“Ha, you feltbad? Ladies! I haven’t thought about that since the moment we came up out of the basement. Truly. What a waste of guilt!”
“I thought we legit murdered the guy,” Libby said. “And Aunt Emma blackmailed me, more or less, to get me to help her save Irish Hills on the basis of that little moment.”
“Wow, she’s good. She would have fit right in Hollywood. Heck, I need a new shark agent. Maybe I should call Aunt Emma.”
Goldie remembered the tornado, the destruction of the oldcottages her parents owned, but she hadn’t shed one tear worrying about locking that dirtbag outside.
She barely remembered that. She had guilt, but it wasn’t about that.
Her guilt was more personal. In her heart, she knew she did the right thing at a critical moment, so maybe it wasn’t guilt she was feeling.
Maybe it was regret.
Chapter Ten
Goldie, 1999
For the first time in her career, Goldie wasn’t withholding food from herself.
She was always counting calories, skipping meals, restricting fat grams, and bending over backward to keep her weight low.
But there was only a week left in the shoot, and they were done with the love scenes. Plus, Goldie was eating for two.
She hadn’t told Dustin. She hadn’t told anyone. But she was feeling great.
Dustin and Goldie had finished for the day. They had shot the last scene in the movie on the last day.
They’d done the movie in sequence, which she liked. The story on screen mirrored Dustin and Goldie’s story off-screen.
She was ready to tell Dustin about the baby. He needed to know first. This kind of gossip could spread out of control quickly. It wasn’t for the public. It was for her, the baby, and Dustin. Navigating it would be tricky. She knew that. But she believed they’d figureit out together.
Goldie knocked on the door to his trailer. They were in the middle of nowhere, on a rural road that had been shut down for their scene.
Everyone would soon be going their separate ways. A movie cast and crew really does become a tight-knit but temporary family. This time, it wouldn’t be temporary. Goldie was set to fly back to L.A.
She wanted to tell Dustin here, on set, before the world and their real lives intruded. This was where they fell in love, and their little family began.
She knocked on the door lightly. Dustin opened it and nodded to her. He was on the phone.
“Yes, totally, we’ll coordinate. Make sure you talk to Bernadette. Her schedule goes through Bernadette. Yeah, yeah, sounds good.”
“Good phone call? You’re smiling like you just got some good news.”
“I did, I did. I’m glad you’re here.”
“I’ve got some good news, too,” Goldie said.
“Great, great, so here’s the thing. Laura is pregnant. Finally.”
“Wait, I thought you two were not sleeping together. How is she pregnant?” Goldie also knew Laura Walker was a year older than Dustin and had a much talked about fertility struggle.
“We aren’t, that was true. This is in vitro, I left my deposit in a cup. I honestly never thought this would work, but Laura has been like a dog with a bone. She just always wanted to be a mom.”
“Sheisa mom; you have three kids.”
“Stepmom, they’re from my first marriage. Laura wants a baby of her own, wanted to be pregnant.”
“Ah.” Goldie’s head was in a whirl.
