Rules of Love (11 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Jason extended his hand to his blushing new wife. She took his hand, and they danced the first dance to “Inseparable” by Natalie Cole. The lyrics described how Jason was feeling. He never wanted to be separated from Amber. He looked down at her sparkling hazel eyes and saw love; at least, he hoped he did.

Maybe she was caught up in the moment. For him it was more than that. He was in love, and after the reception he vowed to let Amber know his feelings.

After their dance, Amber danced with her father and he with her mother. The dance area filled with other couples. Jason felt a little sad that his parents were both deceased and not able to see this moment.

He had other relatives but hadn't kept in touch much over the years. Seeing the love displayed by Amber's family made him think about reconnecting with his own.

The music tempo picked up. Some of Jason's and Amber's favorite songs played. They'd given the deejay a list of songs earlier. To their surprise, the deejay was able to play most of them.

Everyone, especially Jason and Amber, appeared to be having a good time.

Amber's mom stood near the table that held the five-tier wedding cake. “It's time to cut the cake.”

Jason and Amber walked to the table. They posed for pictures. Jason placed his hand over Amber's as she cut the first slice of cake.

“You better not do it,” Amber said between clenched teeth.

Jason was so tempted to do the tradition and smash the cake in her mouth, but he respected her wishes. He placed the cake in her mouth but did something unexpected. He kissed her. They now both had icing on their mouths.

Everyone cheered.

Amber picked up a napkin and wiped Jason's face first and then wiped her face with another napkin.

Charlotte wobbled to where they were, with assistance from her husband Sean.

Amber said, “Thank you for coming.”

“Only thing that could have kept me away was if my water broke,” Charlotte said.

“When are you supposed to have the baby?” Amber asked.

“We're on baby alert,” Sean stated.

“The doctor says in three weeks, but the way I'm feeling, I'm hoping it's sooner.”

“Do you need to sit down?” Jason asked. He was concerned about Charlotte being on her feet. She looked so uncomfortable.

“No. But I do need to talk to you. I know this is your reception, but something came up and it's important.”

“Amber, you don't mind, do you?” Jason turned and asked her.

“Go ahead. Sean and I can get to know each other better.”

Sean left with Amber, and Jason and Charlotte went inside the house, where it was quieter.

“You look so happy,” Charlotte noted.

“I am. Amber makes me happy. I'm going to make sure she knows how I feel when this night is over.”

“Do you happen to know where the bathroom is?” Charlotte asked.

Jason helped locate a bathroom. While she used the bathroom, he wondered why Charlotte needed to see him alone.

* * * * *

While talking with Sean, a writer Amber worked with, Mona, and her husband Terrance appeared. Standing next to them were television executive Kem Phillips and her handsome, award-winning, actor husband, Brent.

“You look absolutely breathtaking in that dress,” Mona said as she gave Amber a hug.

“Good seeing you here.”

“You know I wasn't going to miss it. I was glad your mom invited me. I would have been disappointed if my name wasn't on the guest list.”

“My father has worked with Terrance before, and he's quite fond of him.”

“It's hard not to like my snookems.”

Terrance appeared to be embarrassed. “Dear, can we stop with the pet names in public?”

“Oh, he knows he likes it when I call him that.”

Everyone laughed.

“Where's Charlotte?” Kem asked.

“Her and Jason went inside to talk about something,” Amber responded. “I'll go check on them.”

Amber left her guests, in search of her husband and Charlotte.

She heard voices coming from one of the nearby rooms. The door was slightly ajar. She stopped to make sure it was Jason first before entering.

What she heard kept her frozen in place.

She heard Charlotte say, “Thanks to you, Jason, the office in New York is a reality. Signing Max Simone is what our investors wanted to hear, and the contract should be delivered on Monday.”

“That's great news. Who would have thought me marrying Amber would lead to this?” Jason noted.

“Here's to a job well done, my friend.” Charlotte gave Jason a high five.

Amber clapped her hands. “Yes, well done, Jason. And here I thought I was the actor. Your performance was award-winning, in fact. Had me believing that you actually cared, but I was only a means to an end for you. You're just like the other men from my past. You used me to get to my dad.”

“It's not what you think,” Charlotte interrupted.

“Oh, it's not?” Amber folded her arms.

“I'm going to leave you two to discuss this,” Charlotte said before leaving the room.

“Amber, what you thought you heard isn't what you heard,” Jason said.

“Did you or did you not say marrying me led you to signing my father on as a client?”

“Not exactly.”

“That's the gist of what you were saying. Jason, I get it. Now I'm beginning to think you weren't really drunk after all. You pretended to be.”

“Amber, baby, no, you have it all wrong. No, I didn't know what I was doing the night we got married, but now I'm sober. I know exactly what I want.”

“I know what I want too, and that's a divorce.”

Amber stormed out of the room and out the front door. She didn't bother to say goodbye to anyone.

She saw the limousine driver.

“I need you to get me out of here
now
.”

Jason ran behind her. “Amber, wait. We can talk about this. You're overreacting.”

Amber looked at the limousine driver. “I know he's paying you, but whatever he's paying you, I'll pay double. Just get me out of here, please.”

Jason said, “Take her home. I'll find another way home.”

“Just what I thought. You're not even going to fight for me. Well, Jason Lewis, you got what you wanted. I'm out of here.”

She shut the limousine door and waited for the driver to pull away. Tears she had bottled up released, and there was a floodgate of tears streaming down her face.

The fairy tale was over. It was now time for her to return to her regular, boring life.
In her haste, she'd forgotten that she didn't have a key to Jason's place.

She opened the window separating the back seat from the driver. “Instead of taking me to Jason's address, I need you to take me to 544 Ember Lane. It's also in Malibu,” Amber instructed.

“Yes, ma'am,” he responded.

Amber leaned back in the limousine and cried all the way home.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Jason couldn't believe Amber would walk out on him like that. He was left to deal with the aftermath. Everyone was asking him questions about Amber's disappearance. He lied and said she'd gotten sick, and she had insisted that he stay and give her gratitude to the people who had shown up.

Charlotte looked at him with pity in her eyes because she knew the real reason for Amber's departure.

“Do you need us to drop you off?” Charlotte asked.

“Yes. But I don't want to inconvenience you,” Jason stated.

“After the driver drops us off, he can drop you off. Is that cool?” Sean asked.

“Works for me.”

An hour and a half later, Jason walked through his front door. The alarm chirped, so he quickly went to disengage it.

“Amber,” he called out but got no response.

He rushed up the stairs. He opened the bedroom door. There was not a pillow out of place. The bed hadn't been slept in. He went from room to room, searching for Amber. She was nowhere to be found.

He threw his tuxedo jacket on the bed and plopped down next to it. Maybe he should have insisted that he go with her. He'd thought that if she had some time to cool off, he would be able to talk to her without the hostility. He'd never thought she wouldn't be home. Where could she be?

He picked up his cell phone and dialed her number. She didn't answer the first time, so he called it again. This time his call went straight to voice mail. A few seconds later, he received an incoming text message from Amber.
I'm at home. Please stop calling
.

Jason threw the phone on the bed.

This wasn't how the night was supposed to end. Instead of him declaring his love for her, he was sitting here alone and not sure of what his next move would be.

The calculating Jason wouldn't allow her to just walk away. He didn't bother to change clothes. He grabbed his car keys and sped to her place.

“Amber, I know you hear me. Open up,” Jason said as he banged on the door.

“If you don't stop banging on my door like a maniac, I'm not going have to call the cops, my neighbors will.”

“At this point, I don't care,” Jason said. “I need to talk to you. This is all a misunderstanding.”

“Jason, you're right. This thing, what we had, was a misunderstanding from the jump,” Amber said from the other side of the door.

“Amber, look, sweetheart. Why don't we talk about this face-to-face? I'm sure if you hear me out, we can clear up a few things.”

“Things are awfully clear from where I stand. I'm going to say this one last time. Get off my property or I will be calling the police.”

“You're not going to call because you don't want bad press,” Jason noted as he leaned on the door.

“Oh, you think you know me,” Amber snapped.

“I know you well enough to know that you do not like negative publicity, and calling the police will bring just that.”

Jason had that knowledge to his advantage. Maybe if he could keep her talking, she would calm down enough and let him in. He needed to see her face. She needed to see his face as he shared his feelings.

Since she wouldn't open the door, he would have to do it now. “Amber, I love you.”

Amber was silent.

Jason repeated himself. “Did you hear me? Amber, I said I love you.”

“No, you don't,” she responded.

Jason's emotions turned to anger. “How can you tell me how I feel about you? I know how I feel.”

“Then why didn't you tell me before? You're afraid that my dad will find a loophole in the contract he signed, so you're trying to cover all your bases by making up with me.”

“Your dad has nothing to do with this,” Jason snapped. Jason needed to rein in his anger.

“You're right.
You
are the problem. And just like a mistake on a screenplay, I eliminate the problem by erasing it.”

“What are you saying?” Jason asked.

“Monday morning, I will start the process of erasing this chapter from my life. You can stay out here all night if you want to, but I'm going to bed. Goodbye Jason.”

“Amber!”

Amber didn't respond. Jason knocked on the door again and said, “Amber!”

Jason ran his hand through his hair. He saw one of her neighbor's porch lights come on. Jason had never been this frustrated. He was usually in control and rarely lost his cool. Amber had him looking like a stalker.

“Is everything okay over there?” one of Amber's male neighbors asked.

“Everything's fine. I was just leaving,” Jason said as he hung his head low and dragged himself back to his car.

He got in the car and slowly drove away. The distance between his place and Amber's wasn't far, but it felt like the longest ride of his life.

* * * * *

Amber tossed and turned the entire night. She dozed off a few times but could never go into a deep sleep. When she finally did doze off, her cell phone rang.

“Mom, do you know what time it is?” Amber asked.

“Time for you to explain to me why you left without saying goodbye to us or your guests that were gracious enough to attend a celebration honoring you.”

Amber listened as her mom berated her.

“I really don't want to talk about this,” Amber said.

“Jason really came through last night. He informed everyone you were sick, but I know there's more to the story.”

“Mom, I don't want to talk about it.”

“Fine. Whatever it is? Fix it.”

They ended their call. Amber went to look for her iPad. It dawned on her that some of her important items were still at Jason's. She needed her stuff, but she would wait until he wasn't there. If she saw him now, she didn't know how she would react. She was still upset at him over lying about his feelings. Love. How could he claim to love her, say he wanted to stay married, when he never wanted to be married in the first place?

The same way you came to love him
, her subconscious said to her.

Amber knew she was going crazy because she was sitting there talking to herself.

She went through her medicine cabinet and found an old bottle of sleeping pills. She took out two and put them in her mouth. She washed them down with water out of the bathroom faucet.

Amber lay on the bed with the hopes of finally falling asleep. Right before she dozed off, she received an incoming text message. It was from a friend of hers who was working on a documentary. It was odd for her to contact Amber so early in the morning.

Amber dialed Cassie's number. “Cassie, you wanted to speak with me?”

Amber listened to Cassie speak about her movie project. “I know this is last minute, but I have called everyone I could think to avoid calling you, because I knew you just got married.”

“Just tell me what you need,” Amber said.

“You mentioned wanting production credit, since you're trying to build a name for your production company.”

“Right. But I wasn't going to take an active role in your project.”

“Although this is a documentary, I still need a writer, and I need someone with your experience on camera to help interview some of the people in the village I want to visit.”

“I have no problem helping out,” Amber said.

“The plane leaves Monday afternoon. We'll be shooting footage for the next two weeks and then returning to the States.”

“My passport is ready. Email me the details, and you have yourself a new team member.”

This project couldn't have come at a better time. She needed some distance from Los Angeles. Maybe the distance would help her deal with breaking up with Jason. Amber had to laugh aloud. They had to be in a real relationship to break up. Amber needed a drink, but then again, not, because drinking had led her to her current dilemma.