The Heartbreak Cafe

by Melissa Hill

  ‘What? What are you talking about?’ Ruth turned back to the computer where Charlie was sitting stonily reading the headlines. The breaking news TMZ feed was all about her. There in full glory for the whole world to see was the picture of her and Charlie on the main street of Lakeview, her hand placed protectively over her stomach. Then further down, a screenshot and video clip of Troy, confirming that yes, he and Ruth Seymour were having a baby together and he couldn’t wait for her to come back to L.A. The video couldn’t have been more than a few hours old, as it was now morning in Hollywood and he looked as if he was leaving a nightclub. He was also very obviously drunk.

  ‘Oh no,’ Ruth cried. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

  ‘Ruth, when are you coming back?’ Chloe demanded.

  ‘I … I’m not sure yet, there are no immediate plans,’ she said, slightly shell-shocked by what she was seeing. Charlie was patting her back reassuringly. ‘I’m just…happy here.’

  ‘Are you on medication or something?

  ‘What?’

  ‘Sorry, it’s just you sound weird, you know? And you haven’t been taking my calls – I hardly hear from you now.’

  ‘You don’t understand,’ Ruth said, starting to babble. ‘I’m not really sure about Hollywood anymore … I’m not sure if I was happy.’

  ‘What’s not to be happy about? The press are loving this! Seriously, come back and have this baby with Troy – you guys can be the new Brad and Angie.’

  Ruth couldn’t believe what Chloe was saying, it all sounded so sleazy and jaded.

  Did she truly expect her to go back to LA and have a baby with a man she didn’t love and who’d already rejected this child … all because it would be good PR? Had she really been that jaded? Ruth wondered now.

  ‘Chloe, it’s not that easy. I don’t love Troy and I refuse to bring the baby into some kind of media circus.’

  ‘You know, you’re missing out on an incredible opportunity here,’ Chloe scolded. ‘The phone’s been ringing off the hook all morning. I’ve had Variety, Newsweek and People …’

  ‘I don’t care about the damn press, Chloe.’

  ‘Well OK, fine, forget the press then, but what about the offers?’

  ‘Offers…’ Ruth ears pricked up. ‘What kind of offers – what are you talking about?’

  A loud groan. ‘Don’t tell me you haven’t been taking Erik’s calls either.’

  Well, yes she had missed a couple of calls from him in the last week or so, but she’d assumed he was just phoning to tell her to get her ass back to LA. She’d been putting off talking to him, Chloe or anyone else from her old life that might interrupt her current blissful existence. She knew she’d have to face it eventually but for the time being was happy to put things on hold. Until today.

  ‘Hell, it’s been crazy … like I said, the press has been calling. Today mostly about the baby thing. But they’ve also been ringing about some offer, something about you being in line for something Peter Jackson’s doing?’

  Ruth felt faint. ‘What …?’

  ‘You don’t know about this – seriously? Ruth, call Erik, would you? This is freakin’ huge!’

  Chapter 27

  ‘Whatcha’ looking at?’ Nina jumped and quickly closed the web page she’d been browsing on the computer while waiting for Trish to arrive at the library.

  Her friend had phoned earlier wanting to apologise for behaviour the last time they’d seen one another. ‘I’m so sorry for going off on you like that. You were right about Dave; and I know I shouldn’t be messing around with a guy who has a family, but it sort of just happened.’

  Nina who, at any other time, would have questioned how such a thing could ‘just happen’ had come to realise that life wasn’t always black and white. And she too had felt about bad about lecturing Trish; it was none of her business and her friend was a big girl after all. Not to mention that this Dave seemed to be a bit of a player, given that despite having both a wife and mistress on the go, if she wasn’t mistaken had been flirting with her not too long ago.

  ‘Do you love him?’ she asked.

  Trish let out a little sigh. ‘I think I do. It’s been hard, and I didn’t want to feel that way, because you know, I figured it was just a fling, and that it would end eventually, but yes, I actually do love him. That’s why I reacted so badly when you told me about this new baby’

  ‘I’m sorry – it really wasn’t my intention to hurt you. It’s just when you said he’d told you the marriage was over – ’

  ‘I know, the old cliché, huh?’ But there was no mistaking the hurt in her friend’s tone. ‘Anyway, you’ll be pleased to know I’ve decided to end it.’

  ‘Oh.’ Nina was surprised. For some reason she’d just assumed that Trish might continue regardless.

  Trish smiled as if reading her mind. ‘I might have been taken in before, but I’m not completely stupid. Anyway, you were right – and it’s not nice to be thought of as a home-wrecker.’

  The air cleared, they’d arranged to meet up at the library for another round of research before later heading to Ella’s for something to eat.

  Now, Nina turned away from the screen to face Trish, who she hadn’t noticed creeping up behind her. She tried to look nonchalant. ‘Oh nothing really, just trying to use an internet connection that has some speed. The one at my dad’s place moves slower than a turtle.’

  Trish smiled. ‘I can imagine. So are you ready?’

  ‘Sure,’ Nina smiled, relieved that her friend didn’t press further. The truth was, when Trish walked up she had been on a crisis pregnancy page, researching some of her options.

  When she thought seriously about what she was considering she felt guilty, but still she couldn’t help it. With all that had happened over the last while, what with her father’s reaction, her mother’s absence and not to mention Steve, she was seriously confused over what to do about this baby.

  Some of it went back to the conversation that she’d had recently with Ruth. A fellow mum-to-be, she’d found herself almost envious of the other girl who by contrast didn’t have any worries when it came to her pregnancy. And why should she? She was confident and capable and would get on great with or without Charlie, Troy or whoever. Here she had loving supportive parents, and in LA a gaggle of assistants as well as plenty of money. In Ruth’s world there would be no shortage of anything for her baby, be it support, care or finance.

  Nina on the other hand, had none of those things. As it was she could barely look after herself sometimes, and being completely responsible for another life scared the hell out of her.

  Yes, her mother was wonderful and she was sure Cathy would help out as much as she could if it came to it, but hadn’t she taken up enough of her mum’s life already? Cathy had raised her practically single-handedly, and despite her protests that Patrick had let them want for nothing, she knew it had been for the most part a solitary feat.

  So, just when she was really enjoying life with Tony and getting back her freedom, how could Nina seriously expect her to help raise her mistake?

  No, the more she thought about it, the more Nina realised it was her shoulder to burden and she couldn’t – shouldn’t – put it on anybody else.

  But what to do?

  The idea of adoption had popped into her head a few times, but she wasn’t sure what it entailed and how she would even go about it. After all, thanks to improved state support, few people in Ireland seemed to do that kind of thing anymore, but surely they could if they wanted to?

  Then, after Trish’s phone call and their subsequent arrangement to meet at the library, Nina decided to head down there early and do a little checking on the computer.

  Although she was confused, she also knew she had limited time to figure out what to do about this.

  But one thing was for sure; Nina knew she wasn’t the right person to bring up this baby. And seeing as she’d got herself into this situation, she now had little choice but to find some way out of it – and soon
.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Charlie inquired after Ruth got off the phone with Chloe.

  Her heart rate was going a mile a minute. ‘I need to talk to my agent,’ she said, her tone of voice suddenly businesslike. She found Erik’s number on her cell phone speed dial and put the phone to her ear.

  He answered on the first ring.

  ‘Ah, finally! It’s the lady of the hour.’

  ‘What going on Erik?’ Ruth said without preamble. ‘I just talked to Chloe.’

  ‘So is it true, are you knocked up?’

  ‘So what if I am? What’s up?’ At this point she didn’t particularly care if she sounded rude; he was a Hollywood power suit and well able to take whatever she dished out.

  ‘Well, it seems everyone loves a mommy-to-be these days,’ Erik boomed in his usual loud-mouthed way. ‘Please tell me this baby is Troy Valentine’s though, and not some unknown Irish nobody’s?’

  Ruth was immediately on the defensive about Charlie being called an ‘unknown Irish nobody’ and when she turned to see if he had heard, she saw him staring at her opened-mouthed. Great. She thought about what he’d said that first day outside the café; how he’d wanted no part in this sort of nastiness.

  ‘That’s really none of your concern.’

  ‘Oh, but you see babe, it is. Your stock is hot enough as it is at the moment so we don’t need you messing it up with something provincial.’

  ‘My stock is hot … how?’

  ‘Well … like I said on those thirty or so messages I left you, Peter Jackson has you in mind for the part of Clara in The Soldier’s Daughter.’

  ‘The S .. Soldier’s Daughter?’ Ruth felt the wind go out of her. The Soldier’s Daughter was the movie adaptation of one of the best-selling books of the decade, and Clara was the female heroine who had captured hearts the world over. ‘Oh … my...’

  ‘Exactly. Seems he’s a fan of Glamazons and he thinks you’d be perfect for the role of leading lady. You’ve still gotta screen test for it for the studio of course, but I reckon it’s sure-fire thing. Jackson knows what he likes.’

  The room was spinning. Sure-fire thing … Peter Jackson …leading lady …

  It was everything Ruth had ever dreamed of.

  After all these years, all the struggling, finally Ruth Seymour was being offered the part of a lifetime.

  ‘Course, the way he does things, it’s probably got Oscar written all over it, too,’ Erik was still talking. ‘This whole baby thing shouldn’t be a problem either – a long as you lose the pounds of course. Actually no, forget I said that, ’cause you won’t be gaining any.’ There was a smile in his voice, but Ruth knew he meant every word of it. She looked down at her bottom half, realising she’d already gained quite a few pounds.

  But she would watch her weight from now on, of course she would. After all, she’d have to get in shape for The Soldier’s Daughter.

  And oh my goodness, wasn’t it just wonderful that the baby didn’t seem to be affecting any of this? Granted, she’d have to reschedule some of the filming for Glamazons so it wouldn’t clash with the feature film, but she knew Erik probably already had all of that under control.

  It was incredible – all of a sudden it seemed like she really could have it all – the movie-star career and the baby! How lucky was she?

  ‘I just can’t believe this, Erik,’ she cried, yelping enthusiastically. All those stupid ideas she’d been having about giving up on Hollywood to stay in Lakeview had suddenly vanished, and as she got more and more details from Erik, she noticed Charlie stand up and begin to pace the room. She looked away, trying to ignore him.

  ‘Hey, I’m dead serious babe. They want you, so hurry up and get your ass back to LA. And what the hell have you been doing in some stupid Irish backwater all this time anyway? We could have had you rolling in it a long time ago if you’d told us about Valentine’s baby. The press are going crazy over this – what the hell were you thinking leaving us out of the loop?’

  She chose to ignore the faint warning signals at the mention of her pregnancy as a PR coup and immediately pushed them to the back of her mind. ‘I’m sorry … I should have taken your calls…and yes, I’ll be back as soon as I can … thanks Erik – you’re amazing!’

  ‘Yep, that’s what they all say,’ he chuckled, before disconnecting.

  Ruth hung up, completely elated and a million miles away from the state of mind she’d been in just moments before Chloe’s phone call.

  She threw the phone on the desk and looked at Charlie. ‘Oh my goodness, you are not going to believe this!’

  ‘Actually, I think I heard most of it,’ he said flatly.

  ‘I mean, can you imagine? Me, the leading lady in a major Hollywood feature? Maybe even in with the chance for an Oscar?’ she felt slightly crazed; as all the glamour and promise of the Hollywood lifestyle came rushing right back to her. ‘Oh this is just amazing.’

  ‘Amazing … yeah.’

  ‘I just can’t wait to get back there now. Shove all their stupid comments in their faces and let them know exactly who they’re dealing with!’

  ‘What are you talking about? Shove what in whose faces?’

  ‘Well the media, of course. And all the other smug assholes who dismissed me as a talentless slut.’

  Charlie stared at her, dumbfounded. ‘I don’t believe this. You’re really going back there – for good?’

  ‘Of course. How can I not? You heard what Erik said – ’

  ‘But what about us? What about making the right choices?’

  ‘Charlie…’

  ‘No, answer me, what about us?’

  She bit her lip. ‘Honey, I know it might seem confusing, but I don’t think you understand. This kind of thing doesn’t happen that often, a call out of the blue with an offer of a lifetime. It’s what I’ve been working for my entire life.’

  ‘Oh, I understand all right. But you’re the one who’s confused. Don’t you realise what they’re doing? Where was their interest in you before they knew there was a story around you? Until you started sleeping with someone “interesting”?’ His voice was a sneer, and Ruth looked away, not wanting to hear this now. It wasn’t fair of him to make her sound like that; she was a good actress, a dedicated hardworking actress, and this wasn’t because of whom she was sleeping with.

  Was it?

  ‘See,’ she cried, stung, ‘this is exactly what I was afraid of last time – you, holding me back.’

  ‘A couple of hours ago we were talking about how we should raise this baby!’ he yelled.

  She felt a pain in her heart. ‘I know.’

  ‘Are you really going to do this to me again?’ The disappointment in his eyes was almost unbearable.

  ‘Charlie…’ she moved to embrace him. ‘I really don’t know what to do. This is everything I’ve ever wanted.’

  He looked down at her. ‘This is everything I’ve ever wanted.’

  She felt as if he had plunged a knife directly into her heart. ‘But … you said you would have done all this with me before, gone with me to LA, if I’d asked.’

  He shook his head. ‘All I want is you and the baby – our baby. Although,’ he gave a short laugh, ‘I know I have no claim on either one of you ’cause I’m just an unknown Irish nobody, yeah?’ He pulled away from her. ‘Ruth, I don’t know if I can stand by and watch you trade on your pregnancy.’

  ‘That’s not what it’s about, and of course that’s not what I want.’

  ‘I know it’s not what you want, but the only person that needs to be convinced of that is you.’

  In her mind, Ruth skimmed back through the last few months. She’d been the one who’d been hiding, so of course there would have been offers if she’d only gone back to L.A soon after. Granted the publicity from the thing with Troy might have helped bring her to a lot of important people’s attention but that was often the way Hollywood worked.

  And Peter Jackson …wow….

  ‘Look, I really think that
I should at least go back and talk to them, see what they have to say. It’s not totally in the bag yet and I need to talk things over with Erik to see what’s involved. I could go tomorrow and be back within days, it’s no big deal.’

  Charlie threw his hands up in the air. ‘Come on, Ruth!’

  ‘Just let me talk to them at least,’ she pleaded. ‘Nothing has changed between us, I promise and nothing will. But if I don’t go, I’ll wonder about this forever.’

  He nodded, but his eyes were sad. Ruth’s heart swelled. She loved Charlie, and up to recently had loved her career and wanted to prove to him that she could do both. Or that she could have both? the little voice inside her ventured.

  Ruth ignored it. She was silly to even consider settling down in Lakeview and throwing away long hard years of a career because of one stupid mistake.

  A mistake that, with the way things were going, could well turn out to be the making of her.

  Chapter 28

  It was Friday afternoon and Jess sat in the living room of Emer’s house, playing with Amy.

  Her friend had invited her to stay over for the night, and Jess complied, happy to have something to do. While she wasn’t yet sure if she was ready to confide in her friend about the problems she was having with Brian, she felt it was better than sitting around at home, staring at the walls of her bedroom. Her husband was again away at a work event and at this point Jess had started to wonder if he was volunteering for any trip that came up, so that he wouldn’t have to spend time with her. It was a horrible thought, but she knew her husband well – or at least she thought she had, before all this baby stuff had started.

  Emer was doing something in the kitchen, and for once Dave was home. According to her friend he was supposed to have been working late, but had obviously finished whatever he was doing earlier than expected.

  But almost as soon as Jess arrived at the house shortly after six, she started wishing she was somewhere else because neither one of them seemed to be in the best mood.