I can seduce him. The force of my attraction to him has not diminished over time, and I have no doubt it’s the same for him.
But Aidan will not react well to any attempts to manipulate him, especially with my body.
No, I have to convince him some other way that if he shelves his hatred of me for long enough, he’ll see reason to give me a chance.
“So, from the top?” Todd, my co-star, looks from Aidan to me. He gives me a small wink as if in solidarity.
I give him a grateful smile.
“For fuck’s sake,” Aidan growls. “I know you two are having a moment, but can we please get back to the scene?”
“Aidan seems to have it in for you,” Todd observes later. We’re both exhausted from trying to give Aidan his perfect scene.
I hate that I feel compelled to defend Aidan, even though he’s treating me like I’m dog poop stuck in his shoe. “He’s a perfectionist.”
Todd raises an eyebrow as if he can’t quite believe I’m defending my tormentor like some sort of masochist.
“Forget Aidan,” he says. “Would you like to get lunch?”
I shake my head. “I’m exhausted and aching for some quality shut eye.”
After he leaves, I briefly consider heading over to Fiona’s when my phone rings. It’s a number I don’t recognize.
“Hello.” My voice is wary.
“Hello, Liz.” The voice on the other end is light, friendly, and vaguely familiar. “This is Rachel Court.”
Rachel…Oh! Rachel. I met Aidan’s brother and his charming sister-in-law, a long time ago, in what now seems like another life. Different, unlikely reasons for her call run through my mind. “I…Hi!”
“Hi!” She laughs, probably at my confusion. “It’s been a while. How are you?”
“I’m fine.” I’m not. Not really. I have a sudden and unbidden memory of the night Landon proposed to her. It was a party, and I’d been there as Aidan’s date. We’d been so happy and in love, and I was just days away from breaking his heart into pieces.
A wave of longing washes over me and I stifle a sigh.
“I’ve just spoken to your publicist,” Rachel is saying in her sweet, lilting voice. “We want to do a feature on you for Gilt Review. I imagine she’ll call to let you know, but I wanted to find out from you if you’d be interested.”
“Of course,” I reply, remembering now that she is an editor at one of the prestigious Gilt magazines. “I’d love to.”
“Okay. I’m sure our people can arrange the scheduling and logistics.” There’s a pause. “I’m having a party later in the week,” she tells me. “I wondered if you’d like to come.”
Will Aidan be there? The question hovers on the tip of my tongue. Does she know? Does she know how much I hurt him and how much I’d give to get him back? Does she know how much he hates me?
He’ll probably hate me more if he sees me socializing with his family.
Or maybe it’ll give me a chance to talk to him outside work.
“I’d love to come,” I tell Rachel.
“Great! I’ll send you the date and time, Okay?”
“Okay.”
Back in rehearsals, Aidan is as impatient and caustic as ever and I wonder if he knows his sister-in-law has just reached out to me, and what he would do when he finds out.
Probably find new ways to torture me.
After rehearsals are finally over, everybody leaves, and I head over to Aidan’s temporary office.