Read Online All My Tomorrows by Colette L. Saucier - Free Book Online

soundstage and out the door, which would
have slammed with a terrific racket had it not had a pneumatic closer. Instead,
with excruciating slowness, it came to rest against the jamb with a whisper.
Then all eyes turned to Rich, who stood frozen in place, as white as a sheet.
    “I take it you know one another,” Mr. Peacock
said.
    “I thought I was taking his place.”
    “You are with Sienna,” Alice said, “but he’s still
on the show.”
    Beads of sweat had formed on his upper lip, and he
wouldn’t meet her eyes. “As you may have guessed, he and I are not friends.”
    She frowned. “I don’t anticipate that you will be
having any scenes together. And he’s leaving the first week of July to film a
movie and won’t be back until after the Olympics.”
    That seemed to reassure him, and he smiled at her
and blotted his mouth with his sleeve. “Sorry. You wouldn’t know it to look at
him, but he has a vicious temper.”
    “Actually, I have been on the receiving end of
that temper.”
    “I’ll let you finish the introductions,” Mr.
Peacock said to Alice and, with a pat on Rich’s shoulder, excused himself.
    “So you’ve been a victim of the famous Walsingham
temper too,” Rich said, fully restored to the man she had met in her office.
    “Well, I wouldn’t exactly say I was a victim, but
I have seen it in action. He and I are not on friendly terms either.”
    “Really? Then we’ll have to exchange stories.”
    “Oh, absolutely!” she said and laughed.
    “How about Saturday night? Dinner.”
    She blinked back her surprise and shook her head.
“Are you asking me out on a date?”
    “If you have to ask, then maybe I’m doing it
wrong.” His gaze moved to her mouth then back to her eyes. “I’m sorry. Of
course, I should have known you’d have a boyfriend or fiancé or something.”
    “No, no, there’s no one. It’s just…” Just what?
You idiot. This gorgeous guy just asked you out! Plus, Peter hates him, so
that’s got to be a plus . “Yeah, sure. I’d like that.”
     
    Alice hadn’t been out on a date -date since
she wrote Blaine off the show and out of her life. When she had broken things
off with him, she thought he would have been more professional than to ask to
leave All My Tomorrows, and she decided then not to become romantically
involved with any of the primary cast again. Now here she was, breaking her own
rule with yet another boyfriend for Sienna. Well, it’s just one dinner. I’ll
just wait and see .
    Alice liked this part, the getting-to-know-you
dance where all the stories are new and there’s no history of hurt feelings
hanging just overhead. They talked and laughed and drank, and ate dinner in
there somewhere. She earned his laughter when she told him about Peter throwing
a fit when he found out about the brother-sister twist, but she omitted the
precipitating events leading up to it.
    “He is not thrilled to be on a soap as it is,” she
said.
    “Oh, I imagine he thinks soap operas are beneath
him.”
    “You do know him, don’t you? So what’s his problem
with you?”
    “We were working on a film together last year –
would have been my largest role, possibly a break-out. I displeased him, and
the next thing I know, I’m off the picture.”
    “What did you do to offend him?”
    He stared into his wine glass as he rolled it in
his hands. “I can’t think it is a good idea to discuss one woman when I am out
with another.”
    Her eyes widened and her chest rose with a swift
intake of air. “You fought over a woman?”
    “Not exactly. I didn’t know it at the time –
especially since he was married – but after the story broke about him and
Winnie, I realized that was why he got rid of me. I had something he wanted.”
    “You and Winnie Johnson were together?” That did
cause him to drop a bit in her estimation.
    “That’s just it, see. We had only gone out a few
times. I have no idea if it would have developed into something, but he made
sure it