Chapter 28

Excitement coursed through me as I walked into the cavernous foyer of Worldly Production Studios. I'd been here exactly once before in my life, when I'd come on a tour of the place as a teenager with my school.

Posters of the most iconic movies and TV shows of my time lined the walls, and a thrill raced down my spine when I realized that a poster for my very own show might soon be joining those. I smiled at some of the people I passed, but mostly, I was focused on vanquishing my nerves from my system before I went into this meeting.

Early this morning, Janet had called me back, asking me if I could come in right away to discuss "the show I'd pitched her." I hadn't bothered telling her it hadn't been a pitch, too excited and curious about what they wanted to offer. So I'd shifted some things around in my calendar and here I was, potentially about to be signed by these giants of the industry.

A long bank of elevators awaited me after I gave my name at the check-in desk, and a security guard wearing a snazzy suit pressed the call button for me. I beamed my thanks at him, knowing it was his job but not quite used to this kind of treatment.

I felt like a superstar, and even if none of this worked out, it was a darn good feeling after all the crap that happened recently. The elevator doors slid open in front of me without making a sound, and needing to say something to someone before I walked in, I glanced at the guard.

"Wish me luck."

"Good luck, Ms. Halverson." He didn't return my smile, but his eyes seemed soft and sincere at least.

The doors slid shut and I shook my hands out by my sides, anticipation making knots form in my stomach. I'd never even thought about my own show until I'd said it in passing to Janet, and it was almost unbelievable to think that they were actually considering it.

Not wanting to get my hopes too far up though, I took a deep breath and stepped off the elevator once I reached my floor. A tiny woman with bright red hair and a brighter smile was waiting for me, a tablet in her hand and her fingers flying across the screen until she saw me.

"Serenity! I'm Janet. It's so nice to finally meet you in person. Follow me, please. They're ready for you in Conference A."

The words came out in a solid stream, without her even stopping to take a breath. She offered me her hand while she spoke, giving mine a quick, firm shake before she released me and spun on her heels, taking off down a long, richly carpeted corridor without looking back to make sure I was with her.

"We're just so excited about this show," she said conversationally while she walked at a brisk pace and I raced to keep up. "Marvin Cook will be producing. If you accept, of course. I've told them that you're pretty busy at your company and all, but they're hoping you can squeeze us in. You're one hot topic right now, girl. I mean, Dash St. Clair? Wow. What a catch."

I blinked repeatedly, more nervous now than ever before. If this was a show about me, why would I have to squeeze them in? Surely, they would be following me at my company, but before I could ask, she slammed to a sudden stop and brushed her knuckles against a door before pushing it open.

"This is you," she said, turning to smile at me as she waved me in. "Good luck, Serenity. I can't go in with you, but they're going to take good care of you. I promise. Have fun!"

With that, she practically sprinted away again, her face buried in her tablet once more. As for me, I felt a little winded after my interaction with her. I was plenty energetic myself, but damn.

Trying to refocus my attention, I inhaled and exhaled slowly, then strode into the conference room with my head held high and a grin pasted across my face. Three people were waiting for me around an expansive table, all of them formally dressed in suits, and even the woman wore a tie.

Jittery but trying to hide it, I shook hands with each of them in turn. The first man I shook with was Marvin Cook. I'd recognize him anywhere, having seen him on TV accepting numerous awards. Older and distinguished, he offered me a nod but no smile.

"It's nice to meet you, Serenity. Thank you for coming in on such short notice."

As he released me, the woman extended her hand and I'd barely placed my palm in it before she was smiling at me. "Sharon Fox. We really want to try and capitalize on all the attention you're getting right now, so we'd like to announce sooner rather than later."

Already reeling, I nodded and greeted the final man. He was younger, with thick, milk-bottle specs and skin as pale as a vampire's. "Hunter Brown. Finance. I'm the bean counter."

Of course, you are.I gave him a smile as well, then sat down in the seat Marvin waved me into. He wasted no time getting down to business. Folding his arms in front of him, he leaned forward and looked right at me.

"We've considered your pitch about the show centering around your life. It's not a bad idea, but the market just isn't right for that kind of thing now. There are dozens of shows out there depicting celebrities' daily lives. We'd like to do something different, so we've got another option for you."

"Okay," I said slowly, accepting the water bottle Hunter handed over to me. "What did you have in mind?"

"In the most basic terms, it would be a dating show," he said, and my stomach crashed to the ground, but he was oblivious as he kept going. "Co-ed living where the design is to find a partner for you. We'll rent a house in a gorgeous, remote location and you'd live there with your potential suitors. We'll pit the men against one another through a series of challenges, date ideas, that kind of thing, and then whittle them down until you find your match."

Disbelief rendered me completely immobile for a moment, but fury was already brewing in my stomach. They'd lied to get me here, pretending to be interested in producing a show about me, and now they wanted me to go on a dating show—which really didn't sound different to me.

Immediately, I set the water bottle back down without even having opened it and pushed back my chair. "Thank you so much, but I'm afraid I'm not interested in something like that. As I've told Janet, I'm really focusing on my business right now, and aside from that, I'm just not interested in dating a bunch of different men. Thank you for your time."

Proud of myself for not laying into them, I got up and leveled a glare at Marvin Cook himself. "In the future, please don't consider me for anything if you don't intend on being honest with me from the beginning."

I didn't give him the opportunity to respond, leaving them with varying expressions of wide-eyed shock as I left. Janet wasn't there to meet me outside, obviously not having expected the meeting to end so abruptly, but I made my way back to the elevator just fine by myself and got out of there as fast as humanly possible.

All the while, fury heated my veins. In my head, I hurled insults at the bastards who'd thought they could pull a fast one on me. Lure me in under false pretenses and then convince the pretty little blonde to shack up with some guys on a beach somewhere, hoping to catch her in the act with a few of them to fuel the fire that was already threatening to burn up her reputation.

How stupid do they think I am?

Professionally, there would be no going back for me after something like that. My events coordination skills would be forgotten and I'd forever be remembered as that wannabe actress who worked her way through however many guys before she finally settled on that one no one liked. Or something like that.

Plus, not only did it diminish my actual career, but I'd also just slept with Dash. We weren't official or anything, but I'd never do something like that to him.

When I got back to my own office, I decided I'd been right to turn down all the reality show gigs that had come my way these last few months since the divorce. My time on the silver screen was over and I was just fine with that, ready to make the best of this next chapter of my life which just so happened to be doing something I was actually passionate about.

And damn good at.

Still fuming when Julie strode into my office not a second later, I turned to cut her off before she could even ask how it went. "They lied to me. Got me there with false promises about it being a show about me, but it's not. They wanted me to do a dating show. Just me and some guys in a remote location somewhere."

Her eyebrows twitched up. "And you said no?"

"Of course, I said no." I scoffed, but then I saw the laughter in her eyes and I finally managed to see a flicker of humor in the situation. "At least they were willing to offer me a lot of money for it because of all the drama in my life. That's what Janet said yesterday, anyway. So that's something."

She held my gaze before she couldn't hold back the laughter anymore. "You could always recommend me for it instead. I'd love to go live in a fancy house someplace remote with a bunch of hot guys. Call them. Tell them you want a finder's fee and then give them my number."

Finally unable to help myself, I started laughing too. "Everybody's a comedian today. Okay, let's just get to work, shall we? God, what a waste of time. Where are we on the flower arrangements?"

Her laughter subsided as she thought it over. Then she snapped her fingers. "Right. Okay. My brain is back from the remote locations with all those shirtless hunks lounging around everywhere." She winked at me, then strode to the conference table and sat down. "We need to choose a floral designer first. I've got a few options here, as well as some examples of their previous work. We?—"

The ringing of my office line interrupted her and I flashed an apologetic smile in her direction before I picked up. "This is Serenity."

"Serenity? Hi, love. This is Fiona."

I smiled. "Hey, you. How are you doing? How's the cake for Diana's wedding coming along?"

"Can I take you out to lunch?" she asked, and when I looked at the time, I realized it was almost noon.

"Sure. Okay. Can Julie come?"

"Of course," she said. "It'll be great to see you guys again."

She fired off the name of a restaurant and I agreed that we'd meet her there. She hung up and I turned to Julie. "You and I have got a date with a baker."

"Fiona?" she guessed, smiling as she got up. "Awesome. She never fails to make you smile, so it'll be good for you to see her today."

I nodded, grabbing my purse once more before we headed out. Fiona was an old friend of ours, about ten years older but a real bundle of laughs and fun. She was also a baker I worked with often these days, the best in the business when it came to wedding cakes.

When we got to the restaurant though, my eyebrows jumped up when I saw Fiona, already there and waiting, but with casts up to her elbows on both arms. Julie and I exchanged a look before we rushed over to her.

"What on earth happened?" I asked when I reached her, looking her over to check for any other injuries.

She flushed and gave us awkward hugs before sitting back down. "If anyone else asks, tell them I fell off a ladder painting and broke my arms, but since we're all friends, I'll tell you the truth."

Julie leaned forward. "The truth? What the fuck, Fi? Did Davi?—"

"No," she interjected immediately, her head shaking back and forth. "No, it's nothing like that. Not at all. Well, he was involved. He is my husband after all, but he didn't mean to hurt me. We were trying something new. Nothing crazy, but I fell weird and broke both arms. I was naked when the paramedics came in. It was just mortifying!"

I stared at her for a long beat before I burst out laughing and Julie joined in. Unfortunately, the next words out of Fiona's mouth weren't nearly as funny. "So, uh, the thing is that I won't be able to bake for the wedding. These casts are staying on for at least six weeks and uh, well, I'm sorry, Serenity."

My laughter ceased, my heart pounding as the realization sank in that this was yet another potential disaster, but I couldn't be mad at her for wanting to spice things up with her husband. "Gosh, I couldn't make this up if I tried, but it's okay, Fi. I'm not quite sure what we're going to do, but we'll figure it out."

As Julie launched into questions about exactly what they had been trying, I leaned back in my chair and tried not to let my worry show. All the good bakers were fully booked months in advance, and I'd sold Fiona to Diana pretty hard. Now Fiona was out of the running, and we had only a couple weeks until the wedding.

Are these issues ever going to stop?!

I didn't know, but I was starting to feel like maybe I'd made a mistake turning down that dating show possibility so damn fast. If this wedding fell apart, I sure could've used the money Janet had mentioned to try to keep the company afloat while I rebuilt my reputation.

Closing my eyes, I dug deep to find my center of calmness and peace. This was just another hurdle. I'd gotten over so many of them recently and I'd get over this one as well. I just needed to take it all one step at a time—and pray that when the big day arrived, all the issues would be behind us.