The name tag had remained when she had changed. It was little things like this that were likely to catch them up in this charade, Claire thought grimly, but merely caught Jill’s arm in her hand as the blond continued on to the table.
“Sorry we’re late,” Jill sang gaily as Kyle got to his feet.
“Jill,” Kyle greeted, but his gaze was locked on Claire…or “Brad” really, she supposed. His expression was a combination of confusion and suspicion, then he turned his gaze to his sister to say, “I didn’t think you were coming tonight.”
“Brad changed my mind,” she said lightly.
“Jill, is that you?” Bobby Loth got to his feet as well to greet her, and Claire had no doubt Jill was grateful for the distraction. The blond turned quickly to greet the man and be introduced to Meredith, which—unfortunately—left Claire alone to face Kyle.
“Kyle Lockhart,” he introduced himself and held out his hand.
Claire automatically put her hand in it, forgetting that she was supposed to be a guy and should be giving a firm handshake. She barely held back her wince as his hand squeezed her own.
“And you are?” Kyle asked when she kept her mouth shut.
Much to Claire’s relief, Jill had been paying attention and suddenly whirled back saying, “Oh Kyle, you know who this is. Unfortunately Brad has a bad case of laryngitis, which is why I wasn’t sure I would be coming after all when Ted bowed out, but Brad bravely agreed to accompany me.”
Claire blinked as Jill pressed a kiss to her cheek, then allowed her to urge her to a seat at the table. Jill had the good sense to seat her between herself and Meredith, keeping her away from Kyle and his questions. Claire felt herself relax a little as Meredith offered her a shy smile, until she quietly asked if “Brad” could sign her table napkin. Before Claire could panic too much, Jill leaned around Claire/Brad to say, “I’m sorry, Meredith. The one promise I had to make to get Brad here was that he wouldn’t have to sign autographs. He hurt his wrist on set a couple weeks ago and he’s trying to rest it up before he starts a new movie next week.”
“Oh, I think I heard something about that,” Meredith said with understanding. “Didn’t you fall off a horse while filming your last movie and land badly on your wrist?”
Claire turned blankly to Jill, who nodded solemnly and told Meredith, “He was lucky it was just a sprain and he didn’t break it.”
Claire inwardly shook her head as Meredith cooed sympathetically. Honestly, where did they find out all this stuff? And why waste their time on it? The only thing she knew about Brad Cruise was that he was rich, good-looking, and an actor. Jill and Meredith seemed to know all sorts of details about him.
“You don’t have name tags.”
Claire stiffened at Kyle’s sharp comment, but Jill merely turned to smile at her brother. “The registration table was empty when we got here. I guess we were a bit late.”
Kyle nodded and Claire was just starting to relax again when he said, “But it looked like it was a name tag you ripped off…Brad’s chest as you approached the table.”
Claire felt her eyes widen in alarm. They hadn’t been far from the table when Jill had noted the Claire name tag and ripped it off. Had Kyle seen and been able to read it before his sister could take it away?
“Brad was at a press conference before picking me up and still had his star pass on,” Jill lied glibly. “I removed it.”
“Hmmm.” Kyle was silent for a minute, then glanced to the side. “I wonder what’s holding Claire up?”
“Oh, you know women’s washrooms, they always have a terrible line. She’s probably still waiting to get into a stall.”
Kyle turned his head slowly back and Claire felt the hair rise on the back of her neck at the look in his eyes. She’d seen it before. It was his “aha!” look and she nearly closed her eyes with a groan when he said, “Did I mention she’d gone to the ladies’ room?”
Jill looked taken aback for a minute, then improvised with “I just assumed. Where else would she be?”
Much to Claire’s relief, Bobby leaned toward Kyle then, claiming his attention, but she was tense now and impatient to get to the bathroom and return as Claire. They had agreed that she would stay through the entrée as Brad, then Jill would remind him he had to make a phone call and she could escape to change back. The entrée couldn’t come quick enough for her.
Claire only grew more impatient to escape as the next twenty minutes passed. A few of their braver ex-classmates began to approach the table, eager to tell “Brad” how much they enjoyed his movies and requesting autographs. Jill did an excellent job of fending them off for her, but it was disconcerting to have people—mostly women—gushing to her about how “wonderful” he was. It was a great relief when Jill finally said, “Oh Brad, you were supposed to call your agent. Maybe you should do it now before the main course arrives.”