She swallows and tucks her hair behind her ear. She’s radiating nervousness, her lips trembling as she prepares to talk again. I lean closer to the screen.
“I have no way of contacting Trevor Owens because, contrary to what people online seem to think, I am not his lover, or secret fling, or whatever lies people are making up after seeing one simple photo. So I thought I’d make this video in the hopes that it would get back to him, and also to set the record straight. I’m tired of lies and terrible things being said about me, but I’m even more disturbed at how this has been taken completely out of context in an effort to ruin Trevor’s career.”
She breathes in deeply, then continues. “I was hired to play the body double for Andrea Block after she broke her arm and couldn’t film for a few weeks. Because of my job, I was around Trevor every day for a while. One day, the costume crew lost my original clothes and so I was wearingclothingunderneath a robe.” She holds up her hand. “I wasn’t naked. I wasn’t even close to being naked. And Trevor and I were goofing off and I tripped and fell, which is why the photo you’ve all seen is blurry. It was taken quite literally as I was falling while trying to take a selfie.”
She presses her lips together and shrugs. “That’s it, guys. That’s all. It was a silly photo that meant nothing. In my short time on film sets, actors goof off and play all the time. You can’t judge someone’s character off a split-second snapshot, and I’m disgusted that so many people have turned their backs on Trevor, an actor you all loved before this silly photo came out.”
Damage control. That’s what she’s doing. She’s trying to fix a problem she created. I pause the video and take a deep breath, clenching my jaw. I wonder why she’s doing this now? Did my agent call her and ask her to settle what happened? Did someone from the press offer her more money to come forward? Probably.
I look back at my phone, wondering if I should even waste my time watching the rest of it. But then curiosity gets the best of me and I click play.
“As for how the photo got out, I’d like to set the record straight. That photo was on my phone, and only my phone. I’ve never sent it to anyone, and I never would. However, I recently figured out how it was stolen from me. A woman named Jackie snuck my phone when I wasn’t around and emailed it to herself. I will attach a screenshot of the email at the end of this video. I had no idea she did this and I would never, ever, have approved it. In fact, I am stating this now because I think the casting crew should be aware of this woman, as she told me the day I met her that she purposely tries to find candid photos she can take and sell to the paparazzi, which is why she works as an extra in the first place. So if anyone is in charge of hiring movie extras, maybe look up this Jackie woman and stop hiring her, okay? The reputations of your actors are all at risk when she’s on set and if you respect their privacy, you’ll stop allowing this woman to work as an extra.”
Annie is quiet for a moment, then she looks down for a bit before looking back at the camera. “I guess that’s all I have to say.”
The video ends and I sit here staring at my phone screen for a long time.
Well… this changes everything.
CHAPTER24
Annie
Two Weeks Later
“Good morning, Mrs. Gomez,” I say as I enter the elderly woman’s room at Grace Elder Care. As a healthcare provider, I shouldn’t have “favorites,” but I secretly do. Mrs. Gomez is a firecracker of a woman, despite her thin frame and short stature. I like her because she’s hilariously sarcastic and witty in a way that reminds me of the characters in my favorite irreverent TV shows. But she also cares a lot about people. She’d noticed right away that I was nursing a broken heart myself in addition to caring for my new patients when I started working here.
She wouldn’t let it go until I decided to briefly give her a description of what caused my broken heart. I told her he worked too far away and a big misunderstanding happened that ruined everything between us. She seems to think I’m being overly dramatic and should go seek him out to fix things between us. But that’s only because I didn’t give her all the details.
“Annie-banan-ie,” she says, smiling up at me from her recliner. Her favorite pastime is diamond painting and crocheting, and today she has a half-finished diamond painting on the table next to her and a half-finished crocheted doll in her lap. The woman loves to multi-task. “How are you today?”
“I’m the nurse, I’m supposed to ask you that,” I say playfully as I walk over and wrap the cuff around her upper arm so I can take her daily blood pressure reading.
“Oh, I am perfect,” she says with a wave of her hand. “As always. Just watching these hunks on TV.”
She nods up to the flat-screen television on her wall. She’s always watching either reality TV shows, cooking shows, or those entertainment/TMZ type shows about celebrities. The woman may be elderly, but she keeps up with pop culture, that’s for sure.
I chuckle and remove the arm cuff, then take her temperature and mark it in my company iPad, which keeps track of all my residents’ vital signs and health records.
One thing I love about working at an elderly care center is that I get to bond with my patients. Things move slower here. It’s not the hustle and panic of working in a busy urgent care, which I never really liked at my old job. Sure, things can get rushed here if a resident has a medical emergency, bust most days are slower and I can spend time with everyone, giving them company, friendship, and care.
“What on earth is this?” I ask as I examine Mrs. Gomez’s unfinished diamond painting. It’s a cartoonish picture of a giant pot leaf, which doesn’t exactly seem like something she’d be into. The woman wears pastel colors and has crocheted doilies everywhere.
She chuckles. “Well, my grandson gave me that big gift card to buy more diamond paintings so I thought I’d make him one to show my gratitude. He can hang it in his dorm room,” she says with an evil grin as if she’s picturing a teenage boy hanging up his grandma’s sparkly artwork in his dorm.
“You know that’s a pot leaf, right?” I say. “It’s weed? Like the drug?”
She rolls her eyes at me. “Oh, Annie, you’re so silly. I wasn’t born yesterday. Of course I know it’s pot! But what can I say? My grandson thinks it’s cool. He wants to move somewhere that weed is legal and I told him he’ll only be able to afford that if he works hard in college and gets a good degree and a good job.”
She chuckles to herself then looks back at the television. “Oh my, that’s one handsome son of a gun right there.”
I don’t think twice about it when I look over to see what she’s talking about, but instantly I regret it. A stock photo of Trevor Owens is on the screen. Then it shows footage of him walking on a red carpet, then goes back to another stock photo. The host of the celebrity news TV show is talking about him. I should look away. In fact, I should leave.
Mr. Albany lives next door and he only ever watches westerns on his TV. I should go check on him.
But my stupid heart takes over all bodily functions and keeps me rooted to the floor, my eyes watching the television. It’s a short segment on the actor, one that’s quickly replaced but another segment about a more famous actress and her contentious divorce from a billionaire tech mogul. In the few minutes Trevor is on screen though, I learn that he’s just been signed on to star as superhero Max Might in the City of Legends movie trilogy. It’s a sharp contrast for him to go from playing sweet romance leads to an action superhero, but it’ll do wonders for his career. Looks like he’ll bounce back just fine after being fired from his former company because of that scandalous photo of us.
My throat feels like something is stuck in it. I’m happy that his career is doing better, but Trevor as a new superhero? That means his face will be all over the place. On kid’s meal toys and T-shirts and school supplies. And internet memes and posters plastered all over the movie theater. How will I ever escape the constant reminder of the man I loved and lost?
