sometimes wonder if he ever knew how pissed off I was at him when he wouldn't go with me to California. That had been the plan. We were both going to go. But he screwed up the works.” Another pause. “Then again, I guess some things turn out the way they're supposed to.”

She didn't have the chance to get him to tell her why he thought that because he turned into a parking lot.

Shifting in her seat, she almost thought maybe he'd had to make another stop before they got to the restaurant because this didn't look anything like she'd been expecting.

This looked like a fifties-era gas station, one of those really cool-looking ones that were either bulldozed or later renovated. This one had managed to remain standing but it seemed to be in pretty bad shape.

But it was surrounded by cars and Greg had to go around the back of the building to find a spot.

“I know it doesn't look like much,” Greg said when she turned to him with a puzzled expression. “But keep an open mind.”

With a hand low on her back, he steered her toward the front door and into the lobby, outfitted to look like the garage office it'd been fifty years ago.

The L-shaped glass case that served as the check-in counter was filled with antique motor parts. Racks full of old-fashioned candies sat on the top next to a register that looked original to the period.

“Hey, you rat fink,” said the woman behind the counter as she nearly jumped over it. “Where the hell have you been? It's about damn time you showed up.”

She grabbed Greg and squeezed, an embrace he returned just as enthusiastically.

“Hey, Pam. I've been a little busy, you know? But I'm here now.”

After Greg introduced her to Pam by name and nothing else, Pam hustled them into the former garage bay, which now housed the dining room. There couldn't have been more than twenty tables, but they were all full.

But Pam didn't stop in the dining room. She took them straight through to the kitchen, where the tall, gangly man who was working the grill looked up when Pam yelled, “Look what I found skulking around our front door.”

During the next few minutes, Sabrina was introduced to too many people to remember, most of them Pam and Tim's family, including Pam's parents, Pat and Harry, who helped on the line, and their three kids, all of whom called Greg “Uncle.”

Every one of them smiled at her but she knew what they were thinking.

Who exactly are you?

Good question.

Several minutes later, Pam took them back into the dining room, where she seated them at a red vinyl booth near the back and served them the best chicken and waffles Sabrina had ever had.

No one bothered them while they ate, but after their dishes were cleared, two people came over to shake his hand. One had been a high school teacher of Greg's. The other, his parents' neighbor. No one else approached, though a lot of heads had turned their way.

“Did your friends put up some ‘Don't approach the famous Hollywood guy' sign that I haven't seen?”

Greg leaned back against the booth, stuffed and more relaxed than he'd felt in days.

All of it due to the woman sitting across from him. They'd talked for the past two hours, about anything that came to mind. Mostly, he kept her talking. He knew if he started in about filming, that's all they'd discuss. And he didn't want to be that guy who only ever talked about himself.

“Most people who pass Steven Spielberg on a street outside of Hollywood don't know him. Same goes for Harvey Weinstein and George Lucas and Ron Howard. The people here who
do
know me know I deserve to have a private life.”

“I guess that's pretty hard in L.A.”

He thought about sugarcoating his response, telling her it wasn't that bad, but he refused to lie to her. “Yeah, it is. That's why I've been giving some thought to moving back.”

Her eyes opened wide and her mouth dropped open for a few seconds before she quickly covered her reaction. “Seriously? Wouldn't that make it hard for you to do what you do?”

He didn't answer right away, tried to get all his thoughts together. He hadn't talked to anyone but Tyler about his idea, and then only in hypothetical terms.

But the trouble he'd been having with his business partner had made him think even more about it.

“The business isn't as tied to Hollywood as much as it used to be. It's actually part of the reason I've been having trouble with my production partner. He's afraid if I move, I won't be as committed to the business and we'll fail.”

What his partner didn't know was that, if Greg didn't do something, he was going to flame out and that might be a disaster of epic proportions.

Since he'd been here, he'd felt more grounded. And part of that was due to Sabrina.

Tell her. Tell her you want more.

But more what?

More sex? More talk?

Just more of her. All of her.

Sabrina looked stunned, but he couldn't tell if that was good or bad.

And he didn't get the opportunity to follow it up because Alexis stopped at their table.

“Hey, Uncle Greg. Mom said lunch is on the house and not to try to pay or Dad'll shave his head and force you to abide by your bargain.”

His goddaughter's amused expression held no trace of artifice or sarcasm, so different from the kids her age he saw at casting calls.

No, eighteen-year-old Alexis was headed to college in the fall. She wanted to be a math teacher. She'd apparently gotten her mom's brains because Tim had absolutely no head for figures.

“And what was the bargain?” Sabrina asked.

Greg shook his head, a smile curving his lips. “When Greg was going through chemo, he lost most of his hair and shaved what he didn't. So I told him, whenever he shaved his head, I would, too.” He turned back to Alex. “Your dad doesn't have enough hair left to lose, so tell him thanks for me. Wait a minute, kid.”

Greg looked around Alex to make sure her parents weren't watching. They always made too much of a big deal about his gifts to the kids.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the cash he'd stuffed in there. “A hundred of this is for you. The rest split between your brother and sister.”

The girl's eyes got huge and she started to shake her head. “Uncle Greg . . .”

“Early Christmas present.” Even though he already knew he'd be getting Alex and her siblings a few more things. “And the check is for your college fund. Just deposit it, sweetheart.”

Now her eyes widened even farther and she looked ready to hyperventilate when she saw the five followed by four zeroes. “Oh, my God, Uncle Greg, I can't take—”

“Yes, you can and you will. Think of it as an investment in your future. After college, I'm holding you to that unpaid internship at the company.”

Her smile spread from ear to ear as she leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. “Love you, Uncle Greg.”

“Love you, too, kid.”

Alexis bounded away, blond ponytail swaying.