by Cassie Rocca
Suddenly Clover got tense. “Your friend doesn’t know me at all…”
“Or perhaps it’s exactly for this reason that he spends so much time out of town!”
“Maybe…” Her good mood had disappeared in a flash. “I’ve got to go now. Have happy holidays, Mr Harrison.”
She left, heading to her house. She tried to appear dignified, walking with confidence and purpose, not daring to look back. She had acted like a fool in front of Mr Hollywood and didn’t want to give him even more of an advantage. She cursed through her teeth at the gate, when it squeaked in a sinister way, but she walked on with her head held high. Only when she was in the sanctuary of her house did she allow herself to turn. She looked through the peep hole on the front door. She couldn’t help feeling attracted by the magnetic presence of that actor on the other side of the street.
“Bravo Clover! Great performance…” she mumbled to herself, watching as he climbed the steps with a feline grace. “You find yourself face to face with a famous movie star, and you become aggressive and start talking about butts and magazine rumors, mercilessly provoking him!”
As soon as she saw him disappear into his house, she moved away from the door, taking off her scarf, her hands trembling. Maybe her mother wasn’t so wrong to be ashamed of her.
Nadia O’Brian was intent on living life and looking her best as she faced her middle years. She had decided to become someone. Actually she was only the testimonial for an anti-aging brand of cosmetic products, but to be in this milieu often gave her a chance to meet celebrities. Regardless of what they might think of her, she liked to count them among her dearest friends. Of course Clover never met any of these VIP’s: after all, her mother had a reputation to maintain. Clover, with her unrestrained attitude and rude behavior, was too much of a liability. She always exhorted her daughter to try to be more elegant and sophisticated, but without any success. Clover didn’t really care about appearances. She didn’t spend hours in front of the mirror, trying to match makeup, clothes and accessories. Although her style couldn’t really be called classy, nobody could accuse her of lacking honesty, or of playing the game. Ok, maybe she was too impulsive, sometimes even reckless, but what was the point of trying to be the new Grace Kelly? Whom should she enchant? Her mother? Truthfully, she had tried to, but without obtaining any more attention or consideration, she had given up. She seldom regretted being who she was, but now at this moment she thought that maybe a bit more elegance and grace would have made a better impression on Cade Harrison… “Who cares?” She thought aloud, collapsing on her sofa. She would survive without too much difficulty, even though a perfect famous stranger – who she probably wouldn’t meet again – would judge her. She sighed and turned the TV on. She had no intention of letting anybody spoil her day. She had a funny movie to watch, delicious sweets to eat, and a whole lazy afternoon to enjoy.
Someone else might have considered her to be pathetically sad: all alone on holiday, sitting on a gnarled old couch, with a movie and a bowl of junk food, but Clover consoled herself thinking that even the Prince of Hollywood was all alone too, in a not especially glamourous building, in an unpretentious neighborhood. And for sure he wouldn’t be considered pathetic: people would say he was celebrating Thanksgiving in an intimate and discreet way. Perfect! She was also celebrating in an intimate and discreet way. She didn’t need anyone else in order to be happy.
2
His telephone didn’t stop ringing. This was something that really bothered him. He had only been in New York for four days, yet it seemed that everybody needed to contact him urgently!
His agent had called him at least thirty times, to remind him of things that needed his immediate attention: contract drafts, screenplays to read, charity commitments and TV appearances. His press office kept calling to ask for statements for the journalists, following the scandal that had forced him to disappear from sight for a little while – as if he hadn’t made enough declarations to the press already in the last month! His worried parents continued to call, asking how he was doing. And now, on top everything else… her.
Cade looked at the screen of his cell phone and saw that the name of his ex-fiancée had been flashing for several minutes. What the hell did she want? After all the chaos she had caused, with her offended prima donna scenes, what could it be now? After threatening him with a lawsuit that accused him of harming her public image, why did she want to talk to him? Damn it!
He didn’t have any desire to hear her voice, and that reminded him once again how sterile and shallow their relationship had been. Alice Brown might be beautiful and sexy, but she definitely was not his idea of the woman he wanted by his side. How could he have tolerated her for the past six months? Perhaps people who thought that success had gone to his head weren’t so wrong – being a very famous actor, wanted by movie directors and by women, must have confused him. It must have clouded his judgement and perspective. Wasn’t he the one who used to dream of a normal life with a satisfying career, an intelligent wife, and a large family like his parents had? How could he have thought that an ambitious and spoiled actress like Alice would be the right woman for him? Of course he knew very well that the environment they lived in was not conducive to lasting relationships. Hollywood and the movie system were fascinating, brilliant, full of emotion and opportunities, but also full of predators – among them real vampires, thirsty for success, ready to do anything to get ahead.
At the beginning, Cade thought that having a woman by his side who could obviously understand the demands of being an actor, would have simplified his life. He was wrong. Alice had disproved this theory. After only three months it was clear that for her, their relationship had become a sort of competition for fame. Alice had just started to make her way into the movie system, while he had already been famous for four years. She thought that dating Cade would help her career, yet it wasn’t easy to shine in the shadow of her famous and universally loved fiancé. So, once she understood that she wasn’t getting the recognition she wanted, she found another way to get noticed: on national news!
The phone stopped ringing and he sighed with relief. The media war that Alice had instigated was dragging her down first. Her agent had probably advised her to come to some kind of agreement with him, to save face. But Cade had no intention of playing any more little games; he’d already taken part in this circus for too long. He never wanted to foster the juicy gossip that had emerged after their break-up, but he had been forced to respond to Alice’s accusations and wasn’t proud of it.
His own image had been damaged by all the stories in the press too, although not as badly. Moving away from LA had become necessary to let the events settle, to find a balance again, and put this disruption behind him. Yet, even hiding in this remote and unglamorous place wasn’t enough. The text that he just received from Alice demonstrated this.
I need to talk to you. This farce has lasted too long. Why don’t we end it for good? No use running away. Come back and deal with me face to face!
“You would love to have more photo ops together, right? It won’t happen, my dear…” he mumbled to himself, deleting the message. He called his secretary to have his number changed as soon as possible. He turned off the phone and collapsed on the couch.
His friend Philip’s house was very different from his mansion in Los Angeles. From the living room he could see every other room on the first floor, but it was spacious enough, furnished with taste, comfortable and peaceful. It was the ideal place to relax and off the radar. He hadn’t been under siege for a few days now, there were no journalists in sight, and the refrigerator contained enough food for another week. This peaceful feeling was relatively new for Cade. As soon as he became famous, the opportunities to move freely around the States in privacy were almost non-existent. He had twenty-two rooms in his Californian home and enough money to travel to any place he wanted in the world. Yet freedom and privacy were still hard to come by. Wherever he went, he felt eyes on him and he saw jou
rnalists on every corner. If, at the beginning, the idea of becoming a star with a successful career had been exciting, now he began to weary of all the baggage that came with it.
He had felt an urgent need for a complete change of scene, and the pleasant, yet anonymous house in Staten Island seemed perfect for this purpose. It wasn’t too far away from the lively social life of Manhattan, nor too central to be chaotic. It was the ideal hideaway to keep the journalists off his trail for a little while. They would look for him in Aspen, logically, since he often used to spend his winter holidays there. Even his crazy red-headed neighbor had pointed out that this wasn’t a place for Hollywood stars! Nobody would find him here. Although… to stay locked in the house watching old movies wasn’t exactly his idea of fun…
He decided to go for a walk. He put on a heavy coat, his woolly hat, and left. When he had first arrived by taxi, he had noticed a large park, a sign pointing to a museum, and a couple of stores that he wanted to check out. Suddenly, he was filled with fear at the thought of being recognized, but quickly pushed it away. The only alternative he had was to stay confined inside the house, and the very idea was enough to bring on claustrophobia.
As he stepped out into the wintry day, the icy air caught him by surprise. The temperature in New York was no higher than thirty-eight, and the weather report announced a further drop. It was weather that suited the holiday season perfectly, and in the Big Apple one could already breathe in the Christmas air. Cade wasn’t accustomed to this temperature. Right now in Los Angeles it would be around seventy. He put his gloves on, turned up his coat collar and went down the stairs.
In the distance he heard cheerful music – lively notes and jingling bells – that made him smile. He wondered where it came from, but the loud, clanking noise of a pickup truck passing by distracted him. His eyes followed the truck. It was an old jalopy, its flatbed loaded with Christmas trees, being driven without any concern for the speed limit. The driver seemed unaware that his load was rocking dangerously back and forth, and of the voice shouting behind him: “Thanks a lot for your help and Merry Christmas, you fucking idiot!! I hope your trees fall out of your stupid truck! We don’t need crazy bastards like you around here!”
Trying to restrain himself from laughing, Cade looked at the woman partially hidden by a potted Christmas tree she was trying to drag behind a gate. His outspoken neighbor seemed to be struggling. Curiously, Cade approached the small white house. He heard mumbling and cursing through the dense foliage. The curses were directed at the driver, who had apparently left the tree outside the gate, without helping her to bring it inside. Cade wondered if the truck driver drove off after some exchange with that eccentric girl. Three days earlier she had given him a hard time too. He hadn’t forgotten.
Never before had he met a woman so unimpressed to find herself in front of a famous actor. Usually, people were excited and anxious to get an autograph or to take a selfie with him. On the contrary, his new neighbor had addressed him as if she rather looked down on him and his career and she had teased him mercilessly. On second thoughts, that truck driver did the right thing by leaving her to deal with the tree by herself!
But watching this wisp of a girl trying to drag an eight-foot spruce tree along her pathway, the gentleman in him suddenly sprang to life. Yes, she was arrogant, but still, she was a damsel in distress.
He went over to the gate. “May I help you?”
With a shocked yell the girl lost her balance and fell on her backside.
“Damn!” She mumbled.
Cade came around the Christmas tree and saw her. She looked comical, sitting in a flowerbed. She wore a giant sweatshirt, shapeless stained pants, and her hair was tied up on the top of her head. But he couldn’t see her face because it was buried in the branches.
“Are you trying to hide?”
“Is it working?”
“Not really. Your hair color is too flashy to go unnoticed.”
Sighing, the girl stood up. He noticed the light blush on her cheekbones for she wore no makeup. She was clearly embarrassed, but Cade could tell from her proud posture that she wasn’t going to show any emotion openly. She stared at him with the big hazelnut eyes that he had already noticed on their first encounter – rather collision – and raised a mahogany eyebrow.
“Mr Star, to what do I owe this pleasure?”
Ignoring the sarcasm of Mr Star, Cade pointed to the spruce. “I was taking a walk, when I saw you struggling with this tree. I imagine you scared the delivery man away before he could help you bring it into the house… Am I right?”
“I did not make him flee, he was in a hurry! I was stuck in the attic and I couldn’t get down quickly enough.” She crossed her arms to protect herself from the piercing cold.
“Stuck in the attic?” Cade was perplexed.
“Yes! I suppose that in your billionaire mansion you don’t have a cramped space where you put things that you hardly ever use, like Christmas decorations. And, if you do have it, I’m sure you have hired help who does the dirty job… unless you buy everything new each year.”
“To be honest, I usually buy a ready decorated tree…”
“Ah! Just as I suspected. I’m sure that your life is so busy with social events, you don’t have time for simple things, like decorating a Christmas tree,” she said, returning to pull rather ineffectively at the big pot.
“Here…” Cade touched her arm, “Let me do it. Christmas will be over by the time you get your tree into the house!”
“It doesn’t go into the house, but near the front door. I have all day to work on it. I can figure out.” The girl attempted a protest, but Cade didn’t give up.
“Let my imposing physique be of some use, besides making fragile girls stumble in the street.” He flashed one of the smiles that usually made women sigh. Yet this particular woman seemed to be made of marble. Instead of giggling and melting, she limited herself to raising that eyebrow again. However, he must have confused her for a moment, because she didn’t find anything to say. Cade took that moment of silence to move the tree to the indicated spot. “Is it ok here?”
“Slightly to the left… umm… no, it’s better on the right. Wait, hold on – please push it more to the back…” Putting a finger to her full lips, she was considering his work with a critical eye, pacing back and forth. “No, perhaps it is better like it was before.”
Exasperated, Cade stood up, “You’ve got to be kidding me?”
“Yes.” She smiled, showing two pretty dimples.
Cade looked at her, feeling a curious vibration in his stomach. She was beautiful. He had noticed it the first time he met her, but this unexpected breezy smile had illuminated her face, making him forget her definitely shabby appearance.
Incredible, but true: he found this bizarre girl attractive.
Perhaps misunderstanding his silence, she offered an apology. “I’m sorry. Don’t listen to what I say. I’m so plain-spoken, without filters. A hopeless case! These are only childish jokes; I didn’t mean to offend you…”
“I’m not offended.” He reassured her.
Suddenly a merry version of Jingle Bell Rock floated out into the air. Only then he realized that the music he heard was coming out of one of her open windows facing the courtyard. A small television was broadcasting Christmas music.
“Isn’t it too early for Christmas songs and decorations?”
“It’s never too early. December is here, and for me it’s time to light up everything!”
“I understand. Do you want some help reaching the highest branches?”
She looked baffled. “Oh… Seriously? You really want to do this?”
“Why would I ask otherwise?”
“To be kind?”
“I’m not so kind.” Cade took off his gloves and rubbed his hands. “It’s been at least seven years since I have decorated a Christmas tree. It will be fun.”
Her face brightened up. “Ok. I will go and get the decorations… be right back!”
While waiting, Cade began to open up the spruce’s branches, the way his father taught him when he was a child. They must be well separated so there is enough space for any kind of decoration. He found himself whistling the cheerful song that came from the television. Curious to say, but the idea of placing lights and glass balls on this tree really pleased him. It was one of the many normal things that he just didn’t do any more. Also, being in the company of this girl was amusing – he couldn’t explain why. This fun little diversion would help to chase away the boredom that had pushed him out of the house.
While he was taking off his scarf to free up his arms, he heard an all too familiar sentence.
“My god… I can’t believe it!! You’re Cade Harrison!”
Shit… Cade looked up to see a woman of about thirty-five-years old in front of him, staring at him with an open mouth. The irritation of being interrupted when he was doing something he liked, flashed in his eyes for a second, but he was quick to hide it. It was always a bad idea to turn a fan into an enemy, especially if the secrecy of his stay in Staten Island depended on this particular fan.
Giving her his legendary smile and casually running his fingers through his blonde hair, he said, “Well yes… you got me!”
“Oh my goodness, impossible! Cade Harrison in my neighborhood! May I hug you?”
Without waiting for his reply, the woman jumped into his arms, squeezing him with incredible enthusiasm. Ecstatic and giggling, she kissed him on both cheeks and began to search in her purse for a pen and a piece of paper.
“I need your autograph, Mr Harrison, I’m really an inveterate fan of yours… I have seen all of your films! Oh, by the way, my name is Martha… and let me tell you this, you’re not only handsome, you’re also a great actor!”
“That’s very kind, Martha. Thank you!”
“Would it be too much, if I also asked for a photo with you?”
Cade shook his head. “Not at all, but can I ask something of you too? Can you swear to keep a secret?”