“No, I didn’t think of it. Just a minute.” Jill dug through her purse briefly, then held out a small item.

“A lighter?” Claire asked with surprise as she took it. “You don’t smoke.”

“Ted smoked cigars once in a while and always forgot his lighter.”

“Oh.” Claire glanced around nervously, but the parking lot appeared empty. She flicked the lighter on and concentrated on the picture once more.

“Perfect.”

The one word from Jill a moment later told Claire she’d finished the change. She let the lighter go out with relief. It had started to get warm under her thumb, distracting her, but she’d feared letting it go out before she was done.

“Okay?” Claire asked, lifting her head.

Jill flicked the interior car light on just long enough to look her over, then flicked it back off to avoid attracting attention.

“As I said, perfect,” she assured her. “Come on.”

Sighing, Claire slid out of the car and walked around to meet her, then handed back the magazine photo for her to put away.

“Take my arm, like a gentleman,” Jill instructed as they started toward the entrance to the school.

Claire took her arm, and mentally reminded herself that she was now a man, so she should pull out chairs, take Jill’s arm, and all those other little courtesies.

“What are you doing?”

Claire glanced at Jill with surprise. “What do you mean?”

“You’re swaying your hips.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. You’re walking like a girl.”

“I am a girl,” Claire said with irritation.

“Not tonight you’re not,” Jill said firmly. “Think manly, try to swagger. And don’t talk.”

“Anything else?” Claire asked dryly.

“Yes.” Jill patted her hand and said, “Thank you…By the way, how is the date with Kyle going?”

“Good…until I had to come out here,” Claire said, then recalled the incident with Magda and Ted and quickly related it to Jill who—fortunately—wasn’t upset.

The registration table was empty when they reached the gym. They truly were going to be the last to enter. Jill paused outside the closed gym doors, took a deep breath, then glanced at her and said, “Show time. Just smile and nod and agree with anything I say. Okay?”

Against her better judgment, Claire nodded her agreement, then added, “Just don’t leave me alone.”

“Like I’d abandon Brad Cruise in the same room with a bimbo like Magda on the loose,” Jill said dryly, then pushed through the door. Still holding her arm, Claire pushed her own door open and entered with her, noting that everyone was now seated and servers were moving through the tables delivering the first entrée.

“Perfect,” Jill whispered, pausing just inside the doors to peer around. Their entrance had not gone unnoticed. Several people had turned their way to see who had entered, then more people looked toward them as the first people nudged those next to them. A loud whispering began to move through the crowd, most of it made up of the name “Brad Cruise.”

Claire forced herself to keep her head upright and not flinch and shrink behind Jill. She couldn’t have anyway; Jill was now sailing forward, forcing Claire to accompany her.

“Where are we going to sit?” Claire asked, bending her head to Jill’s ear so she wasn’t overheard.

“We’re sitting with Kyle.”

“What?” Claire’s eyes widened in horror. “But—”

“That way we can distract him from noticing you’re gone, so you don’t have to turn back so soon.”

Claire thought this was a very bad idea, but it was too late to stop it; they were already halfway to the table where Kyle sat gaping at their approach. And no wonder, she supposed. It must be a bit disconcerting to see your sister enter the reunion on the arm of the biggest film star in the world.

“Where are Magda and Ted?” Jill asked as they neared the table where Kyle, Bobby, and Meredith sat in a frozen tableau.

“I don’t know,” Claire murmured, her gaze swiveling to the right, then pausing as she found the pair several tables over from their own. The couple were gaping openmouthed, but then everyone was, Claire thought as she whispered to Jill to look to their right. When she did, Jill’s shoulders straightened and a look of satisfaction crossed her face that made Claire glad she’d agreed to this. She just hoped she still felt that way at the end of the night.

“Magda is ready to shriek and Ted looks like he just ate his shorts,” Jill said, glancing at Claire with amusement. The amusement vanished abruptly, and she forced them to a halt not three feet from the table.

“What is it?” Claire hissed urgently as she noted the alarm on her friend’s face.

Jill hesitated, then turned to fully face her. She put one hand on Claire’s chest and leaned up as if to kiss her. Claire instinctively turned her head to the side to avoid the kiss and hissed, “No kissing. I’m still Claire.”

“Right,” Jill murmured, then Claire gasped as Jill took her hand away, ripping the Claire name tag away with it, as she added wryly, “No need to advertise it though.”

The name tag had remained when she had changed. It was little things like this that were likely to catch them up in this charade, Claire thought grimly, but merely caught Jill’s arm in her hand as the blond continued on to the table.

“Sorry we’re late,” Jill sang gaily as Kyle got to his feet.

“Jill,” Kyle greeted, but his gaze was locked on Claire…or “Brad” really, she supposed. His expression was a combination of confusion and suspicion, then he turned his gaze to his sister to say, “I didn’t think you were coming tonight.”

“Brad changed my mind,” she said lightly.

“Jill, is that you?” Bobby Loth got to his feet as well to greet her, and Claire had no doubt Jill was grateful for the distraction. The blond turned quickly to greet the man and be introduced to Meredith, which—unfortunately—left Claire alone to face Kyle.

“Kyle Lockhart,” he introduced himself and held out his hand.

Claire automatically put her hand in it, forgetting that she was supposed to be a guy and should be giving a firm handshake. She barely held back her wince as his hand squeezed her own.

“And you are?” Kyle asked when she kept her mouth shut.

Much to Claire’s relief, Jill had been paying attention and suddenly whirled back saying, “Oh Kyle, you know who this is. Unfortunately Brad has a bad case of laryngitis, which is why I wasn’t sure I would be coming after all when Ted bowed out, but Brad bravely agreed to accompany me.”

Claire blinked as Jill pressed a kiss to her cheek, then allowed her to urge her to a seat at the table. Jill had the good sense to seat her between herself and Meredith, keeping her away from Kyle and his questions. Claire felt herself relax a little as Meredith offered her a shy smile, until she quietly asked if “Brad” could sign her table napkin. Before Claire could panic too much, Jill leaned around Claire/Brad to say, “I’m sorry, Meredith. The one promise I had to make to get Brad here was that he wouldn’t have to sign autographs. He hurt his wrist on set a couple weeks ago and he’s trying to rest it up before he starts a new movie next week.”

“Oh, I think I heard something about that,” Meredith said with understanding. “Didn’t you fall off a horse while filming your last movie and land badly on your wrist?”

Claire turned blankly to Jill, who nodded solemnly and told Meredith, “He was lucky it was just a sprain and he didn’t break it.”

Claire inwardly shook her head as Meredith cooed sympathetically. Honestly, where did they find out all this stuff? And why waste their time on it? The only thing she knew about Brad Cruise was that he was rich, good-looking, and an actor. Jill and Meredith seemed to know all sorts of details about him.

“You don’t have name tags.”

Claire stiffened at Kyle’s sharp comment, but Jill merely turned to smile at her brother. “The registration table was empty when we got here. I guess we were a bit late.”