I’d hoped for a week, but we’d taken eleven extra days in Hawaii to get what we needed. It wasn’t like I could shut down production to handle my personal problems. The budget would take a hit if I packed everyone up and sent them home only to bring them back again. So I’d stayed, and we filmed, fixed scenes, and finished every little piece of Hawaiian footage we needed. Having Billy with me was my only lifeline to not losing my ever-loving mind. She could be a brat, but she stepped up on this occasion and ran interference with Bella while playing her French-accented part perfectly.
Two nights ago, after my afternoon call to James—I called every day at five o’clock her time—I decided to give Kellan a ring and make this all happen. We’d loosely kept in touch, and it felt like the start of something bigger with an old friend—like I’d been trying with James. My life needed more genuine connection in it.
Right this second though, I needed to see James in person and explain my omissions. She thought I lied to her on purpose; she thought I was being manipulative. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her, but in my own way I’d thought I was protecting her. It didn’t work out that way, but it was my original intention. All I knew was I wanted to be with her all the time.
With a fleet of jets at his disposal, I knew Kellan would be able to help a desperate dude out. I was dogged in my pursuit of this woman, and she’d put up walls I needed to tear the fuck down.
Kind, caring, compassionate, “wouldn’t hurt a fly,” and gentle James was back to working from home, putting her gala together, despite being wrecked by me.Again.
As fate would have it, Scotty ran into James at a bar by the hospital, and she’d been less than thrilled when he’d mentioned my mom’s stunt. He’d meant it as a joke, thinking she’d find it funny, but she didn’t take it that way. My family was forced to find humor in my mom’s calculated ways, or we would be miserable. But James wasn’t required to find my mom funny. Not to mention, my time was up for that type of thing.
I needed to get in front of James and grovel. Especially after last night when I revealed to James that Bella had in fact contacted my mom about her. Bella had grown frustrated, she’d told Billy, with my “lack of interest.” Then again, this was the sort of thing I would’ve kept from James in the past, but not this time around. Transparency was key.
As I touched down in the early hours of the morning, seeing the landmarks of my birthplace in the distance, nerves set in. I’d never been a particularly nervous man, but with so much at risk, I was.
I had a driver meet me at the airport to take me the hour to James’s place, and I picked up my phone once I was settled in the car.
“Ford? I thought you were in Hawaii.” Mom answered the phone as if nothing had transpired. Her perfectly crafted voice rang through the phone.
“I was. Now I’m close to home.” That was all I was giving her.
“Should I have your room made up? I wasn’t expecting you.” Like an experienced poker player, she didn’t show her hand either.
That was my mom. She acted as if I was coming for a nice visit, hoping I’d go to an event with her or be captured in a photo.
“No, you shouldn’t have my room made up. I’m going to see James and beg for forgiveness for your actions, which I bet you knew.” I leaned my head back against the seat of the town car and breathed.
“Ford, you can’t be serious. I was trying to set you up. Mothers do that. It’s time for you to settle down.”
“Yes, they do, but not when their son is dating someone else. Seriously, I may add.”
“Ford—”
“No. No Ford this or Ford that. Not only did you take it too far with sending Caro, but then you got involved with Bella. Who, by the way, happens to work with me, and turned this into a five-alarm fiasco.”
“I wanted you to realize what was best for you.”
I let out a long breath.As if—to borrow an old movie line. “If you ever knew what was best for me, you didn’t show it. It was always what was best for you. Not even Dad. Well, let me say this—I don’t care what’s best for you. James is it for me, and I need to find a way for her to forgive me and to excuse you. Let me warn you, if she doesn’t do either, you will find yourself cut out of my life.”
“That’s too bad. I’m your mother, and you should be indebted to me.”
“Too bad, what? Indebted? You’re kidding, right?”
“Too bad you don’t value my esteemed opinion.” She went right past her own words and onto her next talking point. It was a tactic she’d used forever.
“You’re right, I don’t value it. At all. You caused James to lose her job, forced her to leave Hawaii sad and disappointed, and had her smeared through the media. Make sure nothing else is added to the list unless it helps James. Period.”
“Don’t speak to me like that.”
“I will speak like that or any way I damn well like, Mother. I’m a grown man. This time, you’ll do my bidding. I have to go now, but I’ll be in touch with ways you can fix your mess.”
I disconnected the call before she could rattle on. Let her go bitch to her assistant Steven.
Allowing myself some time to let go of the agitation, I didn’t text James. She knew I was on my way. I’d learned my lesson with keeping things from her. As soon as I had a flight plan, I’d texted.
As the driver pulled up in front of her house, I took a deep breath. I told the driver to go. I didn’t plan on leaving anytime soon.
I quickly walked up the steps of her brownstone and couldn’t help but recall the first time I showed up. I’d thought how perfect this place was for James, but now it felt like another obstacle to getting what I wanted—needed.
