Friends With Multiple Benefits (19 page)

"You know, that probably is a great idea. Everyone is doing TV now. You have so much more freedom."

"Yeah."

"Look, short of slipping me the date rape drug, there is no way she's going to steal me away from you. For Christ's sake, I was naked in the shower with her and still nothing happened."

She cringed. "Why'd you have to bring that up?"

"I'm sorry. It's just that I love you and I would never do anything to hurt you. You trust me don't you?"

"I don't know. Have you seen my ass? If it gets any bigger, I think I might leave myself."

"What?" He looked at her confused.

"
Uggh
, you know what I'm saying."

Jillian's phone chimed on the dresser. She sighed then picked it up. After glancing at the screen, she rolled her eyes. "It's a text from Dan."

"What's it say?"

Jillian read it out loud, "There's a meeting tomorrow with the executives from the network and I want you to be there. Everyone's in town for the premiere so they decided to do it here."

She spoke slowly dictating the words as she
typed, "I'll
never agree to these terms so there is no reason to meet."

She wore a smug look as she waited for a reply. When it came, she read it out loud, "Look, just hear what they have to say. Trust me you'll regret it if you don't. I'll send a car for you at ten. Just be in it. That's all you have to do."

She looked to Brian and he returned a sympathetic shrug. Her phone chimed, she glanced at the screen then returned her attention to Brian rolling her eyes. "Jillian, please."

Brian said, "Maybe you should just go."

She sighed then after a moment typed as she spoke, "Okay, I'll go."

Seconds later the phone chimed again and after a few seconds of reading it, she frowned.

"What did he write?"

She made a face and spoke in a whiny parental voice, "Promise me you won't say the word cunt at the meeting. Please don't call anyone a cunt."

With a determined expression, she typed as she spoke, "I can't promise that. When someone is acting
cunty
sometimes
the word just comes out."

Grinning, she gave her husband a look.

The phone chimed and she chuckled while she replied, "Yes, Dan, I'll try." After a deep breath, she tossed the phone on the mattress. "Now, where were we?"

"I was just starting to rub your calves."

"That's right." Smiling, she slid down a bit and relaxed into her pillow.

"Do you want me to go with you tomorrow?"

She looked at him contemplating for a moment before shaking her head. "No, I don't think so. It's probably better that I go alone."

"Yeah, maybe." His eyes brightened. "Plus I almost forgot that I have Scarlet Johansen coming over at eleven for a match."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, she wants to work on her backhand."

"Her backhand huh?" She giggled then pushed her foot into his chest while wearing a mock angry look.

"Sorry. I couldn't resist."

In a conference room at a luxury hotel, Jillian sat with her agent Dan, and Amanda Jo's agent Andrew, along with
Gary,
an executive from the network. In the center of
the large
table was a delightful selection of bagels and mini muffins. Everyone sipped coffee as they waited for the arrival of
the superstar.

Andrew said, "Sorry about that. She'll be here any minute."

Jillian rolled her eyes and grabbed a blueberry muffin.

Gary commented, "The movie is tracking phenomenally."

Andrew said, "Knock on wood, but it can't miss."

Jillian returned a polite smile as everyone else shared a wide-eyed nod.

Suddenly Amanda burst into the room wearing a short, tight skirt and form-fitting blouse. "Sorry, I'm late. Traffic was a nightmare."

Andrew jumped to his feet and pulled a chair out for his client as the other men stood as well. She sat and everyone returned to their seats. "Jillian, so nice to see you again."

"Amanda," Jillian replied halfheartedly.

Amanda said, "I can't tell you how many wonderful texts and emails I received last night from people who enjoyed the premiere."

"That's nice," Jillian said with as much sincerity as she could muster.

"So, I'm just going to start." Gary rubbed his hands together. "Look, we want to fast track this and go into production in ninety days. We want to start filming early this fall."

"Ninety days," Jillian repeated. "
Wow
that is fast.
That's um
—"

"We want to
premiere
the first episode in November the same week the film comes out on DVD," Gary said.

Dan added, "Jillian, they want you to executive produce."

Jillian's head was spinning. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the switch from film to television and—"

"We have some ideas for how to make the transition work," Gary said.

Jillian shook her head, frowning. "That's fine, but I really just agreed to take this meeting as a courtesy. You see there are—"

"Jillian, I think you'll be very pleased with the contract," Gary interrupted as he slid a document in front of her. "Very pleased."

"I um…" She glanced at the first page and her eyes bugged out of her head. "This can't be right. Five million for the rights to the series."

Shrugging, Gary waved his hand in the air. "That's just an initial payment. Look at the deferred payments on page two."

Jillian flipped the page and her heart rate increased. "I didn't mean five million wasn't enough I meant, um—"

"Oh." Gary chuckled. "Sorry, I'm used to negotiating with actresses." He glanced to Amanda. "No
offense
."

Amanda chuckled. "Hey, watch yourself, Gary."

"I don't know," Jillian began. "I was really hoping to take a little time off after I have the babies."

"And that's fine. You can be involved as much or as little initially as you feel comfortable with," Gary spoke with sincerity. "We just want to get production moving."

"Okay." Jillian rubbed her forehead and exhaled a long, slow breath.

The executive gave her a bright smile. "Look, we're all excited about Amanda Jo's return to the small screen and we think this deal lets you know exactly how excited we are."

"Uh-huh."

"We've been after her for a decade and when the right project comes along you just have to go after it."

Amanda said, "It's going to be huge. I can feel it."

"But, um…" Jillian paused then she looked to the superstar. "Dan told me you want my husband to work with you again for the tennis scenes."

"As you know I found his help invaluable when we shot the film."

"But tennis doesn't play as large a part in the rest of the story. So, I don't understand why you need him."

"There's a little bit more of those scenes in the second book than you probably remember and we want to focus more on the sports aspects of the narrative, anyway," Gary began. "We really think it works well."

Dan commented, "They also plan to add some of the material from the first book that didn't make it into the film."

"Flashbacks?" Jillian asked.

"Exactly," Andrew replied.

"Brian has a job running his tennis club and I'm going to need him at home with the babies especially if I'm producing the show."

"And we will certainly work around his schedule. Amanda doesn't think she'll need him any more than what…" Andrew looked to his
client, "…
three hours a week?"

"That's right," Amanda began. "As I mentioned during my interview on the red carpet, I couldn't have done the movie without him. I feel the same way about the series."

Gazing at the document, she flipped
a page
and paused a moment reading before returning her attention to Gary. "So it's really four entire seasons guaranteed."

Gary said, "Like I said
we're
committed."

"Can I have some time to think about it?"

"Sure, take the rest of the week," Gary began. "And just so you know, you'll have access to the corporate jets while you're working for the network. You'll never have to fly commercial again."

"Really, wow,
that's um
—"

"Plus we have a private island off St. John that you can use." Gary put his hand over hers. "Look, Jillian we're excited about this project and we really want you to be a part of our corporate family."

Jillian replied, "Thank you, Mr. Whitmore."

"Call me Gary."

"Gary."

"Would you mind giving us a minute?" Amanda motioned to the door. "I'd like to have a word with Jillian."

"Absolutely." Gary rose from his seat. The men shuffled from the room and left Jillian leafing through the contract and daydreaming.

Amanda began, "Look, Jillian. I know we didn't get off on the right foot and I apologize for that whole incident at the club. I wasn't myself."

"Um, yeah, what was that?"

"Jared and I had just broken up and I was going through a rough time. You know, in Miami… alone and just feeling… I don't know." Shaking her head, Amanda shot her a scatterbrained look. "Uggh… all of that is behind me now."

"Okay," Jillian replied, not giving anything away.

"If it makes you feel any better, Jared and I are back together and we're getting married next month."

"Oh,
that's um
… congratulations."

"We were meant to be together. I promise that I just want to make the best show that we can make. I don't have any designs on your husband. I'm in love with Jared and we could not be happier." Amanda reached out and placed her hand over Jillian's.

Jillian's eyes widened and she took Amanda's fingers between her hands. "Your skin is so soft. What do you use?"

"Oh, it's this lotion." Pulling her hand back, Amanda examined her skin, smiling. "You can't get it here. I have it shipped from Italy."

"I'd love the name of the lotion."

The superstar said, "I'll have my people send you a case."

"Really, that would be great."

"I think this could be a great opportunity for both of us. Who knows, maybe we could even be friends."

After a
moment,
Jillian surrendered a smile. "I'd like that."

During the car ride home, Jillian sat back reading the contract wearing a happy expression. Then when her smile morphed into a frown, she tossed the document down on the seat next to her. Then she gazed out the window shaking her head and grumbling under her breath. A few minutes later, she picked the document
back up
, re-read a few key paragraphs and her smile slowly returned.

When she arrived home, she filled Brian in on all the
details
but left out any mention of the second thoughts she was having in the limo. They reviewed the generous contract together including the details of his five thousand dollar a week consulting fee. Jillian emailed a copy to her attorney and the next day she received a case of Amanda's special Italian lotion along with a corporate packet of information on all the perks associated with the being a member of the network's 'family'.

After applying the imported lotion to her hands and marveling at the soft luxuriousness of her skin, she rubbed some on the stretch marks on her stomach and lay in bed weighing the pros and cons of agreeing to the deal. Her attorney had a conference call with her and the network's lawyers the next morning where a couple minor issues were ironed out. Then she decided to sleep on it one more day before making a final decision.

Even before Jillian woke the next morning to discover her stretch marks were noticeably diminished, she was already on board. It was a deal she could not refuse—a project that could set her and her family up for life.

The movie opened to great success and was number one at the box office for an entire month. And although it didn't break the record, it settled in at number two on the list of the
highest-grossing
R-rated comedies of all time. As the weeks went by, Jillian's belly grew while, thanks to Amanda Jo's miracle cream, her stretch marks did not. They actually faded. The television show pre-production was in full swing and Jillian's responsibilities for it, as promised, were kept at a minimum. Mainly she had
final
say in casting and was reviewing the pilot script with the writing team she helped select. Since her pregnancy was a high-risk one, she had begun weekly appointments with her obstetrician to be sure there were no issues.

On March
24,
Jillian was a little more than
thirty-seven
weeks pregnant and her twin-filled belly was as big as a house. She woke, rolled over uncomfortably to find Brian gone, and sat against the headboard. Yawning, she ran her hands over her stomach and felt one of the
babies
kick.