“At least I’ll get my hundred thousand out of it,” she quips unabashedly.
“Sure, a woman and her unborn child will be dead, but at least we’re focusing on what’s really important here.”
Heidi rolls her eyes. “I know you’re an actress, but can we please tone down the drama for the next ten minutes? It’s giving me a headache.”
I huff. It’s a childish and pointless move, but at least it makes me feel slightly better in the moment. With the raging heartburn I have going threatening to start a wildfire in my chest, I’ll take any win I can get.
Heidi climbs from the car without another word, and I slam my head back into the seat and close my eyes. When my door opens before I’m expecting it to, I jump.
“Jesus!”
Alejo smiles apologetically. “Sorry, love. Heidi said to do a quick touch-up on you before you do your whole shell game thing.”
“A touch-up?” I question. “We just left the apartment.”
“She said the stress is making you look too dewy. And that your foundation was settling into the wrinkle between your eyebrows.”
I sigh.
“Don’t worry, doll. You look great, and I’m going to make you look even better.”
Resigned, I sit back in the seat and rest my head again as he takes brushes out from the belt around his waist and gets to work.
Knowing me well after having worked with me for the last three years, he stays quiet and lets me have some silence. I know it’s hard for him; he’s extremely chatty by nature. But out of everyone around me, Alejandro at least pretends to respect my boundaries.
The baby jukes inside my belly, and I move a hand to cushion the blow. Still, a small smile curves just the corner of my lips.
Just you and me, babe.
There’s a little alien inside me making chop suey of my organs, but it’s still the most joyful thing I have going in my life. There’s something magical about growing another life—even if I never, ever expected it.
“There,” Alejo finally declares, sheathing his cosmetic swords and holding out a hand to help me out.
I take it graciously and climb down, only to climb up into a neighboring SUV two feet away.
Once I’m in the seat, the door closes again, Heidi nods to the driver from her seat beside me, and we’re away again like stealthy agents of the night—except it’s day.
Meanwhile, Alejo fades away like he was never even there.
One thing is for sure, for as much as I loathe the brutal lack of privacy that comes with having a team of people around me at all times, there’s no way in heck I’d want to be doing all of these intricately planned arrangements for myself.
I wasn’t born to be in the Hollywood division of the CIA. I have way too many people in my life anyway. In the movies, they always go for the abandoned, mega-IQ, no one will raise a fuss if they’re missing type.
People would absolutely raise a fuss if I were missing. They raise a fuss if I eat a taco, for God’s sake. Raquel Weaver spotted at Las Tacos in Pasadena this weekend… Everyone wants to know, is she having a mental breakdown?
No, gossip magazine. She just likes freaking tacos.
“Raquel! Jesus. Are you having a stroke?” Heidi says, her loud voice suddenly cutting through the fog of my thoughts with a vengeance. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for the last minute and a half.”
“Sorry,” I apologize. “I was…” I consider telling the truth—that I was lost in a complex thought timeline including a top-secret government agency and Mexican food—but in the end, think better of it. “What did you need?”
“To go over your schedule for the rest of the day after this.”
“Ah. Yes, I know. Extra Oscar dress fitting now that I’m fat.”
Heidi snorts and then laughs, the derisive tone of it unmistakably mocking. “You didn’t think that was all we have on the docket, did you?”
I feel my eyebrows scrunch together before I can tell them not to, and her voice turns condescending. “Oh, sweetie,” she says, patting my knee. “That’s so alarmingly naïve.”
I jerk my knee to the side so her hand slips off my leg and she momentarily loses her balance, and her smile turns from calculating to vindictive.
I tell myself the petulant move was worth it anyway. When I’m drowning in the dregs of exhaustion later today, I’ll be able to look back and find joy in this moment.
“After the fitting, you have a training session with Gregory, an interview with Voso magazine, and a meeting with the press team for Highlander.”
I let my head fall back with a groan at the thought of that meeting—one I most definitely don’t want to have—and Heidi snaps. “You’re lucky they didn’t fire you, Raquel. You knew your contract was explicit in its terms that you not change your physical appearance in any way, and you went and got pregnant.” She scowls. “You’re a press nightmare for them, and yet, they’ve decided to back you for some reason. You should be bowing at their feet, not groaning at the inconvenience of one little meeting.”