“Yes. When I have a flashback, she’ll nudge me with her nose or lick me or give me puppy punches until I recognize what’s happening. I don’t know where I’d be without her.”
“Not only beautiful but skilled at her job.” Sebastian nudged his PA. “Just like you, Miss Molly.”
She dimpled. “Thank you for saying so.”
“What can I get you to drink?” I asked them.
“I brought wine.” Molly pulled two bottles from her bag. “It’s B Side. A 2009 cabernet. I thought wine would go nicely with the sunset.”
“You think wine goes with everything.” He winked at her. “Molly’s a wine snob, but it’s still cheaper than hiring a PAanda sommelier.”
“Guilty as charged. I drink wine, and I drink whiskey, and they both have to be the best.”
“I have whiskey. Maker’s Mark. Not the best—”
“But good,” she said brightly. “We’re golden.”
Sebastian spent a few minutes configuring his camera while Molly and I made small talk about her favorite spirits.
“What all have you got there?” I finally asked him.
“It’s a Canon. I got the DSLR bundle when I decided it might be fun to study photography, and no matter what I’ve purchased since, I find this easiest to travel with, except my phone of course.”
“Did you take classes?”
“Very basic ones online. I think I might look into a low-residence MFA program, but that feels like a thing to do when I stop getting modeling work. What is it they say? Make hay while the sun shines?”
“Is that about real hay or is it a euphemism?” Molly took a corkscrew from her purse and opened one of the bottles.
“Both maybe?” Sebastian answered.
“Gotcha,” Molly said over a triumphant cork removal. She lifted the bottle. “Glasses?”
“I’ll get them.” Sebastian bounded up the RV’s stairs.
Molly turned to me. “He already knows where you keep the glasses?”
“He reheated the food last night.” Idly, I gave the cork a sniff. It smelled like wine to me. “I had to block the door to stop him from doing the dishes before he left.”
Molly laughed with me. “I keep telling him to knock that off. How’s anyone going to believe he’s just some profligate, prettyit boyif he performs chores for his hosts?”
I felt the pinch of irritation. “He’s not shallow.”
“Of course not. But still waters and still volcanos both run deep. “
“He’s not the volcano type, either.”
“Spoken with volcanic authority, I presume?” She brought her wine to her lips and sipped before saying, “He made me very curious about you. He likes you a lot.”
“I like him,” I said with what I thought was admirable objectivity. “I don’t think I’ve opened up to anyone in quite that way since I was a kid.”
She sipped her wine and sighed. “Bast has a gift for getting people to do all the talking while making it seem like he’s having a heart-to-heart with them.”
Had I heard a note of exasperation in her voice? “You make him sound insincere.”
“Gosh, what you must think of me.” She gasped. “Sebastian is absolutely sincere. He’s simply not all about Sebastian Keye. That makes him a unicorn in an industry full of people who can’t wait to be center stage.”
“I know you’re talking about me.” Sebastian came down the RV stairs with three wineglasses and some Christmas cocktail napkins.
