Part 16 (1/2)

It was just before 5 p.m. on Tuesday when Jane strolled into Sirloin, feeling very put together in a navy skirt and crisp white blouse and with her hair styled in a neat ponytail. Good. Her appearance as she made her grand entrance would be the opposite of ”fl.u.s.tered,” which is what Trevor was expecting from her, and at 5:30, no less.

”Hi, Dana!” Jane breezed past the producer and went up to one of the sound guys. ”Hey, Jack. I'm ready to be miked. I like your T-s.h.i.+rt!”

”Thanks!” Jack grinned and handed her a pack.

”Jane?” Dana looked totally confused. ”We . . . uh . . . we weren't . . .”

”I know I'm a little early, but I wanted to make sure everything was running smoothly,” Jane said, smiling innocently.

The door opened, and Hannah walked into the restaurant. Her cheeks were flushed as though she'd been rus.h.i.+ng. ”Hi, Dana, hi, Jack! Jane, you beat me here! Wow, that's gotta be a first, right?” she joked.

”Ha-ha. Is Fiona here?” Jane asked Dana.

”Uh . . . not yet. She should be here any sec. Uh, why don't you girls get miked, then we can get a quick scene with you stuffing gift bags?”

”That sounds great!” Jane said eagerly, as though stuffing gift bags was the most thrilling activity, ever.

Dana, Hannah, and Jack all stared at her.

”So you're in a cheerful mood,” Hannah said to Jane as they tucked gift certificates, wine stoppers, and bottles of gourmet steak sauce into small black-and-white totes with the Sirloin logo.

”Yeah, it's been a good day. I went to the gym, then I had lunch with Aja's publicist, Wanda, to discuss the Vegas party, then I spent the afternoon doing errands for tonight.”

”I think it's just you and me on duty this evening. Oliver's studying for finals, and I guess Madison's out of town?”

”Apparently.” Jane pretended to search for a missing wine stopper as she tried to keep a straight face. She had to act as though she had no idea she was about to get ”ambushed” by Madison, who wasn't out of town at all. ”Soooo. You and Oliver looked pretty cozy at Scarlett's birthday party.”

Hannah blushed. ”Yeah, he's really sweet. And he loves the same things I do!”

”Like?”

”Like . . . old movies. And cooking. And hiking in Joshua Tree. And my parents like him.”

”He's met your parents? That's huge!”

”It was totally low-key. They took us out to dinner last week. My dad's kind of overprotective and asked Oliver about a billion questions. Oliver was cool about it.” She added, ”We're going to San Diego so I can meet his parents, maybe next weekend.”

”Wow.”

Hannah smiled dreamily and stared off into s.p.a.ce as she finished up a gift bag. Jane watched her and thought about Caleb. She didn't feel about him the way Hannah seemed to feel about Oliver. (Or how Scar felt about Liam . . . although Liam had never made it to the birthday party on Sat.u.r.day, and now the two of them seemed to be fighting, although Jane wasn't positive because Scar didn't want to talk about it.) But maybe it was a good thing Jane wasn't head over heels about Caleb, since they were hanging out and not heading down the aisle. Okay, so she missed the heady wanting-to-make-out-all-the-time chemistry (the way it used to be for them in high school). But she didn't miss the Jesse-style insanity.

And she really wasn't into Caleb's slightly-too-keen interest in being filmed. And photographed by the paparazzi. And in general being a ”celebrity.” Jane hoped it was a phase, one that he would outgrow soon. She remembered, he went through a similar phase senior year, when the swim team won the national champions.h.i.+p. Being team captain, he was interviewed for a dozen newspaper articles and even appeared on a couple of local news channels. The attention had gone to his head for a while. It had been annoying until he finally got over it and returned to his old self.

Her cell buzzed. It was a text from Dana: PLZ DISCUSS OPENING TONITE, EVERYTHINGS GOING WELL, ETC. FINISH WITH LINE: WHAT COULD GO WRONG?.

Jane smiled serenely at Dana, who was watching her from across the room along with Trevor and Fiona, and tucked her phone back into her pocket. It was pretty awesome, being two steps ahead of the higher-ups, for a change. ”So. I'm seating the guests tonight. Can you manage the press line?” she asked Hannah.

”No problem.” Hannah peered at her watch. ”People are going to start to arrive soon. I should check in with the chef to make sure the pa.s.sed hors d'oeuvres are ready to go.”

”Great! Hey, I meant to tell you . . . I love the flowers you picked out. And the menu cards are really cool, too.”

”Thanks!”

Jane glanced around the 1940s-style dining room with its wine-colored leather booths, black and white tiles, silver wall sconces, and framed photos of movie stars. There were votives and flowers on every table, along with place settings and ivory cards engraved with tonight's special menu. The place looked beautiful and elegant, all ready for its grand opening.

”Everything's going so well,” Jane recited, as if from a teleprompter. ”What could go wrong?”

Hannah gave her a funny look. ”Um, nothing? This night's gonna be perfect! Don't jinx it, Jane!”

Jane grinned. ”I won't.”

”Hi, Ashley, hi, Scott, it's so nice to see you both! Follow me . . . right this way.”

Jane led Ashley Pierce and her fiance to their seats in the center of the room. It was an art, planning the seating chart for an event, especially when there were celebrities involved. Celebrities meant fragile (actually, more like combustible) egos as well as constantly s.h.i.+fting friends.h.i.+ps, relations.h.i.+ps, alliances. Jane couldn't seat Ashley at the same table as Leda Phillips, since the two had competed for the same role in an upcoming film. (Leda won.) And Jared Walsh couldn't be anywhere near Aidan Kline, since Jared had not-so-secretly hooked up with Aidan's then-girlfriend last year at Cannes. Joe Giardi, one of the most powerful agents in Hollywood, had to have the best table in the house-or should she give it to Carly Henek, who had recently and very publicly cut ties with the A-list rep?

As soon as Jane had seated Ashley and her fiance, she headed back toward the end of the press line, where more celebrities would be waiting for their tables. On the way, she noticed two PopTV camera guys parked by a side entrance . . . and a third PopTV camera guy nearby, his camera focused on Jane.

This was it. Jane was ready. She stopped in her tracks and pretended to adjust her earpiece. Just then, the door opened, and Madison sauntered in.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jane saw that the first camera was trained on Madison (who was already miked-Jane could just make out the faint outline of a pack under her dress), and the second camera was trained on Jane. The third camera was trained on Fiona, who was hurrying through the dining room toward the two girls.

Madison tossed her hair over her shoulders and smiled smugly at Jane.

”Jane, could you-” Fiona began.

”Hey, Madison! So nice to see you!” Jane said in an extra-friendly voice. ”I knew you might be out of town, but I saved you a table just in case. Follow me!”

Madison's smile disappeared from her face. Fiona looked stunned.

Jane had to resist the urge to laugh. This was too awesome. She couldn't wait to see what would happen next.

”Hey, can you seat us at Madison's table, too?”

Jane turned around at the sound of the familiar voice. It couldn't be . . .

It was.