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“My apologies. You are obviously the only one worthy of Snow White’s crown.”

“In which case the evil stepmother would be Abbey’s husband Seger, who seems to think since I’m a reporter no one should be allowed to talk to me.”

“You have to admit it is a little tricky for celebs to talk to reporters.”

“I’m not that kind of reporter,” she said, slurring her words a little. “I would never take words out of context and put them in someone else’s, um…”

“Mouth,” he finished, and took her glass away from her. “I have the impression you’ve had enough for one night, Snow White. What will the seven dwarfs think when you stomp all over their little beds?”

“I’ll lie on their beds, eat their food and even, oh, dear, sit on their little chairs and possibly break them,” she said. She patted his face. “So if you’re Prince Charming, what are you waiting for to kiss me, handsome?”

A loud cackling sound could be heard. It came from Alina, who had thrown her head back and was laughing with such fakeness Odelia wondered if she was the only one to notice.

“Another fine candidate for evil stepmother,” said Chase.

“She would be a perfect evil stepmother,” Odelia admitted. “So if she offers us an apple, let’s say no.”

“Say no to apples. Sounds like a good idea,” Chase agreed.

A man joined them, looking slightly worse for wear.“So you’re the reporter, eh?” he said, studying Odelia as if trying to determine if she was rabid or not.

“I am, but I don’t bite,” she assured him.

He laughed.“I’m not so sure about that. So who do you work for?Variety?The Hollywood Reporter?Deadline Hollywood?”

“TheHampton Cove Gazette.”

He frowned.“Hampton Cove Gazette? Never heard of it.”

“It’s the local rag.”

“Local rag?” He looked appropriately confused. “Weird.”

“Are you saying I am weird?” asked Odelia with a frown.

“No, the fact that you’re here is weird,” said the guy, who Odelia now recognized as Kimberlee Cruz’s boyfriend, the hockey player. “The only reason I can think of for Emerald to invite you is that she wanted her big announcement to be spread outside of this small company.”

“What big announcement?” Odelia asked, wondering if she’d missed a crucial part of the evening.

“You were there. Emerald announced that she’s abdicating her throne and crowning Kimberlee as her official successor.”

“Oh, yeah, I heard that. I thought that was just a Hollywood thing. Like, just some silly babble?”

“Oh, no,” said the guy.

With his buzz cut he reminded her of Chris Evans. For a hockey player he was definitely handsome. Movie-star handsome, in fact.

“So no silly babble?” asked Chase.

“Absolutely not. This is big. Like, career-defining big. In fact Emerald said those exact same words before dinner. Said she was going to make a big announcement. We had no idea she was going to do this—and in front of a member of the press, too.” He gestured with his glass to Odelia. “So you better quote me as saying that Kimberlee is honored and extremely pleased. She also wants it to be known that of course there’s no way she’ll ever be able to follow in the footsteps of a woman as accomplished, as legendary and universally beloved as Emerald Rhone, without a doubt the greatestactress that has ever lived. But she accepts it as a compliment and hopes to do her proud.”

“Um, thanks,” said Odelia, a little uncertain about this whole spiel.

“So what do you really think?” asked Chase now. “I mean, off the record.”

Zoltan stared at Odelia’s hands for a moment, as if expecting her to switch off her tape recorder and announce this was really off the record.

“Off the record I think the woman is completely off her rocker,” he said finally, relaxing now that he wasn’t on an official mission from his girlfriend to butter up the press. “I mean, who cares what Emerald frickin’ Rhone thinks? As if she gets to decide who’s successful in this business or not. Hollywood is not a kingdom and she’s not its queen. There’s no throne to give away and no crown to be handed over. Everything Kim has achieved she’s done by working harder than anyone out there, and she definitely doesn’t need some has-been lush to crown her the next queen of Hollywood.”

“Harsh words,” said Chase.

“Off the record, though, right?” said Zoltan, suddenly nervous.

“Absolutely,” said Odelia. She just hoped she’d remember half of what the guy was saying and vowed to jot it all down in her little notebook the moment they got back to their room.

“Emerald is yesterday’s news,” Zoltan continued. “Ask around. Everybody thinks so. The only reason we decided to humor her and accept her invitation was because of Abbey and Alina. Kim respects them tremendously. If not for those two she would have turned Emerald down flat. Especially afterwhat she did to her.”

“What did she do to her?”

Zoltan leaned a little closer and lowered his voice.“She tried to get Kimberlee kicked off the show. Said she was only going to sign on if Kimberlee was replaced by a different actress. Can you believe it?”

“But why?” asked Odelia. “Why would she do such a thing?”