Fuck, I was an asshole. Now she was trying to escape me. From what I knew, Sophie was her only friend in LA, and she’d lost her because of me. Not only that, but she hadn’t been able to start her new job or leave the house because of our mess.
“Thanks,” I called out. “I’ll be out in a minute.” I could do this. I hadn’t always been an asshole, but I could barely remember my life before Poppy destroyed me.
The second I opened my bedroom door, the aroma of the chicken parmesan and cookies she’d made had my stomach growling louder than it ever had and my heart picking up speed. Was I going to try and explain to her what was going on in my head? Even if I didn’t understand it myself? Maybe she could make me see what was happening.
She’d set up all the food outside on the table, had light music playing, and somehow had twinkling lights turned on. How had I never noticed them before?
We stayed silent as we piled food on our plates. The tang of tomatoes from the sauce combined with the melted cheese filled my senses.
Was this what it was like to live a normal life? It felt good to have someone here after a shitty day like today. To have someone treat me like I mattered.
After a few delicious bites, I got the nerve to speak what had been on my mind since I left the kitchen earlier. “Thank you for this. Every meal you make is better than the last. It makes me look forward to my next meal instead of having to figure out where I’m going to order from,” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Abbi, I don’t know if I know how to be in a healthy relationship. It wasn’t until Poppy was out of my life that I realized how messed up our entire relationship was. I . . . if I try, I want you to know I’m going to mess up. Probably more than once.” More like over a thousand times, but that would only scare her off.
“Are you saying all of this only because you want to be able to have sex during our arrangement?” She averted her eyes to land on anything that wasn’t me.
It was strange how I didn’t like thinking of how our time together would end when at first, I had hated the idea of her infiltrating my life.
“It’s not about sex. While I won’t deny how much I want you underneath my body writhing in pleasure, there’s something about you I can’t describe. It feels good to talk to you. To open up to you,” I confessed.
Her eyes darted up to mine and widened with each word I spoke. “That . . . was surprising. You’re surprising, Jenner.” The small tip of her lips did something funny to the inside of my chest. “I like it when you talk to me, and you’re not an asshole.”
“I like it when you’re not glaring at me and not being a bitch.”
“Touché. Do you want to um . . .” She forked a bite of pasta and held it in front of her mouth.
“Do I want what?” I encouraged.
“Want to talk about what happened today at work? You seemed . . . it seemed like it upset you.”
This would be the true test on whether or not I could open up to her. “I’m making it out to be a bigger deal than what it was.”
“Hey,” she reached across the table and held my hand, “it’s a big deal to you. Maybe if you talk about whatever happened, it will make you feel better.”
“We’d filmed one scene that took forever and took lunch while the next scene was being set up. I was called on-set, but I was a couple of minutes late getting back. When I got there, one of the crew members was standing on my mark as they adjusted the lighting. It all happened so fast. One second I was stepping up to where I was supposed to be, and the next,” I closed my eyes as the image flashed in my mind, “a light came loose and hit Jim, the man who was standing in my place. He was on the ground holding his arm while blood poured out of a head wound. He was rushed to the ER, and since everyone was visibly shaken after watching it all happen, they sent us all home. Like I said, I’m probably making it a bigger deal than it should be.”
After saying it out loud, I felt like such a pussy.
“Oh my God, Jenner, you could have gotten hurt or worse.” Her hand gripped mine tighter. “You have the right to feel any way you want. I’d be shaken up if it had happened to me.”
I loved that Abbi had stopped calling me Reeves. Every time she called me by my first name, it made me think of my father and the way he’d controlled my life since I was a toddler. If I ever had children, they were never getting into acting.
“I’ve been on more sets than I can count, and nothing like that has ever happened. The odds of it ever happening again have to be zero.”
“True, but I’m sure it was scary. And the thought that it could have happened to you is horrible. Did you send flowers or well wishes to the crew member?”
Flowers? Who the hell did she think I was?
“I don’t even know what hospital they took him too. I swear this set is cursed. One thing after another keeps happening, but only when I’m on set. Not one single bad thing happened while I’d been off and they shot without me.”
“Maybe you were too much of an asshole to somebody, and now they’re trying to teach you a lesson.”
I scoffed but humored her. “What kind of lesson?”
“The one where you inquire about a fellow employee’s well-being after they get hurt. Especially when it could have been you that got injured instead.”
Dear God, I had a feeling she wasn’t going to let this go.
“Do you seriously think I have the contact info for everyone who works on a show with me?” If she did, Abbi was more naïve than I thought.
She chewed on her bottom lip while moving her pasta around on her plate before her laser-like focus was trained on me. “I guess not, but you need to do something. After dinner, I’m going to contact Catherine and see if she can get me the info. I’ll send him a fruit basket or something to let him know we’re thinking about him. Maybe then karma will be on your side, and bad things will stop happening to you while on set.”
If it made all the weird things stop, I was all for it.
Abbi set down her fork and then proceeded to drain half her glass of water. “What else has happened to you on set?”
Was she nervous on my behalf?
“One time, I was supposed to go back to my trailer in between scenes to eat, but I ended up going to the craft service table for lunch. My phone was in my trailer, and I sent Levi to retrieve it for me. There was some oil at the base of the stairs leading up to the door, and he was on his phone, not paying attention. His feet slipped out from underneath him, causing him to hit his head on the metal stairs. He got a big gash on the side of his face.” I cringed just thinking about it. There had been blood everywhere.
“Even though he was a bigger asshole than you, I can’t help but feel bad for him, and to think it could have been you.” A shudder ran through her body.
Every incident that happened was supposed to be me, but I seemed to be in the right place at the right time, unlike the others. It was like I had someone looking out for me, while on the other hand, I had someone out to get me. Only today, after the light nearly took me out, did I connect it all.
Was it all just a coincidence, or was someone out to hurt me?
“Maybe it is a good idea to reach out to Jim and send him something. You’ll do that?”