Famous by Association

by Leddy Harper

  “Yeah, no. I totally understand. “I’m just grateful that you didn’t hang up as soon as you found out it was me on the other end of the line.”

  “Nah. Just because I’m pissed at the situation doesn’t mean I completely blame you. I’m disappointed in the way you handled things, but I think, all things considered, I completely understand why you reacted the way you did.”

  Dave basically admitted that they both knew about my past.

  Not like I hadn’t expected it. I’d just hoped that they didn’t.

  “Well, thanks, Dave. I really appreciate it.”

  I should’ve felt better after that call, but I felt worse.

  And by the following morning, I was determined to make things right.

  I stood in front of my worst fears and nightmares come true—the press.

  I’d let it slip to a few media outlets that I was ready to speak out about the rumors. Within an hour, there were six different tabloid reporters in front of Tiffany’s house. This was the last thing I ever expected to do, but this wasn’t for me. This was for Tasha. And if it meant righting the wrongs that were done to her, then I would do it without complaint.

  “Thank you all for coming,” I announced to the small gathering of people with cameras, cell phones, and handheld recorders. “These past couple of weeks have been some of the worst in my life, but I’m honestly thankful for what they have taught me. You see, I have been in a romantic—and sexual—relationship with Tiffany Lewis behind her fiancé’s back. I foolishly fell for her words and promises of being together in the future. Every time I tried to end things, she’d convince me to give her more time to break things off with Adam. And I believed her. I believed her because I loved her.”

  That earned a few soft gasps.

  I fought off the need to smile and doubled down on the pain and anguish of a man who’d had his heart ripped to shreds by the love of his life. “But now I know the truth. Tiffany never planned to leave Adam for me. She told me so after the word got out about us. She laughed at me for thinking she would give up his money for a simple gardener like myself.”

  Jessa, who stood in the background, immediately began to shake her head and mouth, “too far.” She was the one who had helped me devise this genius plan. Now, as I carried it out, she was there to ensure I had delivered a believable performance.

  I took a deep breath to rein it back in a little before carrying on. “During this exchange, I also learned that I wasn’t the only one. She had cheated on Adam before me, and while with me, she had cheated on us both with other men. So while these last two weeks have been painful and humiliating, they’ve also been very eye-opening.”

  “Do you have anything to say to Adam?” one lady called out.

  “Anything I have to say to him, I would prefer to say it to his face in private. He’s the true victim in this, and I refuse to make things worse for him.”

  Another shouted, “Do you think Tiffany feels bad at all for any of this?”

  “That’s something you’d have to ask her, but I’d suggest you take her answer with a grain of salt. After our last exchange, I honestly don’t think Tiffany Lewis is capable of feeling guilty for anything that she does. So if I had to guess, I’d say no. She only seems to care about herself and the people she can benefit from.”

  “What are you going to do now? You live next door to her. Do you plan to move?”

  I shrugged while coming up with something that wouldn’t be too over the top. “Well, after all the drama that she’s brought to the area, I would hope that she’d be the one to move. But from what I understand, the house is in Adam King’s name, so I guess it all depends on how he handles things.”

  They asked a few more minor questions and then left.

  “One down, one to go,” Jessa said as we walked back to the house.

  Just thinking about it turned my stomach into knots all over again.

  “Yup, and it’s the most important one of all.”

  21

  Tasha

  I’d been on the phone with my mom for the last twenty minutes, so when Dave beeped through, I couldn’t have been more thankful. There was only so much one person could endure, and considering everything my sister had put me through my entire life, I think I’d passed that point many moons ago.

  “Listen, Mom…as much as I would love to continue listening to how rough Tiff has it right now with everything going on, I really do have to go. Dave is on the other line, and I have to answer it. It could be important.”

  “It could be?” She’d spent the entire call telling me how I just don’t understand my sister and should really give her the benefit of the doubt more, yet I tell her that the call beeping through might be important, and she’s somehow offended. Go figure.

  I balled my free hand into a tight fist. The strength it took to keep a lid on my feelings left my knuckles white. “It is important, Mom. It’s my roommate; I need to take this call. It’s been great talking to you. I’ll hear from you soon.”

  Without giving her an inch of wiggle room, I said my goodbye and hung up. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to switch over fast enough, so I had to call Dave back. At this point, even if he didn’t answer the phone, at least he saved me from enduring much more of my mother’s delusional view of Tiff.

  “Hey,” I said after he picked up. “Sorry about that. Apparently, Tiff called my mom, crying to her about how I ruined her life. So I was on the other line getting a lecture about how Tiff is my only sibling, and that I really should put her first. Then she went into that whole blood is thicker than water speech.”

  “Your mother seriously called you up to defend your sister? Does she know what really happened?” Dave had been there to witness this type of behavior from my mom before, so I didn’t know why he seemed so surprised by it now.

  “She knows Tiff’s version, which—as we both know—is a bit skewed.”

  He snapped several times, as if indicating that a thought had just hit him. “Let me guess…she told your mom that you kidnapped her, beat her up, and trapped her in an abandoned warehouse, all so you could take over her life. How close am I?”

  “Actually, you’re not that far off. She told her the truth about getting plastic surgery, but she said the healing process was longer than she expected. Of course, she left out the part that it’s taking her longer to heal because her doctor learned how to perform facelifts from YouTube. Anyway, she admits to asking me to fill in for her, but everything else was a total exaggeration. So my mom’s under the impression that I did all of that just to ruin Tiff’s image, her career, and her relationship.”

  “Did you at least correct her?”

  “What’s the point? She never listens to me anyway. No matter what I say, she always dismisses it because it goes against what the chosen one told her. I mean, I denied it, but that’s as far as it got. It’s not like she gave me much talking time in the conversation to set her straight, so I didn’t even bother.”

  “Why would you want to ruin her life?”

  “Right?” It was amazing to know that I had someone in my corner that just got me. “I have nothing to gain from that, but I guess Tiff has convinced her over the years that I’m jealous of everything she has.”

  “That’s ridiculous. She doesn’t have a damn thing that you want.”

  I didn’t care if someone accused me of being jealous—of anyone. I was confident enough in myself to know that I wasn’t, and anyone who would say such a thing about me clearly didn’t know me at all. I’d heard it most of my life, thanks to my sister, so it wasn’t new. The reason it bothered me when my mom said it, though, was because we were both her daughters, yet she’d always picked sides, and it was never mine.

  “Anyway, Tosh…as much as I want to hear all about your talk with your mom, I called for a very specific reason.” Giddiness ran through his voice like a little kid on Christmas morning. “I need you to come down to the center right now.”

  “Why?”

 
“You’ll find out when you get here. But you need to come now.” Dave wasn’t one to hold his own piss. The longest he’d ever kept a surprise from me was an hour, and I didn’t even have to pester him to make him spill the beans. So the fact that he wouldn’t tell me now made me a little curious.

  “I’m in sweats, a week-old T-shirt, and I think I have cereal in my hair.” None of that was true; I was only testing him. “So it’s going to take me a bit to get ready.”

  Any other day, that would’ve made him let the cat out of the bag. But not this time. “Whatever, Tosh. Just hurry. Look nice, but hurry.”

  I had applied for a job anywhere that was hiring. He knew how much I was looking forward to being involved with the center when we were talking about adding the gaming and arcade area, so maybe he’d managed to score me a job there.

  Excited about the prospect, I quickly jumped up and grabbed my keys. I made sure to be dressed and ready to go every day, just in case I got called for an interview. That way, I wouldn’t have to make them wait. Much like right now—they only had to wait the ten minutes it took me to make it to the youth center.

  “That was fast,” Dave said, greeting me in the parking lot.

  “Well, you said to hurry, so I hurried. Are you going to tell me now why you called me down here so fast? What’s so important that you couldn’t tell me over the phone?”

  His grin lit up his entire face. Taking my hand, he dragged me inside, through the door that led to the offices, down the hallway, and into what appeared to be a small conference room. There were a couple other men sitting around a large table—which took up most of the room—all looking as though they were waiting on something.

  There was no way this was all for a job.

  Dave pulled out an empty seat for me to take and then sat down in the chair next to me. Still, the room was silent. It was a bit eerie, if I were honest. However, the smile on Dave’s face remained, as did similar ones on the other men’s faces in the room.

  Then, it all made sense.

  Actually, that’s utter crap. That’s when things became even more confusing, because once we were all seated around the table, Adam King entered the room. Dressed in a tailored suit with a leather binder-looking thing under his arm, he moved to take a seat across from me. Excitement filled the room, yet I only assumed that it was because a famous athlete was in the building.

  “Before we begin, I would personally like to thank you, Adam, for making time in your busy schedule for this meeting.” Dave started it off using his professional voice—which was much smoother than his friendly voice.

  Adam nodded, silently greeting everyone at the table with a smile. “I’m just going to get straight to the point. I heard that you had plans to expand the youth center to add an area for an arcade room. Is that correct?” he asked, staring right at me.

  That certainly put me on the spot. For a second there, it almost sounded like I was in trouble for something. He looked very much like a lawyer right now, which didn’t make me feel any more comfortable. But I shook that off and cleared my throat to answer. “Yes, that was what I had wanted to do, but the funds fell through. So, we’ve had to abandon the plan.”

  “I did hear about the funding issue, and I am truly sorry for that.” His message was received loud and clear, even though he didn’t have anything to be sorry for. “And to help make it up to you, I’m making a donation to this youth center in your name. That way, you and your friend here, Dave, can get the ball rolling on this. I think it’s a fantastic idea, and I hate the thought of it not coming to fruition simply because of financial reasons.”

  “That’s incredible,” I whispered, unable to find my actual voice.

  “Yes, it truly is. We are all so thankful for your generosity.” The other men in the room spoke up, but I was too lost in my head to pay much attention to anything they said.

  Then Adam pulled out some papers from his leather folder. As he placed them on the table, I realized they were architectural sketches for a physical expansion to the building, which was way more than the original plan.

  I held up a hand to cut in on the communal praises long enough to speak before I lost my chance. “Hold on a second. When Dave and I had brought the idea up to the board, it was just to move some things around and use existing space for this. Adding onto the building was never part of it. That’s way more money than what we intended to pay.”

  “Listen, Tasha…I genuinely love your idea for this. I’m not making this donation because I feel sorry for you. I’m doing it because it’s important to me.” Adam stared at me the way he had that night at his house when I had learned what a great guy he was. “The youth center in my hometown saved me when I was a kid. And yes, I’m an athlete, so most people would assume that I went there to throw around a ball. But in all actuality, that’s not completely true. I could’ve done that at home—the reason for going to the center was to do something I couldn’t do at home. It was to get me around other kids and keep me off the streets.”

  “Then what did you go for?”

  “There was an elderly woman who lived near the center back home, and she came down every day after school to teach the kids art—all kinds. Yes, I played ball there. But I also learned valuable life skills that I never would’ve gotten anywhere else. And had Mrs. Mason not been there every day, I wouldn’t be the person I am right now.”

  It was an incredibly touching moment, but I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t speak up in the most inappropriate times. “What does that have to do with our idea for a video game area here?”

  At least he smiled, easing my worry that I might’ve offended him. “I just mean that there are lots of reasons for kids to come to a place like this. Most people assume it’s for the sports, but it’s not. Art gave me an outlet for when things got hard. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mario could do the same for someone else.”

  Well, once he explained it like that, it made sense.

  “If it were up to me, I’d expand this entire center to make room for all kinds of activities,” Adam continued. “But I think it’d be smart to focus on one thing at a time, and since you have already given this a lot of thought, I’d love to help you achieve it.”

  We all went through the preliminary concept for the addition, tossing out suggestions and possible issues. Actually, they did most of that while I just stared in awe. After finding out that I wouldn’t get any money from Tiffany, I had given up on all of this. I didn’t think it would ever be possible—it wasn’t like Dave or I would ever fall into a pit of money, and without that, our dream was unachievable.

  I’d blamed myself. Had I not agreed to it, I never would’ve gotten my hopes up for this expansion. I also never would’ve lost my job or put Dave in the financial position he was in after I came back. We were both depending on that money. But now, I was able to see that everything really did happen for a reason. Had I not pretended to be my sister, then I never would’ve met Adam, and if I’d never met Adam, then all this would’ve been nothing more than a pipedream.

  I also never would’ve met Jacoby, and had I never met him, I wouldn’t be completely heartbroken. So, I guess there were pros and cons to that. Hopefully, the reason for meeting and then losing Jacoby would show itself sooner rather than later, because I needed to make sense of the pain inside.

  After the meeting, Adam walked out with Dave and me. They chatted all the way out to the parking lot. Meanwhile, I followed behind, lost in thoughts of Jacoby. That’s what sucked the most—something would make me think of him, and then I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking of him. Before I knew it, my stomach would be a rocky sea of anxiety as I worried about how he was handling everything.

  “Thanks again, Adam. You have no idea how much this means to all of us, not just me.” Dave shook his hand, which managed to pull me out of my depressing thoughts long enough to giggle at the view.

  Adam was a big guy; most guys appeared small when standing next to him. But considering that Dave was an inch or so s
horter than me, the sight of him staring up at Adam was comical. And the second that Dave turned to glare at me, I knew that he wasn’t oblivious to what I found amusing.

  “I’m just happy to get this idea of yours moving.” Adam glanced between Dave and me with genuine gratitude in his eyes. “Both of you. You deserve to get this up and going, and the kids around here deserve the opportunity for more.”

  Someone opened the front door and called for Dave. He nodded at them and then finished telling us goodbye. A few seconds later, Adam and I were left alone next to my car—which was about seventy-seven levels below what he drove.

  “Listen, Tasha, I was hoping I’d get a chance to speak with you privately. I feel awful about what happened to you. As soon as I heard, I knew I had to do something to make it right. Not only did you have to put up with the cameras and the lying, but then you weren’t even compensated for it. That wasn’t right.”

  “I appreciate that, Adam. You really don’t know how much it means to all of us that you’re doing this with the center. Just that makes everything I went through completely worth it.”

  “You really don’t have to thank me for that, but I’m not only talking about the center. You lost everything. You put your life on pause so your sister didn’t have to, only to come back and find out that you no longer even have a job.”

  “Wow, Dave really told you everything, didn’t he?”

  He furrowed his brow in confusion. “Dave didn’t tell me any of this.”

  “Then how did you know about the youth center and my job?” I wasn’t dumb enough to think Tiffany had said anything about it.

  “Ty called me after you left.”