In real life, Emmaline didn't have any game.
She only ever had one boyfriend in her life and that had turned out to be a disaster.
But, she knew how to act as if she had game, which was all that mattered here.
All through dinner, she flirted as if her life depended on it.
Well, to be fair, her mother's life depended on it.
She directed sweet smiles at Ashton and answered questions from relatives.
When she spotted his parents watching them, she whispered in his ear, "Quick, look as if you're saying something funny to me."
Ashton didn't miss a beat, he turned his face so that it was close to hers and grinned mischievously, "One of my religious uncles tried to spray holy water at me to 'ungay' me."
That was enough for Emmaline and she burst into laughter, looking for all the world like a partner who was completely enamored with Ashton.
"For real?" She whispered back and he nodded at her.
"What happened?" She asked, keeping her expression as if they were exchanging sweet nothings rather than spilling tea.
Anyone looking at them would see two young sweethearts in love, totally oblivious to the world.
But Emmaline was keenly aware of their audience and she allowed herself to relax even more into the arm that Ashton had around her.
"My father saw and he splashed the whole bottle in his face before telling him to leave," Ashton chuckled.
Once again, Emmaline was struck with guilt and admiration for how steadfast Ashton's parents were.
By the time the after dinner drinks were being served, most of the guests had somewhat dispersed after their curiosity about Emmaline had been satisfied over dinner.
She had put on the show of her life, and it had given her glowing reviews.
As they wandered off to continue partying or turn in early, she heard whispers of a wedding, an engagement and no more doubtful or malicious comments.
At least not that she heard, anyway.
Under a beautifully lit gazebo with a string quartet playing in the garden and fireflies beginning to emerge from the trees, Emmaline finally started to relax a little.
She still declined Layla and Ashton's offers for alcohol. There was no way she was going to risk getting drunk and blowing this whole show.
But she had a pretty nice mocktail, the children had finally tired and were sleeping, the remaining adults were having quiet conversations over their drinks.
Even the celebrating couple, Mr and Mrs Wright had disappeared for the night after he had publicly gifted her a priceless family heirloom in the form of teardrop diamond earrings.
Then she caught sight of a familiar face and ducked under the bar counter so suddenly it must have looked as though she had fallen off.
"Em?" Ashton's face appeared, shadowed by the bar top he was leaning under to see her, "What's wrong?"
Emmaline tried to calm her racing heart.
She was in disguise, so technically that person wouldn't recognize her, right?
But her brother, Taylor, had recognized her in a heartbeat even though he hadn't seen her in ages before that.
No, it was too risky.
Moving cautiously, she peeked over the table and made sure that he was seated far away and with his back facing her before she came upright again.
"What is it? An old flame? An ex best friend?" Layla whispered, her antenna for gossip already waving in Emmaline's direction. She clearly thought there was a juicy backstory here.
Sadly, it wasn't anything that exciting.
"It's just a director I worked with," Emmaline revealed in a soft voice, "He's great but I kind of don't want to talk to him here."
Ashton looked over in the direction she was peering at and recognition lit in his green eyes.
"Jun Slater?" He asked.
When Emmaline nodded, Layla made a sound of agreement.
"I totally get it, he's a bit intense," Layla said conspiratorially.
"You know him?" Emmaline asked, surprised. In fact, she was surprised to see him here at all.
"He and mom are…" Ashton got cut off by Layla's interjection of "Ex-lovers!"
Ashton rolled his eyes, placed one hand on Layla's head and shoved gently, "They're not ex-lovers but I think they're pretty good friends."
"There was one scandal about them loooooong ago," Layla chimed in gleefully, evidently very happy to add some sauce to the goss.
Emmaline was about to ask about that one scandal when she saw a very pretty young lady approach Jun and sit down with him.
She narrowed her eyes to make out the features of the woman in the dim light.
Dressed in a flowy, floral maxi dress and with her dark hair braided to the side, this woman's beauty shone in a simple, natural way.
"Please don't tell me that's his wife," She whispered. She wouldn't know how to break the news to Crystal if it turned out that the director Crystal was carrying a torch for turned out to be secretly married!
Layla took one glance and grinned, "Why? You wanna make a move on Sexy Slater?"
Emmaline choked on her drink, nearly spitting out the sweet, pink liquid.
What was it with people and getting the hots for this old man?
Fine, he wasn't old but still.
Ashton darted a quick look at her, as if worried she actually did have the hots for Jun Slater.
"No!" Emmaline gasped, her voice raspy from coughing, "My co-star does though."
She quickly explained the situation about Crystal, Jun and Georgiana.
At the mention of Georgiana's name, both Ashton and Layla exchanged a significant look at each other, one that wasn't lost on Emmaline.
"What?" She demanded.
Layla glanced around furtively before leaning in, so Emmaline did too, eager to find out exactly what was the tea.
"Jun and Georgiana were the most couple to ever couple," Layla said as if that sentence made sense.
The confusion must have shown on Emmaline's face because Layla continued in a low voice, "They were always bickering after meeting at a social event and then nobody knows when or how it started but it turns out they were madly, passionately in love!"
Emmaline covered her mouth with her hand.
It was like a soap opera or television drama!
"They really were the dream couple," Layla continued with a pensive smile, propping her chin on one hand, "You should have seen the way they looked at each other. Every time we saw them at gatherings, my god, they were head over heels for each other and even we could see it when we were, what? Eleven?"
Ashton nodded, taking another sip of his whiskey.
"But, what happened?" Emmaline gasped.
Layla shrugged sorrowfully and even Ashton looked troubled.
"It's as private as it was when they got together, no one knows why they broke it off," Ashton explained, "About five years ago, they stopped showing up together."
"Jun stopped acting, disappeared to a bunch of different countries, probably to cope with the heartbreak," Layla picked up and Emmaline nodded fervently, she remembered when it was announced that he stopped acting. There had been a huge uproar in the entertainment industry.
"Then who's that?" Emmaline asked as the beautiful woman reached out to squeeze Jun's hand.
"His sister, Miho," Ashton answered, his gaze tracking the siblings, "She's also very close to mom. She must have flown in specially for this."
Emmaline processed all of this and felt bad for Jun Slater.
To have such a strong love and then to lose it… The way he looked at Georgiana when she had appeared on set made it obvious that five years later, he still wasn't over her.
And the way Georgiana looked at him just before leaving… Emmaline shook her head.
She didn't believe that they had no feelings for each other any longer!
She sighed, wondering what to tell Crystal.
Deciding it was too risky to stay any longer, Emmaline excused herself for the night and made a quick escape.
It wouldn't do to run into Jun Slater while she was disguised like this.
Leaving the two best friends at the bar, Emmaline sneaked back to the room she had been shown to when she arrived and heaved a sigh of relief to finally be herself.
Quickly, she stripped off, taking a deep breath when she unbound her chest.
Running that race had been hard when she couldn't breathe to her full lung capacity!
It felt so good to get all of her disguise off that she did a quick little happy dance before rushing to take a shower.
The bathroom was huge and very fancy.
Completely marbled with gold taps and railings, she felt as if she was in the set of a vintage movie.
Staring at herself in the large oval mirror, framed by an ornate frame inlaid with mother of pearl, she saw a pale girl with shadows under her eyes and little indents on her forehead from where the wig had pressed into her skin for too long.
She had been so stressed about this celebration weekend that she hadn't been sleeping well.
"Just one more day, Em, you got this," She told her reflection.
Showering was the best thing ever.
The water was warm, the water pressure was perfect and the shower area was so big she could fit a horse in here.
When she finally stepped out, she took advantage of the big room with the vanity table next to the huge bed. Sitting there in nothing but a towel, she slowly dried her hair.
That's when the room door opened and she heard a familiar voice say, "Em?"