“Did they bring the charger for the drone?” I asked.
“Lexi remembered to grab it,” he said, and then looked concerned. “You’re okay, aren’t you?”
“I’m good. Manaia did a good job,” I said.
I could see my dad’s surprise that I would praise Manaia. I hadn’t had a chance to tell Dad that we’d gotten comfortable with each other yesterday.
“Fritz will be here shortly because the police are keeping Manaia busy,” Dad said.
Then I had a thought.
“Call Frank Ingram. We have both the drone point of view and Manaia’s bodycam of what went down. The paparazzi are always making money off of me. Maybe he can trade the video for some goodwill.
Frank was my publicist.
“Yeah, plus you have the Christmas Special,” Dad told me.
I stepped out of the shower, and Dad took a step back. Grabbing a towel, I wrapped it around my waist.
“Say again?” I asked.
“You’re having lunch with Saul and Rita James. I’ll let them tell you,” he said and beat feet out of the locker room.
The man must not know me because I wasn’t afraid to walk out in just a towel. Then the Tami rule kicked in—never go with my first reaction—and I thought better of it.
After I got dressed and emerged from the locker room, I found Hana and Lexi waiting for me. We had to hurry to get to makeup and wardrobe for today’s schedule. Hana also had rewrites with my new lines. I wondered if the writers ever slept.
◊◊◊
Lexi scheduled it so I could get away for a late lunch. We were meeting Saul and Rita at Ollo, a restaurant located in the Malibu Country Mart area. It was a place where celebrities acted like they didn’t want to be seen, and normal—for Malibu—people mingled. It was a large, outdoor ‘lifestyle’ center or boutique mall.
We were a little early, so I had Fritz drive us around the area. I knew that Brook would love to get lost wandering through the place when she finally got here. That reminded me that I hadn’t called her since I’d arrived. I was a terrible boyfriend.
“Remind me to call Brook,” I told Lexi.
I’d been amused when she insisted that she should come to the meeting with me ‘just in case I needed something.’
“I talked to Brook this morning and explained how busy you’ve been.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I would have taken her call.”
“You were in the middle of the shoot with Misaki. It didn’t seem like a good time to interrupt,” Lexi explained.
She was right. Mr. Otsuki, our director, had been laying the foundation for our characters, and the scene was important for later in the story. I discovered that he could speak English very well when he wanted to. Yesterday, I’d simply assumed he didn’t because he never spoke anything but Japanese. It was also a time when he and I began to build a working relationship.
“You’re right, it probably wasn’t a good time. Just don’t let it get too late for me to call her.”
Lexi nodded.
Fritz valet-parked. While he did that, I entered the restaurant. He hustled in behind us, not a happy camper because there were protocols in place. I’d gone in because I’d spotted Jane, Rita’s security person, through the door. I pointed at her to keep Fritz from giving me a hard time.
Jane saw me and smiled as I walked up to her and gave her a quick hug.
“How is Manaia treating you? Did he really go running with you?” she asked in rapid succession.
“Where does Fritz find these out-of-shape security wannabes? I thought he was going to die the first day. The wimp got a golf cart this morning so he could keep up.”
“I can’t wait to tell everyone. Did he at least throw up?”
“No. Manaia is a big boy, though. I didn’t think I could carry him much further,” I said, adding to the dirt on him she could use when all the security people next got together.
I looked into the bar and saw Rita cornered by some fans. She was being her gracious self and looked every bit the star she was. I was hungry, so I jumped in to save her.
“Darling,” I said in her ear as I came up behind her, wrapped my arms around her waist, and nipped her ear.
I hung on tight so she couldn’t hit me. She saw it was me and smiled.
“You are so bad,” she chastised me. “Is our table ready?”
“Sorry, folks, but I have to steal her away,” I said as I gave her my arm so I could escort her away.
Saul had perfect timing as he rushed in with a phone to his ear.
“I don’t care what your budget is. He’s worth twice that. When you figure that out, call me back,” he said and hung up.
I suspected that was an act for anyone within earshot. Then again, it could have been Saul doing his job. When did I get so jaded?
Lexi joined us.
“Our table is ready,” she announced.
Both Rita and I rolled our eyes when Saul checked Lexi out a little too well. It was good to see some things never changed.
