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Sue sat on top of the credenza with the communication buttons, pressing the same button over and over again.No. No. No.Phil and Trois were on the floor in front of the credenza, lookingdefinitelyfreaked, hiding behind Almond Butter, who was nonchalantly grooming a front paw.
And there was Honor, in tapered jeans treated with something silvery so that they shone, paired with a crisp white blouse, tucked in, but open to her belt. She wore her hair in a natural style Katie had never seen before, and when she saw Katie, she stepped toward her and Wil, huge diamond hoops gleaming, and took off her glasses.
“What the fuck is this I hear about you counting me out?” For the first time, Katie noticed the Chihuahua Honor held under one arm. The dog looked just as pissed at Katie as Honor did. “Do you know who I am?”
“Honor Howell,” Katie said over the parched lump in her throat. “You’re in my house.”
“Only way to get your attention, it seems.” She gestured over to where April and Madelynn were still on FaceTime, which Katie could now see was connected to Marisol and a slim man in dark glasses whom Katie had met several times. Diego. Marisol’s companion. He never spoke, but Marisol never made important decisions without him. “Have you not even rented a space? What is this? You can’t run a production studio out of your dining room! You need a receptionist.” She pointed a finger at Katie. “A cold one.”
“I thought…” Why couldn’t she complete a sentence? Katie was an actress. She couldn’t recalleverbeing at such a loss for words in a professional situation.
“I can guess what you thought.” Honor reached her hand toward Wil and smiled warmly. “Honor Howell. It’s nice to meet you, Wil Greene.”
“I’m honored.” Wil said this with a wry, teasing tone that Honor picked up on andwinkedat, and Katie watched Wil shake the hand of one of the most important people in Hollywood like she’d been doing it her whole life, with an easy grin, and one muscled arm running her hand through her hair at the same time.
If Katie hadn’t already fucked Wil Greene, she’d do it right now. She’d kick everyone out, Honor included, and do it right here on the dining room floor.
Wil’s grace gave Katie her spine back.
“Who told you I was counting you out?” Katie asked. “Because I don’t remember calling you.”
Honor raised an eyebrow at Katie. “I have a feeling you misapprehended me in Chicago, and I know I have a reputation for pulling my investment when people misbehave. But tell me, Katie Price, how haveyoumisbehaved?”
For some reason, the question made Katie think again of the white cardboard Priority Mail package that had come to her in Chicago, the box Wil had sent with her Katie Kat bracelet, and how she’d had to open it in front of the theater nerds who she’d hoped would be her friends but who hated her because she’d captured Ben’s attention.
Even though Katie had never been able to control Ben Adelsward.
She hadn’t been able to keep him from paying attention to her.
She hadn’t beencapableof telling him no.
She hadn’t been in charge of him in any way through the entirety of their relationship, and after she left him, she couldn’t stop him from talking about her however he wanted, whenever he wanted, forever.
She hadn’t been able to understand, because she was a child—because she was a child, as Wil had pointed out, with passion and ambition—that Ben was wrong. What he did was wrong. What hewanted was wrong. How he treated her was wrong. And because she couldn’t understand, she’d done the only thing she could do, the only thing that was in her control.
Katie had made herself responsible for all of it.
She’d never, ever done anything wrong, which sheknew,but she hadn’t let herself live her life like she knew.
She hadn’t let herself live. She couldn’t, in the shadow of carrying guilt that wasn’t hers.
She was done. She was fucking done.
“I am not a dog.” Katie glanced nervously at the Chihuahua. “Or a naughty cat. Or a man with too much power and not enough good ideas. I don’t misbehave. EverythingIdo is either what I wanted to do, or it’s my own mistake. Which you can believe I am learning from. I’m not chasing fame. Everything I said on that stage in Chicago is true—I’m in this for the work. I’m in it to tell stories that need to be told. I’m in it to center and lift up other storytellers so the world can see them. And if it’s time for me to speak up and advocate for myself to finally put a dart through Ben Adelsward’s ridiculous obsession with me, then that’s what I will do. I tell stories, Honor. I can certainly tell my own.”
Then Katie looked at Wil, who had leaned against the counter, and who was smiling at her.
Wil didn’t look worried, not in the slightest. She looked incredibly, extremely cool.
Because she was Wil Greene, everywhere, forever.
“You’ll be all right,” Honor said. “I was hoping you’d get to here”—she gestured at Katie, a sweep of her hand seeming to encompass Wil and Diana and Beanie, Madelynn and April, and most of all what Katie had just said about herself and the strong, proud way she’d said it—“because I couldn’t genuinely believe that all of the folderol about Ben Adelsward was something youwanted. But all I’ve ever seen you do is dodge it, and Ididneed tosee that you’re a fighter, Katie. I wish I didn’t. There simply isn’t a way to make films in Hollywood that lift people up ifyou’renot willing to go to the mat. Particularly when your mission is to include artists Hollywood has counted out.” She scratched gently behind her Chihuahua’s ears. “You and Wil should come to my house and have dinner with Melinda and me before the New Year. We’ll tell you both all about the mistakes you can make when you fall in love and have no sense.”
Katie smiled, finally, and then realized her mom and Beanie were talking to Dale, her landscaper, in the entryway, and then realized they weren’t talking, they were helping him haul in a truly giant Christmas tree.
“Oh my God,” Katie said.
Diana looked up, changing her grip and getting needles all over the floor. “Well! You didn’t have one. Where are all the presents supposed to go?”