All She Ever Wanted - Barbara Freethy [20]
"Gwen Parker. She has to fly to Madrid for an early start on her movie."
That wasn't so bad. Gwen Parker wasn't that big of a star.
"And Harry Stone," added Jean, an older woman who had returned to public relations after taking ten years off to have babies. "His wife is nine months pregnant and doesn't want to attend any more parties this close to her due date."
"Who do we have to replace them?"
"Stephan Paoletti, the tenor," Jean replied. "He just had a special on HBO. And Colin Davies, the quarterback of the 49ers."
"Good. Now on to entertainment. We still need a pre-party act." She turned to Robbie, a junior account executive with a lot of ambition. "What have you found?"
"An illusionist," Robbie replied. "He runs the new club south of Market that specializes in virtual reality, techno-magic. Everyone is talking about him. His name is Dylan Somerville. Have you heard of him?"
Her heart skipped a beat. Had she heard of him? She'd lost a lot of sleep over Dylan Somerville, and she was a woman who prided herself on not losing sleep over anyone. She'd figured Dylan was somewhere in San Francisco. She'd even thought about trying to hook up with him again but to date hadn't quite found the nerve to go looking for him. Now an opportunity had just landed in her lap.
"He's very good," Lisa added. "His club is sold out every weekend."
"What would he do at the event? Pull rabbits out of a hat? This is a classy party."
"He can make things disappear," Robbie replied. "Big things, like a car or a person. Right before your eyes."
"Sure he can," she said cynically.
"It's true," Lisa said. "I was in the front row last weekend and he did some amazing tricks, really cool stuff. You should go see him at the very least. I think magic would add a nice touch to the masquerade party."
They had good points. She could drop by Dylan's club and check him out. She could even personally extend the invitation to perform at her event. And maybe if Dylan didn't react to her with absolute horror, he could be a bridge to Cole; he could help her smooth things over with the Parish family. She loved it when everything clicked into place.
"All right. I'll go by the club." She glanced around the table. "If that's it, you can take off. Have a good rest of the weekend."
As her associates left, Madison sat back in her chair, wondering if the past would have come back in such vibrant technicolor if she hadn't made the decision to transfer to San Francisco. Maybe if she'd stayed in New York, she would have been able to keep it all at arm's length, the way she had for the past ten years. Oh, well, too late now. She'd made her choice, and she'd make the most of it. This was a great city with great opportunities. And she was a beautiful, successful woman. Dylan Somerville would not be able to ignore her this time around. Not to mention the fact that she didn't have Emily for competition.
What a horrible thing that was to think. Poor sweet Emily was dead. And it had never been Emily's fault that Dylan had been infatuated with her. Sometimes Madison wondered if Emily had even known about his crush. He'd certainly kept it hidden from everyone else, including his best friend, Cole. But Madison had known. At nineteen she hadn't understood that her attention to detail, to the things that made people tick, would actually become a very handy tool in the business world.
At twenty-nine, she knew quite well that the best way to get what she wanted from people was to give them something they wanted. The question was—what did she want from Dylan after all these years? A little revenge, she thought with a self-indulgent smile. Payback for those sleepless nights. Maybe it was time to show Dylan what he'd passed up all those years ago.
Standing up, she gathered her papers together, and turned on her cell phone just in time to take an incoming call. She didn't recognize the number and was startled, not to mention annoyed, to hear her mother's voice. She'd been avoiding her mother all week. "Mom, where are you?" she asked sharply.
"I'm at Alice's