“Melody!” she picked up on the first ring. “I told you to call me as soon as you landed! It’s been like two weeks! Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. How are you?”
“Stressed. I’m still not done with my thesis and—who cares? Don’t worry about me. Has that ass**le said anything to you?”
“No,” I felt a lump rise in my throat.
“Good! I told him to never call you again or I would have my guy friends come to that store and beat him up.”
“Jennifer!”
“What? It’s the truth. Let me know if he calls okay? I bought some new pepper spray yesterday.”
I laughed at the excitement in her voice. “Were you and Lilly able to get my stuff out of his condo?”
“Yeah, but we weren’t able to get all of it. There wasn’t enough room in the car and Lilly had to go back to Jersey.”
“That’s okay. I guess I’ll get those when I get back.”
“Oh my god, please tell me when you go! I’m dying to test out this new spray!”
“I love you, Jen. I’ll talk to you later.”
“You better! I love you too.”
I hung up and smiled at the thought of Jen and her friends beating Sean to a pulp in Belazi. Then again, he’d probably charm his way out of it or offer them jewelry to get them to go away.
I called my office.
“Melody Carter’s office,” Sophie answered.
“I take it everyone at work heard about the wedding?”
“Miss Carter! It’s so nice to hear from you!” she coughed and changed her tone. “I did as much damage control as I could ma’am.”
“Thank you, Sophie. Did you get my review about the latest Matt Sterling film?”
“I did. I printed it and handed it to Mr. Maxwell about two hours ago.”
“Great. Would you book me a return flight from Memphis?”
“Sure, for what day next week?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely,” I hung up.
I couldn’t hide and sleep in Memphis forever.
Chapter 4
Matt
“Joan remembers everything,” I muttered as I took my seat at Per Se.
It was the site of our first public date and the staff had gone out of their way to recreate the memory: Our table was adorned with sonata lilies, daffodils, and orchids. While the other patrons’ tables were draped in white linen, ours was draped in black—homage to a comment Selena made two years ago.
Selena was late as usual but I didn’t mind. I needed time to think, time to figure out how to break things off.
Twenty minutes past the reservation time, Selena sauntered into the restaurant wearing a dress so revealing it made me want to reconsider.
“Happy anniversary baby,” she kissed me on the cheek.
“Happy anniversary Selena,” I pulled out her chair and signaled for the waiter.
“Good evening Mr. Sterling, Miss Ross,” he set the menus on the table. “May I interest you in some wine to start your evening?”
“We’ll have Chateau Guirad, the 2001 please. And we’ll have Chef Keller’s nine courses for dinner, no lobster for Miss Ross.”
“Excellent selection,” he picked up our menus and walked away.
“Well,” Selena grabbed a lily from the center of the table. “I see you remembered.”
No, Joan remembered.
“Yeah,” I shifted in my seat. “We need to talk.”
“I was going to say the same thing.”
“Oh really? Well, ladies first. You go ahead.”
The waiter poured us both a glass of wine and placed the bottle on the table.
“I know that our relationship hasn’t been the most ideal and that things keep getting crazier and crazier in the press,” she looked off to the side.
I think she’s going to dump me…YES!
“Go on,” I sipped my wine.
“I want you to know that I do care about you and I’ll always be your friend regardless of what happens to us. And in saying that, I think that the next step for us…is marriage.”
I spluttered the wine back into the glass and began coughing. People in the restaurant became quiet and shot curious glances over to our table.
“Are you alright sir?” the waiter rushed over.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks. Could you bring me some Jack Daniels please?”
“Certainly sir.”
“Are you out of your mind, Selena Ross?” I whispered.
“What do you mean?”
“Marriage? Are you crazy?”
“We can always say things didn’t work out six months from now.”
“Selena, we’re not in love. We barely even like each other any—”
“Don’t sit there and act like that’s shocking Matt. Us dating each other is what the public wants. It’s what they need.”
The waiter set down the Jack Daniels.
“Why do we need to get married?” I took a large gulp of whiskey. “What’s wrong with the pseudo dating we’re doing now? And actually, you know what’s better than an engagement? A breakup.”
“No, no, that’s not true. Engagements definitely get more press and I’ll need all the extra press I can get if I want this next role. I need to show that I have a domestic side.”
“Jesus, Selena. Do you hear yourself? What happened to you? Is fame all you care about?”