The Heartbreak Cafe (35 page)

Charlie
was looking over her shoulder. ‘I can’t believe people read this
stuff,’ he said, his tone full of disdain.

‘
This is big business, darling.’ She waited impatiently for the
site to load, and at that moment her cell-phone rang. She fished it
out of her pocket, feeling nervous as she recognized the ring-tone
that belonged to Chloe.

Taking a
deep breath as she looked at the display, she accepted the call.
‘Hello?’

‘
For the love of all things holy, why didn’t you tell
me?’

Ruth’s
heart sank. So the news had broken then. ‘I’m fine Chloe how are
you?’ Ruth said wryly. ‘And because it is no one’s business but my
own, that’s why.’

‘
Well you could have mentioned something so that when someone
calls me at least I could be prepared, instead of letting them
catch me off guard.’

‘
I’m sorry,’ Ruth said glumly. ‘Surprise!’

‘
So it is true then? Jeez, I can’t believe it! What the hell
are you still doing over there anyway? And whose baby is it? That
new boyfriend of yours?’

Ruth knew
just how easily she could say yes and get all of this off her back
– the LA press wouldn’t be interested in an unknown like Charlie,
the story would soon fizzle out and she could have a normal
life.

But there
was only one problem – well two actually. Chloe was the one who’d
bought her the morning after pill, and she’d already told Troy the
baby was his. She couldn’t bear getting into a case of he said/she
said, not about the paternity of her child. That would only make
the story hotter.

‘
His name is Charlie by the way; we used to date way back when
I lived here.’

‘
How wonderful,’ Chloe said dreamily, although Ruth couldn’t be
sure if this was said with a hint of sarcasm. ‘But still, it is
Troy’s isn’t it?’

‘
Yes,’ Ruth said swallowing. ‘He knows and he isn’t interested
so –’

‘
Have you checked out TMZ? He sure as hell seems to be
interested now!’

‘
What? What are you talking about?’ Ruth turned back to the
computer where Charlie was sitting stonily reading the headlines.
The breaking news TMZ feed was all about her. There in full glory
for the whole world to see was the picture of her and Charlie on
the main street of Lakeview, her hand placed protectively over her
stomach. Then further down, a screenshot and video clip of Troy,
confirming that yes, he and Ruth Seymour were having a baby
together and he couldn’t wait for her to come back to L.A. The
video couldn’t have been more than a few hours old, as it was now
morning in Hollywood and he looked as if he was leaving a
nightclub. He was also very obviously drunk.

‘
Oh no,’ Ruth cried. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

‘
Ruth, when are you coming back?’ Chloe demanded.

‘
I … I’m not sure yet, there are no immediate plans,’ she said,
slightly shell-shocked by what she was seeing. Charlie was patting
her back reassuringly. ‘I’m just…happy here.’

‘
Are you on medication or something?

‘
What?’

‘
Sorry, it’s just you sound weird, you know? And you haven’t
been taking my calls – I hardly hear from you now.’

‘
You don’t understand,’ Ruth said, starting to babble. ‘I’m not
really sure about Hollywood anymore … I’m not sure if I was
happy.’

‘
What’s not to be happy about? The press are loving this!
Seriously, come back and have this baby with Troy – you guys can be
the new Brad and Angie.’

Ruth
couldn’t believe what Chloe was saying, it all sounded so sleazy
and jaded.

Did she
truly expect her to go back to LA and have a baby with a man she
didn’t love and who’d already rejected this child … all because it
would be good PR? Had she really been that jaded? Ruth wondered
now.

‘
Chloe, it’s not that easy. I don’t love Troy and I refuse to
bring the baby into some kind of media circus.’

‘
You know, you’re missing out on an incredible opportunity
here,’ Chloe scolded. ‘The phone’s been ringing off the hook all
morning. I’ve had Variety, Newsweek and People …’

‘
I don’t care about the damn press, Chloe.’

‘
Well OK, fine, forget the press then, but what about the
offers?’

‘
Offers…’ Ruth ears pricked up. ‘What kind of offers – what are
you talking about?’

A loud
groan. ‘Don’t tell me you haven’t been taking Erik’s calls
either.’

Well, yes
she had missed a couple of calls from him in the last week or so,
but she’d assumed he was just phoning to tell her to get her ass
back to LA. She’d been putting off talking to him, Chloe or anyone
else from her old life that might interrupt her current blissful
existence. She knew she’d have to face it eventually but for the
time being was happy to put things on hold. Until today.

‘
Hell, it’s been crazy … like I said, the press has been
calling. Today mostly about the baby thing. But they’ve also been
ringing about some offer, something about you being in line for
something Peter Jackson’s doing?’

Ruth felt
faint. ‘What …?’

‘
You don’t know about this – seriously? Ruth, call Erik, would
you? This is freakin’ huge!’

‘
Whatcha’ looking at?’ Nina jumped and quickly closed the web
page she’d been browsing on the computer while waiting for Trish to
arrive at the library.

Her
friend had phoned earlier wanting to apologise for behaviour the
last time they’d seen one another. ‘I’m so sorry for going off on
you like that. You were right about Dave; and I know I shouldn’t be
messing around with a guy who has a family, but it sort of just
happened.’

Nina who,
at any other time, would have questioned how such a thing could
‘just happen’ had come to realise that life wasn’t always black and
white. And she too had felt about bad about lecturing Trish; it was
none of her business and her friend was a big girl after all. Not
to mention that this Dave seemed to be a bit of a player, given
that despite having both a wife and mistress on the go, if she
wasn’t mistaken had been flirting with her not too long
ago.

‘
Do you love him?’ she asked.

Trish let
out a little sigh. ‘I think I do. It’s been hard, and I didn’t want
to feel that way, because you know, I figured it was just a fling,
and that it would end eventually, but yes, I actually do love him.
That’s why I reacted so badly when you told me about this new
baby’

‘
I’m sorry – it really wasn’t my intention to hurt you. It’s
just when you said he’d told you the marriage was over –
’

‘
I know, the old cliché, huh?’ But there was no mistaking the
hurt in her friend’s tone. ‘Anyway, you’ll be pleased to know I’ve
decided to end it.’

‘
Oh.’ Nina was surprised. For some reason she’d just assumed
that Trish might continue regardless.

Trish
smiled as if reading her mind. ‘I might have been taken in before,
but I’m not completely stupid. Anyway, you were right – and it’s
not nice to be thought of as a home-wrecker.’

The air
cleared, they’d arranged to meet up at the library for another
round of research before later heading to Ella’s for something to
eat.

Now, Nina
turned away from the screen to face Trish, who she hadn’t noticed
creeping up behind her. She tried to look nonchalant. ‘Oh nothing
really, just trying to use an internet connection that has some
speed. The one at my dad’s place moves slower than a
turtle.’

Trish
smiled. ‘I can imagine. So are you ready?’

‘
Sure,’ Nina smiled, relieved that her friend didn’t press
further. The truth was, when Trish walked up she had been on a
crisis pregnancy page, researching some of her options.

When she
thought seriously about what she was considering she felt guilty,
but still she couldn’t help it. With all that had happened over the
last while, what with her father’s reaction, her mother’s absence
and not to mention Steve, she was seriously confused over what to
do about this baby.

Some of
it went back to the conversation that she’d had recently with Ruth.
A fellow mum-to-be, she’d found herself almost envious of the other
girl who by contrast didn’t have any worries when it came to her
pregnancy. And why should she? She was confident and capable and
would get on great with or without Charlie, Troy or whoever. Here
she had loving supportive parents, and in LA a gaggle of assistants
as well as plenty of money. In Ruth’s world there would be no
shortage of anything for her baby, be it support, care or
finance.

Nina on
the other hand, had none of those things. As it was she could
barely look after herself sometimes, and being completely
responsible for another life scared the hell out of her.

Yes, her
mother was wonderful and she was sure Cathy would help out as much
as she could if it came to it, but hadn’t she taken up enough of
her mum’s life already? Cathy had raised her practically
single-handedly, and despite her protests that Patrick had let them
want for nothing, she knew it had been for the most part a solitary
feat.

So, just
when she was really enjoying life with Tony and getting back her
freedom, how could Nina seriously expect her to help raise her
mistake?

No, the
more she thought about it, the more Nina realised it was her
shoulder to burden and she couldn’t – shouldn’t – put it on anybody
else.

But what
to do?

The idea
of adoption had popped into her head a few times, but she wasn’t
sure what it entailed and how she would even go about it. After
all, thanks to improved state support, few people in Ireland seemed
to do that kind of thing anymore, but surely they could if they
wanted to?

Then,
after Trish’s phone call and their subsequent arrangement to meet
at the library, Nina decided to head down there early and do a
little checking on the computer.

Although
she was confused, she also knew she had limited time to figure out
what to do about this.

But one
thing was for sure; Nina knew she wasn’t the right person to bring
up this baby. And seeing as she’d got herself into this situation,
she now had little choice but to find some way out of it – and
soon.

‘
What’s going on?’ Charlie inquired after Ruth got off the
phone with Chloe.

Her heart
rate was going a mile a minute. ‘I need to talk to my agent,’ she
said, her tone of voice suddenly businesslike. She found Erik’s
number on her cell phone speed dial and put the phone to her
ear.

He
answered on the first ring.

‘
Ah, finally! It’s the lady of the hour.’

‘
What going on Erik?’ Ruth said without preamble. ‘I just
talked to Chloe.’

‘
So is it true, are you knocked up?’

‘
So what if I am? What’s up?’ At this point she didn’t
particularly care if she sounded rude; he was a Hollywood power
suit and well able to take whatever she dished out.

‘
Well, it seems everyone loves a mommy-to-be these days,’ Erik
boomed in his usual loud-mouthed way. ‘Please tell me this baby is
Troy Valentine’s though, and not some unknown Irish
nobody’s?’

Ruth was
immediately on the defensive about Charlie being called an ‘unknown
Irish nobody’ and when she turned to see if he had heard, she saw
him staring at her opened-mouthed. Great. She thought about what
he’d said that first day outside the café; how he’d wanted no part
in this sort of nastiness.

‘
That’s really none of your concern.’

‘
Oh, but you see babe, it is. Your stock is hot enough as it is
at the moment so we don’t need you messing it up with something
provincial.’

‘
My stock is hot … how?’

‘
Well … like I said on those thirty or so messages I left you,
Peter Jackson has you in mind for the part of Clara in The
Soldier’s Daughter.’

‘
The S .. Soldier’s Daughter?’ Ruth felt the wind go out of
her. The Soldier’s Daughter was the movie adaptation of one of the
best-selling books of the decade, and Clara was the female heroine
who had captured hearts the world over. ‘Oh … my...’

‘
Exactly. Seems he’s a fan of Glamazons and he thinks you’d be
perfect for the role of leading lady. You’ve still gotta screen
test for it for the studio of course, but I reckon it’s sure-fire
thing. Jackson knows what he likes.’

The room
was spinning. Sure-fire thing … Peter Jackson …leading lady
…

It was
everything Ruth had ever dreamed of.

After all
these years, all the struggling, finally Ruth Seymour was being
offered the part of a lifetime.

‘
Course, the way he does things, it’s probably got Oscar
written all over it, too,’ Erik was still talking. ‘This whole baby
thing shouldn’t be a problem either – a long as you lose the pounds
of course. Actually no, forget I said that, ’cause you won’t be
gaining any.’ There was a smile in his voice, but Ruth knew he
meant every word of it. She looked down at her bottom half,
realising she’d already gained quite a few pounds.