She helped herself to a blood orange margarita, perfect for fall. She should be exhausted. She’d left her room at five a.m. this morning, worked all day, and returned at seven. Instead she was pumped. It reminded her of that excited feeling she got as a kid when she had a slumber party. She put on some celebratory music through her cell phone-speaker dock setup and danced around a bit by herself.
Half an hour later, the front door to the lounge opened. Frank’s large shaved head peeked in and he nodded once before stepping back for her friends. They brought life into the dull space, loud and happy.
She rushed forward to hug each and every one of them, suddenly choked up, knowing they’d be saying goodbye.
“Now, none of that,” Hailey said. “We’re going to keep in touch. You’re not getting rid of us that easy.”
Julia smiled and squeezed Claire’s shoulder. “Besides, Claire has to come back to film Fierce Craving and Fierce Loving.”
“And she and Jake are officially a couple,” Hailey said, beaming like she was the sole person responsible for such an event. Maybe she was. Claire wouldn’t have met Jake without her.
“Hailey filled us in on the limo ride over,” Charlotte said.
The women talked over each other, exclaiming on the double switcheroo with Claire in disguise and the twins switching places.
Claire shrugged. “It worked. Happily so.”
“You never told us about your dinner with Joshy,” Mad said, poking the strawberry blonde bear.
Hailey flushed bright pink. “Shoot. I left the bean dip in the limo.”
“I’ll call and have them bring it up,” Claire said.
“Is this what you’re looking for, Red?” Mad asked, pointing to the insulated cooler slung over Hailey’s shoulder.
“Yes!” Hailey exclaimed. “Would you look at that.”
“Put it over with the other food,” Claire said, gesturing to the bar. “I ordered tamales, enchiladas, taquitos, chips, and guacamole. Oh, and leave room for the best mousse you’ve ever tasted. There’s chocolate and hazelnut.”
Hailey and Mad exchanged an excited look and headed over to the food. The other women—Ally, Lauren, Carrie, Charlotte, and Julia—followed quickly behind.
Once they were seated at the table with plates full of food, Claire thanked them for the warm welcome they’d given her. “You all made such a difference in my stay here. I just…I love you guys.”
“Awww, Claire!” Hailey exclaimed, jumping up and hugging her.
Mad gave her a high five and the other women all gave her a chorus of “We love you too” that filled her with pure joy.
Claire wiped at her eyes. “We’re looking at a release date next December for Fierce Longing.” She paused and then added casually, “We could watch it together at the premiere in LA.”
The women went nuts, hooting and hollering and stomping their feet. Claire exchanged a smile with Julia. She and Julia had recently talked about inviting everyone to the red-carpet event.
Hailey recovered first. “Omigod!” she shrieked. “I can hardly believe we’ll be at the premiere. This is so amazing!”
The women chattered excitedly until Hailey finally calmed down enough to say, “Claire, this is truly the highlight of my life. A red-carpet event, that part I played in your movie—”
“A nonspeaking extras role,” Claire corrected. She didn’t want them to get too carried away. The technical word for extras in a movie was simply background, but Claire thought extras sounded nicer, a little more human. Only union actors had speaking parts.
“Which you all played beautifully,” Claire added at the unusual silence.
The women smiled back at her with genuine warmth.
“And meeting Blake Grenier,” Hailey said. “Even though he’s an ass.”
Her heart squeezed at the loyalty Hailey showed to her over Blake. “All right, everybody eat. After this, we’re heading upstairs to pack up my room. If you find anything in my closet you want for the premiere, it’s yours.”
Someone gasped.
“For real?” Hailey asked.
Claire laughed. “Yes, for real.”
The women went back to eating. Claire listened to the excited chatter about dresses and shoes, happy that she could give them this parting gift.
They finished up the meal, Claire called her contact at the hotel for cleanup and then gestured for the women to follow her out the back door. Frank nodded at them and followed close behind as they headed to the private elevator to her suite. They had to squish into the elevator, all of them strangely silent, smiling at each other and occasionally giggling. Frank stayed in front, facing the doors, stone-faced.