All She Needs to Know

by Maria Siano

  As Patrick’s deep voice boomed through the lobby, the crowd gasped.

  Then the room grew silent.

  Everyone was looking in Kyle’s direction. But Kyle remained still and showed no reaction.

  Patrick still had his finger pointed at Kyle. "You’re a disgrace!"

  Summer heard someone nearby whisper: "Is that Kyle Mills?"

  Oh no! Her body tensed. People know Patrick is yelling at Kyle Mills, the celebrity.

  Kyle pumped his arms up and down, motioning for Patrick to calm down. "Let me explain," Kyle said, matching Patrick’s volume but without the anger.

  Then Kyle lowered his voice and Summer strained to hear, but she couldn’t make out what Kyle said next.

  Kyle glanced over at Summer, barely making eye contact before looking away.

  Seconds later Patrick pointed his finger again. "Get out of here, now!" His voice echoed through the silent lobby as he stormed off into a side room. "Someone throw him out of here! Now!" Patrick bellowed from the other room.

  No one in the lobby moved. Not even Kyle. He stood frozen as all eyes remained fixed on him.

  Kyle glanced over at Summer and held her stare. Then the color began to drain from his face and he lowered his chin. After a few seconds, he lifted his eyes again and pointed toward the front door.

  Summer nodded to him and he rushed out the front door.

  A low murmur began to fill the room again as the crowd returned to their own conversations.

  Okay. Summer took a deep breath. That’s over. Now she needed to wrap up her interview with John. Quickly.

  John’s blank stare confirmed the argument rattled him, too. Summer ignored the awkwardness and asked John a few final questions.

  Able to catch most of what John said, she jotted the words in her notebook. But some of his comments didn’t fully register as Patrick’s words continued to echo in her mind.

  He had verbalized all of the suspicions Summer had been having about Kyle for weeks.

  But did Kyle’s large donation change everything?

  Did it prove his selfless, generous nature?

  Or did it hint at his guilt over using Faith as part of his Hollywood comeback? A small price to pay to ease his conscience?

  A stabbing pain gripped Summer’s stomach. Did Kyle make sure I found out about the donation so I would include it in the article? Was he only trying to garner more publicity for himself?

  ***

  As Kyle waited for Summer outside the funeral home, the March wind stung his cheeks. But the look on Summer’s face as Patrick chastised him hurt even more. It meant she believed Patrick’s accusations. She thought the worst of him. Of course. What else would she think?

  He’d never use Faith for publicity, but he hadn’t told Summer the real reason for his hospital visit either.

  He couldn’t. Not now.

  Not with Wreckless about to open in a matter of days.

  Not with everything he hoped for the past twelve years on the line.

  If he told Summer the truth and she revealed it publicly, he’d lose any chance for a comeback in Hollywood.

  But by not telling her, am I jeopardizing this second chance with Summer?

  He had waited so long for that, too.

  CHAPTER 5

  Summer stood in front of her closet. Kyle would be arriving any minute and she still wasn’t dressed. Jeans and a sweater should be easy to pick out.

  She reached in and took the first pair of dark blue jeans folded on a shelf above her head and then she grabbed a cream-colored sweater nearly falling off the hanger. She picked up one of her brown leather boots and stretched it over her calf. I never should have agreed to go on this date.

  Dating Kyle bordered on a conflict of interest. Not even bordered. She was much closer to him than any other source or subject of an article in her ten years as a journalist.

  Even though they weren’t dating when she interviewed him for the articles, she never told Drew they dated back in high school, and she should have.

  And she still had to write another article about Kyle when Wreckless opened in a few weeks. She’d have to interview him again.

  So she shouldn’t be dating him.

  But she didn’t want to cancel the date either. She couldn’t walk away from Kyle.

  Not yet.

  She put on a pair of gold hoop earrings and sprinted to the bathroom mirror to check her makeup. She ignored the bags and crow’s feet around her eyes. There was no time to cover them up anyway.

  She checked her hair as a knock on the front door echoed through the house.

  ***

  The club manager greeted Kyle at the door. Kyle weaved between the tables and Summer followed close behind him as the manager led them to a table reserved near the front of the stage.

  A bubbly waitress in her twenties approached the small round table. Her eyes lit up when she glimpsed Kyle. Then she lowered her eyes and asked for their drink order.

  As the waitress scurried away, Summer leaned closer to Kyle. "Have you ever been to this club before?"

  Kyle struggled to hear Summer over the murmur in the room. He leaned in and talked directly in her ear. "I came here in January. With some cast members from Streetcar." Before he could continue, Tyler and the rest of the band barreled onto the stage and began to play.

  Forty-five minutes later, after "Lyin’ Eyes," Tyler announced a fifteen-minute break and the band rushed from the stage.

  Kyle stood and extended his hand to Summer. "Do you want to go outside to get some air?"

  "Sure." Summer grasped his hand and got up from the table.

  Kyle rested his hand on the small of Summer’s back and led her toward the exit. They passed a small group of smokers that formed outside the front door of the club. Kyle brushed his palm against Summer’s arm and guided her away from the cloud of smoke. Then he tucked his hands into the front pockets of his jeans as they stepped away from the smokers. "So what do you think of the band?"

  Summer followed next to him on the sidewalk. "They’re really good. I didn’t know Tyler was in an Eagles cover band. I guess I should have suspected from the name, The Sea Gulls."

  Kyle laughed as he nodded to another couple passing by. "Tyler mentioned it when we talked last night at the memorial service."

  "Kyle, I wanted—"

  "All the time we performed in Streetcar, Tyler never mentioned anything about the band," Kyle interrupted. He stopped walking midway down the block.

  Summer stood motionless, too.

  Kyle glanced back at the front entrance where bright lights illuminated the group of smokers outside the entrance of the club. Then he turned back toward Summer and gazed into her eyes. The dim light in their area of the sidewalk cast a shadow across her face. As he ran his fingers through his hair, his hand trembled a bit. "Tyler didn’t seem the musician type in high school. But I lost touch with most of the people we went to high school with when I moved to LA, including Tyler. So I don’t really know what he’s been doing in the past fifteen years."

  Summer leaned back against the brick building.

  Kyle’s heart raced and he began rambling about a harmless prank he and Tyler pulled on some fellow classmates back in high school when they hid some of the props being used in their production of Our Town.

  Then Summer peered up at him and he stopped talking. He watched the soft light dance across her face, highlighting her high cheekbones. Stop stalling, he scolded himself. Tell her. Now. Tell her everything.

  He leaned over her and put his left hand against the building and rested his right hand on her shoulder. The warmth in her blue eyes radiated. And it reassured him. He leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. Then she kissed him back and he kissed her again, longer this time.

  Assured of the connection between them, he was ready to te
ll her everything.

  Finally.

  "Hey, Kyle." Tyler sprang up behind them. "What did you think of the first set?" Tyler bounced on his heels as he talked.

  Kyle took a step back from Summer. "You guys were great," Kyle answered, unable to look away from Summer’s crystal blue eyes.

  Tyler wrapped his arm around Summer’s shoulder. "I’m so glad you both could make it. We really should hang out more." Tyler squeezed Summer’s shoulder. "Say, some of us will be grabbing a drink later. Can you join us?"

  Kyle searched for a cue from Summer. "Oh...I..."

  Summer nodded.

  "Sure," Kyle answered. "That’d be great."

  Tyler took a few steps back, toward the club entrance. "Well, I have to get back inside..." He peddled backward. "But I just wanted to find you to say hello, and thank you for coming. I’ll catch up with you after the show." Tyler waved and spun around. Then he jogged toward the club entrance.

  Summer looked up at Kyle. "Should we get back inside, too?" she whispered.

  Kyle tucked his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "Maybe we could go for a walk for a few minutes. Would you mind if we didn’t go back in right away?"

  Summer continued walking. "Let’s go this way." She pointed to the next corner.

  Kyle shuffled down the block next to Summer in silence, trying to brace himself before he revealed his secret to her.

  "So what happened with Patrick last night?" Summer turned toward him. "How did the argument start?"

  He hoped to avoid the subject that night. But as much as he didn’t want to answer, Summer deserved to know. "I don’t think the Sheridans were too happy I attended the memorial service." Kyle glanced over at her.

  "Patrick seemed a little annoyed with you at the benefit for Faith last month, too." Summer’s mouth twisted.

  "Yeah." Kyle tucked his head to his chest. "I didn’t understand it then, but now I see how Patrick would misinterpret my intentions. He probably thought I was exploiting his daughter."

  Summer gripped Kyle’s elbow. "I didn’t expect Patrick to talk to you about it in such a public way."

  "I didn’t expect that either. I think, if they knew..." Kyle stopped walking and gazed into Summer’s eyes.

  "Knew what?" Her eyes narrowed.

  He needed to tell her. "If they knew —." He took a deep breath. Can I trust her not to reveal my secret? "My friendship with Faith had absolutely nothing to do with my career." Yes. Yes. I know I can trust her. "I didn’t single her out. I’ve visited other patients, in other hospitals. I’ve been doing that for years."

  "But —"

  "I would never use Faith, or anyone, to get publicity for my career," Kyle protested.

  Summer’s raised eyebrow warned Kyle not to stall any longer. He had kept this secret and resisted close relationships long enough, always afraid the truth would get out. That had to end now. He bowed his head.

  "So why have you visited so many people with Hodgkin’s?!?"

  Kyle’s head snapped up at the sharp sound.

  Summer glared back at him.

  He had never seen her so angry. He needed to make her understand. "I haven’t been honest with you —"

  "You weren’t honest with me?!" Summer shouted. "I always knew you were not telling me the truth about any of it!"

  "Let me explain, Summer. Please." He looked at her face, searching for her comforting blue eyes. "There’s a reason I visit people with Hodgkin’s. Twelve years ago —" But her eyes showed little comfort.

  He turned away from her, knowing she thought the worst of him. How can I tell her the truth now? How can I trust her?

  Kyle stepped forward. "My cousin...I was very close with him growing up in Wyoming...." He paused. "He...he died from Hodgkin’s."

  Summer held his arm. "I’m so sorry, Kyle," she whispered.

  "I’ve been visiting patients with Hodgkin’s for years," he confessed. "But people like Patrick Sheridan perceive my visits so differently now, with my acting career starting to rebound."

  "Let me write an article about your cousin." Summer continued to clutch his arm. "Let me explain this to everyone. What’s your cousin’s name?"

  "No, you can’t!" He yanked his arm away.

  Summer grabbed his shoulder. "The Sheridans and everyone in Spring Valley need to know the truth. They need to understand your friendship with Faith was genuine. They need to know you weren’t using her."

  Kyle took a step forward to free his shoulder from Summer’s grip. "No!" He felt Summer’s hand press across his back. But he couldn’t turn and face her. Not after what he had just done.

  "Kyle, don’t you think it would help to tell people the truth, to tell them about your cousin? What was his name?"

  Kyle’s heart sank. "You can never tell anyone about my cousin." He swallowed hard and swung around. "Summer, you have to promise me you won’t ever write an article about this."

  "Okay," Summer promised. "But won’t you tell me your cousin’s name? I’d like to know more about him."

  Silence hung in the air as the seconds ticked by. Unable to bear the silence any longer, Kyle whispered: "His name was...Justin... My cousin’s name was Justin."

  "When — if — you want to talk about him," Summer’s voice broke. "I’d like to hear more about Justin."

  "I appreciate that, really, Summer." Kyle gasped for air. "So...I guess we should go back inside now. We don’t want Tyler to think we ditched him." He grabbed Summer’s hand and intertwined his fingers in hers.

  His heart pounded as they approached the club entrance.

  They returned to their table in front of the stage as The Sea Gulls neared the end of "Heartache Tonight." Kyle let go of Summer’s hand and closed his eyes.

  Why didn’t I tell her the truth?

  ***

  Summer reread the draft of her article about the mayor’s anti-obesity campaign again. But the words remained nothing but a jumbled mess on her computer screen.

  She piled the papers scattered across her desk. She couldn’t continue the charade. Even with Drew a few feet away in his office waiting for the article, she couldn’t concentrate on anything. Not with images of her date with Kyle over the weekend still occupying her mind.

  When Kyle kissed her, she couldn’t deny her feelings any longer. But she still needed to address her lingering concerns. Then after Kyle told her about Justin, all of the doubts vanished. And on the car ride back to her house, he asked her to attend the premiere of Wreckless with him in LA the first Friday in April.

  They agreed to make a long-distance relationship work this time.

  "Oh no!" Summer shrieked. How did I not think about this earlier? A pain shot through her stomach as she flung open the bottom drawer of her desk. She rifled through the folders, moving articles aside to get to the ones she wrote about Kyle.

  She found the first article about Faith and yanked it out of the folder:

  23-Year-Old Faith Sheridan Battling Hodgkin’s:

  Receives Surprise Visit From Spring Valley Resident,

  Actor Kyle Mills

  By Summer Madison

  SPRING VALLEY OBSERVER Staff Writer

  SPRING VALLEY — Last Friday evening, a time when many of her friends were out celebrating the end of the workweek at a local pub, Faith Sheridan, 23, was receiving chemotherapy treatments at Grace Hospital in Spring Valley.

  Eleven months earlier, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of cancer of the immune system.

  It has been a long, difficult road to recovery, especially during those first few weeks of chemotherapy treatments, she said.

  "I was exhausted every morning," Sheridan said.

  Expected to make a full recovery, Sheridan is now determined to use her experience to raise awareness about Hodgkin’s.

  "Symptoms can seem minor,
" she said. "I was tired all the time, and I often had night sweats and swollen lymph nodes, but I was never concerned. I just thought I had the flu."

  Like most young adults, who are at greatest risk for the disease, Sheridan ignored the early warning signs, said Dr. Harold Cohen, who was recently named head of the oncology department at Grace Hospital.

  "Early detection is key. We didn’t catch things with Faith as early as we would have liked," Cohen said. "But there have been many advances in treating Hodgkin’s lymphoma and her prognosis is good. She’s responded well to treatment."

  Sheridan is an environmental activist. With her final treatment scheduled this week, she will begin a full-time job with the Spring Valley Environmental Group on January 28.

  "I’m looking forward to starting my career," Sheridan said. "And I’m excited about the future. When I first got the diagnosis, I couldn’t say that. But now I’m optimistic."

  While being treated for an infection in her chemo port at Grace Hospital last week, Sheridan received a surprise visit from actor Kyle Mills, most famous for his roles over a decade ago in the teen films Heartbreakers and Young Love.

  "I was shocked to see him walk into the hospital room," Sheridan said.

  Mills, 33, grew up in Wyoming, moved to Spring Valley his senior year in high school and then went to Los Angeles soon after at age 18. He has been in the Spring Valley area in recent months, performing in a revival of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire at the Spring Valley Performing Arts Center.

  "I hope my visit cheered her up a bit," Mills said. "I really can’t imagine what she’s going through, and at such a young age."

  Summer placed the article on her desk.

  The last line fudged the truth a bit and she wished Kyle hadn’t said it. He did know what Faith went through because he watched his cousin suffer in a similar way.

  But such a minor point didn’t need to be brought to Drew’s attention. There was no need for the paper to issue a correction. Not for something like that.

  She flipped through the rest of the articles in the folders and found the "Where Is He Now?" piece about Kyle. When she finished reading it, she breathed a sigh of relief.