KATE
"What about you?How was your weekend?" Drew asked as we turned a corner and drove onto Alameda Avenue.
I bit my lip. "It was okay, I guess."
"Did you and Nolan do anything fun besides your movie night?"
Ugh, this lying thing was getting messy.
Why hadn't I just told him the truth from the beginning?
"Umm…" I tried to think of how to word it correctly.I actually lied to you.No.I've been divorced…technically annulled for three months.Not that either.Nolan wasn't who I thought he was…"I finished my last articles for the paper. So that was good." Yeah, I was a total chicken. "Then I worked a little on my latest screenplay."
Drew’s blue eyes lit up. "That's cool. What's it about?"
And here we were at the part where I had to figure out how to explain the story in my head so it actually made sense and didn't sound completely stupid.
I always felt like an idiot trying to explain my work.
”Well," I said, my mind scrambling for a quick pitch. "It's about this guy and this girl."
"So a romance?"
"Um, kind of. Anyway, this girl gets kidnapped by this guy. She thinks he's really bad at first, but then as he's holding her hostage, she starts to notice that he's actually treating her okay. Eventually, she realizes he's just working for someone else who’s holding something bad over him. In the end they fall in love and find a way to escape." She shrugged. "Something like that."
Wow, that totally sounded like crap.
But Drew was kind enough to smile and say, "What? No all-powerful sultan in this one? I feel so cheated. I was hoping to audition for that role when it sold."
"Sorry. No sultan.” A smile lifted my lips. “Though if you're serious about that acting thing, I'll totally throw a sultan in."
We arrived at the studio a few minutes later and I pulled up next to Drew's Lamborghini to drop him off.
"Thanks for the ride," Drew said as he unbuckled his seat belt. "It still feels weird having you drive me around instead of my driver, Marco, but I'm sure I'll get used to it."
Itwasweird driving Drew around. He'd always been the one to take Aiden and me to all the high school events my freshman year before they graduated.
"It is what it is."
He moved his hand to the door lever. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow night again, so you can chauffeur me to all those lovely viewing parties."
"See you then."
Drew got in his car. I waited for him to drive out of the parking lot before heading out myself. I drove north on Buena Vista Street toward my parents’ home. Ever since my split with Nolan, the family dinners had been a lot harder. Yes, my family still supported and loved me, and was even glad I got out of that relationship as fast as I had, but I hated that my single status stood out so obviously whenever we were all together. My parents were still together, albeit not without their own set of problems. My older sister, Lana, was married to a successful lawyer and raising their two adorable boys. And even my younger brother, Cason, had been dating a girl for six months.
How many times had I just wanted to go sit at the kid table with my nephews Decklan and Tayden?
So many times I'd wished Aiden was still around, so we could be the odd ducks together.
The front porch light lit the walk up to the Tuscan-style, two-story home. I had always loved our house growing up. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to move back home when my lease was up. I could certainly use the savings it would afford me…even if moving back home wasn't the most appealing idea.
Inside teemed with activity. Tayden and Decklan were on the floor playing with my dad. Lana's husband, Jonas, was sitting in the recliner, talking to Cason and Cason's girlfriend Kerrie about the new boat he was planning to buy in the spring.
"Kate!" Tayden came running up to me, wrapping his chubby three-year-old arms around my leg. "You make it!"
I bent over to lift him into my arms. "And how have you been?" I hugged him tight before taking him to the loveseat to sit down.
"Guess what? I'm get to be a big brodder."