by Holly Jaymes
Next, I accessed the gossip mill in the condo building to see if anyone knew if Nadine’s sister was still staying with her. The gossip I got back was that Nadine’s new roommate was her boyfriend, who I guessed was the guy I ran into the day I went down there. Nadine’s neighbor wasn’t sure but she thought maybe she had heard that her sister was up in Woodstock with their grandparents. That made total sense.
I was halfway to the garage to get my car and drive up to see her when I remembered I was supposed to be on a talk show that evening. I had already done a couple but I was finding the more I did, the more difficult it was to be upbeat. The funk that started when Madeline walked away just seemed to be sinking deeper and deeper into my soul. But I had to do what I had to do.
Although most of the talk shows were on TV during late-night, they were generally filmed early in the evening. I was in the green room of The Joey Kasen Show, waiting to be introduced. The show was the most popular of all the late-night shows, often called simply Joey Late Night. Because it was a big deal, I had to be at my best.
I watched from the TV screen in the green room as he did his opening monologue and a short chat with the leader of his band. When he got ready to introduce me, I stood up, smoothing out my tie and straightening my jacket. I gathered all my strength so that I could be charming and witty and everything the public expected of Theo Wolfe. Joey introduced me and I walked out through the curtains to a round of applause, and hoots and hollers. I waved at the crowd as I made my way over to Joey. I shook his hand and then took a seat next to him.
“I suppose you have that kind of reaction everywhere you go,” Joey said. A few more hoots and hollers, and whatever the female equivalent of the catcall was, sounded through the room.
I gave my sheepish smile. “Sometimes.”
Usually, the opening of an interview involved small talk, but since I really hadn’t done anything like take a trip to the Caribbean or do volunteer work at some charity, we didn’t have a lot to chat about. So we went straight into talking about Earthshot, the movie that would be coming out shortly. In it, I played an astronaut in a future world in which humans had colonized other planets, and Earth was essentially abandoned and forgotten. My character ended up having spaceship trouble, and Earth was where he crash-landed.
After discussing the movie, the audience was shown a clip of it and then we went to a commercial break. In the beginning of my career, that would’ve been it for the interview, but now that I was a bigger celebrity, I usually got a longer segment, which was the case in this situation. So when we came back from commercial break, I still had a few more minutes to fill with Joey.
“Now, is it true that you have started your own production company and just finished filming a movie in which you’ve cast former child star, Maddie Fox?” Joey asked when we returned from the commercial.
I did the best I could not to shift in my seat or tug at the collar of my shirt; well-known tells of discomfort. “That's right.”
“So, how is she?”
“She’s great. She’s not a kid anymore.”
Joey laughed. “I guess a lot of people still think of her as a kid. But here she is, folks.” A picture flashed on the screen behind us. My heart clenched in my chest. It was a studio photo, so it was all polished, but I could see the complex woman in it.
Joey whistled and waggled his brows. “She did grow up.”
I swallowed the urge to punch him. I thought about telling him that if he did that when she was here, she’d bust his balls.
Instead, I said, “She’s a great actress. I think everybody’s going to enjoy the movie.” I hadn’t considered that I would have to talk about Maddie on television in front of millions of people and I was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Like the world would be able to see how much I was breaking because of her.
“Now, in Earthshot, you didn’t really have a female co-star but in many of your other movies, you did. When you end up spending a lot of time with somebody working on the set and having to pretend they’re your wife or your girlfriend or your lover, does it ever bleed over into real life?”
I sat for a moment, trying to decide how I wanted to answer this question. Did I go with the cocky and arrogant playboy Theo Wolfe that everybody expected? All of a sudden, it felt very disingenuous. How many times did I want to just be me? Maybe not in front of millions of people, but I was tired of having to act when I was supposed to be me.
“I guess it does sometimes, but it’s not very often that you actually fall in love.”
Joey looked at me, his brows furrowing quizzically. “Are you saying that Theo Wolfe has fallen in love?”
Again, I had a moment to wonder if I should admit it or be coy. I knew Madeline didn’t want me to out us. On the other hand, if she wasn’t going to talk to me, how else could I let her know that I wanted to see her again? That I wanted a chance to explain that I wasn’t the man she thought I was.
“Yes, I have.”
There was a collective “aww” from the audience. Joey leaned over on his desk, setting his chin in his palms and looking at me intently. “Oh, do tell.”
“Well, of course, I never kiss and tell.” Inwardly, I winced because it was such a cliché. But as much as I wanted Madeline to know that I loved her, I wasn’t going to out her.
“Is it serious?” he asked.
“It could be.” In my mind, I just confessed that I had fallen in love, so didn’t that automatically imply serious?
“Is the feeling mutual?” Then he waved his hand. “Oh, it must be. You’re Theo Wolfe. What woman wouldn’t want to be with you?”
I could think of one.
“Tell us about her. Is she in the business? Is she someone we would know? Most importantly, what type of woman captures Theo Wolfe’s heart?”
I was surprised, but glad that he hadn’t clued into Madeline being the woman. After all, he’d been talking about how I’d just co-starred with her in a movie when this line of conversation came up.
I opted to ignore the first two questions and instead decided to answer the latter. “She’s smart, outspoken, brilliant. She has a wonderful sense of humor. She’s just a really great person.”
“And I bet she’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Joey asked.
“She’s the most beautiful woman in the world.”
After the show ended, I sat in the car that drove me back to my condo. I wondered if Madeline would see the show and if she did, what would she think. Would she know that I was talking about her?
When I got back to the condo, Oliver was sitting out on the terrace with a drink. “How did the taping go?” he asked.
I took a seat on the lounge chair next to him. “I admitted I was in love.”
His brows arched. “Then why are you here? If you’ve just admitted that you’re in love on national television. Shouldn’t you be going to find Madeline? It seems like maybe she should be hearing that from you directly.”
It took me a moment, but then, like a bolt of lightning zapping in my chest, I realized he was right. I jumped up. “I’m heading up to Woodstock.”
“Go get ‘em, little bro.”
I grabbed my car keys and rushed down to the garage. In record time, I was in my car and heading through Manhattan traffic and towards Woodstock. And hopefully toward happily ever after.
A Matter of Trust
Madeline
My grandmother and grandfather’s words looped through my brain over and over and over again, making it difficult to sleep. Finally, I gave up and got out of bed. At first, I went to sit on the screen porch, but the dark night and the sound of crickets did little to settle my nerves.
Why was I so agitated? Were they right? Was it possible that I misunderstood Theo and Corrine’s conversation? They were right in that I hadn’t heard the beginning part, nor had I stayed to listen to the end. But he never denied her statement that he’d been seducing me. And he had said that he had to do what he had to do. Didn't that mean he was confirming to Corrine that
he had seduced me as a way to maintain the chemistry in the movie?
I went into the TV room, picked up the remote, and clicked it on, thinking maybe I’d find some old movie or maybe even an infomercial. I flipped through the channels and immediately stopped when I saw Theo on the screen on Joey Late Night. My finger hovered over the channel button to change it, but I couldn’t. Theo looked as handsome as ever. Although admittedly, his eyes seemed a little duller and his smile wasn’t quite as sincere. I wondered if he was missing me or if he’d tried to get in touch with me. I made sure that he couldn’t and except for Nadine’s report that he had come looking for me, I didn’t know if he had given up or not.
“Now in Earthshot, you didn’t really have a female co-star but in many of your other movies, you did. When you end up spending a lot of time with somebody, working on the set and having to pretend they're your wife or your girlfriend or your lover, does it ever bleed over into real life?” Joey asked Theo.
Theo didn’t answer right away, but then he said, “I guess it does sometimes, but it’s not very often that you actually fall in love.”
My heart did a loop-the-loop in my chest. Did he just say he’d fallen in love? Or was he just telling Joey that on-set relationships were just hookups?
“Are you saying that Theo Wolfe has fallen in love?”
“Yes, I have.”
I gasped.
Joey leaned over on his desk, setting his chin in his palms and looking at Theo for him to spill all the gossip. “Oh, do tell.”
“Well, of course, I never kiss and tell.” Theo’s response made me wonder if this was just a way for him to clean up his reputation.
“Is it serious?” Joey asked.
“It could be.”
What did that mean?
“Is the feeling mutual?” Then Joey waved his hand. “Oh, it must be. You’re Theo Wolfe. What woman wouldn’t want to be with you?”
I could think of one. Me. Except, deep down, I did want to be with him.
“Tell us about her. Is she in the business? Is she someone we would know? Most importantly, what type of woman captures Theo Wolfe’s heart?”
“She’s smart, outspoken, brilliant. She has a wonderful sense of humor. She’s just a really great person.”
Was he talking about me? He never said my name. He never gave any hints. Was that because this was just another ploy to dismantle his playboy image? Or was he protecting me?
“And I bet she’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Joey asked.
“She’s the most beautiful woman in the world.”
“As grand gestures go, that one’s pretty good,” my grandmother said. I turned to see her leaning against the door jamb into the TV room.
I turned off the TV and set the remote down.
“He didn’t say who he was talking about.” I stood to go back to my room.
I heard a tsking sound from my grandmother. “Madeline, at this point, your unhappiness is all your own. You can go on being mad at that young man. You can pretend like he just didn’t tell the world that he was in love with someone. But in the end, if you’re miserable, it’s all on you.”
“I'm going back to bed.” I didn’t want to be terse with my grandmother, but neither did I want to accept that she might be right. I started toward the hall when there was a knock on the front door. Both my grandmother and I startled and looked at each other.
“We don’t usually get guests so late. I’m going to get your Pop-Pop so he can get his shotgun out.”
While she did that, I stealthily made my way to the living room and peeked through the curtain. My God! It was Theo. My heart, which had already picked up the pace a little bit at the idea of a stranger at the door in the middle of the night, now ramped up to a million miles a minute.
A part of me wanted to be cool and distant and nonchalant, but in reality, seeing him standing on the doorstep, I wanted to throw the door open and launch myself at him. I did hurry to the door and yank it open, but I was able to refrain from throwing myself at him. He might’ve said all those things on national TV, but I knew that interviews were often as fake as the movies.
His eyes drifted down over me and I realized I was in my robe and pajamas.
“I’m sorry for showing up like this so late.”
I pulled my robe tighter around me in an attempt to protect my heart.
“Now, what’s going on out here?” my grandfather said. I heard the cocking of his gun.
Theo’s eyes widened and his hands went up as he stepped back. “I’m sorry. I just came to see Madeline.”
My grandfather’s eyes squinted as he leaned forward slightly to look at Theo through the doorway. He uncocked the gun and lowered the barrel. “Well now, why didn’t you say so? Come on in, boy. Can I get you something to drink?”
Theo kept his hands up as his gaze went from my grandfather back to me. “Can I talk to you?” he asked.
Whether I was okay with him talking to me or not, I didn’t feel like I had any choice but to let him in, since my grandparents felt I was being unfair to him. Maybe they were right. I should have at least given him the chance to explain to me even though I wasn’t sure I could believe him. But maybe they were right about that too. If I couldn’t believe him, could I really be in love with him? I wondered why love was so complicated, and then I realized that that was probably why so many marriages failed. I remembered my grandparents explaining that it was only through hard work that their love had lasted for so long. I couldn’t know what would happen between Theo and me, but they were right in that I needed to make the effort. I opened the door wider and stepped aside so he could come in.
“My grandfather won’t shoot you. You can put your arms down now.” His cheeks reddened slightly as he gave me a sheepish smile. “If you don’t mind waiting a minute, I’ll go change and then we can go out back to talk,” I said.
He nodded his agreement.
“In the meantime, let me get you a drink, Theo. You look like you could use one,” my grandpa said, as he went over to his liquor cabinet. “Tell me, that look of terror on your face, is that from having to talk to my granddaughter or for having to stare down the barrel of my gun?”
I didn’t hear the answer as I went back into my room. I took off my pajamas and put on jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and slipped on some sneakers.
Once dressed, I went back to the kitchen and found Theo downing a drink with my grandfather.
“We’re going out back,” I said to my grandparents.
“Okay. Don’t feed him to the bears, Maddie,” my grandfather laughed as Theo blanched.
Theo followed me out to the porch. As I opened the porch door to exit the house, Theo asked. “You’re not really going to feed me to bears, are you?”
“Probably not,” I said. “I’d rather do this away from the house. Prying ears and all.”
He nodded and followed me outside into the dark night. I turned on the flashlight from my phone as we walked along the path toward the pond.
He was quiet but since he’d come here, I’d let him start the conversation.
“I spent the entire drive up planning what I was going to say, but it seems to have vanished.”
“Forgetting your lines is a dangerous thing for an actor,” I said.
When he didn’t respond, I stopped and looked back toward him. He’d stopped walking and simply looked at me.
“I’m not acting, Madeline. I’ve never acted with you. It kills me that you think I’d do that.” His fist thumped against his heart.
Guilt flooded through me, but I worked to push it away.
“I heard you talking with Corrine about seducing me to get me to perform.” Because I couldn’t bear to look at him, I continued on the path. “You didn’t deny what Corrine said. Instead, you said that you had to do what you had to do.”
“Fuck.”
I heard twigs breaking, so I figured he was following me.
“I didn’t correct her because to do so, I’d have to admit
that it was real, which you were adamant you didn’t want.”
I whirled around. “So, it’s my fault?”
He looked so sad as he sighed. “No… Well…yes, sort of. All I’ve wanted since the moment I’ve met you, Madeline, is to be with you. I damn near told the entire world tonight that I was in love with you.”
My heart stuttered in my chest.
“But I didn’t because I knew you were worried about how it would look. When Corrine was under the assumption I was leading you on, what could I say? ‘Actually, Corrine, I’m in love with her’? No, I couldn’t if I was going to respect your wishes.”
My lips trembled as emotion crashed through me like a tidal wave. “You’re in love with me?”
He let out an exasperated breath. “Yes, Madeline. Maybe I should have told you sooner, although, I’m not sure it would have mattered. You seem to think I’m the type of man who’d fuck a woman to get a performance from her.”
Guilt washed through me again. I wanted to deny it, but couldn’t.
He stepped closer to me. “Tell me you don’t really think that.” His eyes were filled with such pain, that this time, the guilt nearly brought me to my knees.
There was so much to say, but it was all a jumble in my brain. So I said the one thing that was ringing clearly. “I love you.”
He gasped and jerked slightly. “You do?”
I nodded.
He moved closer but didn’t touch me. God, how I wished he’d touch me.
“I’ll be honest, Madeline, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I’ve never felt like this before. What I do know is that something has died since you left. Tell me what I need to do to prove to you that I’m not a man who’d hurt you.”
Since he wasn’t touching me, I reached out, cradling his face in my palms. “You’ve already done it.”
He sighed and dropped his forehead against mine.
“I’m sorry, Theo. I’m sorry I didn’t stick around to listen to you. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you… I didn’t even trust me.”