The Bad Twin (4 page)

Upon awakening, Rose realized she was not in her bed, nor was she alone.   She looked into the face of one of the sexiest men in the music industry. Lance stood six-two, with a brown sugar complexion. The ice in the North Pole could melt from the glow of his radiant pearly-white teeth.  Besides his refined good looks and killer smile, he had a way of making a woman feel special. 

Rose should have been overjoyed; however, she felt like she was trapped. Yes, she enjoyed their night of passion, but what was she going to do about David?  She had to figure out a way to juggle both David and Lance.  If her and Lance were to continue their liaison, it would have to be kept on the down low because she didn’t need the media all in her business.

Lance woke up while Rose fumbled for her clothes. He said, “Honey, come back to bed. I can’t seem to get enough of you.”

 “Lance darling,” Rose said as she found her underwear. “I can’t. I over stayed as it is. You know I’m a married woman.”

“I know. Besides, I couldn’t tell from your response last night,” he said, as he got up and went to where she was standing.  He wrapped his arms around her waist.

“You know the situation. If you can’t handle it, let me know now and we can stop this from going any farther.”

Lance placed small kisses on the nape of her neck. “Rose, I couldn’t stop now even if I wanted to. Did anyone ever tell you that you smell like roses? Your skin, it’s so…mmm…so silky smooth.”

“Lance, answer this question,” she said while getting aroused. “Can you deal with me being married and keeping our relationship a secret? We can’t have the paparazzi find out about us.”

“Yes Baby. This will be our little secret.  I don’t know how long I can stand by and watch you go home to another man every night; but for you, I’ll try.”

As she turned around to face him, she responded, “Thank you Lance for understanding.”

“I would be more understanding if you would let me taste you one more time before leaving.”

Rose turned on by his bluntness allowed him to prop her up on the chair near his bed, while he dove into her headfirst.

They continued to make love throughout the morning, until Rose’s cell phone broke their stride. After taking the call, she made excuses to leave. Rose wanted desperately to stay in his arms, but instead knew she had to return to her loveless marriage.

Once she was back in her car, she returned David’s call.  “David, it’s me. I’m back. Now what were you saying.”

David, annoyed with her, said, “We need to talk. Where were you last night? I decided to check out of the hotel and come home early. You were no where to be found.”

“I don’t need you checking up on me. But if you must know, after you hung up on me, I was so upset with the confrontation I had with you and Violet that I rode around. I ended up checking into a hotel.”

“I’ll appreciate it if you would call and let someone know these things,” David said.

“Why? Do you care?” Rose said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

“We might not have the ideal marriage, but you are still my wife.”

Rose was shocked by his reaction. “Whatever you say dear. I have to go now. Bye.”

She hung the phone up and headed home.

VIOLET

Violet spent the first couple of hours at work going through her e-mail and voicemail. She was grateful she was appointed Director of Community Affairs, but she missed her fieldwork.  She thrived on helping people and the only thing she didn’t like about her job was the bureaucracy and having to play the numbers game with so many different committees.  One of her duties included finding ways to generate funds, without having to depend on the city for their contributions.  On this particular day, by the time lunch came around, she was mentally exhausted.  As she prepared to leave her office, the assistant director, Janice King, walked through the door.

“Hi. Missy.  How are you holding up with the media blitz?”

Violet didn’t like discussing her private affairs with people at the center, but then again, Janice was more than just a co-worker.  Janice had become a good friend over the years. They had worked on many community action programs together and when the assistant director for community affairs became available, she recommended Janice to the board. To her delight, the board was impressed with Janice’s resume and she got the necessary approval and hired her. Whenever either one of them had an issue with anything; regardless if it was personal or business, they were always there for each other.

Violet hugged Janice and walked back to her desk. “I’m doing okay. I’m thankful they don’t have access to my numbers at home. I noticed the calls haven’t stopped coming to the center though. Some of the tabloids are offering a whole bunch of money to hear my story.”

Janice chuckled, because she liked to read the tabloids. “You know, you could sell them your story and who knows what may come out of it. You might even be offered a role in a movie.”

Violet laughed along with her. “Now you know Rose would have a cow. Both of us can’t be in the limelight.”

“You’re right about that. I could see it now. Violet takes Hollywood by storm.” Janice held her side laughing.

“Well, I’m not calling them or any of the other entertainment papers. You already know how I hate the tabloids.”

“Girl, you don’t know what you’re missing. Its how I get all of my gossip.”

“I thought you only read them for, how did you put it: entertainment purposes only.”

“I do. But you have to admit, some of the stuff is probably true.”

Violet shook her head and said, “Whatever you say; so what’s for lunch today?”

“Since you’re not going to come around to my way of thinking, why don’t you choose the lunch spot and pay today.”

“Ha. Ha. Only because it’s my turn to treat anyway.”

They headed over to the local Souper and Salads. After eating a hearty healthy lunch, they drove back to the office in silence. Violet thought about how she wished that her and Rose could spend time like this. She would love to call her up one day and say, meet me here or there; but they could not be in the same place at the same time without some type of drama.

“Earth to Violet. You just missed our turn.”

Violet shook out of her trance.  She had not been fully concentrating on her driving because her mind was on Rose and their turbulent relationship. “Sorry. I don’t know where my head is today. I really need to get it together, because I need to make sure I’m ready for the meeting with Deputy Mayor Burnham.”

Janice moved her head to the beat of the music playing on the radio and said, “You’ll do fine. I’ll be there. If I notice you getting stuck in a certain area, I’ll be able to move the conversation along. Girl, I got your back. Don’t worry.”

Violet pulled in the community center’s parking lot. “I know. Thank you for being patient with me these past few weeks.”

Janice turned around and looked at her. “Violet. You are like a sister to me and there is nothing I wouldn’t do to erase the things you are going through. But honey, unfortunately I can’t. If you can, please try to work things out with Rose. I know she is the reason for a lot of your pain. If you can’t work it out with her, think about just forgiving her.”

“Janice, you know it’s not that easy.”

As Janice got out of the car, she said, “Never said it would be.”

ROSE

Rose turned over and pulled the comforter over her head, so she could avoid seeing the bright sunlight.  In between yawns, she blurted out, “When will I ever get some peace? Why did he leave the blinds open? I told him to keep the blinds closed. He knows I like to sleep late. I don’t know why I even bother to tell him anything. It goes in one ear and out the other.”

Rose wiped the sleep from her eye, got up, and took a long hot bubble bath. While she was drying off, she glimpsed a view of herself through the steam on the mirror. A queasy feeling rushed over her and the pain almost knocked her off her feet.

***

What is wrong with me? I have been feeling nauseated for the past week now. I haven’t had breakfast yet, so I know it’s nothing that I ate.

***

Rose got dressed and headed over to her agent’s office. When she walked in the building, people stopped and stared. Some were even bold enough to ask her for an autograph. She was used to the attention and she loved it.  She adored the public and always stopped to take pictures with her fans and sign autographs.  She glanced at her watch and realized she was running late with her meeting with Carmen.

She smiled her sunshine smile to the mail clerk, who rushed to hold the elevator for her. “Thank you Calvin.”

“No problem ma’am.”

When she walked into the office, the receptionist shook her head and pointed to the clock.

“Cindy, I know. I’m late, but you have to admit, I’m on time by my clock.”

Cindy laughed and led her to Carmen’s office. “Come on in Rose and have a seat.”

Rose sat down in the plush leather chair. She took her sunglasses off and laid them on the desk. “Hi. Sorry I am late.”

“Lucky for you, I was on a conference call that ran over. So are you ready for your interview?”

“Yes and no. I’m just ready to get this over with.”

“Just be yourself. I want you to realize that the reporter will be asking some personal questions.”

“I’m prepared. Have you heard anything else about my role in
The Future Mrs. Wallingford
?”

Carmen avoided looking Rose straight in the eye. “It’s a done deal. The powers that be, have decided to use someone else. Right now, they aren’t saying who it is; I just know it wasn’t you. I’m sorry dear.”

“It isn’t your fault,” Rose said feeling a little disappointed. “If it were not for the article, we would be celebrating right now. I still can’t believe my sister would do something like this.”

“Rose, don’t you think it’s time you made up with your sister?”

“Carmen, I have bent over backwards to make amends with her. She is the one who can’t forgive or forget.”

Carmen looked upside Rose’s head before commenting. “Do you think she could forget the fact that you are married to her husband? This is the real world, not a movie. Now I didn’t say you guys would be the best of friends, but you do need to work on having some type of relationship.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “If she wasn’t so selfish, we wouldn’t be having this problem.”

Carmen stared at Rose in amazement. “I must say; I’m shocked you would even say that. You need to take some responsibility in your part in all of this. If you don’t, you’ll be the one to suffer.”

“Enough about my sister. I am not paying you to talk about her,” Rose stated.

“Last time I checked this was a free world, where I have freedom of speech and I’m going to say what I need to say,” Carmen responded.

Rose remained quiet.

Carmen continued to talk. “My sister Angelica was my best friend and I would give everything I have up, if I could just spend one more minute with my sister. She was two years older than I, but she never treated me bad or made me feel inferior to her.” Tears started to flow down Carmen’s face. “Rose, you have a sister and you don’t even know how lucky you are.”

Rose walked around the desk and gave her a hug. “Carmen, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry. Why don’t I treat you to a rocky road at the ice cream parlor down stairs?”

“I’m okay. No rocky road for me, because I’m still trying to lose the ten pounds I gained from the holidays,” Carmen said as she wiped the tears away with a tissue.

“Well, I’ve been craving rocky road every since I walked into this building. Besides I haven’t eaten all day. Was there anything else? If not, I’m about to go get me something to eat.”

“Yes there is. Hold on and I’ll have Cindy go pick up something for you.” Carmen repeated to Cindy the order.

Rose looked out the window at the Los Angeles skyline.  She was admiring the view. Even among the smog, the skyline was beautiful. At this view, she felt like she was on top of the world.  The only other time, she felt like she was on top of the world, is when she was in front of the camera. “Do you have any more scripts for me to read?”

“Yes. I do. The
Sisters in Hollywood
interview was not as bad as we thought it would be. By the way, you are interviewing at the end of the week.  Would you rather her come to your place or do you want to go by their office?”

“I would rather go by their office. I don’t like too many reporters in my house. If you would have asked me the same question a couple of months ago; it wouldn’t have mattered, but I’ve watched them say nasty things about me and some even joke about it.”

Carmen tried to sound reassuring when she said, “Don’t let it get to you. Look at it like this. Now more people know about you and will be curious to see if what they say is true. I told you, you need to work the publicity; whether it’s bad or good. This interview is the first step. Tell your side of the story and things will work out.”