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“I’m going to have a shower, then bed. Do you want to join?”
She waved her hands over the sheets, “I’m already in bed. You can clean up without me.”
“You don’t want to come help me soothe my ego?”
“No,” she said flatly to his burst of laughter.
“Fine! But I will be extra grumpy tomorrow.”
He wasn’t, though. In fact, Rhiannon rose to find him already in his gym, running on the treadmill and panting to Roland via Bluetooth earbuds about his next voice gig. He wanted a video game because that seemed like the easiest Grammy grab. When he saw her, he waved and mimedfive-more-minutesat her, then joined her for a green juice in the kitchen before driving her to work, talking non stop about how he planned to EGOT.
The rest of the week wasn’t perfect, but it also wasn’t so bad. Jill's name wasn't mentioned in her presence, and Kline made every effort to be available when Rhiannon was home. Roland was ever present, however, either in person or on the phone, and Kline was being called out almost every night to be 'seen.' Rhiannon went with him a couple of times, but she just couldn't keep it up and not drag her ass at work the next day. By Thursday, she was drained and weary of the whole mess.
The press was so used to Rhiannon being at Kline's, there were only two stray paparazzi hanging around her neighborhood. She was so used to them being at Kline's, too, that she just ignored them, pulled her mail from the box, then went inside and bolted the door. Kline had gone to pick up Jack from the airport, so she'd gone home for a night. Best to let them settle in, both she and Kline agreed. She fixed a cup of coffee, then started going through her mail, pulling out her subscriptions to US Weekly and People with a sudden morbid interest in whether or not she was in them. Laughing darkly to herself, she remembered when she'd enjoyed the mindless entertainment of reading about the stars. She hadn’t dared look at DeuxMoi for days.
The covers of both magazines caught her cold, though. She'd been expecting to see her pixilated parts, not Kline and Jill smiling brightly. "Is It Love?" US Weekly asked across a still shot of the couple walking in Central Park. The sidebar of People had another picture from the same scene, this time of Kline kissing Jill's forehead. "Love Story: A Knight rescues his princess. But what happens next?"
Rhiannon couldn't help herself. She flipped through the magazine until she found the article. On a page and a quarter, there was a blown up shot of the picture from the cover. Inset were three more. One was a picture of the couple from years back. They were hugged up to each other, heads close, eyes sparkling, Kline in smudged eye liner mugging for the camera, Jill gazing up at him. The next was from the steps of the courthouse and showed Jill folded into Kline's arms, her face hidden in his shoulder. Finally, a picture of them backstage at Colbert, Jill looking tired, but smiling with Kline's arm around her shoulders.
"Parker and Scott canoodling their way through Central Park," read the first caption, followed by, "Young love: Parker and Scott shared digs for two years before he moved to LA to star in Knock Three Times," "Knight to the rescue. Scott consoles Parker after a bitter divorce hearing," and "'He's her strength,' said a source close to Parker. 'There's just this undeniable something between them. The chemistry is overwhelming.'"
Biting her lips together, Rhiannon started to read. The first part of the article was filler, giving Kline's and Jill's ages, industry backgrounds and whatnot before getting to the meat. "The couple met at a party thrown by costume designer, August Hall. Parker, just eighteen at the time, was dating the host. Scott, a cosmopolitan twenty, was dating a model. But they met and something clicked. In spite of her notoriously controlling stage mother's protests, Parker started seeing Scott right away. By the end of that year, they were living together, very much in love." Rhiannon blanched and skimmed down to a quote that caught her attention as her heart started to pound. "They looked very comfortable. Very much in love. He was incredibly tender with her, and she was just completely his."
"So what went wrong?" The article asked. "'Kline got the role on Knock Three Times and he felt like he couldn't turn it down. But Jill had a thriving career on Broadway,' a source close to Scott said, 'He didn't feel like he could ask her to go and give up her career. His intention had always been to get established, then work out the distance, but they both started seeing other people and things just melted away.' Not to say that the feelings were completely gone.
"Parker was very quietly wed to Broadway producer Gary Grissom three years ago. While their marriage was kept a close secret, their divorce played out with the very public display of Grissom's infidelities. After facing down both Grissom and his pregnant mistress (society celebutante, Carlie Ship), Scott hurried to her side in a show of support. They spent the next few days in close quarters, only emerging to make Scott's appearances on the Stephen Colbert and Today shows.
"Where Scott had been there for her after a public humiliation, Parker stood by her man with an impressive show of solidarity when he was faced with the pictorial scandal of what may go down in history as the rowdiest romp this side of Pamela and Tommy Lee."
Rhiannon flipped the page quickly, tearing it as she did. "So, what's next for the reunited lovebirds? Love scenes for one. Scott has just signed on to play opposite Parker in Devil's Party after the news that Theo James dropped out of the role due to scheduling conflicts. Parker is reprising her Tony-winning turn as a spurned lover gone insane. There were some hot scenes on the boards, but sources say we can expect things to heat up even more so on the silver screen. Maybe those pictures will only be a fleeting memory."
An old candid picture of the couple kissing was followed by another that showed Kline's lips meeting hers as he leaned into a limo. "Then and now," the captions read. "Left, Parker and Scott at her nineteenth birthday party. Right, Parker dropping Scott at the airport last week."
"But what about the other ladies in Scott's life? Kara Viceroy, his costar in Knight, has admitted to a short affair, but her reps say they haven't seen one another since wrapping the film. She has been in Milan working on a new title due out in December and seeing current costar Colin Farrell. Rhiannon Charles, a writer on the popular, Emmy winning series, Simon Says, is another story.”
This was followed by one of her pixilated poses and a shot of her with Kline from the sushi place in LA. She was unhappily surprised at how slouchy she looked. The outfit had looked very nice on her, but somehow, the way it photographed it just looked wrong. Her hair looked like a birds nest. She sighed and kept reading.
"Scott told Savannah Guthrie that Charles was the woman he was seeing back home, and that Parker was just a good friend, but sources close to Scott say otherwise. 'He's trying to do the right thing by Rhiannon. You know, sticking around until the photo thing blows over. He likes her and thinks she's a great girl, but there's just no denying the chemistry between him and Jill. He and Rhiannon haven't known each other long, so they both knew it was just a fling. He and Jill have a history that will take them a long way.'
“Scott's history is coming into play, though. His ex-wife, Nina Scott, has filed for primary custody of the couple's son Kline, Jr., citing Scott's 'revolving door' lifestyle as reason. It may be a tough battle ahead, but a friend of Scott's said, 'He'll get through it. And Jill will be there for him. She always is.'"
Rhiannon was finding it hard to breathe, much less keep reading, but she looked down to the bottom of the page where three colored boxes showed pictures of Kara Viceroy, her, and Nina Taylor. Each one had a little biography. Hers read, "Rhiannon Emerson Charles of the wealthy Boston Charles family is described by friends as a loving, free-spirited girl. 'She was devastated about the pictures," her friend said. 'because of what it would mean to her family. She's very natural and doesn’t mind showing her body, but her family is very much old-school. But things happen. She and Kline are still friends.' Thad James, star of Simon Says, refused to comment.”
Rhiannon stared at the magazine, her eyes skimming the copy again, before settling on the schmoozy pictures of the two. She didn't know how to feel first. Part of her mind was trying to remind her that magazines like this always went for the juiciest story, even if they had to make most of it up, but she couldn't look at the pictures and believe that there was nothing to it. The anonymous sources had spoken and once again, she was being set up for a bad fall. She didn't want to fight with Kline anymore, but she knew if she brought it up, he'd explain it away, and somehow, she'd believe him because she wanted it to be true. Doubting him was bad. Doubting herself was worse.
The only thing she knew for sure was that she couldn't keep doing it. Whatever it was between him and Jill, no matter how much they both denied it, it was a stronger force than she was. Kline said he wanted to see where things would go with her, and she'd agreed, but it was obvious that it was going nowhere. Her cell phone began buzzing in her pocket, startling her, and she dug for it to answer without checking the name, "Hello?"
"Hey Rhi!" Jill's voice chirped over the line.
"Hi," Rhiannon said, rubbing her forehead.
"How are you?" She remembered that she was supposed to call Jill back on Monday about getting together for lunch during the week, but it never happened. "I've been busy. Thad's a slave driver."
"You should fire him," Jill laughed. "Hot actors can't be too hard to come by."
"Yeah, they're a dime a dozen in this town," Rhiannon said, trying to match her humor. "But since his name's on the door, there's not much I can do."
"I guess you were busy all week for lunch, huh? Are you free tomorrow?"
