Go Around, page 30
“I love his priorities.”
Ellie chuckles. “Same.”
“Shit. If I move, we’ll to have to drop by every week to put out Mrs. Obermeier’s trash. Or maybe we can hire someone to do it for her. And you’ll have to record some piano playing on a CD or something so she doesn’t miss you. Goddammit, I’ll lose my weekly sweet treats. Will you bake for me?”
She smiles indulgently. “We can do all of that. And yes, I’ll bake for you.”
“Phew.” I squirm against the pillows. “So what happens now? Is everything just over?”
“Almost. I still have to sit down properly and talk to the detectives.” She exhales a sigh. “And go over everything with the FBI just to tie up loose ends. But given there’s no real threat from the Hayes Horde because he’s…” Elise wavers to a stop and I hear the uncertainty in her voice.
“Dead,” I finish for her. “He’s dead and he’s never going to hurt you.” I move my hand, fumbling for her and am relieved when her fingers curl into mine. “It’s okay, Ellie. I know what I did and I would do it again without a moment’s thought in the same situation.”
Her voice is tight. “I know you would. I just hope you never have to do anything like this for me ever again.”
“Me either.” I try a smile. “And just think, if we can come out of this okay, then I feel like everything will be smooth flying from now on. This is an anomaly, Ellie. Sure, there might be a few things that pop up, but it’ll be nothing compared to this.”
“You’re right.” She exhales. “And no matter what happens, we’ll be flying together.”
Epilogue
I study my reflection in the full-length dressing room mirror. “Shouldn’t I be in a dress?”
Elise steps in behind me, resting her hands on my shoulders. “You should be in whatever you want, darling.”
“I just don’t want people to look at us as a couple and think we’re conforming to the heteronormative ideal of dress and suit when we appear at official filmy things together.”
Ellie’s hands move around to smooth down my lapels. “I think the only thing people are going to think when they look at us is how smoking hot you look in a suit and tie with those heels.”
From behind us, Elise’s stylist’s sigh is the perfect mix of boredom and exasperation. I empathize. I have no idea how Ellie does this day in and day out. Smiling at the stylist, I offer a helpless, “Sorry. New to all this.”
“I can tell,” is the droll reply.
Ellie shoots her a look and the stylist offers a genuine, “Sorry.”
I run my hands down the front of the suit jacket. “Can’t we just get both options and I can decide if I’m feeling suit or dress the day of the award ceremony?”
“No!” Elise and the stylist blurt out at the same time.
“Whoa, okay then. Sorry.”
Ellie’s smile is apologetic as she squeezes my hand. “I did warn you about how preplanned this stuff was. Deviation is unacceptable.”
Turning sideways, I look myself up and down. My hairdresser is a marvel and the scar in my hairline is completely hidden. The one on my face, not so much, but…makeup. Ellie is studying me in the mirror and I find her eyes, which soften instantly as we make eye contact. I smile. “Just checking—will we have to do this all over again for your role in Alone? Like…for Cannes and other film festivals and then when you’re nominated for an Oscar and every other award possible for that performance? Like, repeatedly?”
“Mhmm.” She bounces her eyebrows and I know that she’s trying to say she knows it’s bizarre and annoying but this is how it is, without offending the stylist whose job is to make us ceremony-ready.
“Great,” I breathe. “So every few months I’m going to have to decide what I’ll feel like wearing at an event weeks in the future.”
“Pretty much. Speaking of, are we going to spend the next six months with you trying to decide if you want a suit or dress for our wedding?”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Of course not. I already know.”
“And?”
“And nothing,” I answer. “You’ll find out when I meet you at the altar.”
The stylist interjects, “Please do not pick a wedding outfit without input. Either of you. If you want any chance of selling those photos to pay for your honeymoon, then all the publications need to know what they’re buying.”
Selling wedding photos. Sometimes I forget what a weird world my fiancée inhabits. And then someone says something like that and reminds me. Elise grins, first at me, then at the stylist. “Maybe we’ll just sneak off to Vegas in disguise.”
The stylist sighs. “Please don’t do that either, for my sake. I’m desperate to style a wedding between two women. You’re both so gorgeous you could go whatever way you wanted to and get away with it. Dual dresses, dual tuxes, one tux and one dress.”
“Thanks,” I murmur. “I think.” I turn back to the mirror. “I guess this is fine. I look okay and I feel okay, so if this is what you want, Ellie?”
“I just want you to be comfortable.”
The stylist gathers her things. “I’ll give you both a few minutes to argue about it. Let me know when you’ve made a decision.”
The moment the door’s closed, Ellie turns to me. “I mean it, wear whatever makes you comfortable.” With a laugh she adds, “From the approved lists of outfits that is. Everything at premieres is so weird and hectic and I really do just want you to feel good in your skin.”
“How hard can it be? I’ve watched YouTube videos of you at premieres. If you can do it then I’m sure I’ll manage to look hot and confident and charming and witty and—”
She cuts me off with a firm kiss. “Smartass.” Elise strokes my cheek, reaching up to push my hair from my eyes. Her thumb brushes along the scar that runs from the edge of my left eyebrow and disappears into my hair. Her light touch on the sensitive skin always makes me shudder, yet she still does it, almost as if reminding herself, reassuring herself that despite the scar I’m still here. “A wedding,” she whispers. “Every now and then I forget about it and then it just jumps into my consciousness as a great big bundle of excitement.”
“Yes, Ellie. Our wedding.” I take her hands and hold them against my chest. “It’s going to be amazing. Especially now that Nicola has realized you’re just a normal person, so she won’t be gaga during the ceremony.”
A thought pings into my head and I try to tamp down my manic grin. “Do you remember when you told me you’d be there to play piano at my wedding?” I unbutton the tailored suit jacket and hang it up. “So…will you?”
She laughs, long and loud. “I did say that. And sure, why not. But only if you’ll duet with me.”
“Are we playing ‘Chopsticks,’ or ‘Heart and Soul’?”
Elise kisses me. “I don’t care. The only thing that matters is that we’re doing it together.”
“Yes,” I drawl. “That is the exact definition of a duet.”
“You really are a smartass. Can’t you just let me have the last loving, emotional word?”
“Fine. Sorry.” When she doesn’t say anything, I make a come-on gesture. “Gimme this last word of yours.”
Ellie leans close and after a light kiss, murmurs against my ear. “Ladies, this is your captain speaking. Thank you for your patience and your bravery during that bumpy period. I’d just like to let you know that we’ve had a successful go-around and it’ll be nothing but clear skies and smooth travels from now on.”
“Nice one. That’s a good last word. Maybe not what I would have said, but it was pretty good. Eight out of ten.”
Ellie rolls her eyes. “What would you have said?”
I grin. “Not sure. Probably something like, uhhh…” I lean in, letting our lips brush softly. “Ladies…we’ve arrived.”
Bella Books, Inc.
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E. J. Noyes, Go Around
