The Rom-Commers(97)
“But,” I said, and this I’d learned from Charlie himself, “I thought only casting directors chose the actors for movies.”
Donna gave a nod like Of course as she said, “Unless the writer and the star happen to be in cahoots.”
“Are they?”
“Jack will do anything for Charlie,” Donna said, nodding at Logan for confirmation. “Didn’t he just go to a hospital in Texas to serenade an old man?”
Logan did not meet my eyes.
Donna was still trying to remember the details. “The man was very sick—just out of the ICU. And Charlie couldn’t stop worrying about him, so Jack offered to pop in randomly—like he’s famous for.”
I looked at Logan.
He looked at Donna.
“And then,” Donna went on, squinting at Logan, like he would probably know, “didn’t he take the nurses aside afterward to say, ‘Please take extra-special care of my dear friend’?”
Finally, Logan glanced my way. “Something like that,” Logan answered. “Yeah.”
* * *
THE SECOND WE were in Logan’s car, I said, “Was she talking about my dad just now?”
Logan pretended to be busy with his seat belt.
“The old man in Texas? That had to be my dad, right?”
“I’m not at liberty to say,” Logan said, starting the car.
“Logan,” I said, dropping my voice. “You were my friend first.”
Logan considered that as we pulled out of the garage. “Fine. Yes. He asked Jack to pop in and make it look random.”
“Jack Stapleton didn’t pop in. He can’t pop in anywhere. It was total mayhem. One of the nurses fainted.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“The point is, you’re making it sound like it wasn’t a big deal when it definitely was a big deal.”
Logan nodded for a minute, and then he said, “Charlie wanted to look after you, but you sent him away.”
“This is my fault now?”
“Look,” Logan said. “Charlie agreed with you. He didn’t think you should have to see his face, either. So he worked from behind the scenes.”
“Worked to do what?”
Logan steeled himself to break a confidence. “To do nice things for you.”
“Like what? What kind of nice things?”
“You know,” Logan said. “Like upgrading your dad’s room.”
Now I turned to really look at him. “They said we won that upgrade! They were celebrating their ten-thousandth surgery.”
“I can’t believe you fell for that.”
“He told the hospital to lie to us? And they just did it?”
“He also made a sizable donation.”
This was an outrage. “He tricked us into being upgraded? I thought we’d won that VIP room randomly—like decent people.”
“Also,” Logan went on, “all those fancy lunches every day.”
“That was Charlie? That wasn’t just … life on the VIP wing?”
Logan shook his head. “That was all Charlie. He got a hotel room after you told him to get out of your sight, and he stayed close by until he knew your dad was okay.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Why do you think?”
“I honestly have no idea.”
“He also did the whole thing with the plants.”
“The plants?” I demanded, like now this had gone too far.
“Why are you so mad about this? Those plant studies are real. Charlie can recite the statistics all day.”
“It wasn’t his place to do that stuff.”
“It wasn’t his place?”
“Yes,” I said, doubling down. “That’s totally inappropriate behavior. Would you secretly upgrade a work colleague’s father to a VIP room?”
“If I were in love with her, I would.”
I blinked. “He’s not in love with me,” I said. “He told me he wasn’t.”
But as we pulled up to the Biltmore valet, Logan just said, “I can’t believe you fell for that, either.”
* * *
I THOUGHT LOGAN was just dropping me off at the Biltmore, but as I got out—still a little dazed—he handed his keys to the valet.
“You’re—coming in?” I asked.
Logan nodded. “I’m headed to the ballroom.”
I frowned. “What’s in the ballroom?”
Logan met my eyes. “Charlie.”
“Oh,” I said. “This is where the awards ceremony is?”
Logan nodded.
“Did you know Charlie would be here tonight when you booked a room for me in this hotel?”
Logan nodded again.
“Are you tricking me into going to the ceremony?” I asked.
“Not unless you want me to,” Logan said.
“I don’t want you to,” I said.
“Even after finding out about the VIP upgrade?”
“I didn’t ask him to do that,” I said. “I asked him to leave me alone.”
“You should come with me,” Logan said, gesturing at the ballroom. “It would mean a lot to Charlie.”