Ciao (4 page)

“I think that sounds fun. Count me in.”

When I check with Mollie, she’s ecstatic. “That would be fantastic!” she gushes. “This has been the best day ever, Erin. Really, I feel so hopeful, like there really is life after baby.”

“Of course there is.”

“Anyway, I’ll see if Mom can watch Fern. Can I get back to you?”

Finally it’s set and I tell Blake we girls will meet him at the restaurant at eight. Although I’m not that thrilled about the
Celebrity Blind Date
show in general, I am excited for Blake. I think it’s a big break for him. And I plan to be a good friend and show him my support.

Of course, underneath all this—ironic, considering my heel-dragging history — I’m feeling a little bummed that, in light of this new dating show, Blake and I aren’t making any plans to move into a more committed or exclusive relationship. I know I should be relieved about this status quo, but the truth is I’m not. Go figure.

“I guess I’m kind of like the chauffeur and
chaperone tonight,” Paige says as Mollie gets into the backseat of her car.

“What makes you think you’re the chaperone?” Mollie asks. “Because you girls have dates.”

“It’s not like that,” I protest. “Blake just invited us all as his friends. And Tony’s his friend.”

“That’s right,” Mollie agrees. “Tony and I are definitely not dating. Not yet. Maybe not ever.”

“Okay. Just five friends having dinner.” Paige nods as if this concept is much more appealing.

But we get to the restaurant, and the parking valet is just pulling away when we spot Benjamin Kross getting out of his car. “What is he doing here?” Paige hisses at me.

“I have no idea.”

“Hello, ladies,” Ben says. “Blake probably didn’t get a chance to warn you I was crashing the party tonight. I hope no one minds.” He’s looking directly at Paige and she looks like she’d like to hit someone. Hopefully not me.

And then, just like that, she recovers. “Hello, Benjamin. I didn’t expect to see you tonight.”

“Do you mind?” he asks in a way that suggests he really does care.

She shrugs, adjusts her purse, and makes a stiff smile. “It’s a free country.”

“Before we go inside,” he says quietly, glancing over his shoulder as if he expects someone to pounce on him, “I want to say something—to both you and Erin.”

“Go for it.” Paige stands tall, waiting. I’m curious too. Mollie, however, looks slightly starstruck. I remember she’s always been a
Malibu Beach
fan and hasn’t ever met Ben in person.

“First of all, I want to apologize to both of you for how I acted in France. I know I was a jerk, and I drank too much, and I’m really sorry.”

I blink then stare at him. Is this really Benjamin Kross? Or is it his nice twin brother?

“I accept your apology,” Paige says.

“Me too,” I add.

“Thank you.” He tips his head. “I think I need more good influences in my life.”

Paige gives me a quick sideways look, like she’s feeling lost too.

“And I want to congratulate you on your engagement,” he says to Paige. “Dylan is one lucky guy.” “Thank you,” she says stiffly.

“This is my good friend, Mollie Tyson,” I say to him, for lack of anything else, and hoping to redirect the subject.

“Nice to meet you, Mollie,” he says as he opens the door for us. “Shall we go inside?”

Paige and I exchange curious glances as we head into the restaurant. Before long Blake joins us, greeting us all with hugs and then leading us to our table. “Is Paige okay with Ben being here?” he whispers in my ear as he helps me with my chair. I simply nod and smile.

“This is awesome.” Blake grins from the head of the table. “I’m so happy you all could come for my little celebration.” He picks up his water glass, holding it up in a toast. “Here’s to Ben for successfully pitching this idea. Kudos, man!”

Everyone lifts their glasses, then Ben points to Blake. “You guys probably know that Blake had a lot to do with this idea.”

“Really?” I look from Ben to Blake. “I thought this was your idea, Ben.”

“We kind of hatched it together,” Ben tells me. “But I never would’ve come up with it without Blake’s help. Did he tell you how we landed on it?”

“No.” I shake my head. “I’d like to hear.”

Ben points to me. “It was partly your fault, Erin.”

I blink. “My fault?”

Ben nods. “Yes. When you dumped Blake—”

“Wait a minute,” I interrupt. “I dumped Blake? That sounds a little harsh.”

Blake has a sheepish grin. “Well, we sort of parted ways there for a while,” he says. “It kinda felt like I was dumped when you went to the Bahamas.”

“Oh, yeah,” Ben looks at Paige. “How was the Bahamas?”

She smiles. “Well, other than a little hurricane … okay.”

“I saw photos of you and Dylan there. Looked like you guys were having a good time,” Ben says to her. “Still being relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi?”

Suddenly I’m worried. What if Ben also saw photos of
Dylan and Eliza in the Bahamas? So far I haven’t heard of any surfacing, but you never know. And if anyone would pick up on something skanky like that, it would probably be Ben. Or at least the “old” Ben. I’m not too sure about this new nice guy.

Fortunately, we get distracted as the waiter comes and starts taking our orders. As soon as he finishes, I turn back to Blake. “Now about your TV show,” I say quickly, hoping to keep the topic away from the Bahamas and Dylan and Eliza. “I want to know what it has to do with me.”

Blake laughs nervously. “Well, I was bummed about breaking up with you,” he says with a sad expression. “So I told Ben I needed to do something to forget you.”

“And I set Blake up on a blind date,” Ben announces. “A blind date from—”

“You went on a blind date?” I demand. “Seriously? A blind date?”

“It was terrible,” Blake assures me. “And besides, I thought we were done, Erin. I was hurting.”

I nod. “Yeah, I understand. I’m just surprised, that’s all.” Okay, maybe I’m a little hurt too. But what did I expect? Blake’s right; we weren’t together. He had every right to go out with someone else.

“It was the worst night,” Blake tells me. He goes on about how this girl, one of the lesser-known girls from
Malibu Beach,
was more into Ben than Blake, and how she assumed she was going out with Ben. “And she was mad right from the start, but she was trying to hide it. At first, anyway. But as the evening wore on she stopped making any effort to hide her disappointment. I kept trying to be nice, thinking I’d win her over or at least make it a little less of a disaster, but it wasn’t working.
Then finally, just before dessert, she complained about one last thing and I got totally fed up.”

“Blake walked out and left her with the check,” Ben says, stifling his laughter. We’re all laughing too.

Blake looks embarrassed. “I didn’t really mean to do that, but she was so obnoxious and rude, I couldn’t take any more.”

“Plus, she could afford it,” Ben assures us over our laughter.

“So I got to thinking how that would be pretty funny for a reality show,” Blake explains. “I told Ben about it and we started brainstorming. The next thing I knew, Ben was telling his producer about it.”

“And my producer pitched it to a couple of networks. We actually had a little bidding war last week.” Ben gives Blake a high five. “Way to go, man!”

Our food comes and I’m surprised at what a good time the six of us are having. Even Mollie and Tony are getting into the swing of things. And Ben is being incredibly sweet and nice. Really, it’s kind of like a happy
Twilight Zone.

“I think everyone at this table should be on the show at least once,” Blake tells us. “Just for laughs.”

“But Paige is engaged,” Ben says. “That wouldn’t be right.”

She nods and takes a sip of her water.

“Okay, Paige is off the hook, but Tony and Mollie, you guys could go out on a blind date with someone else—just for fun. Seriously, going on a blind date is kind of like a wakeup call.”

“Shows you how desperate you are?” Ben asks. “Or how much better someone else is for you.” Blake looks at me.

“So you’d want me to be on your show?” I ask. “Go on a blind date with some guy I’ve never met?”

Blake looks unsure.

“Why not?” Ben asks me. “It might make you appreciate good old Blake even more.”

I smile at Blake. “I appreciate him just fine now.”

“Hey, maybe we could do some kind of combination with your show and ours,” Ben says to Paige. “Like you could do a fashion commentary or suggest some style tips or something.”

Paige’s eyes light up. “That could be fun. Maybe we could do minimakeovers of some of your dates before they go out.”

Suddenly we’re discussing all the possibilities and I’m wondering if perhaps this was Ben’s angle all along. Was he trying to make a connection to our show to help boost his? Although I suppose, really, with
Malibu Beach
and the other things he’s worked on, he has enough connections without us. I’m probably just being cynical.

Finally our little celebration is drawing to an end. We all thank Blake, who insists on picking up the bill. I know it will cost a couple weeks’ hard labor as “lawn boy,” but he doesn’t seem to mind. I sure hope this new show doesn’t go bust on him before it even launches. But that, I remind myself, is not my problem.

We give the parking valet our tickets and go outside, where it’s still hot and balmy, to wait for our cars. Suddenly we’re surrounded by cameras and paparazzi. Everyone does their best to field questions, and Ben even mentions that we’re celebrating a new reality show.

“Can you tell us the name of the show?” someone calls out.

“Not yet.” Ben puts his forefinger to his lips. “But soon.”

“And are all of you involved in it?” calls out another one.

“We’re all friends,” Paige tells him. “And friends help out friends.”

“Is it true that your engagement with Dylan Marceau is going through a rough spell?” a guy yells from the back of the group.

Paige momentarily looks like the proverbial deer in the headlights.

“Of course not,” I yell back. “In fact, we’re heading to New York next week and Paige will be with him there.” “That’s right,” Paige chimes in. “Is your wedding date set?”

“Not yet.” Now Paige flashes a big smile and waves her diamond ring at them. “But you’ll be the first to know.” I’m thinking it’s a good thing she put her ring back on tonight. A ring-less finger brings questions in this town.

Paige’s car arrives and we quickly say our good-byes. Most of the paparazzi trail Paige as she gets into the car. She simply smiles and waves, acting like these guys are her best friends. Then they race back to where Benjamin and the guys are waiting for their cars.

“They remind me of parasites,” I mutter as Paige pulls out.

“That’s a bit harsh,” she tells me.

“Yes, considering they’re giving you free publicity,” Mollie adds. Then she giggles. “In fact, I rather enjoyed it.”

“You would,” I laugh. “Not exactly like changing diapers or cleaning spit-up, is it?”

“Speaking of babies, it’s feeding time.” Mollie moans. “I’m leaking.”

“Leaking?” Paige looks alarmed.

“She breastfeeds the baby,” I explain.

“Oh, too much information.” Paige makes a disgusted face.

“Hey, it’s perfectly normal,” I say.

“Yeah, you might be a mother someday,” Mollie shoots back.

“I don’t know.” Paige shakes her head. “I don’t think so.” “Why not?” I ask her.

“Motherhood just sounds so demanding … and
messy.”
Mollie snickers. “Well … that’s true. It is.” “Maybe someday,” Paige says thoughtfully. “When I’m, like, forty.”

“Yeah, that’s not a bad plan,” Mollie agrees. “I’m the last person to encourage anyone to rush into it.”

After we drop Mollie off, I ask Paige if she was really okay having Ben there tonight. “I swear I had no idea he was coming,” I tell her.

“I was shocked too,” she admits. “But it was okay. I really think maybe he’s changing.”

“It sure seemed like it. I’ve never seen him be so nice.”

“And you noticed he didn’t drink a drop.”

“Yeah. He seemed totally sober. He’s pretty cool when he’s sober.”

“He told me that he’s been going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.”

“Seriously? AA?” “That’s what he said.” “Wow. That’s cool.”

“I’m a little worried about the photos though.” “Photos?”

“I’m sure the paparazzi got some shots of me with Ben— or they’ll PhotoShop them to make them look like I’m with Ben.”

“Oh? You mean you’re worried about Dylan?”

“I don’t really care what Dylan thinks,” she huffs. “In a
way he deserves to be concerned. I’m more worried about my own reputation, Erin. I don’t want to look like I’m cheating on my fiancée.”

“But you weren’t.”

“I know that. And you know that.”

“I know, but the rest of the world—at least the gullible ones—will believe what they see in the tabloids.” I shake my head. “It’s so unfair.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Do you think it was odd that there were so many paparazzi there?” I ask tentatively. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, it was pretty convenient for Ben to spotlight the upcoming reality show. Do you think he could’ve set it up?”

“Oh, no, I don’t think so. It’s pretty normal for the paparazzi to roam the city on a Saturday night. I’m guessing someone at the restaurant called and tipped them. It must’ve been a slow night … or else it’s just early. No, Erin, I don’t think Ben planned that.”

“What about his invitation to include us in his show?” I can’t help being skeptical — it’s who I am. “Do you think that was his reason for crashing the dinner tonight? Just to make a publicity connection with us?”

“You are the little cynic, aren’t you?”

“Hey, you said yourself you thought Ben might’ve been using Blake to get to you. Remember? Well, tonight could have that appearance—to a cynic anyway.”

She snickers. “Maybe so. But Ben was quick to excuse me from their show, thanks to my so-called engagement.”

“So-called or called-off?”

She laughs in a sad way. “I guess I’ll have to figure that out
next week.” She glances my way. “And thanks for fielding that question for me. I really want to keep the whole thing under wraps—until I’m ready anyway.”

“Do you think Eliza might say something?”

“Dylan promised me she’ll keep her mouth shut.”

“How can Dylan deliver on that?”

“Good question. Let’s just say he’s very motivated.”

I lean back and sigh. “I had fun tonight.”

“Me too.”

I’m thinking, all in all, that it’s been a very good day. And maybe I’m okay with Blake’s involvement in the reality show. Not that it matters what I think. But, really, what could it hurt?