Dean was still frozen. He couldn't pry his fingers loose from the side of the tower. If Adam didn't come back soon he might throw up. The tourists from his group had finished admiring the scenery from the tower peak above him and now filed past a petrified and frozen Dean to go back down to the heavenly ground. Dean couldn’t believe Adam had left him standing there. He’d hoped that this feeling of total terror that had taken over his body would fade away but no such luck. The only way he was keeping himself from keeling over was to make sure he focused all of his attention on the sky.

"Hey, aren't you Dean McLean?" The woman leaned toward him and examined his face like he was a painting. He was so frozen he couldn't even turn his head to the side to avoid the wine on her breath.

"Mmmm," he said, focusing all of his attention on not throwing up.

Wine woman must have taken his grunt as a friendly gesture because she smiled and clapped.

"Let's take a selfie!!"

"Mmmm," he grunted again.

He didn't move, but the woman was undaunted. She turned and pressed herself against the wall under his arm, "Say cheese!" He tried to smile but could only grimace. His Instagram reputation was ruined.

The crowd thinned as the rest of his group ambled past him toward the stairway and now, he was alone. Where the heck was Adam?  He heard a loud high-pitched squeal pealing out from above his head. Isabella. He’d heard that squeal of excitement a few times, usually when he'd bought her a gift. Then he heard Adam’s booming voice and his affable, friendly laugh. They were enjoying themselves up there on the top of the tower. Enjoying themselves while Dean shivered.

Isabella bounced around the corner into his sight, oblivious to the deadly drop only inches from her left foot.

“I can’t believe it, Adam. I just can’t believe it. You are one smart, sexy teddy-bear!”

Smart, sexy teddy bear? What was going on? Dean suddenly felt like he was in the Twilight Zone. He was frozen to the top of a tower, the ground spinning below him, and his ex-girlfriend was flirting with his best friend right in front of him.

Adam turned the corner and moved straight to Dean. He gave him his best, big brother, encouraging smile. Dean had seen it many times when he was down. Adam said, “Got something to tell you buddy. I hope you can be happy for me.”

Dean tried to direct his gaze to Adam but got an eyeful of the green lawn far below him instead. He threw his head back against the wall. “What’s going on?”

“Well, you know we came here to bring you back. It looked like the deal with Christopher Brooks had fallen through and the director told us he was losing patience. We needed you to come back and finish the shoot." He held his cell phone in front of Dean's face, "But that was Christopher Brook on the phone just now... he’s gonna do it! He’s gonna do it, AND he signed the royalty share agreement! Can you believe it? I planned on broaching the subject with you today on sharing your royalties with me, but now there’s no need.”

Had he had a stroke up here or something? Adam's words made no sense. It was like he was talking in a foreign language. “What’s Christopher Brook got to do with me?”

Adam patted him on the shoulder causing him to tighten his grip. His fingers were going numb. “I’m sorry, buddy, but you have no idea how tough it's been. Ed Hardy didn’t want you, you know? He thought you were too high a liability. You should have seen how much the insurance premiums went up after you had your incident. But now there’s nothing to worry about. I knew you’d like it here and you do. And now you have a girlfriend and she sounds like a great woman. So great news, you can stay!”

“Stay? Stay here? In Italy?” Dean shook his head. He must be having some kind of episode. Was he hearing what Adam was saying? His best friend Adam? Was he telling him he’d given his job away?

“Yeah… here. You can stay here. Christopher will take over the role and he agreed to a royalty share. I never got that from your contract you know, you’ve made millions from the part I got you. Not that I’m unhappy. I love you man, you know that.”

“You love me? You love me, so you’re going to ruin my career?”

Adam laughed. “Ruin your career? You’ve been bitching about this job for the last two years. You hate it, Dean.”

Dean was stunned. Did Adam think that? Yeah sure, sure he’s been complaining a lot. Maybe sometimes he didn’t enjoy his role as a superstar. Truthfully, when he compared it to the satisfaction he got from carpentry, - he didn’t enjoy his work. But his job was his life. He didn’t have anything else. Surely Adam understood all that.

“I don’t hate it.” He squeezed out. He had forgotten Isabella was standing at his shoulder until she chimed in.

“Of course you hate it, Dean,” she said, “What do you think these stupid fainting fits are about? There’s no way you’ll be able to go back in front of a camera. I told Adam that when he said he wanted to bring you back, but he said we had to try.”

“We?” Dean turned to look at Isabella, felt his head spin, and gripped the wall harder. “Since when are you two a ‘we’?”

“Don’t worry, I moved out darling - as soon as you broke up with me. I wouldn’t take advantage of you like that.”

Dean turned back to Adam. Amazingly, he realized he wasn’t angry. All he felt was an overwhelming sense of disappointment. Suddenly everything that had happened in his life until now seemed like a complete farce. Everything had been a lie.

He gave Adam a weak smile. “So this is it, huh? You ruin my career, steal my girlfriend, but just pat me on the back and say, ‘see ya later’. You think everything’s fine?”

Adam looked at Dean with a puzzled frown. Dean couldn’t believe he was puzzled.

“How is everything not fine? You had a great career, and I helped you quit when it got too much for you. You’ve got more money than you know what to do with, and more will pour in for the rest of your life thanks to your royalty shares. You’ve got a new girlfriend and I will look after your old one so you don't have to feel guilty there. I’m your buddy, Dean. You know I look out for you. Always have.”

How could he have been so clueless? Now the anger came; anger and frustration at his own naivety. “I want you both out of my sight, now. Just go!”

Isabella shared a look with Adam who shrugged and said, “Don’t worry. He’ll come around. Come on.”

Adam crossed in front of him and accidentally bumped his shoulder. Dean gasped in fear. Isabella turned to stand directly in front of him. “Goodbye, darling!” she said. Her eyes filled with tears. Dean wanted her out of here. He could hear a new batch of tourists about to exit onto this platform and he wanted to get help before they emerged, but Isabella had a film scene in her mind she needed to play out. She cupped her hand under his chin and he couldn’t let go of the wall to bat it away. She gave a deep sigh and her lower lip trembled. Dean hadn’t realized she was such a good actress.

Isabella leaned in to kiss him full on the mouth, and Hazel turned the corner.