Part 28 (1/2)
Too close. Dawn coughed, subtly scooting her chair away at the same time.
”Your name's Dawn Madison,” the starlet said, still clueless. ”Dipak told me. He brags about you.”
”Good ol' Dipak.”
”I'm Jacqueline Ashley. But you can call me Jac.” When she laughed again, it was melodic, the sound tickling the line of Dawn's jaw.
She'd gotten too close again.
Dawn took a wild guess at what might be happening here. ”Listen, my door doesn't swing to that side, if that's what you're thinking.”
When Dawn faced her, she was struck by the curious furrow of the starlet's forehead, like she didn't understand what Dawn had just insinuated. This close, Dawn didn't have any choice but to take in every other detail of her face: the delicate chin; the French- ingenue pout; the high, graceful cheekbones; the Nicole Kidman milk-fresh skin kept safe from the sun by that ball cap.
Okay. Jacqueline Ashley had a certain ”It” that defined a movie star. Maybe it was her sparkling laugh, maybe it was her perfect smile. But ”It” was there-the unexplainable, impossible chemistry of someone who was going to be loved by the camera.
Hate.
It had taken a few seconds for the girl to process what Dawn had said to her. And, whether Dawn liked it or not, the starlet's obvious naivete was disturbing, because she'd seen all too often what this town did to darling homecoming queens.
Why did girls like this have to come out here? They weren't tough enough. This one was going to get skewered; she'd probably be talked into doing a p.o.r.no within the year, and that was only the beginning. Her dreams would die one by one, victims of the biz.
”Don't tell me,” Dawn said. ”You got off the bus from Podunk two months ago.”
”Pahrump, Nevada.” Her cheeks had gone pink. ”I don't really know anybody here, so I'm trying to meet people. Sorry if you thought I was...you know. I've got a boyfriend back home, so I wasn't hitting on you. Wow, how embarra.s.sing.”
Dawn's a.s.shole quotient shot straight through the roof at the girl's mortification.
The starl...okay...Jacquelinecontinued. Dawn could at least acknowledge that she had a name as a brief apology.
”My boyfriend entered a photo of me in some modeling contest because he said he wanted everyone to know how...well, pretty I am. What a boyfriend will say, right? Then Barbara Hammer, an agent over at ISM, got a hold of it and she called, wondering if I'd thought about a career out here. I've got a single mom, and she has a hard time making ends meet, so I came because it sounded like I'd be able to send money home to her.”
”You'll want to be careful.” Nice, Dawn thought. Frank would've wanted you to be nice to this girl. ”Don't trust people unless they earn it. n.o.body's in this town to be your friend.”
”I'm sorry to hear that. Can I ask what your experiences have been like? It'd help me a lot. I don't want to pry, but...”
G.o.d, this girlie wa.s.sogreen. Giving in, Dawn told her about the Darrin Ryder numb nuts incident, being careful not to name names.
In spite of the population, this was a small town.
”That kind of stuff happens?” Jacqueline asked. ”Really?”
”That's nothing.” Dawn pushed the rest of her bear claw away, not hungry anymore.
”You okay?”
”Yeah.”
”Can I help? You look like you're going to get sick.”
Dawn ran a hand over her hair. ”I don't have time for getting sick or small talk or...I've just got a lot to do.”
She was about to get up and get out of there, fueled by coffee and frustration, but then Dawn felt a hand on her arm, the touch warm and comforting, like a blanket you could burrow under during a thunderstorm. Normalcy. It sounded so nice. Before last night, she'd thought that maybe Matt Lonigan had been her best chance at it, her strongest link to the real world-a place that seemed so far away now.
”'When the itch is inside the boot, scratching outside provides little consolation.'” Jacqueline laughed softly, with the rea.s.suring levity of someone who hadn't seen the worst yet. ”It's a Chinese proverb that my mom used to say to me. I think it's got something to do with taking the time for small talk...or big talk. Opening up.”
What, was this girl Dawn's Best Friend Forever?
Belatedly, she realized that she hadn't shrugged off Jacqueline's hand yet. Hadn't thought to do it.
Instead she just sat there, the little abandoned girl inside of her kind of wanting to hear more. ”Must've been nice, having a smart mom like that around.”
”It was.” Jacqueline smiled. ”It's sad about what happened to your mother. I would've been a complete wreck in your shoes, but you've grown up strong, haven't you? Dipak admires that about you, too.” ”You and Dipak talk an awful lot.”
”The man's a social b.u.t.terfly. He likes to chat about his wonderful students, except when he's telling me how bad my posture is.”
In spite of herself, Dawn grinned, but only slightly. ”You've got good posture. You carry yourself well.”
Sad. It was just a matter of time before this decent girl became one ofthem.
For some reason, Jacqueline was beaming. ”Was that a compliment I just heard from you?”
Dawn shrugged.
”Wow. That first day, I thought you were sort of a...”
”b.i.t.c.h,” Dawn supplied. ”I still am.”
”Dawn!” Kiko hopped over to her side, grabbing her good arm and demanding her attention. ”Guess what?”
She took in his excitement. ”Your upstairs neighbor is the devil's handmaiden and she's preparing you to have his child.”
”That one'sRosemary's Baby!” he blurted without even missing a beat. ”Listen, I've got an audition!”
Jacqueline, who didn't even know the guy, clapped her hands.
”When?” Dawn asked, pretty excited, too, even though she wasn't going to go all pep squad about it.
”Monday at ten in the morning. Some kind of fantasy miniseries, so I expect lots of prosthetics and makeup.”
As she congratulated him, she wondered how the h.e.l.l he was going to shoot around their PI schedule. Surely Limpet had to have contingency plans for this sort of thing.
He'd already stuck out his hand to Jacqueline. ”Kiko Daniels, actor.”
”Jacqueline Ashley, actress.”
They started in with the chatter-Kiko so smitten that he was just about to drown in a shower of his own saliva and Jacqueline not seeming to realize it.