“No,” he said. “No, don’t go.”

“It’s okay,” I said.

He tapped his fingers on his knee.

“Really, it is,” I said. “I can just get my stuff.”

“Just, uh…” He looked away. “Just give me a moment, okay?”

“Um, yeah, of course,” I said.

He got off the couch and left the living room.

I picked up a pillow and screamed into it. What was wrong with me? Why had I stopped something that had felt so good, and so right, because of one stupid word? Also because of journalistic integrity but that had been about a horse behind my own galloping libido.

So what if Gabe had forgotten my name in the heat of the moment? I was fooling myself if I thought that this meant something. He was a movie star. He had women flinging themselves at his feet, and he was here with me. Did I really think this was going to be anything more than what it was?

I’d had one chance with him and I’d blown it.

When Gabe came back into the living room, I was sitting up, hands on my knees, still trying to figure out how to salvage this moment.

“Look,” he said. “We can still—I can still—if you—”

“It’s late,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said.

I got to my feet. “I’ll go.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said, putting a hand on my arm.

We both looked at it, and then he removed it, putting both hands first into his back pockets and then into his front ones.

“You can stay in the guest room and I’ll call you a cab in the morning,” he said.

I nodded.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said, and turned to go.

“Gabe,” I said.

He turned—and it was probably my imagination that made him seem eager.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said.

I didn’t really know how to respond to that. Were we just going to pretend that what had happened on the couch didn’t actually happen?

“We can talk more in the morning,” he said.

He gave me a smile—it seemed genuine but also tired.

“Okay,” I said.

I went into the guest room and closed the door. I stood there.

“Come on, honey,” I heard Gabe say, and then the click click click of his dog’s nails across the wood floor.

At the other end of the house, I heard his bedroom door close.

Film Fans

RISICO REVIEW
[EXCERPT]

By Helen Price

IT’S THE MOVIE EVERYONE HAS been talking about. Not for good reasons. And it’s the movie everyone wanted to see—but again, not for good reasons.

Everyone wanted to know if Gabe Parker’s rapid decline, alcoholism, and weight gain had been captured on camera.

If that’s the only reason you’re planning to see this movie, I’m sorry to say, you’ll be disappointed.