Picture Perfect Read online

  I smiled at him. "Oh?" I asked. "And what exactly am I like?"

  Herb grinned, showing the gold fillings in his back teeth. "You? You're good for my Alex."

  The lights blinked, and the guests began to shuffle into the theater. Critics flipped open their memo pads and uncapped their pens. Herb glanced around anxiously, waiting for Alex to claim me before he went inside.

  "Go ahead," I urged him. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

  "Ach," Herb said. "I already know the story. What's a minute or two at the beginning?" He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall.

  My eyes scanned the stream of people, wondering if Alex had forgotten me. "I don't even know what it's about," I confessed. "I was too busy to read the script this time."

  Herb raised his eyebrows. "Let's just say it's a departure for Alex. I doubt you've seen him like this." Herb started to grin. "Speak of the devil," he said.

  Alex wound my arm through his. "Sorry," he said. "Even movie stars have to take a leak every now and then." He thanked Herb for taking me under his wing, and then walked me into the darkening theater.

  I leaned toward Alex as the credits began to roll on the screen. "Herb says I won't even recognize you."

  Alex sucked in his breath, caught my hand in his. "Cassie," he said softly, "promise me you'll remember that I'm acting." He knotted his fingers with mine and squeezed, settling our hands on the armrest between us. He would not let go.

  The thing that made this film different from the others Alex had done was that here he was a villain. His other characters had had flaws of some kind, but not enough to be cast into such black relief. It took me very little time to realize whatInsufficient Grounds was about.

  Alex was playing a man who beat his wife.

  I did not realize how tightly I was gripping Alex's fingers, or that I felt so dizzy that if I had stood and run out of the theater like I wanted to, I would have collapsed. I watched the very first scene unfold in a pristine bathroom, where the counters were spotless and white and the towels were neatly folded over their racks. Alex pulled back the shower curtain to reveal the hot-and cold-water faucets, one of which was not set at a ninety-degree angle to the ceiling. Alex dragged a woman who was not me into the bathroom, forced her to see her mistake, and threw her on the tile floor.

  I was watching the story of my life.

  But on movie sets they had stunt doubles; they taught the actors to choreograph false punches. I tried to remind myself that the actress had not been hurt at all.

  Then I turned toward Alex, who was looking at me and not at the film. His eyes reflected back the characters that were going through our motions on the screen.Promise me you'll remember that I'm acting . "Why?" I asked, but Alex only bent his head toward mine and whispered he was sorry.

  AFTER THE MOVIE WAS PUBLICLY RELEASED AND ALEX WAS GIVEN glowing reviews for accepting a role that altered his image as a character actor, we went to the ranch in Colorado. Of Alex's three residences, it was my favorite. Sprawled across three hundred acres of lush fields, it was bordered by the blue swells of the Rockies. It was cut into ribbons by a clear, winding stream so cold that it numbed your ankles. I knew the facts about the elevation in Colorado, but as soon as I stepped through the gates of the ranch, I found it much easier to breathe.

  Even the stables and the main house were built along different lines from the L.A. residences. They were Spanish style, stucco and red tile roofs, geraniums tumbling over the edges of hand-fashioned window boxes. The skeleton staff that took care of the horses and the ranch when Alex was in California seemed to hide in the folds of the hills when we came to stay, making me feel that only Alex and I had access to this little sliver of heaven.

  The first few times we'd been to the ranch, Alex had taught me how to ride. It was something he'd learned years ago forDesperado . I was good at it, and I liked it.

  Alex had bought me a mare named Annie, who was ten years old but acted like a skittish filly. Two out of three times when I mounted her, she'd try to buck me off. Still, she was nothing compared to the horses Alex preferred. There seemed to be a new one every time, just green-broke, and half the thrill for Alex was keeping himself in the saddle.

  "Race you," I said, watching Alex pull back on the reins to keep Kongo stepping lightly. I danced Annie around in a tight circle. "Or are you afraid you aren't going to be able to control him?"

  I was teasing Alex; I knew that if he felt confident enough to set himself in the saddle, he'd manage to bend the horse to his will. But Kongo was a monstrous stallion, eighteen hands and black as pitch, and he showed no inclination to do anything Alex wanted. "I think you ought to give me a handicap," Alex said, grinning, and as if he understood English, Kongo turned and started trotting in the wrong direction.

  "Not on your life," I said, and I dug my heels into Annie's flanks, flying through the gate toward the valley where the stream took three hairpin turns to a little grove shaded by aspen trees, whose silver leaves tinkled on the wind like the bells of a tambourine.

  Alex made it to the grove a full four lengths ahead of me, and then broke down to a trot, circling to cool off his horse. He slid off Kongo's back and tied him to a low branch of a tree, then helped me off Annie. He lowered me slowly down the length of his body, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. "What I like about you," he murmured, smiling, "is that you're not a sore loser."

  We let the horses graze and sat at the edge of the stream, dangling our bare feet in the frigid water. I stretched back, leaning my head in Alex's lap.

  I woke up when my skull thumped against the stones at the edge of the water. Alex had vaulted onto Kongo's back. "Annie just tore loose," he said. "I'm going after her."

  I knew that Alex would be able to overtake Annie. I wondered how she had gotten free. It was possible that she'd chewed through her reins; with her temperament that wasn't out of character. But it was just as possible that I'd done a shoddy job of tying her up, and that when Alex came back, there would be hell to pay.

  By the time I saw Alex thundering toward me, I was standing very still. He stopped the horses three feet away, panting, not looking at me. Then he dismounted and knotted Annie's reins and Kongo's around the trunk of a different tree.

  He hadn't said a word during this entire prelude, and I knew that he was taking his time before he dealt with me. He turned around, but I couldn't read his expression. When he took a step closer, I instinctively backed away.

  Alex's eyes opened wider. Then he held out his hand, the way you would to a dog that is unsure of your scent. He waited until I placed my palm against his, and then he jerked me into his arms. "Jesus," he said, smoothing my hair. "You're shaking." He stroked the side of my neck. "Even if I hadn't caught her, she would have made her way back to the stables. You had nothing to worry about." But I couldn't stop shivering, and after a moment he gently pushed me away, still holding my arms. "My God," he said slowly. "You're afraid of me."

  I lifted up my chin and shook my head, but I was trembling, which ruined the effect. Alex sank to the ground and bowed his head. I sat down beside him, miserable that I had ruined what had been a perfect afternoon. I realized that it was up to me to bring us back to center, so I took a deep breath. I stood up and waded into the stream again, bending at the waist and reaching my fingers into the water. "Rumor has it," I said, "there are trout in this stream."

  Alex's head lifted, and he smiled at me gratefully, running his eyes appreciatively from my hair to my bottom to my bare feet. "Yes," he said, "I've heard that."

  "And rumor has it," I continued, "that you can catch a fish with your bare hands." As I spoke, a skinny spotted trout slipped between my palms, making me gasp and splash backward.

  Alex came to his feet, stepping into the water behind me. "Assuming you wanted to learn," he said, fitting his thighs to the backs of mine, "the first thing you'd do is stop moving around so damn much." He bent over me, so close that his lips brushed my ear. His arm