Waiting in the Wings (11 page)

She turned back to face me. Biting her lip, she shook her head solemnly. “No.”

“Then I would definitely say I’m okay with last night.” Adrienne’s face softened at my reply and she took my hand in hers. “But for the record,” I said, gesturing to her attire, “you’re going to have to stop parading around in towels all the time. I don’t think I can take it.”

“What do you mean all the time?”

“If you’ll think back, the first day we met you were wearing a towel. It was all I could do not to drool all over you. Probably wouldn’t have been a great first impression.”

“Oh.” She chuckled. “You mean the day you invaded my dressing room.”

“Yes, that would be the day.”

“Well, if I’d known then what I know now, I might have dropped that towel.”

The idea stopped me short. Adrienne smiled triumphantly at what I could only imagine was a shocked expression on my face.

“Well, aren’t we proud of ourselves?” I said, pulling her to me and kissing her, what I’d been dying to do since she entered the room.

“We are. We are quite proud of ourselves,” she answered, deepening the kiss before gently pulling away. “I hate to cut this short, but I have a media thing at eleven and that means I have to hurry.”

Damn. “I suppose that means I have to let you go now.”

She nodded ruefully. “Unfortunately, it does. But I plan to see you later. I hear there’s a kick-ass show in town with a new actress. I also hear she’s hot. I thought I might check it out.”

“Oh, that sounds intriguing. Maybe I’ll see you there.” “If you’re lucky.”

As Adrienne headed to the bathroom to continue getting ready, I couldn’t help watching her go. As if sensing the attention, she dropped the towel on her way. “Fuck,” I murmured to myself, staring after her in defeat. I heard soft laughter emanate from the bathroom.

Once Adrienne departed for her interview, I took my time showering and tidying up the room before deciding to head back to my own less than impressive accommodations to catch up on e-mail. I pulled open the door and was startled to fi myself face-to-face with Sienna, her hand mid-knock. We stared at each other in confusion for a moment before Sienna fi recovered enough to speak.

“Jenna,” she said acknowledging me flatly. “I was looking for Adrienne. Is she…” She was looking past me into the room, and it occurred to me there were very few explanations that would make sense here.

“Um, no, she’s not in. I think she had a TV interview with Channel Four this morning.”

“Oh,” she said, still confused. “Then what are you doing in her hotel room?” Before I could answer, I saw the realization cross her face and the confusion was quickly replaced with anger. “Did you stay here last night?”

What could I possibly say? Adrienne had asked that we keep things low-key, but she hadn’t asked me to go as far as lying about it. Not to mention, I was a horrible liar, and had been ever since the first grade when I cut off most of my hair and told my mother I had no idea how it happened. It was a no go. Before I could rationalize any further, the words were out. “Kind of.” Nice, Jenna.

“Kind of?” she repeated derisively, and I could see the situation darkening.

“It’s none of your business, Sienna. You should probably talk to Adrienne.”

“Well, you’ll have to excuse me then. I wouldn’t want to interrupt your walk of shame.” She gave me the full force of her arctic stare, and before I could get another word in, Sienna turned and stalked down the hallway. Ouch.

I arrived at the theater that night a little ahead of the half hour call time, hoping to catch a few moments with Adrienne. I had to admit, I had a problem on my hands when it came to her. I was completely captivated by her physically, plus I liked her a lot. I looked forward to the time we spent together and realized fairly quickly the alarm bells going off in my head might be hard to ignore for much longer. I was also aware that for Adrienne, I was a temporary distraction and probably nothing more. That’s what we’d agreed upon, after all. But the feelings I was beginning to experience for her worried me. Was I really going to be capable of keeping things light as far as Adrienne was concerned? That kind of lingering question mark sucked. I signed in and said a few hellos before heading down the hall to her dressing room. As I approached, I noticed the door wasn’t wide open as she usually kept it. It wasn’t exactly closed either, and as I approached I could hear voices. Specifically, Adrienne’s and Sienna’s voices. My first instinct was to about-face and respect their privacy, but there was a little part of me that couldn’t resist catching a few snatches of what was being said. I conveniently stopped in the hallway to study something interesting on my phone, doing my damndest to look busy.
Ah, it has buttons and a touch screen. Fascinating.

“You don’t have a clue what you’re doing and you know it,” I heard Sienna say.

“This is not something that’s up for discussion. It’s my life, Sienna, and I choose not to share the details of it with you.” Adrienne sounded calm, which was good.

“What happened to staying professional, keeping relationships and the drama they bring away from the tour? Those were your words, am I right?” Sienna was practically shouting now.

“First of all, that’s not what this is, and if you took the time to speak with Jenna, you’d see that you’re way off base about her.”

“If there’s anything I can say about this girl, it’s that she’s drama. We’re arguing right now because of her. You can’t deny that.”

“I’m sorry if my spending time with her hurts you, Sienna. But it’s not a big deal. You have nothing to be jealous of.”

My heart slammed to a halt. So there I had it. Time to squelch those feelings and immediately. I heard movement inside the dressing room and made a hasty retreat so as not to be noticed. I felt bad for eavesdropping. It seriously wasn’t my style. However, I had to admit it was a conversation I probably needed to hear. It did mean Sienna was going to be none too happy with me. So what else was new?

I didn’t see Adrienne before the show but felt relieved when she caught my eye and smiled in the wings prior to the opening number. This was becoming our pre-show ritual, and I liked it. I also reminded myself that she was aware of my exchange with Sienna and she was still smiling at me. All might still be well with the world. The show went by in a whirlwind of high-energy song and dance. As a cast, we were on our game and the crowd ate it up. I put the notes Craig had given me to good use that night and felt much more confident about my performance. As the curtain closed, Lanie wrapped her arms around my waist and squeezed. “I think we’re

gonna make it after all, kiddo”

I beamed. “
Laverne and Shirley
!” “
Mary Tyler Moore
,” she corrected me. “Oh. Can I still be Laverne?”

“Cool.”

I realized Lanie was feeling much of what I was in regards to finding her footing within the show and the cast. She leaned in and spoke quietly in my ear. “FYI, the word on the street is you have more than one reason to be giddy. I expect full details later.”

My heart sank. “Who else knows about last night?” “More like who doesn’t.”

Well, so much for keeping things quiet. I promised to fill Lanie in on everything later and with a quick kiss to her cheek, I headed down the hall to get out of costume and makeup. As I passed

Adrienne’s dressing room, I impulsively stuck my head inside to see how she was. She was sitting on the small couch in the corner of the room staring off into space. I leaned against the doorjamb, intrigued by her pensive expression. “Penny for your thoughts?” I said.

She turned at the sound of my voice and smiled slightly, sinking further into the couch. She looked tired. But that never seemed to dampen her mood. “You already own most of my thoughts lately, so I’m thinking payment won’t be necessary.”

My heart skipped a little at that information and I came further into the room and sat on the couch. We simply looked at each other for a moment. Given that the show was physically and emotionally exhausting for me, I could only imagine what it was like for Adrienne, who played a much more demanding role. Not to mention the fact that she’d spent the afternoon doing press. She was surely beyond exhausted. I took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here. I know what you need.”

“And what is that?” she asked, arching her eyebrow seductively. I couldn’t help but laugh as I sat her down in front of her dressing table. “Behave yourself. It’s not what you might think. But first we both have to change out of these costumes, and I have a stop

to make. Meet me in my room in an hour?”

“You’re on. But I have to warn you, I can barely move.” “Luckily, moving won’t be called for,” I called out, slowly

pulling her door closed as I left.

It was exactly one hour later when I heard a knock on the door of my hotel room. I glanced around the room one last time before opening the door. Adrienne was dressed in the same designer jeans, forest green shell, and high-heeled boots she was wearing when she’d left for work that morning. Her feet had to be killing her, yet she still had a smile on her face.

“Hey there,” she said sweetly.

I decided I liked the sound of her voice. A lot. “Hi yourself.” I took her hand and pulled her gently into the room, setting her dance bag next to the door. The entryway was dimly lit, but I could make out her features just enough. She looked at me curiously, no doubt trying to assess what I was up to.

“Ms. Kenyon, I want you to relax tonight. Can you do that?

Wipe every single negative thought from your mind and just float.”

“Float?”

“Exactly. My favorite remedy for a long day.” I opened the bathroom door and watched as Adrienne entered and looked around. The bathroom light had been turned off and small purple, lilac- scented candles had been strategically placed around the darkened room. The garden tub was filled to the brim with hot water and bubbles.

“Oh my God, I could live in here forever.” She walked in further, turning in a circle.

“Take some time and relax,” I said on my way out the door. “Wait! You’re not staying? There’s plenty of room in that tub,

you know.”

“Entirely tempting, but if I did that, I think we both know tonight would take a very definite turn. I’ll be out here when you’re done. Come find me.” I left her alone, knowing she needed a little respite from the world. I found my iPod, set it to play some mellow instrumental jazz from the dock, and took a little time to relax myself. I stretched out on the bed and stared at the ceiling, letting the smooth sounds of the saxophone work its magic. I’m not sure how much time passed before I heard the click of the bathroom door. I propped myself up in time to see Adrienne emerge from around the corner, looking all warm and snuggly in the hotel robe I’d laid out for her. She stopped and leaned against the wall surveying me. “That was absolute heaven. You were right. I needed that. Thank you.”

“I told you. And for the record, I’m often right. It’s a gift.” “Is that right?”

“Indeed it is. See? You’re getting the hang of it already.” Adrienne laughed and climbed on the bed, cuddling next to me.

She was warm from the tub and smelled beautifully of lilac soap. She wrapped her arms around my waist and leaned in for a slow yet simple kiss. I took a moment to breathe her in. “Are you hungry?”

She thought for a moment. “Not overly. But I could go for a snack. We could order room service.”

“How would you feel about ice cream?” I kissed her nose.

“Ice cream sounds amazing right about now. I wonder if they have any. Do you have a menu around here?”

“I have better than that.” I crossed the room to the petite refrigerator and extracted the pint-sized carton I’d picked up from the convenience store on the corner. “Will this work?”

Her jaw dropped. “It’s cookies and cream. I love cookies and cream. How did you know?”

I smiled triumphantly. “I Googled you.” “You Googled me?”

“Well, not tonight, but a couple of weeks ago. I was curious to know more about you and, well, too shy to ask. I read an interview you did in which you listed a few likes and dislikes. Let’s just say I took notes.”

“Wow. A girl who does her homework. Impressive.” “Thank you.”

“Now could you and the ice cream make your way back over here? I’d rather not be apart from either of you any longer.”

I climbed back onto the bed and we spent the next half hour devouring the ice cream and relaxing to the music. I was keenly aware that Adrienne hadn’t brought up Sienna or the fact that most of the free world was now in the loop regarding our night together, despite her very simple request that we remain discreet. I decided it was best to get it out in the open. “So as you probably know, I ran into Sienna this morning.”

“Yeah, I heard. I’m sorry if that was awkward.”

“Nothing I can’t handle. I wanted to apologize though, for blowing our cover.”

“No, it’s not that.” She scooted her body closer to mine on the bed, putting her hand on my hip. “I’m not an overly secretive person. It’s just that when you’re on the road like we are, every detail of your life is inevitably shared with everyone else. Today is a perfect example. I guess I wanted to keep this to myself for a little while. Does that make any sense at all?”

I nodded. “It makes perfect sense. But for the record, I don’t care what anyone else thinks about us. I care about what I think about us, and what you think about us.”

She paused a moment before speaking. “Thank you.” “For what?”

“For being this amazing breath of fresh air. For taking care of me tonight when I didn’t even know I needed to be taken care of. But you knew.”

Adrienne had a way of looking at me. Just looking at me, and she was doing it right now. It was disarming but at the same time incredibly sexy. I noticed goose bumps on my arms and she must have too. “Are you cold?”

I shook my head. “I’m good. But it might be a tad bit warmer if you were closer.”

“That’s interesting. You mean like this close?” She climbed over me and settled her body on top of mine.

“Yeah, that’s pretty close, I’d say.”