Page 17

6
Nova
This is unusually strange but good. Much better than I expected. In truth, I expected Riley to send me packing with my food so he could eat alone.
Somehow we ended up dining together in his suite and having a good time.
I didn’t plan to eat dinner with Riley. I used him as an excuse to leave the dinner party. I knew if I told Gigi I was getting food for Riley and me, she wouldn’t argue or demand I stay. I never even had to greet the guests. The buffet room is around the corner from the dining hall. I slipped in and out, with only Gigi and Inez catching me.
Then I came here with no plan other than a tray full of pasta dishes and the hope that Riley would like one of them. The rest fell into place. It was easy, like him. He’s easygoing, unless he’s been faking enjoying himself this whole time. But I don’t think that’s the case. He seems genuine. It’s a wonderful change from what I’m used to.
I meant it when I told him I like him. I do. He’s pleasing to the eyes and has a casual way about him that is so nice compared to the moodiness Justice used to put out. If the pop star wasn’t happy, no one could be.
“Are you okay?” Riley asks with concern. “You’re frowning.”
“I am?”Geez.I shake my head. “I was thinking about—you know what? I don’t want to talk about him. He doesn’t deserve my attention. Not anymore.”
He nods. “Agreed.”
I finish the last of my wine and pour another glass. “More?” I hold the bottle up to Riley.
“Thank you.”
I fill his glass and put the bottle on the table. “I’m sorry I hijacked your evening.”
“You didn’t. You saved me from having to be social.”
I giggle and sip more wine, my head growing light and fuzzy. “We have that in common.”
“You’re not here to be social?” He sounds hopeful.
Huh? “I’m hiding from the world.” I drink more. “If…when the social media buzz around me dies down, I’ll return to the public eye but until then I’m on lockdown.”
He studies me with those navy eyes. “It must be hard being in the limelight.”
“But I’m not.” I sip more wine and hiccup. “I’m not famous, only by association. I’ve done nothing to earn a title for myself.”
“Do you want to be famous for yourself?” He sits back and swirls his wine before taking a sip.
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind if I were recognized for something I did, I guess. I’m confused.”
He doesn’t add his two cents or start talking about himself like I’m used to; he just listens and sips his wine as if he’s waiting for me to say more.
And because I’m relaxed, if not a little buzzed, I go on. “My mom wanted to raise me in as normal a way as possible—well, her version of normal. I lived here when I was in elementary school because she was pursuing her modeling career and traveling all the time. My dad tried to get custody of me, but my mom swore it was to get child support and money from her. Gigi thought so too. I didn’t get to know him while I was growing up. Mom and Gigi held all the cards because they had all the money and power. When my mom married my stepdad Gerard, she moved us to Connecticut to give me a normal life.” I make air quotes with the wordnormal. “There isn’t anything normal about Connecticut. The kids are just as rich there, but their families are either in finance, law, own private businesses, or have old family money. They’re snotty toward West Coasters, who make money off fame. It’s not like we suffered, either. I spent my middle and high school years in a beautiful colonial mansion in Greenwich. But I didn’t feel like moving back to California after I graduated.”
I pause to sip wine.
Riley’s sole focus is on me. “Because?”
He wants to know more? I thought I was rambling and boring him. So strange but nice. The wined-up version of me wants to keep talking and bare my soul, so to speak. I guess that’s why I say, “Because I got accepted into fashion design school and because of my dad. He’d moved to the East Coast to be closer to me. Once I was eighteen, my mom couldn’t stop me from seeing him. He’d always written me letters and sent me Christmas and birthday gifts, but now he wanted to get to know me. My mom and Gigi were against it, of course. Well, Gigi said I should be careful and keep my guard up so I don’t get hurt. My mom still thought of my dad as beneath her.”
“How did your mom meet him?”
“They were both trying to break into the acting world. Neither made it beyond commercials and B movies. They never married. Mom got pregnant and blamed my dad, but she kept me, so that was a win.” I pause to chug some wine. “They broke up before I was born. Dad continued his pursuit as an actor for a few more years, then left the industry altogether, while Mom switched to modeling. I don’t know if they ever had anything in common other than acting.”
“Hmm.”
He looks so casually cool reclined in his chair, sipping his wine with old-school manners.