“Mom…” I wiped my tears away.
“That’s right,” my mom said, gently. “We’ll deal with this together. You just have to get out of there.”
“It’s not that easy,” I said. “It would follow me there. And I’m under contract.”
“We can figure all that out. Your life in Portland—”
My life in Portland. Trinkets n’ Things. Joanna and Annabelle taking over every room in the house.
“—was a good life, Paige. People will forget eventually. You could go to college.” She sounded almost cheerful.
“Not act?” I said, the thought making my chest seize up. “You know I can’t do that.” The truth was, I didn’t even know how I’d get to the airport to get home, let alone give up my life here.
“I think you don’t know what you can do,” my mother said. It went on this way for another half hour. She even put my sister on, who told me if I was home, I could help with the wedding. We could have sister-bonding time. It actually sounded appealing, which is how I knew I had officially gone crazy.
Alexis taps my leg with her stiletto, bringing me back to the present. I groan and drop my head onto my knees. “Not now,” I say.
Alexis crouches down next to me. “I called you a hundred times,” she says. “I’m sorry; drastic times, drastic measures.”
“Shouldn’t you be giving interviews about how much I suck? I slept with your boyfriend.”
Alexis throws her head back. “There is not one single part of that sentence that is true.” Her eyes fixate on me. “Is there?”
I groan. “What does it even matter? Everyone is deciding the truth for me anyway.”
“So that’s it?”
“What’s what?”
“You’re just going to give up, call it quits, spend the rest of your life on this mediocre lawn.”
“This is more lawn than you have,” I mutter.
Alexis yanks me up by the elbow. She’s got some serious strength. “You need help,” she says.
“Send a therapist.”
“No, I mean, you need someone to tell you what to do.”
I rub my eyes. “Are you going to do that?”
Sandy has called. I told her to be there for Rainer. Tawny came by. I immediately kicked her out. They all want me to make statements: Tawny saying how sorry I am to have betrayed Rainer, whom I love, and Sandy wanting a joint statement with Rainer and me denying any wrongdoing on my part. I don’t know what to do. “You need to set the record straight for your fans,” Tawny told me.
What they’re all failing to realize is that I don’t know what the recordis. How can I set it straight? I didn’t sleep with Jordan, but I did betray Rainer. He broke up with me. He knows. Why does the world need to?
“You shouldn’t even be here,” I mutter as Alexis leads me inside. “I’m the worst. I probably broke your fake heart. Why would you come visit me?”
Alexis raises her eyebrows at me. “My heart is real, thank you very much. It just was never Jordan’s.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “That’s not what I mean.”
Alexis rolls her eyes. “Relax, I know.”
I desperately want to ask Alexis if she’s heard from Jordan and how he is,wherehe is, but I’m not sure I’m prepared to know. I left an apology on his voice mail, but I haven’t heard back from him. Maybe he was right—maybe we shouldn’t speak anymore.
“Georgina has offered Malibu to us while she’s in Atlanta. She won’t be back until next month.”
“Have you seen the army at my gate?” I ask her. “How do you propose wegetto Malibu?”
