“You’ve been there?” I said, surprised.

  “Dear, Margo loved giving parties and having celebrity guests. The CeeCee Collins Show was a Wednesday night fixture. Nobody called me a veteran actress then.” She had a dreamy look, remembering another time. Elise had returned and heard some of our conversation.

  “You mean when your career was hot,” Elise said.

  “You could say I’m hot again,” CeeCee countered. “Being nominated for an Oscar is a big deal. My agent sent me a script I’m considering.”

  “Really?” Elise said. “For what?”

  CeeCee looked Elise in the eye. “I know you think it’s for a part in a horror movie. But actually it’s for a western and the part is for the matriarch of the family. I’ll have to ride a horse—well, learn how to ride a horse.” She let out a sigh. “We’ll have to see if that’s negotiable.”

  CeeCee turned the subject back to the mommy group and wondered about who else was there. She didn’t know who Kath was but was familiar with the Beau Visage commercials. Now that I thought about it, I was too. “They are all over the TV with before and after photos. And the doctor must be Kath’s husband. What’s his name?” Then it came to me. “Dr. Michael Zander. He was always smiling and saying how proud he was of his work.”

  “I wonder if he’s proud of the complaints,” Elise said. “I was thinking about upgrading this—” She gestured to indicate her face. “Shave off a few years and maybe add a little to my lips. But when I asked around, I heard that not everybody was happy with the results. Things didn’t turn out as they expected. Though it seemed a lot of it was about Brazilian butt lifts.”

  Elise put her work away. “Now that we’re settled on who is going to be there with Daisy, I need to check the stock of kits I have at home. If I’m going to be here signing them, we’ll need a lot.”

  CeeCee had put her work away as well. She was meeting someone for lunch. The two women left the store and I was on my way back to my cubicle.

  I glanced at the front of the store and was shocked to see Taylor come in with Elena and her two sons. When I’d mentioned where I worked, I didn’t consider that any of them might come in—particularly all the way from Malibu. So weird, too, after we had just been talking about her and the house.

  “It sounded like a special place. And I wanted to get Andrew some new books. He’s tired of all the old ones. You said there was a special children’s department.” She glanced at the sign advertising Daisy’s appearance. “This is the event you talked about, isn’t it?” She read over the copy and I mentioned there was a display of Daisy’s book. As I took them further into the bookstore, I saw Adele looking over the bookcases that separated the children’s department. Her eyes rested on the little boys and then flashed when she glared at me. I knew what she was thinking—that I was impinging on her domain as head of the children’s department. She came out in a rush, swirling the cape she was wearing over a fairy costume. She headed right toward us and a sudden horror crossed my mind as I saw her opening her mouth and knew she was going to call my name. I couldn’t let Taylor hear her call me Pink and blow my cover.

  Chapter Eight

  “What happened?” Dinah said as I told her about Taylor’s visit to the bookstore and having to deal with the wrath of Adele when she thought I was encroaching on her department. Dinah and I were sitting in my car outside Pet World. The menagerie was getting low on supplies and I had needed a reason to get out.

  I’d come home to a circus. Peter was waiting to grill me. The She La Las were practicing their new dance number while Marlowe watched from her playpen. Samuel’s friend Beth was sitting on the couch watching the baby and the dancing as she continued to audition for the babysitter job. Samuel and my father were in the kitchen unloading white containers of Thai food to feed everybody. They had brought far more than was needed. It was a family trait to be generous with food.

  Peter was disappointed in how little I had found out and was practically hysterical when he heard I had to host one of the mommy group meetups and was thinking of doing it at the bookstore and involving Adele.

  It was all too much and I had called Dinah about going with me on an errand. She was glad to get out as well. Commander was already in going-to-sleep mode and she was still ready to do something—even if it was only a trip to the pet store to replenish the food supply for my animals.

  “So . . .” Dinah said, gesturing for me to tell her the outcome of the confrontation with Adele.

  “I couldn’t stop her from calling me Pink,” I said, remembering the moment. “I had to do something to cover it up.” I laughed, thinking of the absurd thing I had come up with. “I looked at Adele and quickly added Ballet Slippers in an excited voice. And then added that The Pink Ballet Slippers was the book I’d been referring to, implying it was from some past conversation. Adele looked confused by it all and as if she was about to say something, and I got ready to do damage control, but I was saved by the bell. Well, not really a bell, more like the arrival of Eric Humphries and Mother Humphries. Adele got all unhinged about them and forgot all about me. She muttered something about they wanted to talk to her about something.”

  “Nothing is going to get better until she stops calling her Mother Humphries,” Dinah said. I nodded in agreement. Everyone who knew about the situation had tried to tell her the same, but she never listened. But then Adele never listened to anybody.

  “But that wasn’t the end of things. Leslie Bittner came in.” I explained that she was Daisy Cochran’s assistant and podcast producer. Dinah knew about the hassle I was having putting the event together with Mrs. Shedd’s demand that I mix in National Crochet Month with all the Hollywood stuff and Daisy’s demands. “She dropped off another box of books so we’d be sure to have enough for Daisy to sign. She went over Daisy’s demands and went over that the juice place where I’m to get the smoothie has two kinds of strawberry smoothies and I had to be sure to get the right one. She insisted it had to be the strawberry splash.”

  “What a prima donna,” Dinah said. “Sorry I’m going to miss the event, but I’m helping Commander with a happy hour thing he’s hosting at the Mail It store. Since so many of his customers work out of their homes, he likes to give them a chance to socialize.” She smiled at the thought. “He is such a sweetheart in so many ways it makes up for what’s hard to deal with.” She looked ahead at the pet superstore and chuckled. “We better go in before they close.”

  We got out of the car and went into Pet World. Since we were making an outing out of the errand, we took time to look at the small animals they had for sale in the front of the store. We bypassed the snakes and salamanders and glanced at the hamsters before stopping when we got to the guinea pigs. They had bright eyes and I made eye contact with them. I had started talking to them when Dinah knocked against my arm to get my attention and pointed to the automatic door that had slid open. I froze as Mason Fields came in holding his toy fox terrier Spike.

  I ducked down and waddled toward the end of the row of enclosures, thinking I could escape into the aisle of cat trees and carriers. But Mason had moved into the store and was standing in the aisle I’d have to cross, blocking my way. I stayed put and bent down as if I was looking for something, hoping he’d keep going without noticing me. All I could see were his shoes, soft brown leather slip-ons, and they weren’t moving. I heard him greet Dinah and knew my cover was blown, and I stood up feeling foolish.

  He was wearing jeans and a Hawaiian shirt, which I thought of as his casual, fun look, but there was no affable smile or light in his dark eyes. His expression was stone-faced. He looked so cold, I expected icy fog to come out of his mouth. Spike had no idea of what had happened between Mason and me. All he knew was that I was the person who’d played fetch with him. He wiggled with joy at seeing me. Mason set him on the ground and the little short-haired dog rushed up and put his paws on my leg.

  “You won’t get any peace until you pick him up,” Mason said, keeping an even tone. He was a high-powered attorney who spent a lot of time in court defending his naughty and entitled celebrity clients and obviously knew how to modulate his voice to hide what he was feeling, which I assumed was anger and more. And I deserved it all. I cringed, reliving the phone call I’d made to him canceling our plans. I was sure Mason was having a good laugh knowing how badly things had turned out—that is, if he knew.

  I wanted to ask him if he was still doing the pro bono work, helping innocent people get new trials. But I couldn’t even look at his face after the first glance. I gave all my attention to Spike. As soon as I picked him up, he wiggled with excitement and covered my face with doggie kisses. I gave him a few cuddles before setting him back on the floor. He ran back to Mason and danced in circles, yipping.

  Mason scooped the dog up. “Well, I’ll leave you to it.” His tone was flat. “We’re shopping for his favorite chicken treats.”

  Just before he walked away, I muttered “I’m sorry.” It was under my breath and I didn’t know if he’d even heard me.

  “Now you understand why I didn’t consider calling him,” I said to Dinah, feeling all the starch go out of me. I knew I was bound to see him somewhere eventually, but it was even worse than I had imagined.

  We got the pet supplies I needed, and Dinah talked me into going to her place. I accepted, thinking there was no way I was ready to go back to the commotion going on at my house.

  Her house was in the heart of Tarzana and a short walk from Shedd & Royal. Commander had gone to bed and turned off all the lights in the house, and it was like walking into a tomb. She walked through, flicking them all back on as she led the way to the added-on den, which she had made into her she-cave. The sliding glass doors that separated her space from the rest of the house had been the end of the house originally and were quite soundproof. She turned on all the lights in the large room and invited me to flop on the chartreuse couch that had been in her living room prior to the marriage. It was a little too much for Commander and had been replaced with one covered in a neutral sort of tweed.

  “After that you need the heavy-duty stuff,” Dinah said. She pulled off her long golden yellow scarf and dropped it on the couch, then went to the counter and filled the electric kettle from the bar sink. A few minutes later the fragrance of Earl Grey crème tea filled the air.

  What would I do without my best friend.

  Chapter Nine

  I had a day off before our Hollywood Crochets Event. I used the time to make the arrangements for Marlowe’s care since I was going to go in early and stay late. We’d all agreed that Samuel’s friend Beth had passed muster. I gave her the news she was hired and set up the time for her to start the following day.

  I was still getting used to having a baby in the house. More and more baby stuff kept arriving. Marlowe had a bouncy chair to sit in and another that let her push herself around the room with her feet. I’d packed away all the dresses and accessories Gabby had provided and bought a bunch of the stretchy little suits with the snap-up front. It was all comfort all the time for Marlowe now and she seemed to appreciate it.

  • • •

  When Beth arrived the next morning, I made sure to show her the array of baby bottles and canister of formula even though Marlowe was more into eating food. She had her own plates and little spoons. There was a selection of food I had put through the grinder in the refrigerator and a selection of commercial baby food, just in case.

  It was going to be a long day and I was glad I didn’t have to worry about who was taking care of Marlowe or what she had to eat.

  Mrs. Shedd stopped me as soon as I walked into the bookstore. I was always struck by how ageless her hair was. I knew she was well into her sixties and still her honey blond hair had a silky texture without a single strand of gray. There was never a question that it was natural.

  “We’ve been getting a lot of calls about the event tonight. I knew mixing National Crochet Month with Daisy’s Hollywood stories would get a lot of interest,” Mrs. Shedd said with a look of self-satisfaction. “Times may have changed, but I’ve still got my sales savvy.” She had told me I could call her Pamela and Mr. Royal had said I could call him Joshua, but somehow it felt too strange to me to call them by their first names. She went on to tell me that Mr. Royal had brought in extra chairs and already rolled back the bookcases, making an open space for the crowd, and used them to create the backstage area I had asked for.

  I went to look it all over and make some adjustments. I saw Adele peeking over the top of the bookcases that divided off the children’s area and a moment later she joined me. Before she said a word, I knew what it was about. She was going to try to make a last effort to get herself in the middle of the evening’s event.

  “Somebody should be there to explain how superior crochet is to knitting,” Adele said. She naturally had a voice that carried and I noticed several customers turning when she spoke. Adele saw herself as the champion of the yarn craft. Without her saying a word, I knew she had dressed hoping to position herself on the panel. Her boxy jacket was made of granny squares. Her long black skirt was done in basic double crochet stitches and her white cloche hat was covered in crocheted violet and pink flowers. She was like a walking display of the craft.

  Simply telling her no one really cared except her would only cause more problems. The only way to deal with her when she got like this was to get her mind on something else, preferably to something that she would have a strong response to. I had a thought in mind and even how to handle it when she made a fuss.

  I brought up the mommy group and before I could get to the point, she objected.

  “Didn’t you say there’s a dad in it, and then there’s you. How can you call it a mommy group?” Technically, she was right, but it was a lot easier than being one hundred percent accurate and calling it something like the children of assorted ages and an important family member group.

  “Whatever you want to call it,” I said, glossing over her comment, “they take turns hosting, which means I’m going to have to do it. There needs to be an entertainment for the kids.” Adele saw where I was going and her eyes began to flash.

  “Pink, there is no way I’m putting on a story-time for them. The answer is double no.” Her tone was petulant and I didn’t want to ask her what double no meant. I was expecting her reaction and moved into phase two of my plan.

  “You might want to reconsider,” I said. “You didn’t give me a chance to tell you who the other adults are.”

  Adele turned back to look at me. I’d gotten her interest. “You saw one of them the other day. The woman with the little boys. Her name is Taylor.” I struggled with what last name to give her and figured neither one would mean much to Adele, so just left it with her first name. “She was the director on Dust and Sagebrush. Her husband is a big-time movie producer. Imagine if you did a party for them.”

  Adele’s eyes began to light up with understanding as I continued. “Putting on a special story-time would be like an audition and a chance to pitch them on the parties. Imagine what it would do for your business if you could say you’d put on a kids’ party for them.”

  Adele had forgotten all about being upset about not being included in the evening’s program. Her eyes were darting back and forth, indicating that she was thinking about what I said. “Okay, I’ll do it. You’re right. They’ll see me and want Queen Adele to put on a party.”

  I nodded in agreement and Adele said she was going back to the kids’ department to start brainstorming on how to make the story-time extra impressive. I smiled to myself on how I had managed Adele. I was so caught up in patting myself on the back that I was startled to see that Daisy Cochran was standing next to me holding a box of books.

  “I brought them for tonight,” she said, setting them on one of the chairs. “If there are any left, you can keep them here—on consignment.” Because her book was self-published, we didn’t get them through the usual channels.

  She glanced in the direction that Adele had gone. “You gave her good advice. If she puts on a party for Andrew Palmer, plenty of others will follow.” She looked at me with an admiring nod. “I didn’t know you traveled in such a contemporary Hollywood circle.”

  I explained suddenly having my granddaughter and having to step into the mommy group. She asked who else was in the group and nodded with interest as I went through the list. “I know them all, or of them,” she said with a mysterious smile.

  I brought up Miles Langford and she nodded. “He’s trying to buy his way into the entertainment business. He invests in projects and gets a screen credit.”

  “I guess there’s nothing wrong with that,” I said, leaving her an opening to say more.

  “No, I guess there isn’t since he’s all about the image rather than doing the work.” She immediately went back to what she really wanted to talk about, which was her event and some tweaks for her backstage area.

  • • •

  The afternoon was fading and the bookstore was filled with shadows as I changed gears, thinking ahead to the event. I had rearranged the setup of the green room according to Daisy’s specifications. The fancy bottled water she had demanded was chilling. The chairs were all set out and I took a quick dinner break in the café. It was more like breakfast for dinner as Bob gave me some leftovers of a new addition to the menu. They were called Eggy Squares and meant as a morning treat. He added a mini croissant and a red-eye to make it a complete meal.