One Night with a Star (Second Chances Book 2) (15 page)

“Neil,” Jenny sighed. “Why do you always have to be such a jerk?”

Neil balked, stopping a few steps above her and towering over her. “What do you mean, ‘jerk?’ I’m protecting what’s mine.”

“No, you’re not.” Jenny climbed a few steps to stand on the same level with him. “And you really need to work on how you treat women. I am not now, nor have I ever been, your possession.”

“You’re my girlfriend,” he argued.

“Actually, no. I’m not.”

An unexpected wave of fear hit her. Simon was under the impression that Neil hadn’t single-handedly ruined Second Chances, but she would believe it when she saw it. Neil was persistent, and one way or another, she wasn’t fool enough to believe that breaking up with him would put an end to things. Far from it. But considering where things were going with Simon, it was time she came clean.

“What are you talking about?” Neil narrowed his eyes.

Jenny glanced down the hill. Simon was at his car, securing Daniel in the back seat. He peeked up at her and nodded. Did that look give her courage? Maybe? She needed her courage to come from within.

“We’re through, Neil,” she said. Prickles raced along her skin as the words came out. “We’re over.”

“No we’re not,” Neil told her.

“Yes, we are.”

“No.” He shook his head, crossing his arms. “We’re going to get married.”

“Absolutely not.”

“We talked about it the other day.”

“You brought it up, and I said no. I’m saying no in a major way now.”

He was silent for a beat, then ground out, “It’s him, isn’t it. Simon Mercer.”

Jenny bit her lip. As determined as she was to kick ass at this break-up, too much uncertainty and too many variables gnawed at her.

“Simon is part of it,” she said. “But honestly, it’s you.”

“Me?” Neil snorted a laugh.

“Yes, Neil, you. I was in a bad place when you came along last winter. I needed someone then. But what I did not need was an overbearing asshole who is so insecure that he tries to destroy other people’s good work the second he feels threatened.”

“Oh my God, Jenny.” He rubbed a hand over his face, still laughing. “That Hollywood douche has really done a number on you, hasn’t he.”

“So what I just said about insecurity?” She shifted her weight to one hip and glared at him. “Thanks for proving my point.”

“Look, Jenny. You need someone to save you from making a fool of yourself with that crowd. They’re trouble. All of them.”

“Simon is the father of my son,” Jenny reminded him.

“Exactly my point,” Neil countered. “You were stupid enough to get knocked up once. I’m not going to let you do it again.”

In a flash, she was so pissed off she could barely think straight. But no, she couldn’t let Neil’s asinine comments keep her from making the points she needed to make. She took a deep breath to steady herself.

“Simon cares about Daniel. Deeply. You don’t.”

“Well what do you expect me to do? Get all chummy with someone else’s bastard?”

She slapped him across the face so fast and so hard that her brain registered the sharp pain in her hand with shock. The second her brain caught up, though, she exhaled in satisfaction.

“Don’t you ever call my son a name again,” she seethed. “We are through and then some, Neil, and if you can’t figure out why, you’re a moron and a loser.”

Still reeling from her slap, a hand held to his face, Neil stared at her as though she’d grown another head. “What the hell, bitch?”

“I’m done talking about this,” she said. “We are done. Over. Broken-up. Never should have been in the first place. Stay away from me.”

She turned to go.

“If you think any of your precious Hollywood people are ever going to set foot in Twin Pines again, you’ve got another thing coming,” he called after her.

“Save it for someone who cares,” she bit back at him.

“I’ve been making my points to each of the board members individually,” he continued to shout, “showing them numbers and driving the point home. Not one of them is going to vote to keep your friends here after I’m done.”

She would not let him get to her. She would not let him get to her. She would not let him get to her.

“And the lawyers agree with me too,” he shouted louder as she got further away. “Your friends can try to fight this, but they won’t win.”

Every ounce of hutzpah that Jenny had clung to evaporated. Cold dread slipped down her back. Simon might have been right—this might not be her fault—but it didn’t matter how things had gotten started. Neil was going to keep it all going, drag it all down. And, dammit, she’d added fuel to his fire by breaking up with him.

No, she told herself, taking a deep breath when she reached her car. She glanced up the hill. Neil had climbed to the top of the steps and was storming off to one of the secondary buildings. Breaking up with that jerk was one of the better decisions she’d made lately. Now it was time she made a few more good decisions. If anyone could get things back to a place where they needed to be, it was Simon. It was time she focused on making what she wanted of that relationship.

If only she could figure out exactly what she wanted.

Chapter Fourteen

It was a shame that Maine cooled down so quickly in the fall. Simon lounged on the couch—Daniel asleep on his chest, sucking on his fist—looking out Sand Dollar Point’s large windows at the chilly October sky over bright blue ocean waves. If he had his way, he would sit on the porch, basking in the son, stroking his son’s head as he snoozed away, dreaming of angels. That was the life. He had his own dreams, though, and they involved an angel of another sort. As soon as this blip with Second Chances was solved, he could put some serious effort into building a life with Jenny and Daniel.

He was in the middle of those thoughts, mentally redecorating John and Margaret’s house to suit his and hopefully Jenny’s tastes, when a quick knock sounded on the front door. The door immediately opened and the familiar click of Jenny’s heels sounded on the hardwood in the hall.

“Simon?” she called.

He craned his neck to see into the hall. “We’re in here,” he said softly, hoping not to wake Daniel.

Daniel stirred, sucking on his fist and rubbing his head against Simon’s chest. Jenny’s heels clicked all the way to the carpet in the living room. When she paused, Simon glanced up at her with a supremely satisfied smile.

That smile vanished at the worry lines creasing Jenny’s brow and the pinch around her lovely pink lips. She’d been so fired up and determined just hours ago. To see her now, clearly anxious enough to have kittens only made Simon angry.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked. Clutching Daniel to his chest, he stood. Daniel began to fuss at being disturbed.

Jenny hesitated, misery dripping off of her. She avoided his questions by crossing the carpet to take Daniel from his arms.

“Hi, baby,” she cooed to him, stopping his crying before it could get started.

As beautiful as she was and as powerfully as it touched him to see the love she had for Daniel radiate from her, Simon couldn’t get past the upset that she was so reluctant to share. He waited for Jenny to answer. She bounced Daniel against her chest, humming to him and promising supper.

He couldn’t wait any longer. “Did you break up with Neil?” he asked. First things first.

She spared him a quick, wary glance as she walked to one of the room’s armchairs and sat with Daniel on her lap, unbuttoning her blouse.

Simon refused to be distracted. “What did he say?”

“There wasn’t much he could say,” she told him.

Daniel happily latched onto her breast for a quick bite to eat. A momentary rush of jealousy and need buzzed through Simon. He brushed it aside. There would be plenty of time for that later.

“Then why don’t you look happy?” he asked.

She bit her lip and slowly raised her eyes to meet his. “It’s too late, Simon. Whether it’s my fault that Neil has decided to be such a prick about this or not, he’s already talked to enough of the board members—board members who agree with him, by the way—to stop production of Second Chances.”

The certainty Simon had felt all day teetered into concern. He wasn’t willing to concede defeat yet.

“That’s not the impression I got from Dr. Brunswick this afternoon,” he said to convince himself as much as her.

Jenny focused on Daniel, stroking his pink cheek as he fed. “Well, whether what Dr. Brunswick told you is right or whether what Neil told me is, none of this is over.” She glanced up at him. “Neil seems to think that the lawyers agree with him, that they can bring the whole thing down.”

Simon scowled, crossing his arms and pacing along the length of the couch. “I don’t trust anything that man says. Even Dr. Brunswick knows his motives are personal.”

“Yeah, but plenty of people out there do things for personal motives,” Jenny argued. “Look at you.”

“Me?” He blinked pivoting to face her. “I’m doing this so that we can be together, so that Spence and Tasha don’t have to disrupt their lives any more than our business will already disrupt them. I’m doing this so that Mrs. Preston and Mr. Oliver and the rest of the gang at Twin Pines has something to brighten their lives.”

“Exactly,” Jenny said. “Personal.”

All right. He’d give her that one.

“It’s not over until it’s over,” he insisted.

“And when it is over?” Jenny stared at him.

There was a hardness to her expression that Simon admired and feared. Jenny would come out on top, no matter what she did, but whether he would be there on top with her was another story.

“Well, at least you’re done with Neil.” He looked at the bright side.

She laughed. “I’m far from done with Neil. He’s still in the way.”

“Then we’ll get him out of the way. We’ll—”

“Look, Simon,” she stopped him. “I’ve had a long, tiring day. I’ve actually managed to pick up another set of clients at work, and I’ve been busy putting together viewings for them. That confrontation with Neil has me pissed off and angry, and I don’t want to be angry during the little time I have with Daniel. That time could be even less if I get things at work back to where they need to be.”

Nothing about what she said made her happy. It was enough to leave Simon wanting to tear out his hair. They sat in impotent silence as Daniel ate his fill. There had to be a way to make Jenny’s life so much better than it was right then.

“I appreciate that you were able to take Daniel for the afternoon,” she said at last, shifting Daniel away from her breast and straightening him and herself. “But until all of the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed on the TV show, I’m not ready to put my heart on the line only to have it broken.”

She stood, settling Daniel against her hip, and met his eyes with a chilliness that brought Simon close to panic.

“Jenny, come on,” he pleaded with her. “This is one thing. One stupid thing. Whether it works or doesn’t, whether Second Chances films here or in China, I still love you. I still want you. I still want to make a life with you and Daniel.”

“I get that,” she said. She closed her eyes and shook her head, then pushed past him toward the hall, picking up Daniel’s bag on the way. “But what
you
need to get that I have to be cautious about the choices I make.”

“Okay.” He followed her to the hall. “But while caution is good, hiding from any sort of risk is no way to live.”

She snapped to face him when they were near the front door. “I
know
. And I want things to work out between us. I keep trying to tell myself that I don’t love you, but I can’t say that.”

“So you do love me?” His heart bounced from the pit of his stomach to his throat and back again. She should look far happier when she said that.

“I am not entirely indifferent to you, Simon Mercer,” she said with a slight smirk.

That smirk was better than nothing.

“Then let’s do this together,” he insisted. “Let’s go all in.”

She studied him, running her tongue along the edge of her lip. Whether she was conscious of the gesture or not, it made him want to pull her into his arms and kiss her into believing things would be all right.

“Let me sleep on it,” she said.

It wasn’t enough for him, but sense forced him to say, “All right. Go home, take care of Daniel, and get a good night’s sleep. But come back here tomorrow.”

“Oh, I’ll be here,” she said. “Tasha and Spence are due back tomorrow.”

Simon had completely forgotten. The prospect of back-up lifted his sagging spirits. He smiled, then leaned forward to kiss Jenny. Just a soft, goodbye kiss. It would do, even though he wanted so much more.

“I’ll see you then.” He kissed Daniel’s head for good measure.

Jenny headed out. The house didn’t feel right without her and Daniel. Here Simon had spent most of his life crowded around people because he had to be, but when the two people who he wanted to have with him always left, he felt more alone than ever. Half on instinct, he took his phone out of his back pocket and dialed Yvonne.

“Simon,” she answered right away. That much was a good sign. “How are things, sweetheart?”

“Things are…things.” He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and heading into the living room.

“Uh-oh,” Yvonne said. “New developments?”

There had never been any point in hiding things from Yvonne. “Jenny broke up with Neil.”

“That’s good, right?”

“In the process, he told her that the show is doomed because he’s convinced enough of the board members and apparently the lawyers to naysay it.”

“Honey, that’s why I’m on my way to Summerbury right now.”

“You are?” The same slightly sheepish relief he felt every time Yvonne swooped in to rescue him settled on his shoulders.

“I should be there late tonight. Leave the key under the mat.”

“You’ve got your own key,” he told her, a smile breaking through his stress.

“Don’t tell Spence.”

“He knows.”

“Of course he does,” she replied, a grin in her voice. “Hang tight, honey. Auntie Yvonne is on the way, invested with the authority to get to the bottom of things. We’ll break out the sabers and storm the castle, and we’ll win this thing.”

“And this came from the most adorable little schoolgirl you would ever want to meet,” Tasha said, holding up a hand-drawn card congratulating Tasha and Spence on their marriage. “It was the sweetest thing. We were far enough off the beaten track in Nassau that she didn’t know who Spence was. She just thought we were the bride and groom at the big house where her mama worked.”

“It’s beautiful,” Jenny replied, looking at the card without seeing it. So many things were weighing on her mind, things she needed to get out and talk about, but far be it from her to interrupt her best friend in the middle of talking about her honeymoon.

Tasha was far more savvy than that. She tossed an armful of clothes from her suitcase into the waiting laundry basket on the floor. “I could talk about this all day for several days, but not when you’re not listening to a word.”

Jenny sighed, picking at the beading on a top Tasha had bought in the Bahamas. “I don’t want to be a bad friend,” she said without meeting Tasha’s eyes.

“Neither do I.” Tasha sat on the bed beside Jenny. “Spill it.”

When Jenny dragged her guilty gaze up to meet Tasha’s eyes, Tasha huffed and went on.

“I already know something is going on, because Simon is downstairs cuddling with Daniel right now and you’re not twitching or falling apart or anything.”

“Yeah, well, things between Simon and I got a little…interesting while you were gone,” Jenny confessed.

“Thank you Captain Obvious.”

A weak grin tweaked the corner of Jenny’s lips. Of course Tasha would be in a spectacularly good mood after getting home from her honeymoon.

“I missed you so much,” Jenny said, hugging her close and letting relief wash over her.

Tasha hugged her back, then said, “Okay, now I’m actually worried.”

Jenny arched a brow and said, “Which part of the story do you want first? The part where I broke up with Neil, the part where I had wild monkey sex with Simon, more than once, or the part where the entire TV show might go down the tubes because Neil is a jealous asshole who wants to ruin everything?”

Tasha blinked, her eyes growing wide. “Um, the part where you had wild monkey sex with Simon, of course.”

Jenny laughed. God, it felt good to laugh about it, to laugh at herself.

“It was hot, babe,” she confessed. “Like, four-alarm fire hot.”

“Eew, please don’t tell me you had sex in our bed or anything.”

Thank God Tasha wasn’t freaking out about it. In fact, she was taking it far better than Jenny had herself.

“Simon has his own bed,” she said. “Although if you find any stains on the sofa….”

“Eew, no,” Tasha laughed.

The two of them giggled together, and the pressure of worrying that her best friend would think she was a skank or just plain stupid lifted from Jenny’s shoulders.

“So you broke up with Neil,” Tasha went on. “Does that mean you’re back with Simon?”

Jenny stood, pacing to the dresser and turning to lean against it. “I was never with Simon in the first place. We’re not technically together now, although he wants to be.”

Tasha stood, shaking her head and shrugging. “So? Why aren’t you skipping with joy and engaging in said hot monkey sex right now?”

Jenny blew out a breath. “Because I don’t want to get hurt again, which I will be if Second Chances has to ship off and film somewhere else.”

Tasha hummed, resuming her unpacking. “Yvonne has been on the phone with Spence about that for the last couple of days. I don’t know what to think of the whole situation.”

“Neither do I,” Jenny said, chewing her lip. “I don’t want anything to change. Everything was just getting to where I wanted it—no, where I needed it to be. For Daniel’s sake as much as mine. What am I going to do if the show moves?”

“I don’t know, move with it?” Tasha suggested.

“And leave my parents? My job?”