We couldn’t be bothered to get up for glasses, so we drank the sparkling wine directly from the bottles. We also kept up a running commentary on the remainder of the movie, and when it ended, I ventured, “It’s really late, so why don’t you just spend the night here?”
His room was less than a three-minute walk from mine, so it wasn’t exactly a hardship to get there. I just didn’t want him to leave, and apparently he didn’t want to either, because he said, “I’d love to.”
I found him a toothbrush still in its packaging, and we took turns in the bathroom before climbing into bed. The cat hadn’t budged from the center of the mattress, so we both formed brackets around her.
After a while, Lorenzo asked, “If you quit acting, what will you do instead?”
“Go home, I guess.”
“You don’t mean rural Louisiana, do you?”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
“But almost every story you’ve told me about that place involved narrow-minded people who made your life hell.”
“That part isn’t great, but it’s where my parents are,” I said. “I came here with dreams of making it big, not just for myself, but for them, too. It meant everything to me to give them a better life, but since I’ve failed as an actor, all that’s left is moving back home and helping my dad run his bait shop.”
“You’d be miserable doing that.”
I’d also be miserable leaving Lorenzo behind, but I said, “I don’t know what else to do. I’ve always sent money home, but I haven’t had any income since I moved to Catalina, so I’ve been chipping away at my savings. Now I’m almost broke, but I don’t think I can return to prostitution. Being away from it for the better part of a year gave me time to do a lot of soul searching, and I just don’t want to be that person anymore.”
“Do your parents know where the money was coming from all those years?”
“God, no. They think I was waiting tables in a fancy restaurant. I hated lying, but it would devastate them if they knew the truth.”
The sympathy in Lorenzo’s expression was unmistakable. “We’ll figure this out,” he said. “There has to be a way to take care of your parents without moving back to a place where you were never accepted. I’ll help in any way I can.”
It was a sweet sentiment, and I murmured, “Thank you,” but this was my responsibility.
He shifted a bit and rested his hand on my arm. After a pause, he said, “In some ways, I’m in the same boat. When Ren and Beck invited me to stay at Seahorse Ranch, I thought it’d just be for a month or two, but I spent most of last year living here rent-free. I can’t keep taking advantage of their generosity.”
“But unlike me, you definitely earn your keep. They’re lucky to have a veterinarian on the premises to look after all those horses.”
“They only need me a few hours a month, though. It’s not nearly enough to justify the free room and board.”
I asked, “So, what’s next for you?”
“I don’t know, but it’s time for a change. That’s what New Year’s is all about, right?”
“Yeah. I guess it is.”
A dull ache settled in my chest. All these changes we were talking about would probably mean the two of us going our separate ways. It felt like this thing we’d just started to build was already slipping through my fingers.
Chapter 2
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes the next morning was Lorenzo, and I couldn’t help but smile. He was sound asleep and sprawled across my bed, with one arm over his head and the other draped across my chest. It looked like he’d been battling the covers, but I couldn’t quite tell who’d won. Most of them were thrown off, except for a sheet that was tangled around his legs.
I slipped out of bed as quietly as I could and snuck to the bathroom. The plan was to slip back in after I freshened up and tried to make my hair look adorably tousled instead of utterly disastrous. But by the time I returned to the bedroom, Lorenzo was already up and dressed.
He smiled at me and said, “Good morning,” as he added a splash of nonfat milk to a freshly brewed cup of coffee. I thanked him as he handed me the mug, and he asked, “What’re you doing today?”
“I don’t have any plans.”
“In that case, will you spend the day with me?”
“I’d love to.”
“Great. Then meet me in the dining room in half an hour. The dress code is causal.” He always added that last bit whenever we made plans to do just about anything, because he knew I had a tendency to overdress.
I asked, “What are we doing?”