urs? Is that going to be customary?”
“I had no idea you really surfed. I just happened to have some outfits in my costume collection for a surfer boy that I thought would work for your size. I was wondering how you were going to work your way around Chance’s questions.”
She chuckled, enjoying putting one over on him. “I learned to surf when I lived with my mom and stepdad.”
“That’s what I get for underestimating you.”
“Exactly. So . . . what’s the story with Chance and Sherona? They seem crazy about each other. He’s a nature photographer and has to travel a lot for his job, but I got the impression that Sherona’s roots run deep in Vulture’s Canyon.”
“They do. Chance is a wanderer by nature and feels comfortable in every corner of the globe. Sherona is the heart of this community. For a while, it looked like their differences were going to keep them apart, no matter how crazy they were about each other.”
Her skin prickled with awareness. “What happened?” she asked intently.
“They figured it out. Sherona travels with Chance for half the year, while that other woman in the diner—Olive Fanatoon—looks after the diner for her. Chance takes a few necessary solo trips, but otherwise, he’s here with Sherona the rest of the time. They decided what they had together was worth some compromises and sacrifices.”
Gia cleared her throat in the uncomfortable silence that followed. Maybe it only seemed charged to her. She couldn’t be sure if Seth had noticed the potential parallels between Chance and Sherona’s vital differences and theirs.
“Why do you have that look on your face?” Seth asked her twenty minutes later when he parked at a grocery store in the small town of Prairie Lakes.
“I was just thinking that at first, being Jessie made me feel freer. No one recognized me. I blended into the woodwork, and it was nice,” Gia reflected as she took off her seat belt. She glanced at Seth and gave him a small, wistful smile. “Now . . . well, I can’t even touch you while other people are around.”
“And you being Jessie suddenly feels like a trap. Yeah,” Seth agreed with his typical laconic preciseness. He seemed to hesitate.
“Seth?” she prompted.
“It’d be like that for us in L.A. too. You realize that, don’t you? It’d be for different reasons, and you wouldn’t be in disguise, but we’d always have to be careful of showing too many displays of affection. We’d always be in front of the camera’s eye.”
Gia inhaled slowly, trying to ease the sudden tightness in her chest. She could bear that, even if she didn’t love it. Seth was a privacy hound though. She realized she cared about him too much to force him into the spotlight.
“Do we have to talk about it right now? Can’t we just enjoy this beautiful day?” she hoped.
She felt his stare on her cheek as she averted her gaze.
“Yeah. Let’s do that,” he said.
* * *
While they were in the grocery store, Seth picked up a celebrity gossip magazine as they stood in the checkout line, reading the pages with seeming bored idleness.
“What did that magazine say?” Gia asked when they returned to the SUV and were driving back to the house. “I saw my picture on the front, but it looked like it was a small feature.”
“Yeah. You’re shrinking a bit in the tabloids because the press doesn’t have any new gossip or photos to feed to your hungry public. That’s just what we wanted to do. We cut off their supply by making you disappear. I spoke with Charles yesterday, and he and Madeline are pleased with the way the mania is dying down. Madeline certainly would like the eye of the world turned away just a bit while she finishes up on the last touches of her case.”
“And McClarin?” Gia asked tensely. “Is there any news of him or his camp’s maneuvers?”
“Just the usual hogwash about how you’re an unstable, hysterical, attention-seeking movie star.”
“Someone tried to leak a fake story that I was a drug addict a while ago. I’m sure it was someone related to McClarin,” Gia stated flatly. “So does Madeline, because the rumor started flying around just before jury selection. After jury selection, the jurors are told to stay away from all media outlets, so there was a higher chance of it reaching potential jurors and alternates.”
“Yeah. It was definitely a purposefully leaked story. But they had no proof of those rumors about you. The story died out.”
“A bit of a slow death for my comfort,” Gia mumbled.
“Yeah, I know,” Seth commiserated, reaching across the console and squeezing her thigh. “All we have to do is keep quiet and wait. Once you get on that stand, McClarin is screwed and he knows it.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” she said, rubbing his hand with hers.
“Anytime.”