"It's been twelve years," I snap, not sure if I'm more angry with him or with me. "I don't owe you an explanation."
"Fair enough," he replies coolly. "I don't owe you a job."
"No, you don't. But you need a model. And I can do the job. You're an idiot if you don't let me prove that to you."
"I've been called worse."
I draw a calming breath. "Please," I beg. "Tonight. Nine. I won't let you down."
He cocks his head, silently studying me. "You already did that, Kelsey. A long time ago."
4
Twelve years ago
"That's him," Grace whispered. "The tall guy in the dark green swim trunks. Isn't he the finest thing you ever saw?"
"Oh my God! He's so hot. Did you really talk to him?"
"He let me cut in line when I went inside to get a Diet Coke," Grace said, her tone suggesting she'd just been anointed by the Pope.
"No way!" Marsha squealed.
"Way!"
Two tables over, Kelsey Draper kept her head down, hoping that Grace Farmer and Marsha Greene wouldn't look over and notice that she was eavesdropping when she was supposed to be wiping down the poolside tables.
Normally, she ignored the members' kids. After all, she was staff, and in the world of the Pacific View Country Club, staff and members simply didn't mix. But Grace was talking about the new guy-the one Kelsey had noticed when she'd worked the coffee bar that morning. For that matter, everybody was talking about the new guy and his family, but Kelsey hadn't managed to learn any of the details yet.
There was something about him, though. She'd met his eyes when she was filling a Thermos for one of the golfers, and he was standing against the window, probably waiting for his father. The moment lasted barely a second, but she'd felt a zing shoot all the way through her.
It had filled her up, and the sensation had lasted for hours. Warm and comforting, like a freshly baked loaf of bread. But also biting and exotic, like the Indian food her stepmother adored, the kind that tasted so good, but had such a kick.
All in all, he'd ignited a storm of sensations inside her. Nice, yes, but unsettling, too.
And definitely not the kind of thing that she was used to experiencing. Not by a long shot.
So she wanted to know. And since Grace and Marsha made it their business to know everything about everybody, Kelsey couldn't simply walk away. Not and miss the chance to learn whatever she could about whoever he was.
She lifted her head just long enough to take another look at him. He'd recently emerged from the deep end of the pool, and he was standing in line for the high diving board, his tan body glistening in the Santa Barbara sun. As she watched, he reached up and ran his fingers through hair that looked dark now, but that she knew would glisten golden-brown in the sun once it dried.
She guessed he was a year or so older than her-sixteen, maybe seventeen-and she'd never in her life experienced the kind of jolt she'd felt after that one shared look with him.
For just a moment, she closed her eyes and let the memory sweep over her once more, sweet and tantalizing and scary and awesome. She wanted to savor it, because she knew with one hundred percent certainty that as far as she and this boy went, one look across the coffee bar was all they would ever share.
"Draper!" Her manager's voice cut through her reverie and she jumped, embarrassed to realize she'd stopped cleaning and was simply leaning on the table, lost in thought. "What? Is it nap time?"
"Sorry! Sorry!" She spritzed the table again and started scrubbing enthusiastically, as if working on a particularly tough stain. And with her eyes focused on the tabletop, she tuned back in to the girls' conversation.
"You really don't know who he is?" Grace was saying.
"Oh, come off it, already. Just tell me."
"He's Wyatt Segel. Can you believe it?"
Kelsey glanced up in time to see Marsha shake her head, her mouth curving down into a frown. "Who's that?"
"Oh, my God! Do you live under a rock? He's like totally famous. Or, at least, his family is."
Marsha's nose wrinkled. "Well, he's cute and all, but I've never seen him in anything."
"Not him, his grandmother. Well, his mom, too. She writes screenplays or something. But it's his grandmother who's really huge. She's freaking Anika Segel."
"Um?"
"You really do live on another planet. You honestly don't know who that is?"
Kelsey didn't get to hear Marsha's answer because a couple sitting on the far side of the dining area called her over to wipe up some spilled wine. Not that she needed to hear. She knew all about Anika Segel, her stepmother's favorite star, and one of Hollywood's greatest actresses from the Golden Age. Kelsey had seen her dozens of times on the television, but she'd never thought about the woman as a real person. Someone who had a home and a family and maybe a dog.