“No, they were meant to be here over the break. They were going to shoot internal scenes in some of the classrooms.”
“Ooh, exciting!” Tanya giggled, wishing she could land such a lucrative film role for herself.
Finally Amy spotted a janitor she knew conducting routine building checks so she went over to ask where the film crew were.
“They packed up and left yesterday,” Andrew Whitmore explained in his slow southern drawl.
“They did?” Amy asked, unable to conceal her disappointment.
“Yep.” Andrew confirmed.
“Are they coming back at all?” Tanya queried.
“Nope. We were told they’d finished up here now and wouldn’t be back so we are just going round mending any damage they left. There isn’t much though, don’t worry.”
Walking away from Andrew, Amy sagged against her sister, the weight of her disappointment becoming too much for her.
“I can’t believe they’ve left,” she whispered, on the verge of tears.
“I’m sure there’s an explanation,” Tanya said, forcing herself to sound positive. “Like I said, maybe he can’t contact you.”
“It’s a big maybe.”
“But it’s still a legitimate one.”
“So what now?” Amy said, feeling tired from it all.
“The plan stays the same. We find him and confront him,” Tanya explained.
“But how do we find him?”
“This might actually surprise you sis, but I have contacts in the film industry. Josh Roberts won’t be difficult to find, trust me.”
“Okay.”
“And whatever happens, I’m here for you.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that,” Amy gave her sister a quick hug.
“Just remember that Josh Roberts or not, he’s still just a guy, and no guy is worth breaking your heart over.”
“You’re right,” Amy agreed, but she didn’t think she was right. She knew Josh Roberts was more than just a guy, he was the guy, and most definitely worth breaking your heart over.
Chapter 12
More days passed and still Amy heard nothing from Josh and she began to despair. Each evening she sat at her computer, tracking his movements but there was barely anything happening for the media to report.
Wherever he was, it seemed he didn’t want Amy to find him. She didn’t want to give up on them, on what they had, but she also felt foolish to keep holding on if he’d been able to let go so easily.
“I’m sure you’ll hear from him,” Tanya promised over tea that evening, though she didn’t sound as sure as she once had.
“Then why haven’t I?” Amy moaned. “I mean, the guy is a multi-millionaire, if he’s lost his phone it’s not as if he can’t afford to buy another!”
To make matters worse Amy was spending a large majority of her free time fending off the various calls from reporters, eager for her to talk about her relationship with Josh.
“If you don’t hear anything you could always sell your story,” Tanya suggested.
“I’d never do that,” Amy said, shaking her head.
“I reckon you’d make a decent amount of money.”
“But it would cheapen what we had, and nothing is worth that,” Amy sighed.
“Okay, but I’d take the money,” Tanya said as delved a fork into her pasta.
****
The press refused to stop calling and Amy couldn’t stop thinking about Josh. He was constantly on her mind and it was driving her crazy. Each time her phone rang she hoped against hope it was him but was always disappointed.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Amy Prince?” came a forced friendly voice at the end of the line and Amy instinctively knew it was a reporter.
“Leave me alone,” Amy told them, feeling hostile.
“Miss Prince, we just want to hear your side of the story,” the reporter said, sounding genuinely concerned.
“They could be actors themselves,” Amy thought bitterly.
“How does it feel to have loved and lost Josh Roberts? All of our readers are dying to know?”
Amy slammed down the phone. Now even the media believed she had lost him, so surely it must be true.
She was beginning to despair, spending yet another afternoon on the couch in her sweatpants and a vest top, eating Lucky Charms from the box. Thanks to Josh she now had a copious supply of the cereal that she wasn’t even that fond of. At first she’d cried a lot, now she just felt numb. And overriding that, she felt stupid.
Amy was starting to lose hope when Tanya called and she sounded serious.
“Aimes?”
“Yeah?”
“Remember I said I had contacts and I could find Josh?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, I found where he’s staying. He’s at a ranch on the outskirts of town,” Tanya explained hesitantly, not sure whether her sister was strong enough emotionally to receive the news.
“Why would he be there?” Amy asked aloud.
“No idea. But apparently he’s only there for a few more days,” Tanya added.
“So what now?” Amy asked, not really sure what she was supposed to do with the information.
“Do you want to go and confront him?”
“Do you think I should?” Amy didn’t think she had the energy to confront Josh. She felt tired and weak from all her worrying and fretting.
“I think you owe it to yourself to know what’s going on with him.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Amy found herself nodding at her sister’s wisdom.
“So we’re going?”
“Yes,” Amy said, sounding more confident now, “we’re going.”
****
When Tanya had described the ranch as being on the outskirts of town she hadn’t been joking. The sisters had been driving for almost three hours and were still quite a way off from reaching their destination.
“Where the hell is this ranch?” Amy asked, staring ahead and seeing nothing but endless desert.
“The sat-nav says it’s about another thirty minutes away.” Tanya said as she glanced at the electronic device precariously placed on her dashboard.
“We are basically in the middle of nowhere,” Amy moaned, fanning herself with a map. “Lord help us if we break down!”
“Don’t jinx us!” Tanya scolded. “Two sisters stranded out in the California desert, it’d be a like horror movie waiting to happen!”
“And Josh could be the star!” Amy joked, and they both laughed at this, easing some of the tension they felt as they drew closer to their destination.
****
“It is so fricking hot!” Caroline Demure moaned emphatically as her assistant tried to fan her harder as she sat on the lounger.
“It’s not that bad,” Josh told her, his tone annoyed.
“Yes it is. I’m practically melting out here! And it’s all your fault we are here! If you hadn’t created that stupid media frenzy around that teacher we wouldn’t be here in hiding!”
“Can we drop it?” Josh asked tersely.
“I just hope you’ve learned your lesson,” Caroline said cruelly. “Getting mixed up with nobodies never pays off.”
She turned and tilted her face towards the burning sunshine; bearing it only for the golden glow it would give her skin.
“More air, faster!” she snapped at her assistant who was also dying of the heat.
****
“I think that’s it!” Tanya said excitedly as a large wooden building appeared on the horizon ahead of them.
“Is it like a farm?” Amy asked, squinting at the building.
“Maybe.”
Amy suddenly felt incredibly nervous, and sick, at the thought of seeing Josh. She still had no idea what she’d say to him. There was also no guarantee he’d even be there and then they’d have wasted all those hours driving for no reason.
“Are you sure he’s even there?” Amy asked for about the hundredth time.
“I told you, my guy
is really reliable. He said Josh is staying here.”
“But he might have left.”
“And he might not have. You won’t know until you go and check it out.”
“I suppose.”
Outside it was unbearably hot even though it was now late afternoon. Tanya stopped the car just beyond the ranch and they got out, the sand crunching beneath their feet as they did so.
“It’s baking out here,” Amy noted, glad she’d brought her hat and sunglasses with her.
“Too hot,” Tanya agreed, gratefully swigging some of the water they’d brought with them.
“I’m not sure about this,” Amy hesitated at the edge of the driveway, not sure if she had the strength to walk up it.
“It will be fine. And I’m here, remember?”
“I know but…I don’t know if I could take it if he shuts me down to my face,” Amy admitted sadly.
“If he does then he’ll have me to answer to!” Tanya told her, feeling protective of her sister.
“Thanks.”
“Come on, let’s go. Sooner you have closure, sooner I can get home and have a nice cold shower.”
The girls began walking up the driveway. They spotted six or seven vehicles parked around, all expensive models, dirtied by the dust of the desert.
“There’s definitely a movie star here,” Tanya confirmed as they clocked the cars. “I can almost smell the money,” she added to lighten the mood.
The ranch itself was a rickety wooden building which was impressive in scale. Up close they could really take in just how big it was. Beyond the building were fenced-off farmlands where cattle roamed around freely.
“So it is a farm,” Amy concluded. “Did your contact know who owns the place?”
“Nope, just where it is and who’s staying at it.”
Nervously the girls ventured closer to the building. They felt more like trespassers than intrepid explorers, each of them terrified of being caught and shooed off.
“I don’t think we should even be here,” Amy said at length, stopping and trying to turn around but Tanya was already right behind her, pushing her on, not letting her stop.
“We’ve not come this far just to turn around now,” she told her firmly.
“Okay, okay.”
Amy conceded and continued to walk towards the building. She turned a corner and suddenly her heart stopped dead in her chest, as though it had suddenly been stabbed.
Tanya sensed her freeze and looked around to see what had evoked such a reaction and her eyes widened in horror.
With her back against the wall was the unmistakeable figure of Caroline Demure, and pressed up against her, kissing her face off was Josh Roberts.
For a moment the two sisters stood watching in horrified silence but then turned to move, kicking up dust and making a noise. Josh and Caroline broke free of one another to see what the commotion was.
From her angle behind Amy, Tanya saw the shock in Josh’s eyes as he registered that Amy was there. But Amy wouldn’t be there much longer. She was already storming back to the car at a fervent pace, not caring about the intense heat.
She was basically running, kicking up clouds of sand and dust as she ran, and Josh was now chasing after her, screaming out her name at the top of his lungs.
“Amy! Stop! Please! Let me explain!”
Either Amy couldn’t hear him or she was choosing to ignore him because she didn’t stop. She continued to storm towards the car.
Tanya looked over at Caroline and saw a wicked, satisfied grin upon her face.
“You’re a bitch.” Tanya told her matter-of-factly before turning to join her sister.
Amy kept heading towards the car, determined to create as much distance between her and the ranch as possible. But once she reached the car she was forced to grind to a halt as the vehicle was locked and Tanya had the keys.
Josh had now caught up with her, his face flush from the exertion in the unbearable heat.
“Amy,” he panted her name as he slowed to a stop.
Amy braced herself. She knew she was about to hear what Josh had to say, the reasons she was so desperate to hear but she didn’t know if she was actually ready for her heart to broken.
Chapter 13
“Amy! Wait!” Josh yelled, running after her and stirring up clouds of the fine desert dust as he stormed along.
At the locked car Amy finally stopped her retreat and turned to face him, doing her best to hold in the tears which threatened to erupt at any moment.
“Amy, let me explain!” Josh gasped breathlessly as he reached her.
“No need!” Amy told him stubbornly, looking over his shoulder to see where Tanya was with the car keys as she was desperate to leave.
She just wanted to get in the car and drive away from the ranch, away from Josh Roberts, away from this whole sordid mess.
“Please!” Josh reached out and grabbed Amy by the shoulders, holding her in place.
“I’ve not heard from you in days!” Amy shouted at him, unable to contain her mounting anger anymore.
“Days! Have you any idea how that’s made me feel?”
“I’m sorry-” Josh began but Amy cut him off.
“I’m an idiot to have ever believed that you’d treat me differently from any of the other skanks you’ve been involved with!”
“Amy-”
“I am humiliated!” the tears started to fall down Amy’s cheeks as she spoke. “I drove all the way out here to see you…to confront you…I don’t know. And all I find is you kissing your ex-girlfriend.”
Amy almost choked on the last few words as she delivered them.
“I’m filming a scene!” Josh cried out, relieved to have finally got a chance to speak.
“Of course you were!” Amy spat angrily. “Then where are all the cameras?”
“Above us on the roof,” Josh gestured back to the ranch but the roof was now clear. If anyone had been up there, they had since gone, which didn’t add credibility to his story.
“They were shooting an aerial scene,” he explained. “The whole reason I’m out here in the middle of nowhere is because we are filming.”
Amy wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe that he was really out there filming, that there was nothing going on between him and Caroline.
But there was no one on the roof. Not even any filming equipment left behind. And she had read the stories; the Josh Roberts of the media was a complete and utter womanizer. She should have known what to expect from him.
“I don’t believe you,” she told him, her voice small and sad.
“Amy, please, I’m telling you the truth!”
Turning away from him, Amy lowered her head so that she was gazing at the sand beneath her feet. Focusing on each little grain to try and stop herself from crying anymore. Each second she remained there she felt her heart fracture a little bit more and soon it would completely break and she didn’t want Josh to witness that.
“She’s your ex-girlfriend.”
“Exactly, my ex!” Josh said fiercely. “There is no way I’d kiss her again unless I was being paid to do it!”
“Josh-”
“Amy, I swear to you that we were filming a scene,” it was Josh’s turn to interrupt. “I would never, ever cheat on you, you must know that.”
He reached out and grabbed her face, cupping it in his hands and raising it up so that she was now looking directly into his eyes.
She saw the desperation in his expression; the stress and the worry. But she had seen it all before. John wore the same mask when all his dirty secrets eventually rose to the surface. She refused to be a victim again.
“I don’t believe you,” she told him firmly.
“I’m out here filming!” Josh declared again, doing his best to make Amy believe him. “This is what I do. I’m an actor! I’m sorry I didn’t call, I know it makes me look like a complete asshole but I have no signal here and I’ve been stuck out here filming closing scenes for the past few days!”
It all sounded feasible enough, but Amy wouldn’t let herself believe it.
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