Behind the Scenes Read online

  “She’s definitely starved for attention.”

  Tanya looked at him. “You picked that up just from the show?”

  “No.”

  “Did you pre-interview her?”

  “Not the way you think.”

  She stared at him silently for a moment. “You mean . . . you knew her ahead of time?”

  “Yes.”

  “She was a plant?”

  “Not at all. She’s watched all the tapes I’ve been bringing home almost as much as I have. She wants to be you when she grows up. So she begged to be on the show, and Denny and I thought it was a great idea.”

  “Back up,” Tanya said. “Tapes you brought home?”

  “Right. She comes over to visit me as much as she can. With my schedule, it isn’t too often, unfortunately.”

  “AJ,” Tanya said, and he could swear her voice was shaking. “Is she . . . your daughter?”

  He laughed and continued laughing until he noted the real emotion in Tanya’s eyes. “Thanks a bunch. I look old enough to have a teenage daughter, do I?”

  “Well, with your looks, it wouldn’t surprise me if you’d started awfully young.”

  “I don’t have any children, Tanya. And you better not even speculate that she’s my girlfriend.”

  “Then who is she?”

  AJ grinned at Tanya’s bemused expression. He took her hand again and brought it to the top of his head, riffling it through his hair. “This haircut you keep complaining about?”

  “Yes?”

  “She’s my barber.”

  “What?”

  “Yep. You can lay the blame directly at her fingers.”

  Tanya began laughing, and it took her a good minute to stop. “How in the world did she sucker you into agreeing to let her cut your hair?”

  “To paraphrase an ad, ‘She’s not only my hairstylist, she’s also my foster-sister.’”

  Chapter Twelve

  TANYA STARED at AJ. “What?”

  “My foster-sister,” he said. There was no inflection in his voice whatsoever, nothing to give away whether he adored Maria, or if she was a thorn in his side.

  “I don’t mean to sound dumb, but I don’t know exactly what that means.”

  “I’ll tell you later, okay? Right now I just want to watch you.”

  Five minutes ago the last thing Tanya had wanted to do was watch this show, to watch herself. But now she had something, someone, to focus on that was suddenly of vital interest to her. AJ’s sister. Imagine that.

  Watching the show, she had to admit it was a great session. Maria was a young kid obviously starved for attention. She thought the quick fix for that was an outrageous haircut that people couldn’t help but notice.

  Tanya, as gently as possible, swayed Maria over to the light. She convinced her that a hairdo with attitude didn’t have to scream Halloween. She asked Maria what kind of attention she was looking for: a “look at that foxy woman” stare, or a “they let the circus out early” smirk.

  They compromised. Tanya got to style Maria’s hair so it still fell in thick waves to her shoulder blades, aided with a curling iron to give it even more body and bounce. She added sass by pulling the sides back with slightly garish, but definitely teenage, barrettes. And she agreed Maria could occasionally add a wild streak of color to her hair, as long as she used the kind that washed out with the next shampoo. That way she could have variety, Tanya had convinced her at the time.

  During the course of the show, Maria said, with no trace of self-pity, that she couldn’t afford cool clothes. Tanya pulled at her own Paisley vest and said, “How much do you think this cost me?”

  “Fifty dollars?”

  Tanya almost choked. “Not even close. It cost me three dollars in fabric and two hours of my time.”

  “You made it yourself?”

  “Yeah, but don’t tell anybody.”

  Maria glanced at the camera and laughed. Before the hour was over, Tanya thought she’d gotten Maria excited about the idea of taking sewing lessons at a local youth club.

  By the time the show ended and the credits rolled, Tanya was feeling good all over again. It wasn’t until that moment that the impact and import of that episode hit her.

  She’d reached a young girl, which was satisfying all on its own. But if in so doing she’d given even one more child an idea, sparked their interest in productive and fulfilling self-improvement, the episode was worth all that effort and frustration.

  Years later Tanya would point to this very moment in time as a turning point for her, both as a woman and a human being with purpose.

  And the man sitting beside her, quietly holding her hand, had everything to do with it.

  It was also a milestone in another earth-shattering way. She finally recognized the crazy, confused feelings she had for AJ Landry.

  She loved him.

  She didn’t hold out any false hope that the love would really be reciprocated. They were north and south, apples and oranges, water and vinegar. But that didn’t detract from the fact that she loved him now, and felt she probably always would.

  When the screen went black, there was a moment of shrouded silence and stillness before the lights slowly brightened.

  Then it seemed to Tanya that all hell broke loose.

  The cheering was gloriously happy, victorious, proud. Everyone in that room recognized that their silly little makeover show actually meant more than how much mousse one should work into her hair.

  Tanya blinked back tears. AJ looked at her, grinned and stood and pulled her to her feet.

  She couldn’t help it. She threw herself at him. “I can never thank you enough,” she choked out.

  “Thank me? Honey, that was pure Tanya Pierce up there. With that kind of clay to work with, a person would have to be an idiot not to mold something special.”

  “Tanya and AJ, come out of hibernation,” Denny called. “Get your asses down here so we can celebrate.”

  To Tanya’s everlasting mortification, the crew who’d put up with a dumb nobody from Sonora, California was giving her a standing ovation. Sharyn let out an ear-piercing whistle she usually reserved for ball games.

  They made their way down to the group. Even in her excitement, Tanya couldn’t help but notice that Sharyn’s hand was draped possessively through Denny’s arm, and he didn’t look any worse for the experience. In fact, every time his eyes moved to Sharyn, they got all blurry.

  Yep, Sharyn had cast her spell. Poor Denny.

  “Tanya, honey,” Sharyn said, “you made me sniffly.”

  Denny said, “If that doesn’t grab viewers, I’m quitting the business. I’ve seen that tape dozens of times, and it still excites me.”

  Tanya was feeling restless. She realized that they had an obligation to stick around and celebrate with the crew, but she just wanted to be alone with AJ. She had so many questions for him, so much she wanted to know.

  “AJ, you want to say a few words?” Denny said.

  AJ looked at Tanya. “They’d rather hear them from you,” he said softly. “If you can.”

  Today was a turning point in her life, Tanya realized with all of the conviction she had in her. It was “put up or shut up” time, and suddenly she didn’t want to shut up. She nodded at AJ, swallowing back the fear that threatened to clog her throat.

  Sharyn whistled softly. “This is a very good day,” she whispered to Denny.

  “Okay, people,” AJ called. “Our esteemed star would like to say a word or two. Then you can eat and drink yourselves silly. Those of you who want something stronger than punch, hand your keys over to someone right now,” he said with a smile. He took Tanya’s hand and squeezed, nodding at her.

  Tanya turned to face the crew, willing herself not to hyperventilate. I
t helped a little that the lighting was soft and gentle.

  “I want to thank you all,” she started, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “What?”

  “What did she say?”

  She stood up straighter. “I want to thank you all,” she repeated. “You took a clueless small-town girl, one who thought a grip was a hold on a golf club, and, with your help and patience, we muddled through.

  “You were way ahead of me. I had no idea what you people did, what you accomplished with such ease. You, on the other hand, knew if you slapped a pair of scissors in my hands and told me where to stand that you had a shot at getting your own jobs done.

  “But . . .” she stopped and swallowed again, then pointed at the curtains “ . . . look how far we came!”

  “You bet your booty, Tanya!”

  Tanya almost blushed at that, only to almost chuckle when she noticed AJ rolling his eyes at the interruption.

  “Some people might look at this and think it’s fluff,” Tanya continued. “But I came to the stunning realization tonight that it’s a whole lot more than that. If they don’t see what we see, if they don’t get what we’re doing, it’s their loss. But each and every one of you knows, this is something to point to for the rest of our lives. We don’t get many of those.

  “Thanks to Denny and AJ and JBC—who thought they were filling time with a ‘little make-up show.’ We know better.

  “So thank you, every single one of you, from the bottom of my heart.”

  She looked down and then glanced back up. “Now devour the goods while you can. Monday morning we’re once again slave to this ogre,” she said, gesturing a thumb at AJ.

  “Hey!”

  Tanya ignored him. She was too elated. She’d done it! Spoken to a group without wanting to die. She’d even made it through the emotional lump in her throat. And now she wanted to celebrate. Just not in the way everyone else was celebrating. “Denny? May I have a private word with you?”

  “Sure,” Denny said, looking puzzled. AJ looked puzzled, too. Sharyn looked suspicious.

  Sharyn knew her so well.

  Tanya grabbed Denny’s hand and dragged him to a deserted corner. “How do you like Sharyn?”

  “Very much,” he said, nodding. “Do you mind if—?”

  “Would you mind if—?”

  They both stopped and laughed. “Me first,” Tanya said. “I have something I really want to do. May I please impose on you to make certain Sharyn gets back to my uncle’s house tonight?”

  “Does it have to be tonight?”

  “Yes. She is my best friend in the universe. You are not taking advantage of her.”

  His mouth dropped open. “Me? Take advantage of her?”

  “Don’t let her fool you. She’s a sweet small-town girl with a really vulnerable heart. You break it, and she’ll do the same to your knees.”

  “Uh-huh. Well, that makes the prospect of showing her a good time . . . scary.”

  “Show her the best time in the world. Just bring her home in one piece, smiling.”

  He saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Tanya dropped the schoolmarm scowl. “Thank you, Denny.”

  “No, thank you.”

  “For a whole lot more than tonight.”

  “Ditto, sweetheart.”

  She couldn’t help it, she rose on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.

  Then she returned to the center of the floor and once again looked around at the crew, who she realized had become like family. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m stealing the boss.”

  “What are you planning to do to him, Tanya?” someone yelled.

  Her next words nearly brought down the house with applause. “Good Lord, don’t you think it’s about time the man got a decent haircut?”

  “WHERE ARE WE GOING?”

  “Where else?” Tanya said. “To my office.”

  She dragged him around the side of the building, then shook her head as she saw the sign: AJ Landry. “Only in Hollywood would you people have assigned parking spaces for golf carts.”

  “You can’t beat the perks . . .” AJ said, but his voice trailed off as he watched Tanya swing into the passenger side of the cart.

  “What?” she said, glancing down to see if she had a run in her stockings or maybe spilled something on her lap.

  “You have legs,” he croaked out.

  “That comes as a surprise, does it?”

  He cleared his throat. “Kind of, yeah. And, you know, they come with knees.”

  Tanya just stared at him, wondering if he’d had more to drink than she’d thought. “I special-ordered them that way.”

  “I don’t suppose you have thighs under there I could look at?”

  Oh, she’d give anything to show him. “Out here in the parking lot? I don’t think so. But . . . maybe later.” She faced forward. “To the studio, driver.”

  Out of the corner of her eye she saw him shake his head and smile as he turned the key. “You know, of course, that the studio’s locked up tight.”

  She hadn’t known that. “You mean you don’t have keys?”

  “No. But I do have connections.”

  “Of course you do.”

  They drove in comfortable silence to the alley that ran between their studio and another. A man in a small guard office glanced up through the window when he noticed them coming.

  “Mr. Landry?”

  “Hey, Todd.”

  “How are you tonight, sir?”

  “Good. How’s Loretta?”

  “Getting bigger every day,” the guard said, smiling. “Can I do something for you, or are you and the lady just out for a drive?”

  “We need to get into B. Can you open up for us?”

  In less than five minutes they were in the building, AJ turning on a minimum of lights along the way to the set.

  “It’s kind of spooky at night,” Tanya said, resisting the urge to shiver. Her heels echoed ominously. She grabbed her arms and rubbed them as they walked.

  “Cold?” he asked.

  “A little.”

  “Want my sweater?”

  “No, I have one in my dressing room. This place is always freezing.”

  They retrieved her sweater and then headed to the set. “How many lights?” AJ asked.

  “Just enough so I can see what I’m doing.”

  He left her on the stage and went and flipped some switches. “You’re not really cutting my hair, are you?”

  “Of course I’m really cutting your hair. Why else would I drag you here?”

  He had a bemused expression on his face, following like a lamb to the slaughter when she led him to the wash basin and clipped a towel around his neck.

  He was so tall Tanya needed to adjust the height of the seat. She smiled and massaged his hair a little.

  “Oh, God,” he groaned, closing his eyes. “That feels good.”

  Which was exactly the point. She’d been dying to get her hands on his head for a long time now, so she finger-combed his hair for quite a bit longer than was strictly necessary. A whole, whole lot longer because the soft moans of pleasure coming from him were warming her up like no dumb sweater ever could.

  After heating the water, she pushed his head back, but he instantly sat up straight again. “Don’t you have a couple of questions you want to ask me?” he said.

  “A ton of them,” she admitted.

  She had a million things she wanted to know about him. She tried to remember the last man she’d ever wanted to get to know so badly, and she really couldn’t think of one. For some reason it was important to know these things. Being in the process of falling madly in love with him probably had something to do with it.

  She wet down his hai
r and lathered it. “May I ask you something?” she said.

  “As long as you’re doing that, you can ask me anything.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” She paused, then sucked in a breath and took the plunge. “You said Maria is your foster-sister.”

  “Yes.”

  “Does that mean your parents took in foster children?”

  “No.” He opened one eye, probably realized the futility of not saying anything and sighed. “It means we both grew up—well, she’s still growing up—in the same foster home.”

  “You were a foster-child.”

  “Yes.”

  Her heart sank. “I feel like I should say I’m sorry, but I don’t know why. I don’t know the implications of that.” She picked up the hose and began rinsing his hair. “But I have heard some scary stories.”

  “You don’t need to be sorry. It was a long time ago.”

  “Not so long if you’re still close to your foster . . . siblings. Maria had to be a baby when you left.”

  “Maria wasn’t even there yet. But I keep in touch with my foster-parents, with all of their kids.”

  “Oh! Oh, that’s good. That means they were good to you.”

  He chuckled. “Well, good is a relative term. But they certainly weren’t bad people. Never abusive, never harsh. Never much of anything, actually. They didn’t have the time or the energy to be great or horrible.”

  “Oh.”

  “But they gave us a roof over our heads and we were never hungry. That counts for a lot.”

  Tanya thought about the love that was almost suffocating in its abundance in her household, and guilt at how much she’d always taken it for granted made her knees rubbery. “Your parents?”

  “You mean biological? I don’t have any idea who they are, Tanya. I lived with the Landrys from the time I was a few weeks old. Some commuter found me lying on the back seat of a bus.”

  “Oh, my God.” She lathered his hair again, hoping he didn’t notice her hands shaking. “You took your foster-parents’ name,” she said, trying to find some kind of rainbow among the clouds. “They must have meant something to you.”