"Mister Downey's office."
"Yes, this is Jen Parker."
"No, I do not have a comment on that matter."
"No sir. None at all."
"Goodbye," I intoned, placing the phone back in its cradle when really I wanted to throw the whole damn thing out the window.
One of the receptionists knocked on my open door and stepped in, a stack of magazines in her grasp. I groaned aloud, knowing exactly what was coming next.
"Is that what I think it is?" I asked, deadpan.
"Seems like it," she said, chuckling as she dropped them in front of me on my desk.
"Robert and the Assistant: a new power couple?"
"Electric Love?"
"Tony Stark and his Pepper"
"I do have a name, you know," I said to nobody in particular. I picked up the phone and buzzed through to Robert's phone, waving the receptionist away.
"Robert?"
"Marge?"
"Can you please come into my office?"
"Uh oh. Am I in trouble?"
"Probably."
Seconds later he came with everyone in the office watching him. Tuned in. Waiting for the next development. He was grinning as he strolled in, casually waving to an intern as they passed.
"Could you stop making a scene and come in here?"
"Yes ma'am. Am I actually in trouble?" he asked in earnest as he sat down.
"This is a PR nightmare," I said as I tossed the magazines across the desk for him to see. He let out a little chuckle, which was just a tad irritating to me. "There's random media outlets calling me up left and right, asking for anything I'll tell them about Sundance and your charity event. Everybody wants answers. What in god's name are we supposed to tell them?"
"That's up to you."
"What the hell kind of answer is that?"
"I'm in, Marge. I'm all in."
"You're...in?"
"Completely. I'm crazy about you. Is that what you want me to tell them? Because I will."
"You'd...do that?" I pondered the thought as I sank back into my chair.
"Of course I would. I mean, maybe I'm being presumptuous but I think we can both agree there's something here. Right?"
I simply nodded. It's all I could do. I'd never had much time for relationships before Tom, so the way he and I were was just normal to me. Our special "thing" had to be our little "secret". Now I'm sitting across from Robert, the man that knows me better than I know myself and he's gonna tell everyone that he's crazy about me? Talk about a major mind-fuck.
"Marge?" he snapped his fingers in front of my face.
"I'm sorry," I said, shaking myself back to reality. "So...what do you need me to do?"
"I need you to decide if you want to be my girlfriend or not. We'll go from there."
"Girlfriend, Bobby? How old are we?"
"Yeah. My girlfriend. My main squeeze? My boo? I'll call you whatever you want."
Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that he would say those words to me. That type of a relationship with him hadn't ever hit my realm of possibilities until our trip to Utah. Needless to say, I was at a loss for words. My heart was telling me 'yes!' and my brain was saying 'whoa girl, slow down!' Which of the two I was going to listen to was still to be decided.
"Hey," he said quietly, as he circled my desk and perched in front of me. "I know it's a busy morning and you're dealing with a lot. I'm going to get out of here and let you get back to what you were working on. We can talk tonight. Okay?"
"I can't get anything done. The phone is ringing off the hook and I keep getting interrupted. You've got one million things to put on the schedule, not to mention the Sherlock Holmes premiere coming up and the press tour that goes with it."
He picked up the phone and buzzed the reception desk. "Hi. Yes, it's Robert. Can you please screen the phone calls that are coming in from anyone in the news media? Yes. Anyone. I know she usually takes them but there's too many and she's being taken away from what she really needs to work on. Great. Thank you," he said politely and hung up.
I let out a long, slow breath and relaxed, if only a little. "Thank you," I said and took his hand.
"No problem. Once you finish up the schedule, send it over. Would you like to have dinner tonight?" he asked.
"Sure. My place or yours?"
"Yours. I haven't been over there in a while."
"It's a date. Now get out. I have shit to do," I quipped to which he just grinned and returned to his office. I slumped back into my chair and looked at everything with new eyes, though my head still felt confused as hell.
Focus on the task at hand, Jennifer. I imagined my mother slapping her open palm on the top of my desk to get my focus back. I shuddered and returned my attention to the computer screen and keyboard.
"Los Angeles. March ninth. Dolby theater," I recited the words as I put them in the calendar. "Paris. March twelfth. Grand Rex. Beijing. March fifteenth. Site: TBD," there were three more dates that I entered in, then moved on to Robert's travel itinerary.
"Marge?" Robert's voice came through the intercom, breaking my focus.
"Yes, Bobby?"
"Can you do me a solid and add a couple more appointments to my calendar?"
I poised my pen on the paper and listened intently, "Shoot."
"January twenty fifth. Ex and Avri visiting."
"That's tomorrow, you know," I reminded him.
"I do know that."
"You have two meetings tomorrow, one at nine and the other at one, with a conference call to Guy at eleven-thirty."
"Can I do them remotely?"
"I'm going to have to call and ask."
"Great. Next item?"
"Shoot."
"Can you please confirm Davy's time to come with on the press tour? I'll need him with me for interviews. Who's interviewing me, by the way? I can't remember."
"Well, there's the Today show, then Live with Kelly, the View, and also every late night show on television right now. That reminds me, are you interested in doing carpool karaoke? James called earlier."
"I think karaoke is more your thing, Marge."
I burst out laughing on my end of the line, "So is that a yes, or no?"
"Call and see if we can do carpool karaoke as soon as possible."
"We?"
"Yes, you and me. I'll only do it if you come with. See if he can do it today."
"Today?" I shrieked.
Great. Just effing great. Not only am I tangled up in speculations of a romance with my boss, now he wants me to act a fool with him on television.
"Yes, today. It would be a great way to address all the rumors about whether or not you're my girlfriend."
Damn him. He's right.
"Fine."
"Fine, as in yes? You'll do it?"
"I'll do it."
"So that means you're my girlfriend, then."
"I suppose it does, Mister Downey."
He burst through the door, and lifted me to my feet, kissing me sweetly, with my office door wide open for all to see that it was happening. Damn that man, there's just something that I can't say no to, regardless of whether or not my head thinks it's a good idea. My heart wasn't arguing.
***
"Hey! Robert!" a chipper English accent called out to him. "Need a lift?" He and I were staged on the corner of Radford and Ventura, just outside of the CBS studios. James Corden was sitting in his SUV, cameras all around as we got into the car, Robert in the front seat.
"Who's this lovely lady?" James asked, giving me a wink. He already knew damn well who I was.
"This is Jennifer Parker."
"Hello Jennifer," he reached back and shook my hand.
"Hello James."
"So Jennifer, you're Robert's assistant then?"
I nodded and Robert chimed in, "She's also my girlfriend." He stated it plainly, while taking off his sunglasses and looking straight into the dash cam, pointing a finger at it. Cheeky fucker. I was thankful for the concealment of my own shades at least, when what I really wanted was an invisibility cloak to wrap myself in.
"Whoooooa! That's big news, you two," James cheered and looked straight into the camera. "You heard it here first, Robert and Jen! So the rumors are true!"
"Yes, they are," I chimed in.
"Brilliant! Let's have a drive then, shall we?"
"Sounds lovely," I replied as I settled into the back seat, remembering to keep myself in frame.
"Jennifer, there were a few candid videos of you bringing down the house in Park City. You're a great singer."
"Thank you, James. I have to credit that number to the champagne I'd been sipping on."
"Yes. The liquid courage works every time," he chuckled as he navigated the streets of LA.
"Sure does. I'm wasted right now in fact," I added and both Robert and James doubled over in laughter, giving me quite a surprise. My dry humor doesn't always come off just right.
"Well, let's take advantage then!" James said as he switched on the radio. A plucky guitar started and I recognized the song immediately and started singing along and dancing in my seat.
"This was all you, none of it me
You put your hands on, on my body and told me
Mmm
You told me you were ready
For the big one, for the big jump
I'd be your last love everlasting you and me
Mmm
That was what you told me," then, both Robert and James joined in for the rest.
"I'm giving you up
I've forgiven it all
You set me free-ee
Send my love to your new lover
Treat her better
We've gotta let go of all of our ghosts
We both know we ain't kids no more
Send my love to your new lover
Treat her better
We gotta let go of all of our ghosts
We both know we ain't kids no more."
We finished taping and my cheeks hurt from all the smiling and laughing. We sang hit song after hit song until they felt satisfied that they'd gotten good footage. Honestly, I could have stayed in that car for the whole day, it was that fun. I'd never felt so free. Free to be with Robert, free to be myself, and most importantly free to be in love.
Robert and I left James, hands intertwined and crossed the parking lot to Robert's car.
"What time would you like me to come over?" he asked as we both settled in the seats.
"Give me a couple hours, okay?"
We got back to Robert's place, and I said goodbye at the gate, so that I could take some time and have a walk back to my own house. So many things had changed that day, I wondered if my little gray house would even look like the same place.
The four steps to the front porch were still there, my ivy was still climbing up the lattice just to the right of the turquoise front door. My white painted rocking chairs sat there, motionless, like they were waiting for me to visit them and relax with a book and a glass of wine. My cat, Neko was perched on the windowsill waiting for me to come inside and feed her, no doubt. Always, in moments of stress or extreme chaos, my little house makes everything feel right again. And right again, is exactly what I felt.
***
"She's lived here for years, Bobby. What are you so nervous about?" I couldn't even remember what that little house looked like on the inside; it had been so many years since I'd visited it--maybe not even since she moved into it. Things are so different now; it's hard to remember what it used to be like around here.
Jeans and a white t-shirt seem appropriate for a casual dinner with Jen, right?
Maybe I should wear a black shirt. She likes black best.
So I threw the white one aside and put on a black one, then my brain backtracked to the night in Park City when she stole my heart and my Led Zeppelin shirt. She'd only been away from me for a couple of hours and I missed her already. One dab of cologne and I was ready. I was nervous, which is unfamiliar, but I was ready.
The quarter-mile path from my house to hers winds around the pool, garden and the animal pasture before it opens up to a view of the hills, with her little house nestled in a grove of trees just at the foot of them.
Rocking chairs?
When did she get those?
You need to pay closer attention, Bobby.
Realizing I'd come empty-handed, I veered off the path in search of a handful of wild flowers and unfortunately for me, there aren't any.
"What the hell are you doing over there?" she called out from the front door of her house.
"I was looking for some flowers," I called over my shoulder as I waded through the tall grass.
"In January? You're crazy."
"Obviously--" I spun around and the sight of her made me question my mental status, without a doubt. She was wearing a short and loose, black cotton dress with bare legs and no shoes. She had twisted her hair up atop her head, and still had the same earrings on that she'd been wearing in the office earlier. She looked so relaxed, so soft and feminine that I figured I had to be dreaming her up. As I got closer, I noticed all these little details on her that I never had before, a tiny silver ring on her toe and white polish on her toenails. She had on a delicate gold necklace with a tiny crystal pendant that hung around her neck as well.
"Bobby? What's with you?"
"You're so..."
She waited, leant up against the pillar on the porch, eyeing me expectantly. I'd never laid eyes on anyone as beautiful. In the golden evening light, she reminded me of what I'd imagined a goddess would look like. I'd known her to be mysterious and cynical, always with the dark clothing and long, dark hair. Smart as a whip she is and she doesn't take anybody's shit...well, with the exception of one man; though he doesn't matter anymore.
Now, to me, she looked warm and inviting and it's like I was meeting another side of her and it made me fall for her all over again. This woman is the woman and I can't believe it took me this many years to realize it. It seems so fast-tracked to me but you know what? I'm not getting any younger and there's no way I'd chance letting her get away.
"Come on," she extended a hand and led me inside.
"Jen," I froze in place, surprised as hell as I looked around her little house. I'd imagined dark and sultry, kind of like her. You know, deep purple velvet and damask window treatments. Nope. Not even close.
The only thing that's dark is the wood floor. Everything else is bright white, accented by light colors. Her sectional sofa is off-white canvas and is plush with fluffy throw pillows and faces out to the back porch with a better view than my house has. It's soft, feminine and minimal, which was quite a shock to me. The curtains are white, her kitchen cabinets are white. Hell even her cat is fluffy and white.
"Bobby! What's up with you tonight?" she asked as she snaked her arms around my waist.
"This...is not what I expected your house to look like."
"What did you expect? Witchcraft literature and a sacrificial altar, or what?"
"I guess I didn't know what to expect, but this is really nice, Jen. I could hang out in here every day."
"I'd probably let you."