Chapter Eleven

Anna didn’t get a news station in Missouri to air my tell-all, but she did manage to book an up-and-coming news reporter, Jay Grishby, who works for the ABC network in LA. Apparently, he’s the talk of the town, and the guy she was sleeping with when I texted her. This is it. Almost a month has gone by, and I haven’t denied or confirmed it; now is my chance.

I look to my right, I see the television is on the ABC news channel, and there is Jay Grishby. A well-dressed man, probably in his late-twenties. Talk, dark, and handsome. I just hope Anna can stick with this one.

The news panel talks some more before it’s time to introduce me. I take this time to call my parents again. My mother hung up the phone on me when I told her what I was going to do. She said I was only creating more problems, that I shouldn’t be lying about Violet, and that I needed to own up to my mistakes.

The phone rings.

And rings.

I am just about to hang up when my father picks up.

“Selena.”

“Hi, Daddy.”

“Selena, sweetheart, I think it’s best if you don’t call here anymore. Your mother is upset that you would go on national television to hurt this family. Violet told us numerous times she never did those things you are alleging she did.”

“Dad, I am telling the truth. I never would have killed my own child. That isn’t me; you guys know I want children, at least two of them. Can I please speak to Mom?”

“I am sorry, honey, your mother doesn’t want to talk to you, and I have to go. Just don’t do the interview, honey. Think about other people for once. I love you.”

He hangs up the phone, not giving me a chance to reply. I am not sure my parents know how to love someone other than themselves and Violet. It’s sad that my own parents wouldn’t believe me. Violet was, and always will be, the perfect child to them. The child who does no wrong.

“Is everything alright?” Anna pulls a chair next to mine. “What did your parents say?”

“What I knew all along. They aren’t here for me. It’s been about Violet since day one.”

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I can tell Jay that something came up…you’re on in about twenty minutes; I can text him right now. He always has his phone on —it’s sitting right on the table next to him.” She points to the television at the desk Jay and two other news anchors are sitting at.

“He is on the air; he will not answer his phone. I want to go through with it. I need to do this. No one can clear my name but me. I just wish I could have cleared my name differently. I don’t know why Violet just didn’t come clean to Mom and Dad. I can’t even think about how she sat there and lied to their faces. It makes me mad all over again.”

“Alright, as your best friend I am here for you. And if this is what you want to do, I’ll be there for you, no matter what the outcome is.”

“Thank you, Anna.”

“No worries. Now let’s fix your make-up.”

The camera crew of three scurries from the table where they’re eating to calling shots. I guess they are ready for me. I wipe my hands on my dress as I take a seat on the couch of my hotel room. One crew member helps put my earpiece in, while the other two move the camera and lighting around.

I should be used to doing interviews without getting sweaty palms, but it always happens. I can hear the director in my ear. “We are live in 5…4…3…2…action.”

***

Caleb

“Evelyn, just drop it.” I walk down the hall, not wanting to continue the conversation. Richard texted me some of the pictures from yesterday’s shoot and Evelyn saw them. Why she was going through my phone was beyond me. Now she is hounding me about doing the shoot in the first place.

“Don’t walk away from me!” she shouts.

Something smacks me right in the middle of my back. I quickly turn around, looking at her then at the ground. My iPhone. “What the fuck is your problem?”

“You are the problem…”

I pick up the phone, sliding it into my pajama pants pocket. I have nothing scheduled this week, and now I wished I’d stayed in LA for the week.

“Are you even listening to me?” she yells.

“Evelyn, it’s eight in the morning, I’m not going to do this with you.” I try to walk out of the main bedroom. Evelyn has been driving me up the wall all morning about the photo shoot. I have bigger things to worry about then a damn photo shoot.

“Where are you going? Don’t walk away from me. Caleb, what the hell has gotten into you? One minute you don’t care about the damn bitch, and then you practically fucked her at the photo shoot. Those pictures show your true feelings. It shows everything,” she hisses.

I stop short, turning around to face her, rubbing my temples. “Let’s get this straight. One, Selena is not a bitch…she is a working woman just like you. Two, in order to do a photo shoot, it must look real, you should know that. And lastly, if no one had been in that room you wouldn’t have had to use the word practically. Now, if all you want to do is bitch and moan over my photo shoot—get out. If not, I’ll be in the guest room enjoying my sleep.”

“Caleb!”

“Stop fucking shouting, Evelyn, I just want to sleep. That’s all. Nothing else, nothing more…”

“Don’t curse at me. You are the one in the wrong. You still want her, don’t you? Of course, you do. She is after all the Selena Lane.”

“I’ve had enough; put your clothes on and get the fuck out my house before I call the cops.”

“Cal—”

“Now, Evelyn, get out my damn house. I’m done with our little arrangement. It was good in the beginning, but now…now it’s shit. Let’s go…get your things.” I walk past her to the bedroom closet.

“You can’t do this. You can’t just toss me to the side like I mean nothing to you. After all these years you don’t love me? I love you, Caleb; I am in love with you.”

Fuck.

“Look, what we had was nothing more than an arrangement. We’ve discussed this. It was a no strings attached kind-of-deal. No one develops feelings. No one. Do you remember that? Who came up with that? You did. I wanted you and only you…but you wanted other people. Only saw me as a friend.” I sigh, watching the tears roll down her face. Crocodile tears. If I hadn’t witnessed this a million times before, I would have believed her.

“Out.” I stay cool, calm, and collective as she puts her clothes on and gathers her things. She calls me every name under the sun and even throws a couple things at me. My mother raised a true gentleman, even though I might not act it at times. I need an award of some kind for what I just went through in the last thirty minutes.

Coffee.

Now that Evelyn is out the house I can relax. I’m not even tired anymore…I just need coffee and the news. Can today get any worse? Selena fucking Lane is on the news. I pick up the remote, turning the volume up.

“…So, what you are telling the world is that you never were pregnant with Caleb Hemsworth’s child?”

“That is correct. I love children, and I would never do such a thing. Especially Caleb’s child, we are in lo—we were once in love.”

“So how does the clinic have your ID on file? That seems like pretty concrete evidence that you had it done. Does it not?”

“I can see how it looks like I did. However, that is not the case. My ID was used to help a friend out. I know it was a poor decision on my part, but she needed help.”

“So, this friend must be very special for you to do such a heinous crime?”

I watch as she looks off camera. Her friend Anna appears on television blocking Selena.

“What kind of shit are you trying to pull, Jay? Accusing her of a crime on national television? I will not be fucking you anymore!” She turns her back to the camera, and then the unexpected happens. Selena and Anna having a disagreement on television. These two together are a disaster. How the hell do they manage working with one another?

“Anna! Move…let me finish the interview. I can do it…that que—”

“Fuck them, it’s over. I can’t believe he would do such a thing. What a fucking douche bag…that’s why his penis is smaller than a grain of rice…”

I pick up my phone to call Selena; I don’t know why they haven’t shut down the feed. Clearly, Anna and Selena think the interview is over. I look at my screen, and I hear her phone ringing.

“It’s Caleb. Should I answer?” I wish Anna would move so I can see her face. Did she smile when she saw my number?

“He probably saw the shit interview. Pick it up.”

She clears her throat. “Hello?”

“I don’t want Anna’s rant to end, but you two are still live. The network hasn’t cut your feed yet.”

“Shit! What? Anna, we are still live.”