Not Famous in Hollywood (Not in Hollywood Book 1) (19 page)

“Why is that?” asked Griffin.

“Two years ago I was living in the town I was
born in. I was engaged to my best friend. I was going to get
married, have children and live in that town forever."

Griffin cocked an eyebrow. “Doesn’t really
sound like you.”

“It was back then” I said reflectively.

“What happened?” asked Griffin.

“
I got
slapped up the side of the head with a dose of reality” I said
surprised to find the old note of bitterness in my voice. I really
thought I had let it all go, obviously I hadn’t. Griffin just sat
there, he didn’t push and I knew if I stopped talking he wouldn’t
press me for anymore.

“
Paul was my
best friend from when we were kids. We got engaged on my twenty
first birthday. Paul and our life together was everything to me. I
worked in a job I didn’t really enjoy to save money for our future.
A couple of years ago we went out with friends one night. I didn’t
want to go but it was expected that I would. I wanted to leave
after a couple of hours but Paul wanted to stay. One of his friends
offered to drive him home so I headed out early. On my way home a
car coming the other way swerved and ran right into me. Found out
the guy was drunk. I woke up in hospital a week later unable to
feel my legs. I had some swelling near my spine. Everyone was
hoping it would just be a mild bruising but at that stage no one
knew if I was going to walk again. We hoped, but we didn't know.
Paul wasn’t there when I woke up. I asked for him and nobody would
give me a direct answer as to where he was. A few days later Paul
walked in with some flowers. It was obvious his family had made him
come. Everyone left us alone and Paul told me that he was sorry but
he didn’t love me enough to be a full time caregiver for a cripple.
That was the last I saw of him.”

I looked over at Griffin and he looked angry.
“What happened then?”

“
I was one of
the lucky ones.
” I said smiling. “A few
days later I started getting feeling back in my legs. I went into
rehab and it took six months of work but I was able to walk again
and then run again. While I was in the rehab center I took a good
look at my life. I had lived my whole life towards the goal of
marrying Paul. I had never actually taken the time to work out what
I wanted except for some silly dreams when I was a kid. That
accident gave me the opportunity. I decided I wanted to travel.
Took the insurance money from the accident and bought a ticket for
London. Got some work there and met Monique and that is why I am
sitting in this interrogation room with an icepack on my face.” I
laughed ruefully.

“So this guy Paul” Griffin growled, “ever
speak to him or hear of him.”

I laughed. “Lord no, he lives in my home town
but as far as my family is concerned he is dead to them. They don’t
mention his name. I have had no contact with him for two
years.”

“Still holding a candle for him?” Griffin
asked insistently.

“No, strangely enough I think I grieved more
for the life I lost than for him. I trusted him completely and he
wasn’t worth that trust. I won’t say I don’t have baggage from that
mess but I’m not going to let it stop me living the life I want
now.”

A
knock
interrupted us and a uniformed cop
poked his head through the door. “Sorry Detective but the old lady
is getting a little bit antsy.”

Great, Miss Betsy did not do inactivity well.
I passed the icepack to Griffin.

“Thanks for that, I’d better get her and Sean
home.”

“What are you going to do with the kid?”
Griffin asked.

“I’m not sure yet” I admitted. “I don’t want
him out on the streets and he can’t go back to his mom. I think
I’ll talk to Reggie and see what our options are for him.”

“He’s lucky you found him. Not many kids in
his position end up with someone who is willing to face down three
guns for them.”

I shrugged and headed for where Sean was
drooling over Ramos. To give the poor woman credit she seemed to be
embarrassed by the obvious adoration from the teenager. Grabbing
his arm I dragged him to where Miss Betsy was haranguing some poor
cop who looked barely older than Sean.

“Ready to go?” I asked.

“
Do you know
what this child is trying to do? He is trying to take my gun away
from me.”

Personally I
was with the cop on this one, the more I saw Miss Betsy’s attitude
to that piece of metal, the more I was thinking that separating her
from it was a good idea. Griffin came up and tapped the cop on the
shoulder.

“That’s okay Miss Peterman, we’ve checked all
your paperwork and it all seems to be in order.”

“Of course it is” she said indignantly as she
was handed her gun.

She then
swept out of the station with Sean and me traveling in her wake.
The drive back to the apartment complex was silent except for the
quiet snores coming from Sean in the backseat. It seemed no matter
what happened, a teenage boy could not be denied their
sleep.

“
So,” said
Miss Betsy, “your jerk of a fiancé ran out on you.”

“How did you hear that?” I asked
incredulously.

“
They let me
watch in the two way mirror. I was kind of hoping for a bit more
action between you and the hot cop but I heard your story instead.
Why did you never tell me about it? I told you everything about my
bum of a husband.”

“I don’t know. I think I needed to put it far
behind me. I didn’t want to be that person again I guess. I never
argued with Paul. Whatever he wanted I did. I always wanted to keep
the peace. When I look back on it I’m not particularly proud of the
woman I was. The way I’ve spoken to Griffin, I would never have
spoken to Paul like that.”

“
Griffin
doesn’
t seem to mind, seems he likes the
way you stand up to him.”

“I don’t know about that” I said, a slight
blush creeping up my neck.

“One thing I will say, the bum hurt you years
ago. Don’t let him ruin your future as well, because he will if you
let him.”

“Is that what happened to you?” I asked.

“After I kicked out Lester, I was so bitter
and hurt. There was a man, a good man who was a friend. I was so
full of anger that I missed the opportunity that I could have had
with him. Don’t make the same mistake that I did. The best revenge
you can get on the bum is to not let him damage you.”

“Thank you” I said. “I’ll try and remember
that. If you do see me making that mistake feel free to kick me in
the pants and remind me.”

Miss Betsy
laughed. “Don’t think that I won’t missy, don’t think that I
won’t.” She was quiet for a moment as if making a decision. “So
what are we going to do with the boy?” she asked nodding her head
in Sean’s direction.

“I don’t know. Do you think he could just
stay with me for a while?” I asked.

“You don’t really have the room do you? He
can’t live on the couch forever.”

“No I guess not” I said quietly.

“Don’t you worry about it dearie. Let me
think on it for a bit and we’ll work out something.”

Waking up
late the next morning I stumbled to the bathroom to get some
painkillers. My face was throbbing painfully and I just wanted to
get back in my bed and sleep the pain away. Knowing that wasn’t a
real possibility I showered and got ready for the day. I walked out
of the bathroom. Sean looked up at me and winced.

“
Really” I
said. “I can’
t look that bad.”

“No, of course not” he said, “you look
fine.”

I looked at
him sourly. “Little hint that will help you with all future
dealings with women. You do not lie well. Either be completely
honest or don’t say anything.”

“I’ll take that advice on board” he said
seriously.

“You do that” I chuckled.

Sean looked nervous.

“Okay buddy” I said. “Talk to me. There’s
obviously something you want to say.”

“
What you did
for me yesterday, I don’t know how to thank you. I feel like I
should do something but I don’t know what to do.”

“
Sean, I
don’t know what to say” I said. “Can’t we just forget about
it?”

“
You don’t
understand" said Sean. “My mom would have left me to face that
alone. She even told them when I walked in that they had me now,
they should let her go. My mom did that. When he pointed that gun
at my head, I figured who would care if I died if my own mom
didn’t. Then you walked in and saved my life by putting yours in
danger. No one has ever done anything like that for me before. I
don’t know how to deal with it.”

“Then don’t” I said as I started rattling
plates and getting breakfast organized. “It’s part of the past now.
Look at this as your second chance. What I want is for you to work
out what you want to do with your life and chase after it. Live
every moment of your life because now you know how amazing it is to
be alive.”

“You sound like you’re talking from
experience.”

“I am” I said.

Sean got up
and gave me a hug. “You’re pretty awesome.”

“
Even though
I’m not hot” I teased.

“You are never going to let me forget that
are you?” he said.

“No way, I am going to have that hanging over
your head for the rest of your life.”

The ringing of my phone interrupted us.

“Yes” I answered, still smiling at Sean.

"I need you to come and pick me up now. I am
not staying in this place for one moment longer," the dulcet tones
of Eleanor Channing came screeching down the phone.

I winced. I know that I hadn’t held out much
hope for her staying at the relaxation center for very long, but I
had hoped she’d last longer than a couple of days.

“
I’ll be
there as soon as I can” I said resignedly and hung up before she
could start complaining. “Work’s calling” I said to Sean. “I’ll
probably be out the rest of the day. If you need anything ask Miss
Betsy.”

“You’re trusting me to stay alone in your
home” said Sean.

“Sure, you’ve got a reason why I
shouldn’t?”

“No, just not many people would.”

I shrugged as I stuck a piece of toast in my
mouth.

Hurrying
out, I knocked on Miss
Betsy’s door.

“I have to go to work” I said. “Could you
please give Sean a hand if he needs it.”

“Of course sugar” she said smiling.

Driving up to
the Happy Valley Relaxation Center I found myself smiling. Sure I
was driving to pick up one of the more annoying human beings on the
planet and the chances that she had some illicit substances in her
system were kind of high. Hopefully she was going to be mellow.
Unfortunately the way that my luck had been going lately I wasn’t
thinking my chances were too good. Getting through security proved
to be fun and by the time I actually got inside the center I have
to say my patience had been stretched as far as it could
go.

This was not
helped when Eleanor’s first words to me were “what took you so
long?”

“Traffic” I snapped at her.

I organized the paperwork with a very
grateful staff member and hustled Eleanor into the car.

“
I need you
to take me to Jennifer Saunders’ house” she directed.

“Why on earth do you need to go there?” I
asked.

“She contacted me and asked me to visit so we
could sort out the lawsuit.”

“Don’t you think it would be better if you
just left it to the lawyers?” I said.

“
No, I heard
that I missed out on getting a reading for that movie script I
wanted because of my situation with Emily and Ryan. Emily’s father
is pulling some strings to screw me over.”

“And you think suing his other daughter is
the way to fix this.” Sometimes I really wondered about people.

“No, but if I point out that I’m willing to
drop the lawsuit if she has a word with her father...” she trailed
off.

“
Miss
Channing, there is a reason that you pay a lot of money to your
lawyers and manager. Don’t you think that this kind of negotiation
would be better left to them?”

“No, Jennifer wants to talk to me. Besides
it’ll do that family good to have to beg for once.”

I
concentrated on the road. Sometimes I seriously dislike the people
that I work for and this would be one of those moments. I liked
Jennifer Saunders. I didn’t want to have to watch her beg to an
entitled diva like Eleanor Channing.

Jennifer
greeted us at the front door with an effusive smile.

“Thank you so much for coming, I’m really
hoping that we can work this situation out and put the
unpleasantness behind us.”

“There wouldn’t be any unpleasantness if your
father and sister would put aside the situation with Ryan” Eleanor
said sweetly.

I was beginning to feel ill. I felt sorry for
Jennifer. With Eleanor’s star power she could crush Jennifer’s
business with one Twitter rant.

“I think we can work this out” I said trying
to be the peacemaker yet again.

Eleanor didn’t look convinced.

“Maybe a business collaboration” Jennifer
ventured. “We are currently releasing an organic fruit and
vegetable detox cleansing diet. I’m sure we could work out a
campaign between us that puts you front and center. All natural,
all organic. In fact why don’t you try some?”

Jennifer busied herself in the kitchen
juicing the vegetables and I sat next to Eleanor.

“I’m bored” she complained. I struggled not
to roll my eyes.