“Maybe to settle down.”
“Oh really. And who does Alyssa Martin see herself settling down with here? A winemaker?”
“Who knows,” I tell him honestly. Maybe he would have played one on TV.
Chapter 17
Alyssa
“Baby!” My mother cries out, throwing open her arms and practically running down the path to see me.
Before I can even say hello, she’s scooping me up in her arms. My mother has gotten skinnier and I swear shorter over time, so much so that I resemble a giant fluffy pillow next to her, but somehow, she’s still strong, like freakishly strong. Like, she might just bench-press me, I don’t know.
“Oh, you look so lovely,” she says once she pulls back and examines my face. “No need for Botox yet either.”
I roll my eyes. My mother is extremely vain, probably brought on by the fact that my father was a philandering dickhead. I’m pretty lucky though that by the time I was born, she didn’t care so much about appearances. Not like she did with my sisters. They all got the brunt of it, which is probably why they all went off and married so young. It was pretty much what they were conditioned to do.
“And here is the rest of the gang,” she says, letting me go and turning her sights to Emmett, Jackie and Will.
She goes to Emmett first, sauntering over to him and wagging her finger. “I know you from all the pictures in the magazines. I have to say, you’re a lot more handsome in person. In the pictures you look kind of, I don’t know, gay I guess.”
“Mom!” I cry out, completely embarrassed.
“Well that’s what happens when you do gay porn,” Emmett jokes.
“Emmett!” Now I’m admonishing him. “She’ll take you seriously.”
“Oh, come now, I know when people are joking,” my mother says. “And don’t get me wrong, if you were gay Emmett, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. For all I know, this could be one of those beard relationships, you know. Like with George Clooney.”
“What about George Clooney?” Jackie asks in a shocked whisper.
My mother dismisses her with a wave of her hand. “Oh, you should hear what the girls at the beauty parlor say. I’m telling you, if you want to know the inside scoop on things, you go down to Barbara’s on third street and you’ll get all caught up. Of course, they had stuff to say about you, Emmett. I do have to wonder if it’s true.”
“Like what?” Emmett asks but I detect fear in his voice. I’d forgotten how overbearing my mother can be when she first meets people. It will take her a few hours to calm down.
“They say you’re a playboy, you know. Always with a flavor of the month, until you met my Alyssa, of course. Which does make me wonder, what could she possibly offer you that the other girls couldn’t? More of her to love, I suppose.”
“Oh my god,” I mutter, rubbing my palm into my forehead. “Make it stop.”
“It’s okay,” Emmett says to me. “It’s a fair statement. I guess I liked to have some fun, no harm in that, but when you meet the right person, nothing else really seems to matter anymore.”
His words sound more flippant than serious, so I’m trying not to let my heart get carried away again.
“They also say you like to get in fights. I heard you were arrested in LA. I have to say, good for you. I like a man who can fight for what’s right.” She’s smiling and then suddenly stops. “But if you really do turn out to be an asshole to my Alyssa here, I’ll be the one fighting you, so don’t even think about it. I know your type.”
Emmett looks both insulted and scared.
I try to give him an apologetic smile and then point to Jackie and Will who have been standing behind me this whole time, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.
“And these are my friends Jackie and Will,” I tell her wearily.
“Oh, Will the boss,” my mother says, fixing her attention on him now. “My, you’re a handsome one too. I suppose I should thank you for keeping my daughter employed for this long, I know what a pain in the ass she can be.”
“Yes, she is, but we love her anyway,” Will answers with a wide smile. “I suspect she gets her tenaciousness from you, though.”
“You have no idea,” she says with a wink and then starts back to the house, waving her hands in the air for us to follow, her bracelets jangling.
I let out a heavy sigh. I think I forgot to breathe that entire time.
Jackie looks at me, shaking her head while biting back laughter and then pushes me toward the house.
This isn’t the house that I grew up in. My mother had that until I left home and then promptly sold it. This place is a small two-bedroom, located far up on the hills above town. It’s at the end of a cul-de-sac too so it’s extra isolated and has beautiful views of the town and both lakes. I worry about her living alone all the way up here–though my mother acts bossy and tough, she’s really quite fragile at heart–but she’s stubborn and says she’s going to stay here until she dies or she gets bored. Whatever comes first.
Because the house and property are small–the backyard is just a slice of yellowed grass and porch before it drops off down ragged clay cliffs and gullies–there isn’t much of a tour. Thankfully my mother has already prepared dinner for us, so there isn’t a lot of sitting around and having small talk.
We eat in the narrow dining room, my mother at the head of the table, and she calls us to say grace before we feast on her famous lasagna recipe. My mother has never said grace a day in her life, so I think she just decided to do it for the sake of Emmett.
Then I know it’s true when she tells him she hopes it reminded him of growing up.
“Come again?” Emmett asks as she passes him a dish.
“After your mother died, you were raised by your aunt, were you not? She was very religious and you went to church a lot.”
I exchange a look with everyone else. How did my mother know this?
“Don’t look so shocked, dear,” she says to me. “I told you I know all the dirt.”
Emmett clears his throat, looking uncomfortable. “You’re right. She was religious, we did say grace a lot.”
“Such a shame what happened to your mother, you poor boy.”
“Mom,” I warn her, though I’m practically whining. What is it about being with your parents for five minutes that turns back the clock to when you were a petulant teenager?
“Oh, come now. He’s your boyfriend, sweetie. There are no secrets here. If he wants to know about everything your terrible father did to us, he’s welcome to it. There’s no shame in it, it’s just the reality. Everyone has something, don’t they?” She looks at Will and Jackie. “You’re both the perfect looking couple, but he’s far older than you. I bet that caused problems at some point.”
Will and Jackie look at each other, brows raised. My mother doesn’t even know the half of it.
“I’m not ashamed,” Emmett speaks up. “It’s all true. And it was horrible. And…it’s caused problems. In my personal life. In my professional life.”
Now we’re all watching Emmett. It sounds like he’s about to go into confession time. I don’t want him to say anything he doesn’t want to though, not for the sake of my nosy mother because she’s putting him on the spot.
“But as you say, that’s the reality, isn’t it?” Emmett goes on. “And the truth is that it’s taken a lot for me to realize what’s real and what’s not. Being an actor, you’re used to living in the grey zone, the space where you start to believe your own lies.”
At that he looks at me. And it hurts. It hurts because I feel like I know what he’s trying to say.
That we’re a lie. We’re a lie that he started to believe.
And now he’s realizing that it’s nothing more.
Even though it’s absolutely everything to me.
I swallow hard, my pulse kicking against my veins, preparing for the worst.
“That’s probably why you like my Alyssa,” my mother says delicately. “She’s very honest. Just like me. She’ll tell you the truth. She’s not your fake Hollywood actress or flavor of the month. She’s real.”