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The doorbell rang at exactly six o’clock. As Jewel had expected, Taye was on time and when he shook hands with her, in what she thought was a much-too-formal manner, her anxiety level dropped and the tension she’d been carrying around all day vanished.
What had she been worried about? she wondered, knowing she’d allowed her mind to conjure up wild scenarios about his arrival: that he would lean in and make an air-kiss just below her ear. That he would give her a firm hug of welcome, bringing his body in touch with hers. That he would make some flip remark that would shift their meeting from a discussion about P & P into a more personal zone. Clearly, she’d worried for no reason.
“Hi. Glad you could make it,” she told Taye, letting go of his hand and waving him through the candle-lit foyer toward the den. She was struck once again by his fresh lemony scent and wondered if it came from the soap he used or his cologne. Either way, she knew she liked it very much.
“Hey, I’m just glad you were able to squeeze me in. Hope meeting here at your house hasn’t inconvenienced you,” Taye remarked in a breezy manner.
Jewel laughed as she escorted Taye over to the white leather sectional that faced open French doors leading onto the patio. The first streaks of an orange-red sunset shimmered in the pool’s dark water.
“Great pool,” Taye remarked, walking over to the door to look out into the yard. “You a good swimmer?”
When he turned to look back at her, Jewel opened her mouth, thought a minute and then ducked her head in embarrassment. “I have to confess…I’m not. But I do water aerobics in the pool with my trainer a few times a month. I play around in the shallow end, swim a few laps now and then, but I don’t dive off the board into the deep end. That’s where I draw the line.”
Taye stuck a hand into the pocket of his navy slacks and tilted his head to one side, an inquisitive expression overtaking his features. “Really? I’m surprised you don’t swim. Why not?”
“I dunno. I think my fear of diving started when I took swimming lessons back home in Texas. It was not a good experience.”
“Too bad, but you do look like the swimming type,” Taye observed.
“Oh? And what’s that?”
“Clearly you’re in great shape and you don’t strike me as the type who goes in for lifting weights in the gym.”
“You’re right. I don’t.”
“Tennis, then, perhaps?” he probed.
A hint of a smile teased the corners of her mouth as Jewel shook her head. “Not at all.”
“Power walking, the treadmill?”
“You got me. That’s what I like to do.”
“Hmm, hmm. I thought so. You like to be toned, but not bulky. You like cardio, but prefer to do it alone. I’d guess you’re not much into competitive sports. Am I right?”
“You’re very observant,” Jewel commented, actually appreciative of his remarks. “Do you always pay such close attention to the exercise regimes of your actors?”
“I’m a director, remember? I watch actors all day. Size them up. Figure out what works for them.”
When he scanned her with a slow shift of his eyes, Jewel escaped his pointed assessment by moving behind the bar on the other side of the room. “What can I get you to drink?” Jewel asked.
“What do you suggest?” Taye responded, still standing by the door, resting one shoulder on the frame, watching her with measured eyes.
Jewel raised a bottle with a colorful sunburst label on the front. “I can recommend this crisp chardonnay from the vineyard of a friend of mine who lives in the Russian River Valley.”
“Sounds perfect. Want me to open it?”
“No, that’s okay. I’ve got it,” she said, feeling his gaze on her hands as she worked the opener into the cork and poured the wine into two marquis cut crystal glasses. She was thankful that the marble-topped bar provided a barrier between them and support for her to steady herself.
“Tell me more about your nonswimming life,” he continued in a playful tone. “You blame it on what again?” Taye approached, accepted the glass of wine and took a sip. “Very nice,” he murmured with a satisfied nod as he settled on a bar stool across from her.
Jewel leaned over, both arms on the bar, chin up, thinking back. “I waited too late to start taking lessons,” she decided, picking up their conversation. “I was thirteen years old. Didn’t want to get my hair wet, didn’t want the boys in my class to see me in a swimsuit and didn’t want water up my nose. I did everything possible to stay out of the pool.”
“That’s too bad. Ever think about taking lessons again?”
“Absolutely not. I’m happy to sit by my pool and drink in the sun and watch others splash around.”
“You prefer to play it safe, huh?”
“Sometimes,” she tossed back. “Depends on what’s going on.”
“You never know when you’ll find yourself in a dangerous situation. Where you’ll have to take a chance.”
“But that doesn’t happen very often,” Jewel tossed back.
A long beat while they locked eyes.
Jewel walked from behind the bar. “I’m rarely blindsided by something that I know I can avoid,” she remarked, successfully disarming his banter. “Why don’t we eat before getting down to business?” she suggested, motioning for Taye to follow her into the dining room where they helped themselves to the seafood quesadillas and jicama salad that Carmie had prepared.
Moving to the round glass-topped table near the patio door, they ate, drank wine and chatted about industry-related topics like the blockbuster opening of the latest Batman movie and how action films were raking in big bucks. This was the perfect opening for Jewel to tell Taye, “I enjoyed Terror Train 1, 2 and 3 very much.”
He almost choked on a mouthful of salad. “You saw them?” he blurted, seeming genuinely surprised.
Jewel let a slow, secret grin ease over her face, enjoying the shocked expression that overtook Taye’s features and glad she’d taken Carmie’s advice. “Yes, I rented them this morning and watched all afternoon, although I have to admit that I squeezed them in between phone calls back and forth with my insurance company and the Lexus car dealership.”
“Oh? Something wrong with your car?”
“Nothing serious. I had a minor fender bender on the way home yesterday.”
“After lunch?”
“Yea. My fault. Not paying attention. Guess I was distracted.”
“By what?”
“Nothing important,” she lied.
“Were you hurt?”
“No. No one was injured.”
“That’s good.”
“Right. So, I’ll take my car in to be fixed Monday. Insurance will cover it and that’s all there is to that.” She shrugged. “One of those stupid self-inflicted scratches.”
A knowing grin. “Happens to all of us sooner or later. Need a ride to the studio Monday?”
“No, the dealer will have a driver take me in and, hopefully, deliver my car back to me by the time I’m ready to leave.”
“Good. Now…about my movies…you really enjoyed them? Truthfully?”
“Yes, I did, but in the second film, how did you convince Marilu Gale to squeeze into that child-size bed with Danny Lowe for their love scene? It was so cramped in that sleeping car! Must have been a claustrophobic situation for everyone involved.”
Taye laughed, agreeing. “It was. As I remember, there was nothing romantic about that scene. Blazing one-hundred-degree heat in the desert, trapped inside a stripped-down train for nine hours, with too many people and too many complaints. Whew! That was not a memorable shoot.”
“If the public only knew what you directors put your actors through…” Jewel teased, letting her sentence drift off as she got up and went back to the buffet table. “Ready for dessert? Then we get to work, okay? You’ve gotta taste Carmie’s lemon cream pie.”
“Sounds perfect,” Taye agreed, accepting a generous slice of the creamy confection Jewel handed to him.
When they had finished eating, they spread their scripts and yellow legal pads out between them, as if afraid to allow an unscripted moment to slip in and challenge their all-about-work agenda.
Tipping his head slightly toward Jewel, Taye launched into his assessment of the status of P & P and then listened to what she had to say, making it clear that he was extremely interested in her opinion.
“I think Darin has the bigger problem and that he’s trying to make it look as if Caprice is at fault,” Taye remarked after Jewel’s recap of the latest plotline. “He’s ruthless, power-hungry, scheming. And he has Caprice fooled into thinking she won’t be affected by his problems. What might work is to change Caprice’s direction.” Taye paused, sipping from his wineglass. He was about to go on when Jewel interrupted.
“Where do you think Caprice ought to be?” she queried, wanting to hear what Taye had in mind.
“Into her messiest confrontation yet. Where Caprice will have to carry the weight…you know, become the heavy and let Darin get more sympathy. I viewed the footage of the scene in the limo…where Darin pushes Caprice to come home. She’s gotta be desperate enough to make Darin fear their relationship might implode. I want her to inflict more emotional damage. Their romance is too predictable, satisfying but not electrifying. She’s gotta absolutely refuse to go along with Darin, sending him into total confusion.”
Jewel sat forward, making a small jerk of surprise with her shoulders. Something in Taye’s remark had alarmed her. “I don’t know about that, Taye. That’s not the way Brad wanted the scene to play.”
“Brad’s no longer the director.”
His words were clear and firm. So terse they sent a flash of annoyance through Jewel, who promptly replied, “But you told Fred and me that you planned to stick close to Brad’s interpretation, even use some of his footage as flashbacks.”
“Yes, I did.” Taye hunched over the table, a somber mood emerging. “But I’ve changed my mind. I want to reshoot the limo scene and maybe the beach scene, too.”
“Go back on location in Texas?” Jewel groaned. Hitting the road again was not high on her agenda. Too much turmoil, drama and friction. All she wanted to do was to stay home and get back to her normal routine.
“Not far. I can shoot closer to home, on Catalina Island. No need to go back to Galveston. But it’s gotta be reshot because it’s not on the mark.”
“In what way?” Jewel prodded, beginning to wonder if Taye Elliott was a man whose word meant very little. “What’s on your mind, Taye?”
“Flipping Caprice’s reaction to Darin completely.”
“You want to change Caprice’s motivation?” Jewel gave him a disbelieving chuckle. “Why?”
“So she can push back harder. State what she wants in a way that shows how desperate she is. After all, she’s got a lot to lose, too. I just don’t like that undertone of weakness that I’m getting. Regret weakens any character.”
Jewel didn’t respond right away, but simply sat quietly and listened as Taye forged ahead with his vision in an overconfident rush to prove what he could do. When he’d finished talking, she spoke up.
“Sorry, Taye. I totally disagree. Making Caprice so overtly aggressive will be disastrous. She’s aware of the damage she’s done. She’s gotta be contrite and vulnerable…this keeps the tension high.”
“No…it doesn’t,” Taye rejected with a snap. “It keeps Caprice in check when she needs to cut loose and challenge her self-imposed inhibitions.”
“But she’s not the real risk-taker. Darin is. There’s a predictable sense of stability and cautiousness that fans expect of Caprice. Altering that would destroy a major character trait that I’ve worked hard to develop. Caprice Desmond is a unique person. Complicated, yet easily accepted…if you understand her extensive backstory.” Which, obviously, you don’t, Jewel was tempted to add. Sitting back, she crossed her arms at her waist and waited for Taye’s reply.
The whir of the pool sweeper making its way across the water filled an awkward pause. When Taye broke into a wide grin of defeat, she flinched. “Touché,” he conceded, jabbing the air with his index finger, giving Jewel her props. “You know your character better than I ever could, so we’ll keep her reaction as you played it, but I still plan to reshoot the beach scene on Catalina so our visuals will be consistent now that we’re staying in California.”
“Sounds fine,” Jewel stated, pleased that they’d been able to compromise so easily, and certain Lori Callyer, P & P’s head writer, would certainly back Jewel up. “I appreciate your taking my input into consideration. Brad, Lori and I could usually work through these kinds of glitches and compromise.” She sighed in relief. “You know what, Taye? This get-together was a good idea. We’re on such a cramped shooting schedule and we’ve got so much work to do, this will help us move more quickly Monday.”
“I hear you,” Taye agreed.
“Thanks for agreeing not to change Caprice…or me.” Her voice slipped low, her words fading into a hush.
Taye slowly lifted his palm toward Jewel and rocked her with a steady gaze. “Don’t worry, Jewel. Changing anything about you is the furthest thing from my mind. I like you just the way you are.”
Jewel felt her entire body go on alert as his remark resonated through her veins. His intent was so obvious. She gave him a slow blink of her eyes, knowing if she tried to talk, she might blunder into territory that ought to be avoided. After composing herself, she spoke her mind. “Taye, we can either dance around this issue all night or clear the air right now.”
“I’m listening,” Taye replied, cool and unruffled.
His wide-eyed, little-boy innocent expression rattled Jewel’s nerves. She inhaled a stream of air and then swallowed with a gulp. “Taye, I will follow your direction and give you my best performance. Every day. Every take. We’ll work closely together, perhaps become friends. But that’s all. I want you to understand that I’m all about business. The success of P & P is all I care about, okay? There can’t be any reason for either of us to feel uneasy working together. Got that?”
When he didn’t reply, Jewel rose from her chair, went to stand behind it and leaned against its back. Studying Taye as she steadied herself, she waited for his reply, hating that his crooked half smile was turning her insides into jelly. “Agreed?” she pressed again.
His nod implied an affirmative answer, but the expression on his face sent Jewel a completely different signal.
Taye wished desperately that she was not Jewel Blaine, the actress he’d have to face on the set every day, because at that moment all he wanted to do was corner her behind that bar and push her up against that cool black granite, press his tongue between those full red lips, nibble her earlobe and ease himself deep into what he imagined was a sizzling-hot center that needed cooling down. But that wasn’t going to happen, so he’d better get a grip and pull himself together. With a jerk of his chin, Taye forced the blood zinging through his veins to calm down, told his heart to stop thumping so raggedly in his chest, unstuck his tongue from the roof of his mouth and ran it over his lower lip.
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