BRIAN (The Callahans Book 1) (48 page)

“Well, you better not be!” Kelly exclaimed in pretend outrage. “You’re dating Devon Ray! You can’t have both of them!”

I swallowed. She was making me look like a fool, but then again, maybe I was one. I didn’t know how to play this game. She hadn’t asked any of the questions Chaz had prepped me with. I was afraid to look over in the wings, afraid to see what kind of faces of despair he and Devon were making.

Devon had to be mortified that I was up here, being a dummy on live television.

“You met Hollywood’s hottest actor right now in Dallas, didn’t you?” Kelly asked.

“That’s correct,” I said.

“You delivered his pizza,” she said, and burst into wild laughter, as if she’d just uttered the funniest string of syllables known to man.

“That’s also correct,” I said, puzzled at her mirth.

“Tell us about that.”

Now she was an “us?” There was more than one of her? That truly was terrifying.

“It was just a normal day, delivering pizza,” I said, shrugging.

“Pizza delivery,” she cooed. “That’s your full-time job?”

“No,” I said, struggling to not curl up and die of embarrassment. Everything that came out of Kelly’s mouth was either patronizing or condescending.

“What were you doing with your time, then, June?”

“I was caring for my grandmother full time,” I said. “Pizza delivery was a part-time job.”

“Your grandmother was sick.’’

“Yes.”

“And she raised you.”

I paused. Had Kelly done her research, or had Chaz let her know? And how in the hell would Chaz know such a thing? It had to have come from Devon, and that pipeline of information was extremely troubling.

“June?” Kelly prompted, her voice sickeningly soothing. “Did your grandmother raise you?”

“That’s correct.”

Behind her, Chaz flung his arms up in the air. God only knew what that was supposed to mean. I didn’t understand what direction Kelly was attempting to steer me, but I didn’t like it. I didn’t want to play her game.

“I delivered pizza for extra money,” I said, trying to smile again. “It helped make our lives more comfortable. And it was just by chance, during one of those shifts, that I stumbled upon Devon Ray.”

“It was love at first sight, wasn’t it?” Kelly gushed.

It most certainly was not. Devon had made a drunken pass at me, and I’d rebuffed him by snapping a photo of him at his lowest point.

“I was certainly surprised,” I said, chuckling. “I guess there’s a lesson in that, Kelly. You never know what’s going to be behind the doors you open.”

“Very inspirational,” she said, nodding wisely. “June, I want to get back to your grandmother. Devon visited her. She was his biggest fan.”

I swallowed. “That’s correct.” Chaz made an elaborate pantomime that conveyed the idea that he was going to hang himself. What did he want me to do? Burst into tears?

“Do you think you attached yourself to Devon because after she died, there was no one else to help you?”

The idea was so ludicrous that I snorted at her. “Really?”

“Pardon?”

“Devon and I…we fell in love with each other,” I said. “It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t like a fairy tale. Not at first. It was awkward and messy and confusing and weird and wonderful. It wasn’t something you could wrap up in a bow, Kelly. We stumbled upon each other at strange and difficult points of our lives. And what we have right now is real. And amazing.”

I looked past Kelly as she took a moment to shuffle her notecards, noticing that Chaz and Devon were standing perfectly still. I didn’t know if that was good or bad, but I was done playing dumb. If Kelly asked me another stupid question, I was going to eviscerate her—live television interview or not.

“Why was it that your grandmother was the one who raised you, June?”

Kelly propped her chin up on her hand as if she were helping me to think up the answer to the question. I had no idea what she thought I should say.

“I think it’s because family sticks together, Kelly,” I said, adopting her same ponderous tone.

“Because your parents weren’t fit to raise you,” she said.

I cocked my head at her, blood roaring in my ears. “What?”

“I said, because your parents weren’t fit to raise you,” she said loudly, oblivious to my growing anger. I noticed that Chaz had laid an arm on Devon behind Kelly.

I exhaled until my lungs were completely empty, then drew in a fresh breath of air. “I think that I would prefer to stay on topic here. My family is not up for discussion.”

“June, darling, the sole purpose of this interview is to let America know just who you are,” Kelly said. “Didn’t you agree to that?”

“I just wanted to make sure they knew that I look like a normal human being,” I said, jerking my thumb over my shoulder. “Not like that awful photo you showed earlier.”

“Don’t normal human beings have families? Parents?”

If she had a point, I was failing to see it—and failing hard. Chaz and Devon were becoming huge distractions behind Kelly, both of them arguing heatedly but silently.

“What I’m trying to say, June, is wouldn’t you want to meet the people responsible for your creation?” Kelly’s luminous eyelashes fluttered slightly. “It’s really quite moving the lengths they’ve gone through to find you.”

“I don’t think I understand what’s happening,” I said. “I think we should probably jump to a commercial break. Those are still a thing, right? Wouldn’t a commercial be nice right about now?”

“June, what would you say if you knew your parents were watching you right now?”

Chaz and Devon stopped their bickering, frozen behind Kelly, and still I failed to understand where this was going.

“I wouldn’t say anything,” I said. “My grandmother is the only parent I’ve ever known. I haven’t needed anyone other than her. You said it yourself. She raised me. I don’t know anyone else.”

“June, turn around.”

I looked cautiously over my shoulder in case there was a bear or something immediately threatening my life, but was faced with two people on the big screen behind us. Neither of them looked familiar. The man wore a torn jean jacket, and he shifted from foot to foot. He had a shock of dark hair that looked like the only styling it had seen was the wind. The woman was dark-haired, too, with large, melancholy eyes. She stood completely still, clasping her hands, the cardigan over her bony shoulders looking as if it were carefully picked out for this very situation.

“June, who do you see?”

“A man and a woman,” I said automatically.

“Don’t you recognize them?”

“I’ve never seen them before in my life, to my knowledge.”

The woman’s face crumpled, and she hid it with her hands. The man looked abashed, putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close.

“I really don’t know them,” I reiterated. “And I don’t understand what’s going on.”

“Oh, I think you do, June,” Kelly said. “You’re just not ready to admit it to yourself. You’re blind to your own truth, and it breaks my heart.”

“I am very curious to discover what you think my truth is,” I told her hotly.

“June, your very own parents are right here in this studio with us tonight,” Kelly said breathlessly. “And if you’re willing to, right here and right now, reconcile with them, forgive them for what was done, and what wasn’t done, we would love to make that happen for you. So you can move forward with your life.”

I shook my head, unable to take my eyes off the man and woman on the screen. “Can they see me right now?”

“Yes, they can.”

“And hear me?”

“Naturally.”

“Then you are a cruel person,” I said, whipping back around to face her, trying to keep the tears threatening to fall from my eyes to a furious shimmer. “You have no right to meddle in my life like this, in their lives. None of us gave you permission. This interview is over.”

“That’s just the thing, June,” Kelly said. “This was never meant to be an interview. This was meant to be an intervention. Your parents want back in your life. They want a second chance to be good parents to you. You just won’t let them in, and that’s perhaps the cruelest part of this.”

“I’m a grown woman,” I said, incredulous. “Why in the world has it taken until now, this very moment, for them to want in on the action? Because I’m in love with Devon Ray? Is that interesting and attractive to them?”

“June, I need to remind you that they can hear you,” Kelly said solemnly.

“This is all a farce,” I said. “All of it. We’re through here.”

“You’re going to have to sort this out, June, sooner or later,” she said. “We want to be here for you. We want to help you through it.”

“Turn the cameras off,” I said. “We’re through here.”

“The cameras don’t go off until I tell them to go off,” Kelly said. “You need to open your heart to your parents, Mike and Amelia. They’re here because they love you. They’re here because they want a life with their only daughter.”

Chaz was physically restraining Devon from rushing onto the set, and I began to realize just how close to tears I was. I couldn’t cry on national television. Not like this. This was too painful, too raw. This was a waking nightmare. This was too horrible to be actually happening.

A single tear rolled down my cheek, to my utter and complete chagrin, and Kelly all but glommed on to it.

“That tear is a sign that you care,” she said. “Let me bring your parents out here, June. Let them embrace the daughter they gave up so many years ago. Open your heart to the possibility of reconciliation.”

This wasn’t a television interview. This was live torture. I couldn’t be here for another second. Not with the tears pouring down my face. Not with those strangers behind me watching the entire debacle.

“I’m fucking done,” I announced, nearly tearing my shirt in my eagerness to rip the microphone out. “You are a sad hack, and a fraud. I was brought here under false pretenses, and your ethics should be examined by some kind of regulatory board. This was not the interview I agreed to do. Good luck filling the rest of the hour.”

I threw the microphone down on the floor hard enough to break it and stormed out, past a struggling Chaz and Devon, past the camera crew, and finally, past the man and woman professing to be my parents.

“Soak it in,” I spat as I practically ran out. “Soak in your fifteen minutes, you garbage humans.”

Because that was the only possible reason they had resurfaced. They were like leeches. They only understood what they wanted, the things that benefited only them, the easy fame and money that would surely come their way if they were to associate with Devon Ray, the movie star dating their long-lost daughter.

“June,” the woman said, but I was already striding out the door, refusing to turn around to see what it was she might’ve wanted to say to me. I was well past the point of wanting to speak to either of them. They had turned their backs on me from the get-go. Neither of them had wanted me even though they created me. It took a sick old woman’s intervention to see that I got raised properly, and how did they repay Nana? By crawling out of the woodwork like human cockroaches the moment their daughter seemed like someone they could take advantage of.

Well, if they thought that, they had another thing coming. I could see their intentions from a mile away. Both of them were useless, irresponsible, awful people.

“June, wait!” I walked faster, intent on avoiding everything and everyone, until a hand clasped my shoulder. I spun away from it, not caring who it belonged to. I didn’t want to see anyone. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t want to listen to anyone.

“This was a huge mistake,” Devon said. He was the one who caught up to me first. “Kelly blindsided us, June. We had no idea this was going to happen. This wasn’t fair to you at all. Not at all.”

“That rotten bitch.” Chaz jogged up, huffing. “What a curveball.”

I punched him square in the jaw.

“What the fuck!” the agent exclaimed. “What was that for? We’re on the same side of this! It was a horrible interview.”

“She didn’t ask a single one of your questions,” I said. “And she knew too much about me.”

“Kelly Kane’s a lot of things, but unprepared isn’t one of them,” Chaz said, rubbing his jaw. “She did her homework on you. Your parents’ names—those are public record. Once she chose the angle on her interview with you, all she had to do was make a few phone calls.”

“Were those really your parents?” Devon asked quietly.

“I don’t fucking know!” I cried. “I’ve never seen my parents! Nana was all I needed.”

Chaz’s cringe told me I was getting shrill, but I didn’t care. This was too much for a person to cope with. I refused to deal with it.

“Let’s just go home and regroup,” Devon said, keeping his voice calm for my benefit. “We’ll talk about a plan of action there after everyone’s had a chance to cool down and process everything.”

“There aren’t going to be anymore plans of action,” I informed him. “I think America’s going to get to know me pretty well after that. And I’m not planning on giving the people any other details.”