19. Ellis

CHAPTER 19

ELLIS

I t's amazing how much three weeks can change things. We only have two days left of filming, and against all my better judgment, I've been enjoying it. I've been spending time with Marina, which is great, and playing with Lila, which is way more fun than I could have ever imagined.

And all week, Marina has been trying to ask me what our future is.

I've been ignoring it, giving her noncommittal answers and brushing off her concerns, trying to focus on the here and now instead.

But I'm suddenly realizing exactly how little time we have left. That maybe she was right, and we should think about it.

She wakes up in my arms and I kiss her head. She yawns, and I call her beautiful, and she blushes in that way she always does because she doesn't believe me.

I wish I could change her mind. I wish I could make her see what I see: the adorable button nose, the sprinkling of freckles on her face. The gorgeously soft body that lies next to me, the one that I find almost irresistible to touch. The mind behind it that has challenged me in ways no one else ever has, and her perfect hips and legs and breasts that have made me a very happy man.

Lila starts crying in the next room so Marina gets up to attend to her. I groan as she goes, but don't say anything. No amount of persuading would get her to stay.

Lila comes first. She always will.

I drag myself out of bed, throw on some clothes, and busy myself in the kitchen, setting up a breakfast spread for them. Most of all, I want coffee.

As the machine kicks into action, Marina wanders through. Her eyes widen in delight as she takes in the scene, and her mouth splits into a wide grin, one that shines despite her tired eyes.

"Thank you," she says, coming over to wrap her arms around me, and I lean in to kiss her, melting into her mouth.

I've never considered myself to be a person who ached for domestic bliss. Hell, I've never considered myself a family man at all. But I think part of me always has been. It's a part of me that I locked tightly away in favor of my career and my wealth. Marina's making me see, though, maybe there's more to life than that.

Maybe this is what life should be about.

Simon and the crew knock on the door around eight o'clock. We scramble to let them in, neither of us fully dressed or ready for them. Lila sits, amusing herself in her highchair, and we both smile at the crew like we're covering a conspiracy.

No one seems to care, though. They file in, and as they're setting themselves up, I take the director to the side. "I want to do another date night," I say firmly.

Simon frowns. "Ah, okay, but that's not exactly part of the plan."

But I'm not moving on this. "Well, tough. I want to do it. I think we should have another romantic evening."

"Even if that evening's at ten o'clock in the morning?" Simon says snidely.

My top lip curls unbidden. The sooner I don't have to speak to this guy anymore, the better. "Yes. All right?"

He throws up both hands in surrender. "All right. What do you suggest we do? It has to be something quick and easy, yeah?"

I frown back at him, racking my brains to try and come up with something quickly. What the hell do people do for dates?

Curse the fact that I don't know everything in the world.

"Can't we just go to a restaurant again?"

"We've already done that," says Simon with a dismissive wave of his hand. "We need something fresh, something new." We both stand and stare at each other for a moment, and then a lightbulb seems to go off in his head. "I've got it. Drive-in movie theatre."

"Where are we going to find a drive-in movie theatre in Seattle?" I scoff. "In the morning?"

Simon waves his hand again, the idea crystallizing in his mind. "We'll set one up. We have the projection equipment and everything we need. We can do it all ourselves. I can get this done, fast."

"Don't we need to wait for it to get dark?" I say. "Isn't that kind of the point?"

With a shrug, the director turns to look out of the window. "Nah, the sky is gray enough today. We can always edit it to look darker than it is. All right?"

"Okay, fine, whatever," I say, not wanting to argue. This wasn't exactly the sort of date I expected, but I've got what I wanted. Me and Marina — and time.

Simon heads back to the crew, and Marina comes over to me, concern written all over her face. "What was that about? I heard you arguing. Is everything okay?"

"He wants to do another date night," I say as if it wasn't me who instigated the whole plan.

"Oh!" says Marina.

I can't tell if she's surprised in a happy or a sad way.

"What does he want us to do?" she asks.

"Go to a movie. Drive-in. Supposed to be romantic, or something."

"Oh," she says again, and then the practical side of her brain kicks in. "A movie where? How?"

"They're going to put some boring old black-and-white thing on a projection screen so we can pretend to be having a drive-in theatre experience. He's getting it all set now."

"Cool," says Marina, breaking into a smile. Seems she does like this plan after all. "I've always thought that looks really dreamy."

I grunt in response. Doing things that are considered dreamy has never exactly been my idea of a good time.

But an hour and a half later, we're on the road, being driven out to some barn in the middle of nowhere so we can pretend to be watching a movie together. I guess we actually will be watching the movie, but the point still is that this is less than my idea of fun.

At least it's with Marina. I have to keep remembering that. This is for her.

When we finally get there, I let out a small whoop of joy. They've had my car driven down too, my nice summertime soft-top that I hardly ever get out. I had no idea they would do that.

I rush over to it — not quite running, but certainly not walking. One of the runners hands me my car keys and I swing into the driver's seat, grinning as I slide the roof down, the warm summer breeze sweeping over me.

"I didn't know you had a convertible," says Marina, sliding into the passenger seat beside me.

"There's a whole garage of my old cars downtown," I grin, twining my fingers with hers. "I don't get them out very often, but sometimes I enjoy going for a ride."

"Nice," she says. "We should go sometime."

I just give her a hum in response, not wanting to commit to anything.

The crew bustle around us, setting up the screen and getting their angles, positioning mics and touching up our hair and clothes. It's going to be weird being fully in charge of my own appearance again. Lately, it's been kind of nice to get someone else to do all the thinking for me.

We just sit around waiting, so to amuse Marina I reach down and turn on the radio. A crackly jazz station gets picked up, and Marina smiles sweetly at me, squeezing my hand. "This is really nice," she says. "I can't believe they set this up so quickly."

I shrug. "It's what they're for, isn't it?"

"Still, it looks great. It's almost like a real drive-in."

I look at her quizzically, taking note of the soft daylight highlighting her face, bright despite the clouds. "You've been to a drive-in movie before?"

"No," she says, looking down at her lap. "I always wanted to, though. Oh, it's silly, but…"

"But?"

She glances up at me, withdrawing her hand from mine. "I always had this stupid idea that someone would propose to me at one of these things. That it would be the perfect, romantic night — early fall, the leaves turning gold, the evening growing dark around us, and then, as the movie ended and the stars came out, he'd turn to me and get down on one knee."

"You really have thought about this, huh?"

Embarrassed, she grimaces. "Yeah. It's dumb, isn't it?"

"No," I say, though clearly too forcefully because it makes her recoil. I take hold of her hand again, pulling it into my chest as if that'll make her see how close to my heart she is. "It's not. You're not dumb, Marina. It's the kind of fantasy you deserve to have come true."

She flushes, but before she can rebuke me, the director slams his hands down on the hood to get our attention. "All right, ready?"

We both nod. Simon looks us both squarely in the eye, then nods back. "Okay. Awesome. Everyone ready? All right. Cameras, good? Awesome. Then we'll hit action."

Despite our personal closeness, neither of us are entirely comfortable on camera, even after all this time. We settle stiffly back into the car, sitting up straight. This is the way it always goes, both of us stiff and unnatural until one of us breaks the tension.

I decide it's my turn to today, and lean in to ask, "What's your favorite movie?"

Marina shrugs. "I don't really have a lot of time for watching movies. But Lila and I like anything animated. She likes musicals."

"I can see that," I nod. "Maybe she'll sing when she grows up."

"Maybe," says Marina quietly.

Then she leans over to rest her head on my shoulder, and I wrap my arm around her, pulling her in tight. The movie starts rolling, and I get handed a bag of popcorn from nowhere.

It's hot and buttery and makes my mouth start to water. I offer the bag to Marina, and she takes one of the popped kernels and throws it into her mouth. She hums in appreciation and takes a handful. "This is really good stuff."

"We're not doing anything cheap here."

She grins. "Give me some more."

I do without hesitation, and she shuffles so she can lie in my lap as best she can with a gear shift in the way. If the camera crew wasn't here, I would kiss her hard — hard enough to make her feel electric. I'd let my hand roam over her body again, dipping beneath this gorgeous green dress until her legs trembled.

But I show some restraint. That's not the type of film we're making, after all.

We barely speak during the movie, just cuddle and eat popcorn, enraptured by the love story unfolding. I only look away when I feel Marina sigh in my arms. I reach down to brush a strand of hair from her face, squeezing her in tight.

She grins. "This is really nice," she whispers. "I wish we could do this again."

I say nothing. I just continue to stroke her hair, savoring every second with her. It makes me feel sick to think that I'm never going to see her again after this, so I try to push any thoughts of that away and focus on the here and now and the beautiful woman in my arms.

But the movie ends too quickly.

It's like I blink, and the popcorn bucket lies empty as the credits roll. Marina opens her eyes, waking from her half-asleep daze. I lean forward to kiss her on the forehead, and she smiles sleepily up at me. "Ellis, let's go home."

Another rush of desire flows through me, and I have to stamp on the urge to touch her. I let my fingers trail over her soft skin as consolation, but it just sends another wave of lust to the base of my stomach.

The director stops yelling at the camera crew for two seconds to come over to us after we've wrapped. "Awesome work. That was so natural and loving. I believed every second of it."

"Good," I say, though I don't really mean it. Nothing about this is good.

We're driven back to my place in silence. Marina leans against the glass and stares out the window, and I spend the whole journey staring at her. I know we're all thinking about the same thing.

Tomorrow. The final day.

The last day I'm ever going to see Marina.

Unless something drastic changes in the next twenty-four hours, this is going to be my last night with her.

After this, she'll be completely free of her contract with me. And though we've fallen into a sort of loving haze now, reality is going to set back in and we'll go back to our daily lives.

And I can't think of a single reason why she's going to keep wanting to talk to me.