“Anyway, I had the lead role, and they waited for me to have Alley because they really wanted me to star in it. I had her and hired a nanny, Maria, and went to work when she was three weeks old. That movie was a big success, and as soon as it was done another one came along, which wasn’t such a success but long story short. Maria raised Alley. She was there for it all, and I wasn’t and neither was her dad. Marie passed away with breast cancer when Alley was fourteen, and she went from a quiet, backward kind of kid to a rebellious teenager in the blink of an eye.”
“Yeah I read some stuff about her online.”
“Most of that stuff is not true, you shouldn’t pay any attention to that stuff, better yet don’t even read it.”
“You two seem pretty close now.”
“I don’t know, I guess we are in away. She has grown up a lot since Trevas.”
“I have never seen Trevas so preoccupied before. You may as well talk to a wall when she is around. He doesn’t see or hear anything but her.”
Peyton smiled, happy that he loved her the way he did. “Yes, and she is the exact same way. I just can’t wait until she is done with this movie, so they don’t have to hide anymore.”
“Why do they have to hide anyway?”
“Producers, agents and publicist get pretty pissed off when you take the focus away from the movie and put it on your personal life.”
“But they are not promoting their personal life. Why is it their fault if some idiot is prowling around the corner, waiting for them to slip?”
“It just is, you know your boundaries before you ever sign a contract.”
“Has she been offered any more opportunities?”
“She gets scripts all the time and her agent wants her to, but she doesn’t want any part of it. We were all shocked as hell when she did this one.”
“What about you? Are you ever going to be done with acting?”
“I don’t know, eventually, I guess. I am almost forty.”
“But as long as it’s there, you’re going to do it, right?”
“Yes, more than likely Kevin. It’s like an addiction to me. If I go to long without working I start having with-draws.”
“Maybe you just need something to preoccupy you,” he replied, and rolled over on top of her and kissed her.
“Preoccupy me baby,” she teased, but was more serious than not, and she parted her legs for him.
He made love to her again, and they finally fell asleep early in the morning.
Peyton made coffee, and Kevin met her in the kitchen once he had showered and dressed for work. He drove her to Kay’s and she told him that she would come by and see him before she left.
Don was up and gone to work as well, and her and Kay sat at the table and talked.
“I don’t want you to leave Peyton,” Kay told her.
“I will come back,” she promised, but didn’t know when, not until she found out the details of this new movie. “I want to hear what happened with Don. Did you guys talk?”
“Yeah we talked and had sex,” she admitted.
“You did not!” she exclaimed. Peyton had thought for sure that she would have him out of there within minutes of everyone leaving them.
“I did, and I may be an idiot Peyton, but I think I want him just as much as he wants me.”
“I don’t think you’re an idiot for that. I think he made a mistake, and he paid for it long enough. Why are these guys so adamant about this boy’s home?” she wondered.
“I think because of what they have been through. Donnie lost his brother twelve years ago to drugs, and if it weren’t for him and Kevin being here, when Trevas went through it, I don’t know what I would have done, and Kevin’s son was into drugs as well. Kevin has told me that even if they could only help one kid, it would be worth it.”
“I wish I would have met him under different circumstances.”
“I think he wishes that too.”
Trevas and Alley came over to tell her goodbye and then took off on Trevas’s motorcycle because it was such a lovely day, plus they knew that they would be back in LA, and see her in less than two weeks.
Peyton packed her things and they left early enough to stop by the plant and say goodbye to Kevin. Kay went to her office, and told her they had about half an hour before they needed to leave.
Kevin let her in, and she thought that he looked sad. He took her in his arms and held her with his eyes closed for a long time before he let her go.
“Thanks for the last couple of weeks Kevin,” she told him, and he only smiled. He didn’t know how to reply, and didn’t really want a thank you for the time that they had spent together.
“Will you call me and let me know you made it home okay?” he asked.
“Yes, I will do that,” Peyton told him, and took his hand and smiled a warm smile. She didn’t use up her full thirty minutes with him, and wanted to get out of there and away from him, right away. “Bye Kevin,” she said and pulled away from him. He kept her hand until their arms were stretched to where their touch was lost.
Kevin grabbed her before she could open the door and kissed her with more emotion than she could handle, and she pushed him away. He held onto her hand and pulled her close one last time and kissed her just in front of her ear as he whispered. “I love you Peyton.”
Peyton didn’t reply, and opened the door and left without turning back. Kevin stood and stared at the closed door with his hands in his pockets, filling more heartache than he thought he ever had.
Peyton opened Kay’s door without knocking. “Kay can we please go now?” she asked, trying her best to control the tears. What the hell was happening to her? She didn’t cry over a man, especially one that she had known for two weeks. It had to be time for her period, that was why she was so emotional over it, she had decided.
Kay got up from her desk and hugged her, and it was the wrong thing to do. Peyton lost the tear fight, and they freely flowed as she quietly sobbed to Kay’s hair. “Yes we can go Peyton,” she told her rubbing her back and consoling her friend, who she knew was in love and hurting over Kevin, whether she would admit it or not.
Chapter 21
Peyton sat quietly wearing her sunglasses, staring out the window in first class. She ignored the stares and idle chatter about her as she sat lost in her own thoughts.
She was not happy when she got off the plane at LAX airport, and saw all of the cameras and paparazzi. They weren’t there for her, and when Paula got to her she explained that Hailey Arlington, had just gotten off of a plane there too and they were left over from her, and of course they were ecstatic to be able to catch Peyton Paxton and get a two for one day.
Paula drove her home and explained more about the movie, and where she would be spending most of her time shooting.
“Are you listening to me Peyton?” she had finally asked after the third time of not getting a response from Peyton, who stared out the window.”
“Uh?” she asked, turning to face her. “Sorry, I’m just a little tired, and I need a shower,” she said which reminded her of her shower the night before, and she shook her head trying to get herself to come out of it.
She text Kevin and let him know that she was home and promised to call later.
*****
Peyton wore a summer white pants suit with a light pink satin shirt and matching pink stilettos. Craig Jenson stood as she was escorted to his table. He took her hand and kissed her cheek.
“It is a pleasure to finally meet you,” he told her once they were seated.
“Believe me Mr. Jenson, the pleasure is all mine.”
“Craig, please,” he replied, not wanting this to be a stuffy formal meeting. He poured her a glass of wine, and she thanked him and sipped it.
Craig Jenson sat and talked to her about the movie that he wanted her to play. She would be playing with Ben Samuel, who she had worked with in the past, and it was an action movie, which was her favorite.
Payton did feel a lot better after t
alking to Craig Jenson, and was excited to get back to work, although it was going to be some time, before they would actually start, at least she had something to look forward to.
She was home by seven and slipped her heels off at the door. She opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of chilled wine and poured herself a glass. The humongous house was too empty and deathly quiet. She walked over to the built-in stereo on the wall and turned the music up loud, and the music filled every room. It was Alley’s music, and although it wasn’t what she would normally listen to, she liked the sound of the pop singer and it made her feel closer to Alley.
She walked out to the pool with her bottle of wine and her glass and sat at the table alone. She looked at her phone and thought about calling Kevin, and knew he would be home by now and changed her mind with a deep sigh. She answered Fletchers call next, happy to have someone to talk to, even if it was Fletcher.
“Made it home?” he asked.
“Yes, and I had dinner with Craig Jenson.”
“Really? I thought you wanted to take a break.”
“Come over Fletcher,” she said from out of the blue, not wanting to be alone.
“Why?”
“Does it matter why? I just don’t like being in this big empty house alone.”
“What’s going on with you? You always want to be alone.”
“Are you coming or not?”
“Yeah, I will come over. Are we having sex?”
“No we are not having sex. Can’t you just come over and keep me company for a while without wanting to have sex?”
“Yes but if I get a call from Susan, I am leaving.”
“Fine,” she replied. She didn’t care who Fletcher slept with. She hadn’t thought about him in that way for years and wondered if she ever did. Her thoughts were back on Kevin as she waited for Fletcher to show up. She was pissed at herself for ever letting it go as far as it did, and she knew she should have never had sex with him the first time. She knew there was an attraction there that she had only felt one other time in her life, and that was the man that caused the majority of her divorce with Fletcher.
“What the hell are you listening to?” Fletcher asked, startling her from her thoughts as he walked out the sliding glass doors to the pool. He had never knocked when he came over, and she quit yelling at him for just walking in years ago, knowing she was wasting her breath.
She laughed a short laugh. “Alley,” she answered with one word.
Peyton went in and got him a glass and poured him a glass of wine as well.
“So what is this movie?” he asked, sipping his wine and crossing one leg over the other.
“It’s a prison movie. ‘Corridor’ I’m playing a hard ass inmate, in prison for murder.”
“What happened to taking a year off?”
Peyton shrugged her shoulders and gulped the last of her wine. “I just need to do something, I can’t sit around here. And it’s even worse with Alley being gone.”
“She lived in her room anyway,” Fletcher replied, not buying it.
“She doesn’t stay in her room so much now that Trevas is around, and besides even when she was in her room, at least I knew she was here, and I didn’t feel so alone.”
Fletcher looked at her in a peculiar way as she poured another glass of wine and emptied the bottle into her glass.
“What?” she asked.
“You getting drunk tonight?”
“I think I might already be just a little,” she said truthfully.
“What’s going on with you Peyton?”
“What the hell are you talking about Fletcher?”
“I don’t know, but I can tell there is something up.”
“There is nothing up, but I do need you to do me a favor.”
“What?” he asked.
“I need for you to kiss me.”
“Kiss you?”
“Yes, kiss me.”
“Why?”
“Just do it, will you?”
Fletcher sat up and leaned to her and shook his head, wondering what the hell was up with her. He leaned to her and kissed her lips quick but softly.
“Not like that. I mean really kiss me,” she demanded.
Fletcher still looked confused but did as he was told. He placed one hand behind her neck, and she parted her lips as he explored her mouth with his for a awful long time. It was enough to where he thought he might be getting lucky with her after all, and felt it in his groin. He pulled away slowly and tried to gaze at her, but she turned away.
“Hmm,” she said as though she was contemplating something very serious.
“What?” he asked, not understanding what was happening.
“Absolutely nothing,” she stated.
“Nothing?” he asked, with one word.
“Yeah, I felt absolutely nothing.”
“Oh, well thanks, my ego needed that.”
“I don’t mean it that way Fletcher. I think I am in love,” she admitted, to him and wasn’t sure why, other than she just needed someone to talk to and maybe talk her into her senses.
“With who?”
“One of Kay’s friends back in Utah.”
“Who is he?”
“A guy that she works with, his name is Kevin.”
“You’re in love with some hick from Utah?” he asked, not believing that the Peyton Paxton he knew would fall for anything but a famous hot movie star, half her age.
“He is not a hick,” she snapped, defending him. “He is almost perfect,” she said and had the image of him imprinted in her mind.
“You have got to be kidding me,” he stated.
“What Fletch? You don’t think it is possible for me to be in love with someone?” she asked with a bit of an attitude.
“No, I don’t, and with a, nobody to boot.”
“Fuck you Fletcher,” she spat out, and knew that it was the alcohol talking, for one, and two Fletcher seemed to be the only one that she had ever shown her true colors to.
“I’m just saying that Peyton Paxton doesn’t fall in love, and Peyton Paxton, uses men to her advantage. You know as well as I do that I am not lying.”
“You don’t know anything about my love life.”
“I know more than you think. I am in the same business as you, remember? And people talk.”
“People lie,” she demanded, but knew that he did speak the truth. She didn’t fall in love, and she did use men.
“Why do you think you are in love with the guy?”
Peyton got up and got another bottle of wine, and handed it to him to open.
“I don’t know Fletch; this guy is nothing like anyone I have ever been with. He is not a no-body, and he is a good man. He genially cares about people, and I have never been with anyone that wasn’t as stuck up and conceited as me.”
“So what Peyton, you going to move him here? I am sure he doesn’t expect you to move there, I mean, you are the one with all of the money.”
“You’re an arrogant ass. He would never move here, and he has a good job there. He just bought an old school, and is converting it to a boy’s home for troubled teens, so don’t even go there.”
“Go where?”
“Don’t tell me he just wants me for my money.”
“It’s probably true Peyton. Don’t be so naïve.”
“He does not want my money Fletch,” she assured him, taking another gulp of her wine.
She was glad when Fletchers phone rang, and he had to run off to insure that he would be getting laid. She didn’t want his company anymore, and was ready to be alone.
Feeling more than enough from her one and half bottles of wine, Peyton picked up her phone and dialed Kevin.
“I thought you were going to let me know you made it home okay,” Kevin answered after he had been waiting for her call for hours.
“I sent you a text,” she replied.
“I don’t think you did,” he questioned. “I never got a text from you.”
“Hang on l
et me look, I know I did,” she told him. “Sorry, you’re right. It’s in my drafts, I must not have hit set, sued, send,” she replied, trying to get the right word out.
“Are you drunk Ms. Peyton?” he asked, amused by her.
“Most definitely,” she replied, using Alley’s slang vocabulary.
Kevin laughed. “Why are you drunk?”
“I drank too much wine,” she admitted smartly. “Why do you think I am drunk?”
“Are you having a party?”
“Nope, just me. My ex-husband was here, but thank God he left.”
“Does your ex come around often?” he asked in an almost jealous tone.
“It depends on whether or not he is busy working, but I invited him over tonight”
“You invited him over, but now you’re glad that he left?”
“Yeah, I’m not making a lot of sense right now. I invited him over because I didn’t want to be alone, but after about a half an hour of being around him, I was kicking myself in the ass for inviting him. Why aren’t you at the gym? It’s Friday night.”
“I am at the gym. I just walked outside so that I could talk to you.”
“Is Alley and Trevas there?”
“No, Kay said they were locking themselves in the cabin, and wouldn’t see her for a few days. Kay and Don are here though,” he added, and she wished she was there as well.
“How is that going?”
“I think it is going very well, and they seem to be very happy, acting like a couple of teenagers in love.”
Peyton smiled, happy for Kay. “I’m glad,” now if I was just that happy.
“How did the meeting go for the movie?”
“It went good, but we won’t actually start shooting for about five more months.”
“Then you can come back to me for five months,” he said, and wondered if that was stepping over the line, when she got quiet.
“Why don’t you come here Kevin?” she asked.
“I have to work, you don’t.”
“But Kay already told me that you have three weeks’ vacation coming.”
Kevin laughed. “She did, did she?”
“Yes and I really, really miss you,” she said, shaking her head as she said it. What the hell was she doing? She knew this was never going to be anything. Why did she keep tormenting herself?”