On The Way Down

by Fox, Ella

  How the worst day of my life had become one of the best was no mystery. Garrett Riordan declaring his intentions was the most amazing thing that had ever happened. To say I was overjoyed is an understatement of epic proportion.

  “You should’ve said something,” I murmured. “I’ve been scared that once production ended our friendship would fade away.”

  He gave me a dubious look. “There’s no way you truly believed that. Not deep down. I have plans for us—and for you. Getting it all to come together has been my primary focus for months.”

  I wasn’t sure I could be any more surprised. “Are you going to tell me what those plans are?”

  He sighed. “I absolutely am, but not tonight. The priority right now is having the doctor come in and check you over so that I can take you home. Alan is picking Goldie up when her flight lands, and he’ll bring her right to my house after. Let’s get through the next twenty-four hours. I promise, it’ll be worth the wait.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  July 1998

  By the time Goldie arrived at Garrett’s house, it was just before one in the morning. We’d talked for about half an hour before I started yawning, at which point she and Garrett demanded that I go to bed. Since I felt like I’d been awake for days, I didn’t argue. My body and mind were both exhausted and I’d been able to feel that I was shutting down. Garrett forced me to take his bed, even though I tried to argue. After I gave in, I’d said Goldie could sleep with me but he had her take the guest room instead. That left him on the big leather couch in the living room, but he insisted that was just fine. Too tired to fight, I’d changed into one of Garrett’s tee shirts, climbed into his bed, and passed out in short order.

  A few hours later, I was in that floaty place between dreams when I heard Goldie whisper, “You can’t literally keep eyes on her at all times. You need to try to get some sleep since you’ve got to be on set in two hours.”

  Garrett made a pfft sound. Even without the benefit of having my eyes open, I knew that he was on the bed with me. That meant the heat I was feeling beneath my cheek was his chest.

  “You don’t have much of a leg to stand on considering you wouldn’t know I’m awake if you weren’t in here checking on her because you’re worried.”

  Goldie snickered softly. “You’re not wrong, but the fact is, one of us needs to work tomorrow. That person is you. You need to sleep, Garrett.”

  Garrett’s sigh felt weighted. “I can’t. Every time I start to drift off, I hear her voice when she called and told me she needed help. What if the police didn’t get there in time? How much more would Jewel have hurt her? You see what was done to her face and her arms—and that’s only what’s on the outside. You know Shaelyn—her natural instinct is to conceal what happens to her. Her mother beat her so badly tonight that the cops had to get involved and imagining what that was like for her makes me sick. I should’ve found a way to get her out before this happened.”

  “This isn’t your fault—and it isn’t your uncle’s, either. He spent the entire drive from the airport apologizing for what he believes caused this and I told him what I’m about to tell you. I raised the monster that did this to her. If anyone is responsible for this, it’s me.”

  I felt Garrett shaking his head. “You’ve been the one consistent positive in Shaelyn’s life since the day she was born. If you heard the way she spoke of you—”

  “And that’s why it’s my fault,” she whisper-yelled. “I never should’ve allowed Jewel to go anywhere with her alone. Before they moved to California, I went to a lawyer to find out what I needed to do to get custody. He told me grandparent rights aren’t a thing, and after that, I felt I had no choice but to stand down. I should’ve gone with them. It’s not like I have any illusions about who my daughter is. I’ve always known she was a shitty mother. I was a fool not to realize that she’d get physical with Shaelyn.”

  I opened my eyes and looked across the bed to where Goldie was standing. “Stop it, both of you,” I ordered. “This was Jewel’s fault. Period. What happened tonight was terrible, but it. Is. Over. She’d take it as a win if she knew she was taking up space in all of our heads as we blame ourselves for her actions. I’m done thinking about her and I want you both to be done thinking about her, too. Garrett, close your eyes and go to sleep. And, Granny, you climb in here and snuggle up with me.”

  Goldie gasped dramatically and clutched at her chest. “I’m going to pretend you never called me that horrible name again, peanut breath.”

  I laughed drowsily and patted the mattress. “Shut up and get over here.”

  Possibly because she knew I was half-asleep, she didn’t argue. Instead, she came around the bed and climbed in beside me. At any other time, it would’ve been insane to go to sleep with Garrett on one side of me and my grandmother on the other, but right then I needed them both close to me. I was glad they were both there to provide comfort and security.

  * * *

  It was after nine when I woke up the next morning. Goldie was still curled up next to me, but Garrett had left four hours before. I’d woken up as he’d gotten up, and he’d smiled and told me to go back to sleep before he brushed a soft kiss against my forehead.

  I carefully worked my way off the bed and headed to the bathroom so I could assess the damage. The worst of the bruising on my face was on my left cheekbone and on my jaw. Other spots looked swollen but weren’t the same angry-looking black and blue. My left arm had a big bruise on it from where she’d grabbed onto me, and there were scratch marks all the way up to my elbow. I looked like shit, but I reminded myself that if she’d gotten that bedroom door open before the police got there, things would be a lot worse.

  I shuffled out to the kitchen and started a pot of dark roast. I was hoping a jolt of hot coffee would take care of the remaining tiredness I was feeling so I propped my hip on the counter and watched as it brewed. While I waited, there was a knock at the door. When I opened it and saw Harry on the other side with a large brown bag with the Moab Diner logo on it, I burst out laughing.

  “Please tell me Garrett didn’t make you fly all the way out here to take care of me today.”

  Harry snickered. “So you want me to lie to you?”

  I shook my head as he came inside and I closed the door behind him. “I feel bad since you’ve got stuff going on in LA and he knows how important that is to you. You should’ve told him to take a chill pill.”

  His nose scrunched in confusion as he walked into the kitchen and set the bag on the counter. “Huh?”

  “Whatever emergency came up that you couldn’t stay in Moab,” I answered. “I figured you got a little break when we went to Vegas but since you’ve never come back here, I assume you need to be in LA.”

  Harry went from looking confused to laughing like a goddamn lunatic in less than two seconds. He laughed so hard I half-wondered if he could breathe.

  “You. Are. Fucking. Adorable,” he howled. “Have you really believed that bullshit story all this time?”

  “I knew it!” Goldie crowed as she walked into the kitchen. Her voice was scratchy from sleep and her hair was all over the place, but she was laughing. “I suspected when I met you in Vegas but it didn’t come up in conversation so I wasn’t sure how to ask.”

  “Um, hello? Would either of you like to clue me in?”

  “Sure,” Harry chuckled as he took a seat at the kitchen island. “Bottom line, Garrett lied. He told me to stay put in LA and he did it so that he could hire you. He then suggested you to Alan in passing as a possible solution. When Alan took the bait, Garrett let him run with it so that it would seem like it was his idea.”

  “Shut. Up,” I whispered.

  “I was sure you’d have figured it out before now. Every time it came up when we were on the phone, I told you that I was busy and had to go. We talk about so much—didn’t you think it was weird I never told you what my so-called issue was?”

  I huffed out a breath. “Well geez, now that you say it tha
t way I feel like an idiot.”

  “I’m not saying you’re an idiot but I’m also not saying you’re the brightest bulb in the pack,” he deadpanned.

  “Oh stop,” Goldie laughed. “She didn’t see it because she was busy falling for him. Sometimes our hearts leave us blind to the obvious.”

  “Not blind,” I argued. “After all, Alan was the one who came to me with the job and when he did he straight-up said it was his idea.”

  “It was his idea,” Harry offered, “after Garrett planted the idea in his head and watered it a little.”

  Finding out that Garrett had wanted me with him from the very beginning was a gift I’d never expected to receive. I hardly knew what to say.

  * * *

  After a breakfast of pancakes and bacon from the Moab Diner, Goldie and I got ready while Harry waited for us in the living room. I was lucky that Goldie lent me a pair of shorts and a tank top because the alternative was wearing the clothes I’d worn the day before. I wanted to burn that entire day from my memory and wearing those clothes wouldn’t have helped.

  It wasn’t like I could forget the day, though. Especially when Harry loaded us into a silver SUV and headed for the townhome Jewel and I had lived in. “This is a quick in and out,” he said. “We’re going to pack your stuff, get the Jag, and get the hell out of Dodge. Garrett wanted me to pack for you but we were both worried that something would be left behind. No one wants you to cross paths with her so on the off chance she’s getting out today, we need to be quick.”

  I shuddered at the thought of dealing with Jewel but I was a realist. There was zero chance that I’d get through the rest of my life without interacting with her in some way. Her stay in jail would be temporary and if she stayed true to form, she’d turn to her mother with a sob story. Jewel burned bridges like it was her job, which meant the only person she would be able to contact to bail her out was Goldie. I figured there was an answering machine full of messages back in Vegas, and I further thought that my mother was probably raging out in her cell because Goldie wasn’t reachable. I knew that if Jewel found out that Goldie was with me she’d lose her mind. I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind, but they didn’t go away. At some point, she’d surface. She always did.

  The gathering of my things went quickly. It was easier than it might have been had I not already been ninety percent packed. All told, it took less than fifteen minutes to get all of my stuff out of the townhome. I knew I wouldn’t miss it so I didn’t bother looking back over my shoulder as we left. Once we got out to the parking area there was a debate about who would drive the Jag. I had the keys and had been driving it all summer, but Harry and Goldie insisted that I needed time to heal. I’d tried to argue but quickly surrendered because I could tell it was a fight I was going to lose and frankly I needed to conserve my energy since the worst part of the day was yet to come.

  From the townhouse, we went to the police station so that they could take my statement. After they were finished going over the previous night’s events they took photos of my injuries, which was horrifying because Goldie lost it. I’d never in my life seen her cry like that and I never wanted to again. I think it was too much for her, being at the station and having the police discuss things with us in such an official capacity. The officer in charge explained that Jewel would be held until her arraignment later that afternoon in drug court, at which time she would be charged with a third-degree felony for possession of cocaine. What would happen from there was anyone’s guess. I wish I could say that I hadn’t cared at all, but that would be a lie. Far more for Goldie’s sake than anything else, I wasn’t looking for Jewel to spend time in jail. It was out of my hands, though. She’d made her choices.

  Chapter Seventeen

  July 1998

  When shooting finished, Garrett made the shortest cameo in history at the wrap party before he left. Harry, Goldie, and I had gone back into town to have dinner at an adorable family-run Italian restaurant, and we got back to his house as he was getting out of his Jeep in the driveway. You could’ve knocked me over with a light breeze when he bounded out of the car, came straight to me, and pulled me into his arms.

  “How do you feel?” he asked.

  “Stuffed from dinner but otherwise I’m okay.”

  He pulled back, cupped my head, and looked me over. “Are you in any pain?”

  “I was stiff earlier,” I admitted, “but I’m absolutely fine now. You don’t need to worry.”

  The look he gave me spoke louder than words. He was going to worry no matter what I said.

  “We’re fine by the way, thanks for asking,” Harry called out as he and Goldie walked past us on their way into the house.

  Garrett snickered. “Don’t worry, cupcake. You were on my mind too, mostly because I’m hoping there’s chicken marsala for me in that bag you’re holding.”

  “You know I’d never let my main squeeze go hungry,” Harry joked.

  After Harry talked to Garrett for a few minutes to confirm that he’d be in charge of having the cars picked up after we left in the morning, he left to go to his hotel for the night. When Goldie excused herself to call the club, I sat with Garrett at the table while he ate the marsala. He dug in with abandon, his pleasure with the food evident.

  “I’m going to miss this when we’re back in LA.”

  “The food?” I asked.

  He nodded. “The food and everything else. It’s beautiful here, quiet. The people are friendly and no one seemed to care about me at all.”

  I gave him a look. “I saw a lot of teenage girls in town looking like they might explode from joy every time they saw you.”

  “They were polite, though,” he pointed out. “I’m almost never approached by LA natives but the tourists are brutal. Also, there are entire areas around town I avoid like the plague because of the paparazzi.”

  To someone who went out of her way to blend in, that sounded awful. “I guess whenever that happens all you can do is remind yourself that it’s all part of your plan.”

  “That’s pretty much the only thing I can do,” he chuckled.

  We sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes as he continued eating. When I saw that he was slowing down I asked, “How were you today? You got almost no sleep and had a full day of shooting. You must be exhausted.”

  “I’m definitely running on adrenaline and have been all day. It’s fine though—I’m officially off for the rest of the summer now. I can catch up on my sleep once we get back to LA.”

  The word we piqued my interest but I was anxious to ask, just in case what I wanted wasn’t anywhere near what the reality would be. “I almost forgot—how was the wrap party?” I asked instead.

  He shrugged as he finished chewing the bite he’d taken. “It wasn’t a great time. Alan is beside himself, I’m exhausted, Nolan was upset that you weren’t there, and gossip about Jewel spread through the set like wildfire today. This was a great shoot and the people who worked on it deserve more than a half-hearted send-off. Alan and I are going to send everyone who worked on the film special gift bags to really show them how much we appreciated all that they did.”

  The mention of Alan brought up the question I’d been holding in since the night before. “Can I ask… do you know why he broke up with her? Don’t get me wrong—I’m glad he did. Relieved, even. Alan is a good man and he deserves better. I’m just wondering what changed. She seemed to have him under her spell.”

  Garrett cringed as he set his fork and knife down. “Of course you can ask, baby. Never be afraid to say anything to me. No matter what you’re thinking, I want to know.”

  I smiled softly, my happiness at his declaration almost too much to wrap my mind around.

  “The last time he took her to Park City, she stole a three-thousand-dollar Rolex that my parents gave him for his fortieth birthday,” he said bluntly. “She blamed it on the hotel staff and he fuckin’ fell for it and got into it with the manager, who then fired both of the maids who worked
that floor. The next day, Alan saw the fucking watch in her purse. He finally understood what I’ve suspected the entire time—she’s a scammer.”

  I felt my cheeks heating as I looked away.

  Garrett reached across the table and took my hand in his. “That blush better not be because you’re embarrassed.”

  “Of course I am.”

  He squeezed my hand gently. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about, Shaelyn. Not one fucking thing. The only person who should feel that way is Jewel. Quite honestly if you and Goldie didn’t have the same eyes it would be easy to believe that you have no blood relation to Jewel at all.”

  “But it’s there and everyone knows she’s my mother.”

  “No one cares, baby,” he assured me in a low voice. “Everyone that meets you knows you’re incredible. You have nothing to worry about.”

  I could tell he meant it. My issues weren’t going to go away with a few sweet sentences, but they also weren’t going to get any better if I dwelled on them constantly, either. With that in mind, I nodded. “I’m going to do my best to remember that.”

  His eyes crinkled at the sides as he smiled. “I’ll make certain that you do.”

  “So… what happens now?” I asked. “You said you’ve got a plan and I’d like to know what will happen after I go back to Vegas with Goldie tomorrow.”

  He grinned wolfishly. “You and Goldie are going somewhere tomorrow, but it’s not Las Vegas.”

  My eyes widened. “What?”

  “Aside from the fact that I can’t stand the idea of being so far away from you, you need a break—and so does Goldie. Before Harry even got on the plane this morning, he’d already booked a small house across the street from the beach in Santa Monica for you to stay in for the next few weeks. Tia is welcome to join you as well.”