Leo
Seeing the
coast was clear, Linsie took the moment to pull her lip gloss from her pocket.
Using the back of a spoon to check herself, she quickly swiped the tube over
her lips.
A familiar
form suddenly appeared from around the catering truck and waved to her.
Replacing the spoon, she casually slipped the tube back into her pocket.
“Hey, Lins!”
“Hey,
Shandra.”
“Glad you
could make it. Help me with these pastries, would you, please?”
Linsie
followed the caterer over to the truck where she was loaded up with two trays.
“I was
afraid you weren’t going to make it,” the woman remarked.
“Hey. So
what if it’s Saturday night. I had nothing on my calendar. And your offer was
too tempting to resist.” Linsie flashed her boss an honest smile.
Shandra
rolled her eyes as she unshelved two trays for herself. “I don’t suppose
getting to rub elbows with movie stars might have something to do with you
agreeing to this gig, would it?”
Linsie snickered.
“Are you insinuating I might be star struck?”
“Girl, I
got just two words for you. Clark. Gable.”
Linsie
groaned as Shandra laughed out loud.
“Clark
Gable’s dead,” Linsie reminded the woman.
“I know,
but I also know how smitten you are with all those old movies of his. And after
all the times I’ve had to listen to you blather on about how debonair and
swoony that man is, I have every right to rag you about your obsession.”
They took a
set of stairs leading up to what appeared to be an open balcony or patio. The
going wasn’t hard, but climbing with arms loaded was a chore.
“So who all
do you know is going to be here?” Linsie challenged.
“What do
you mean?”
“You said
we’d be hobnobbing with movie stars. Who movie stars?”
Shandra
paused to both catch her breath and to look back at her. “You don’t know where
we are, do you?”
Deadpanned,
Linsie replied, “We’re in an area of Los Angeles known as Beverly Hills. More
specifically, at twenty-one-oh—”
“I meant,
do you know whose home this is?”
“No.”
Giving her
a wide grin, Shandra turned and continued climbing. “You’re gonna thank me
later when you do.”
When they
reached the top of the stairs, a man in a suit and tie, and an obvious earpiece
in one ear, stopped them. Shandra handed her trays over to the man in order to
produce her credentials. After clearing them to enter, he gave the trays back
to her and stepped aside.
“How much
more do we have to bring up?” Linsie questioned, hoping there wasn’t much more.
Stair climbing wasn’t the problem, but these were steep and narrow.
“This is
the last of it. The rest was delivered earlier.”
Following
Shandra across the open-air patio, she couldn’t help but stop to gaze open-mouthed
at the view. With the sun setting, the valley below was draped in twilight. It
made the area appear to be swathed in twinkling stars.
“Heads up,
Lins!”
Linsie
hurried to catch up. “That view’s incredible!”
“It better
be, considering what this place probably cost,” Shandra quipped. “You can
unload those trays on that table over there,” she instructed with a wave of her
hand.
Setting her
load onto the covered table, Linsie began setting out the hors d’oeuvres. She
was almost finished when she caught movement from the corner of her eye. A hand
reached out to snatch one of the desserts. Thinking it belonged to one of the
staff, she automatically swatted it away.
“No
touching the food without permission!” she automatically chastised.
“Sorry,” a
deep voice apologized.
Hearing the
touch of amusement in the tone, she jerked her head up to find herself staring
into a pair of golden-brown eyes across the table. In the next instant, her
brain took in the face and body, and she felt herself literally shrink in embarrassment.
“N-n-no,
sir. Sorry, sir. I-I didn’t know—”
“Don’t
apologize,” he hastily reassured her with a chuckle. It was deep and resonant,
and sounded truly honest. Not to mention exactly like it did on the big screen
whenever she watched one of his movies. “My mother would have done exactly the
same thing. In fact, she has. On several occasions.” He stuck out a hand.
“Hello. I’m Brale.”
“I know,”
she replied, then blushed more furiously. “I mean, I’m Linsie.”
He pointed
to the hors d’oeuvre he’d almost absconded with. “May I?”
“Oh, yes!
Please do!”
She watched
as he picked up the cracker topped with Shandra’s special recipe foie gras and
took a careful nibble. The way he did it made her giggle.
“Go ahead
and shove the whole thing in your mouth. You know you want to, and I don’t mind.”
He did. Two
chews, and an expression of rapture came over his face.
“Oh, that
is incredible,” he praised with a full mouth.
“Isn’t it,
though? It’s Shandra’s personal and private recipe. People who have us cater
for them, if it’s their first time, they always ask for it on repeat bookings.
But word’s gotten around, and people who book us for the first time also
request it.” She grinned. “You could say our reputation’s grown by word of
mouth.”
He got the
pun and chuckled again. Taking a napkin from the pile, he wiped his mouth and
nodded to her. “Good one. And this foie gras is well worth the hype. You’ll
definitely catch me sneaking back around to grab more of these.” Throwing her a
wink, he strolled away.
A figure
hurried up behind her. “Oh, girl! Lucky you! Do you know who you just spoke
to?” Shandra asked breathlessly.
Linsie
nodded. “Yep. The one and only Brale Panthera.”
“Major A-lister,”
Shandra confirmed. Moving her face closer to Linsie’s shoulder, she whispered,
“You know what they say about him, right?”
Suspicious
this might be a sex joke, she was about to tell the woman she wasn’t
interested, but curiosity got the better of her. “No. What do they say about
him?”
“That he’s
the least vain man in Hollywood. Very reclusive. Very private.”
She turned
to give the woman a curious stare. “He’s the what?”
Smiling,
Shandra eyed what they could see of the house’s interior. “Look around for
yourself. There are no mirrors, no shiny surfaces of any kind. Even the plate
glass doors are treated. No way to even see his reflection. Weird, huh?”
“Uh, yeah.
It is.” Linsie snorted. “So what are you telling me? That he’s a vampire or
something who can’t see his reflection?”
The woman
gave her a derisive eye. “It’s definitely odd, considering his face is all over
the place. They even say he doesn’t allow mirrors in his trailer for the makeup
artists to use. Isn’t that crazy? You almost done here?”
“Yeah. Just
about. What ‘cha got next for me?”
“Check to
make sure there’s enough tableware set out.”
“Cups and
glasses, too?”
“Those,
too. Thanks.” The woman shuffled away, carrying the empty trays with her to
stack somewhere until the party was over, and they’d be used to load up the
leftovers to take back to the kitchen.
Although
she had her favorites when it came to actors and actresses, Linsie had never
been one to ardently follow them in the media. Although this was the first time
she’d heard about Brale Panthera’s supposed “non vice,” she had to admit she’d heard
whispers here and there, but she’d brushed them off as gossip. However, Shandra
sounded pretty sure about it, which told Linsie there could be more than a
kernel of truth in the stories.
A random
thought came to her, and she tried to shake it off. “No. It’s not possible.”
A sound in
the next room caught her attention. The next instant, she caught sight of the movie
star exiting one room and entering another. Something in the way he moved…
“Or is it?”
Going over
to where the tableware was laid out, she realized the plan she’d been debating
wouldn’t work. Everything here was textured. Then she remembered the large
serving spoon she’d recently used to touch up her lips. It belonged to the
catering company, and it wasn’t textured.
She went to
get it from where it was sitting in the bowl of cut fruit. Slowly lifting it to
where she could see herself reflected in the convex bowl, she ignored the faint
feline shadow over her face and held it to where she could also look over her
shoulder. At that moment, Brale left the other room and strode toward the back
of the house. It all lasted about three to four seconds, but it was all the
time she needed.
Dropping
the spoon back into the bowl, she took several deep breaths to calm her
nervousness. “Back to work. Get your mind off of what you just saw,” she told
herself, and went to count the glassware.
She was
almost finished counting when she sensed a figure coming up behind her and knew
who’d returned. Smiling, she glanced over to see the man in question eyeing her
as he hovered above the foie gras.
“Back for
seconds? Or thirds?”
“May I go
ahead and fill up a plate?”
“Hey,
you’re paying for it. Go right ahead.”
She
shuffled a little closer to him, enough to where she could talk without anyone
else listening in. “They say you’re the least vain man in Hollywood.”
A corner of
his mouth turned upward. “I’ve heard that, too.”
“Truth or
not?” she playfully challenged him.
“Hey, we
all have our perks. I just happen to be able to afford mine.”
“So just
how long do you think you can keep your secret safe?” she bluntly asked him.
His eyes
widened as he stared at her. Linsie continued before he could speak.
“Are there
others who know what you really are? Or have you been able to slide by on your
lonesome?”
“What are
you talking about?” He was suddenly nervous, defensive, and abrasive. She
didn’t blame him.
Picking up
a fork, she shook it at him. “All textured. No mirrors. Nothing reflective. You
may have everyone else fooled, but not those of us like you.”
His eyes
narrowed, giving him the appearance of a cornered yet vicious animal. “Miss…”
“I’m one of
you,” she hastily told him. When he softly gasped, she looked at him in
surprise. “Wait a minute. You’ve never met another one of us? You thought you
were the only one?”
Brale glanced
over at the patio. Seeing people coming in, he grabbed her by the arm and
hurried her into the adjacent room, which turned out to be a study. Letting her
go, he quickly shut the door then whirled around to face her. “There are others
like me? Like us?” His mouth hung open for a moment. “What are we?”
“We’re
Leons.”
“Leons?
What?”
“We’re
Leons,” she repeated. “We’re…unique.”
He blew a
raspberry. “Boy, that’s putting it mildly.” His eyes roamed over her. “How do I
know you’re telling the truth? How can I trust you?”
“Look at my
eyes.”
He stared
at her. “Okay. So?”
“What color
are they?”
“They’re…uhhh…”
His head jerked back.
Linsie
smiled. “That’s not a sure sign. There are other people, normal regular people,
who have the same color eyes. But all of us Leons do. The true test, though, is
our reflection.”
“Do
you…see…yourself differently in a mirror?”
She nodded.
“Oh, yeah. And people who look at our reflections do, too.”
“Do you see
me as I really am? Right now?”
Smiling,
Linsie tilted her head slightly. “Do you see me as I really am?”
“No, but
how do you know…”
She tapped
her nose. “Trust your instincts. What does this tell you?”
Blane
studied her for a moment. “Why can we see our other selves in a reflection? What
are we? Freaks?”
“No.”
Linsie shook her head. “Didn’t your parents explain it all to you?”
“My parents
were human, but they loved me anyway. They’re both dead now. They died several
years ago. That’s when I decided to pursue a career in the movies…” He glanced
down for a couple of seconds, then back up at her. “After I found out that a
photo of me doesn’t show the real me.”
“You’re
right. The camera only sees what everyone else sees, but we still must be
careful about it catching our reflection.”
“So…” He
touched his nose. “I know you said we can sense each other, but how did you
know for certain? Certain enough to come tell me you knew?”
She pointed
toward the table. “I used the back of one of the serving spoons that came from
the caterer.”
He pointed to her. “Linsie, right?”
“Right.”
“How much
time do you have?” she quipped.
A knock on
the door suddenly interrupted them. He opened it to find Shandra standing
there, a concerned look on her face.
“There you
are! I was getting worried!” She gave Brale an anxious look. “Is something
wrong? Did Linsie do something I need to know about?”
Turning to
Linsie, Brale pointed to the woman in the doorway. “Does she…”
Knowing he
was asking if Shandra was one of them, or knew about Leons, she shook her head.
“No.”
He faced
Shandra. “Everything’s fine. I was trying to coerce her to give me the recipe
for that awe-inspiring foie gras, but she flatly refuses to relent.” He
suddenly flashed the woman a smile. “She’ll be out shortly.” That done, he
closed the door in the woman’s face, much to Linsie’s shock. “Are you available
tomorrow night?” he asked.
Surprised
by the sudden shift, she shook her head. “Yes.”
“Mind if I
pick you up so we go someplace where we can talk? I gotta hear more about
this.”
“Tomorrow
works for me.”
“Great! How
can I get hold of you?”
Linsie
laughed softly. “How do you know I’m not already married or have a boyfriend?”
“Because I
don’t smell him on you if you do,” he bluntly answered. “Is that weird or…”
“It’s one
of our abilities,” she informed him, tapping her nose again. “Our senses are
enhanced.”
He took a
step back. “Wow,” he softly said.
“Do you
have a pen and some paper?”
He quickly
produced a pad and pen from the desk at the far end of the room. She jotted
down her phone number.
“I have to
get back to my job. But feel free to come grab some more of the foie gras
before it’s all eaten up.”
“You can
count on it,” Brale promised. Holding up the pad, he smiled. “And thanks for
this. I can’t wait.”
He opened
the door for her. Shandra was no longer there, but Linsie hurried back to the
patio. She knew the woman would harangue her for information about why she and
Brale Panthera had been alone in the study together, but it didn’t matter.
