RYLEE
“What if I got you and Chad a trip to Napa Valley and that new puppy he’s been talking about?” I offered when the limo Jules and I were in slowed outside the trendy bar where the party was being held. “Would that buy me another week of peace?”
“Oh, good. We’ve moved onto bargaining,” he replied, his dry sense of humor apparently intact even though we were about to face a scene we both thought we’d left behind. “That’s one step closer to acceptance. You have approximately two more minutes before we’re up. Think you can move this process along just a little faster?”
“I love how even you equate what I’m going through with the stages of grief. Why are we doing this again?” My stomach felt like I’d eaten rocks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for two weeks straight. “I feel like you’re about to drop me into a tank filled with hungry sharks.”
“That might not be the worst analogy you’ve ever come up with.” His milk-chocolate eyes shimmered with amusement in the low light of the limo. There was sympathy in them too, though.
Reaching out to take my hand in one of his giant ones, he wrapped his fingers around mine and squeezed. “Just remember, honey, they’re your peers. Navigating Broadway might feel like swimming in shark-infested waters sometimes, but you’ve got this. Hell, they’re not even just your peers. You used to be their reigning queen. Just take a deep breath and remember to smile.”
I smoothed out the satin skirt of the extravagant dress he’d picked out for me to make my big comeback to the social scene in. “That was two years ago, Jules. It was before. All they’re going to want to talk to me about is why I took a break and when I’m coming back.”
“We’ve been over this.” He tightened his grip on my hand before releasing it. “Everyone knows about that fall you took onstage. All you have to say is that you had taken on too much and you needed some time off.”
“Two years is a long time to take off.” I fidgeted with the shiny beading on my corset, distracting myself by marveling once again at how unlined his rich cocoa skin was. Jules had been my manager for the entire time I’d been in New York, and he hadn’t aged a day.
He and his boyfriend Chad, along with Tani, one of my former co-stars and best friends, had absolutely carried me through these last two years. My parents had been wonderful too, but there was only so much they could do all the way from Conroe.
They’d flown up after my legs had given out on me while I’d been performing, and they’d been here when I got diagnosed, but eventually, they had to go back home. After begging me for a solid week to leave the city behind and come home with them, they’d accepted it wasn’t going to happen.
Jules slid a long finger beneath my chin and tilted my head up until I met his warm brown eyes. “Your MS is doing great, Ry. The doctor said your accident was just sensory overload and he’s cleared you for all this, remember? Two years was a long time to have taken off, but you did what you had to do. Your health comes first. Always.”
I filled my lungs with the vaguely vanilla-scented air of the limo just as the wheels stopped turning. “I know. I’m ready to evade the questions and answer them eventually, on my own terms, just like we talked about. I’m just nervous. I haven’t really seen any of these people since it happened, and it’s weird to think about it like that.”
“Then don’t?” he suggested with a slight smile. “Now, suck in that stomach, push out that chest, and let’s go rock your re-entry into the world, okay?”
“This isn’t really my re-entry. It’s just a mixer,” I muttered, but he was already straightening his impeccable jacket and opening the door.
Apparently, these parties were supposed to be casual get-togethers for those of us in the industry. If that was how they’d started, the original organizers would be spinning in their graves to see the spectacle they were now.
Everyone was dressed as if they were attending an awards show. There was an actual red carpet to walk to get inside, complete with reporters lining a velvet rope. Just about everyone who was or might become someone was invited.
Excited chatter went up in the ranks of the press when they saw Jules climbing out of the limo, and it blew into my personal version of pandemonium when I followed him onto the carpet. Granted, Hollywood stars would fall down laughing over what I classified as pandemonium, but there had to be at least a dozen people out there screaming their questions at me.
Channeling my inner diva, I followed my manager’s advice and pulled my shoulders back as I walked into the party on his arm. A wide smile was fixed on my face, and I even waved at a few faces I recognized from back when I regularly made an appearance in the entertainment pages.
“Rylee!” Tani called as she attempted to rush to my side. The door swung shut behind us, drowning out the reporters’ questions.
My friend’s face was flushed with excitement, and her green eyes narrowed at everyone who dared not move out of her way. When she finally reached us, she embraced me like she hadn’t seen me in years. “I’m so glad you’re here. I would’ve called the babysitter to give her the night off if I hadn’t known you were coming.”
“We all got ready together at your house,” Jules said, arching a perfectly tweezed, pitch-black eyebrow at her.
“Your babysitter has had every night off from working for you for almost a year,” I said. “I’m sure she’s happy not to be given another night off. Did you manage to get away from your place without Cash raising the roof?”
She sucked her lips into her mouth, shaking her head with her eyes widening. “Nope. It’s not called the Fuck-You-Fours for nothing. Unfortunately for him, this mama of his has had an attitude for a lot longer than he has. If I survived the tantrums thrown by the people in this very room for so long, you can bet your asses that I can handle the tiny human I created. Sometimes anyway.”
“I’ve heard you say at least ten times that you’d take the prissiest of directors over that boy any day,” Jules teased. “Changed your mind now that you’re back among the stars?”
He drew out the last words and rolled his eyes even as he showed us his best jazz hands. Tani lifted her shoulders while she laughed. “I might have forgotten just how prissy they can be. Now that I’ve remembered, would anyone else care for a drink?”
“Me,” I said immediately, but Jules shut me down with a look when I went to move to Tani’s side. “But you’ll have to get it for me. I’m not supposed to look like I’m hiding behind my manager or longtime friend. It’s a mingle party, and I’m expected to mingle this evening.”
He gave me a satisfied smile. “Acceptance. Excellent. If we could work on delivering those lines with a little more enthusiasm, I might actually believe you’re a brilliant actress.”
“I’ve never been that good,” I said.
Tani nodded her agreement with me. “Do you know I’ve been asked three times tonight where Ry had gone, why she went on a break, and if she was coming back? I only got here about ten minutes before you did.”
“Goody,” I muttered, but lifted my chin when they left to get those drinks. We’re sure going to need them tonight. Mine wouldn’t be alcoholic, but still, I could always take a sip if I needed a moment to think.