by Madrid, Liz
It always went back to the drugs. Riley couldn’t blame Paige for worrying about her because of her addiction, one that she’d hidden so well from everyone, even her closest fiends whom Riley abandoned after her stint in rehab was over. She’d been too ashamed for lying to everyone, even herself.
“I may not know what I’ll do then, but I do know what I won’t do. I know I won’t pretend that everything is okay when it’s not, and buy drugs and think I can drown my pain in it,” Riley said, her throat tightening. “And this time, I also will ask for help when I need it. And I won’t hide anything from you because you’re the only family I have left — at least, family that’s not so drunk they can’t even remember my name or blame me for not being strong enough, big enough to save mom when the fire happened.”
“You promise?” Paige asked. “You promise you won’t hurt yourself like you did before, that you won’t try to kill yourself again?”
Riley nodded, wishing Paige let go of the past. “I promise.”
Paige gathered Riley in a tight hug. “I don’t ever want to lose you, Ri. I know I’m not perfect. I know I’ve made my mistakes — and God knows I’ve made a lot of them — but no matter what happens, I don’t want to lose you.”
“That’s what this is all about, isn’t it?” Riley asked, drawing away to peer at Paige, whose eyes were welling with tears. “You don’t want to lose me to anyone. Not even to someone I actually love.”
Paige swallowed. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. “That’s not the reason why, Riley,” she whispered.
“I’m not your personal pet, Paige,” Riley said. “I’m a grown woman and I can take care of myself.”
“I just don’t want to lose you, that’s all,” Paige whispered. She was gazing at Riley in a way she’d never done before. It was a haunted look, reminding Riley of someone who was shell-shocked over something so traumatic. Was her being with Ashe that traumatic for Paige?
Was that what all this was about? About Ashe being in the same business as Gareth, whose leaving could lead Riley to drugs again, or worse? Riley touched the middle of Paige’s chest gently, a light tap that made Paige take a deep intake of breath, her eyes still glistening.
“I’ll always be here, Paige. No matter what happens, I’ll always be right here,” Riley whispered. “And you’ll always be my sister. Nothing will ever change that. I promise.”
21
It’s Only Business
The week that Ashe left for the Asian leg of his movie promotions was one of the worst weeks for Riley. She couldn’t quite pinpoint why she felt so sad, depressed and lonely, but she did. Even though Ashe kept her abreast of his schedule each day by giving her his itinerary and hourly timetable, it wasn’t enough. There were rumors and reports of Ashe having been officially dropped from the movie Alabama Rain, which was based on the life of the late Conley Brennan, the singer he had told her about before he left.
Then two customers let her know that someone had posted a comment on Yelp that they’d seen a huge rat scurrying into the back room of the cafe. The news made Riley almost spill the espresso she was making.
“Excuse me? Did you say a rat?”
“That’s what we just read,” said a young woman who introduced herself as Natalie. She had ordered a machiatto, despite having read the review. “But since I’ve been coming here, for at least a year, I’ve never seen even a hint of dust on your counters.”
“Didn’t they close down that donut shop uptown?” asked someone further back in the line. “They caught it all on camera! Rats tasting the — ”
“All right, that’s it,” Riley said, turning towards a stricken-looking Martin. The last thing she wanted was a stampede of customers out the door at the mention of a rat tasting the pastries. “Can you finish this for me? I’ve got to check the back.”
Riley tried not to panic as she went into the back room and inspected everything, looked for droppings and found none. She went online, intending to read the negative one-star review that mentioned the rat sighting. But her newsfeed for the latest Ashe Hunter stories appeared on her phone screen first, and of course she had to click on that.
Ashe Hunter Out and Gareth Roman In!
Representatives for Reign Studios have confirmed that former co-star Gareth Roman has replaced Ashe Hunter, tipped to play the late country singer Conley Brennan. “I’m quite thrilled that Cookie, Conley’s widow, hand-picked me to play her late husband,” Gareth Roman was quoted in a press conference held in Tennessee this morning.
Isobel Reign, who will play Cookie Brennan, was quoted as saying, “I wish Ashe the very best, but I believe that Gareth will be the perfect Conley and I’m so grateful to Cookie for giving us this opportunity to tell their story.
Representatives for Ashe Hunter could not be reached for comment. The actor is currently in Tokyo promoting his latest movie, Sentience, which is out now in theaters and has so far raked in $86 million in US box-office receipts.
Riley was crushed for Ashe. She saw the replacement as Isobel getting her way and punishing Ashe for dumping her. But at the same time, Gareth had nailed the accent, so maybe it was just business. But Riley wasn’t worried about Gareth, for her thoughts were on Ashe and how he would take the news.
Even Paige was disappointed, considering that the three of them were now private investors in Rowan Productions, the company that Ashe and Hazel had set up when they’d first acquired the rights to Conley Brennan’s songs. It would have made sense for them to have acquired the rights to his life as well, Riley thought. But then she remembered what Ashe said, about having the power to release — or withhold — the rights to the songs that Reign Productions would need for Alabama Rain.
Maybe it was only business, Riley reminded herself long after Paige had hung up after telling her that there were still other projects in development. It was only one battle lost, maybe a few bruised egos and nothing more.
When Ashe called her while she was in the back office, Riley felt relief wash over her at the sight of his face on her phone screen. She was happy to see and hear him during his video calls, made whenever he could find the time, even if it was early in the morning and he only had a few minutes to spare before he had to go do an interview. Ashe was stifling a yawn as she adjusted her phone settings, propping it up in front of her against Plath’s book of poems.
While it was four-thirty in the afternoon in New York, it was six-thirty in the morning in Tokyo and already Ashe was dressed in a suit. According to the itinerary that he had given Riley, it was Ermegildo Zegna, tailored to perfection and packed along with his luggage, every piece of clothing he wore during the tour chosen by a stylist. In the background, Riley could see another man adjusting his own tie.
“That’s my interpreter, Takeshi-san,” Ashe told her. Hearing his name mentioned, the translator turned to the camera and nodded his head repeatedly, saying something that sounded to Riley like ‘arigato’.
Though Riley really wanted to know if he’d heard about losing the lead in Alabama Rain, she began with some easier questions. How was Japan so far? (Exciting and different.) What was the food like? (He was eating too much sushi.) How was he getting on with the language? (He hadn’t a clue, hence Takeshi had been assigned to him for the duration of the trip.) How was he feeling overall? (A bit jet-lagged, even though he’d rested a full day after arriving in Tokyo the day before.)
“But the people have been wonderful,” he grinned. “I’m having a great time here, though I wish you were with me, Riley. Yesterday they took me on a tour of the city and it was fascinating, like nothing I’ve ever seen before.” His brow furrowed. “Why the long face?”
“Besides having to deal with an alleged rat problem in the shop, I’m disappointed for you, of course. Haven’t you heard yet?” Riley asked.
“Heard what?”
“About Alabama Rain,” Riley said, biting her lip.
Ashe paused, frowning. “If you mean about Gareth get
ting the role of Conley Brennan, my agent told me about two hours ago.”
“I’m so sorry, Ashe,” she said.
“Why? It’s no big deal,” Ashe said. “Cookie Brennan has the final say, and if it’s her decision to let Gareth take the role, then so be it.”
“Is there any way that you can still-”
“No,” Ashe said firmly. Someone spoke to him off-camera and she heard him say ‘Yes’ and ‘I’ll be ready in two minutes’. Ashe turned to look at her again. “I’ll be fine. These things happen all the time, Riley. That’s why my agent keeps me busy with so many projects.”
“But how could Gareth do this, and Isobel? Does she really hate you that much? I read in a blind item that-”
“You’ve got to stop believing blind items, Riley. It’s not Gareth, nor is it Isobel. It’s just how the business works. This is how movies are made, the deals that go on behind the scenes. There are a lot of bargaining — in the millions of dollars — and also a lot of compromises, whether in talent, crew, budget or whatever else. And then there’ll always be the gossipmongers searching for whatever news they can find and pass off as truth,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Cheer up. I’ll be home in a few days and we can talk. In the meantime, I probably won’t be able to talk to you for a while but I will text you.”
She touched Ashe’s screen face lightly with her fingers. “I miss you.”
“I miss you too, Riley-I-am,” he said, touching her fingers on the screen with his own just as Takeshi said something to him about the time.
“I have to go, luv,” Ashe said, touching a button to end the call. As Riley watched her phone go dark, she realized that Ashe was probably right. There was no point in getting worked up over something she had no control over.
The rat problem was another matter. She did have some control over that, and she was going to get to the bottom of it. Either someone really had spotted a rat in the cafe — which, if it were true, would spell bad news for the business — or they had just made up a lie that could cost Allen his life savings — and hers.
The call from the Health Department was the last straw, sending Allen into a panic and causing the Library Cafe to close two hours early. During the next two hours, Allen went to the office store to pick up file boxes for the books that needed to be removed from the shelves in case the rat chewed on the pages, and Riley, Tess, Carl and Martin cleaned and scrubbed the food-handling areas till the cafe was immaculate.
“Maybe it would be better to just take all the books out,” Allen said to her. “What do you think? Maybe it’s time to take the shelves off, too, and give the cafe more space.”
“There’d be no point in calling it the Library Cafe then, would there?” Riley pointed out. If Allen asked for a vote on whether the books stayed or went, she was for the books staying.
Through it all, there wasn’t a single rat dropping to be found. They’d managed to move everything from the walls and inspect it all, ending the day exhausted, fed up and utterly convinced that someone was attempting to shut them down. At least the food service area and entire back portion of the cafe were as clean as a whistle by the time they were finished.
Since Allen needed to be upstate for his granddaughter’s birthday party, Riley decided that she could put the books away on her own. He had already brought in the boxes, and she needed to be doing something instead of moping around the apartment missing Ashe.
So, after she’d sent everyone else home, ignoring Tessa’s offer to skip class that night and help out, Riley began to remove all the books from the shelves and arrange them inside the file boxes. Some of them ended up on piles on the floor as she foolishly tried to arrange them by author or genre. She wiped down each shelf with a solution of bleach, searching for rat droppings or chewed paper but finding nothing.
Outside it had begun to rain, and Riley wondered how much longer she’d have to stay. But she’d taken down all the books from the shelves and couldn’t leave them out on the floor till morning. That would really make everyone believe that something was wrong.
A tap came on the glass window above the front door at nine-fifteen, startling Riley. She thought she had lowered the blinds on all the windows after the last of the employees had gone, but the front door blinds were still raised.
She recognized the easy grin right away, the green eyes behind thick dark lashes that twinkled as she approached. Riley frowned. The nerve of him to come here! Hadn’t he caused enough pain already?
“Riley,” Gareth said. “We need to talk.”
22
The Real Thing
“What do you want to talk about?” She asked, walking up towards the door, her arms crossed in front of her. “Why don’t you just move on and live your life without ruining any more of mine?”
“We need to talk, Riley,” Gareth said. “Can you at least open the door and let me in so we can talk like two adults? It’s cold out here.”
“Then freeze. Or go back to your hotel where it’s warm,” Riley said. But Gareth only exhaled, hugged his arms around his chest and planted himself stubbornly outside the door.
“C’mon, Ri,” Gareth said, his voice softening. “We really need to talk. Truce?”
“We already tried that, Gareth, and we didn’t get anywhere but the front page of some gossip rag. Where is this going to end up? Do you have your photographers with telephoto lenses waiting outside? In a car maybe?”
“Riley, you’re overreacting,” Gareth said, rolling his eyes.
Now Riley was angry. How dare Gareth say she was overreacting! No way was she letting him through the door now. He could freeze to death outside for all she cared.
“Overreacting? You were already seeing Isobel when you kissed me and told me, ooh, baby, you’re so real, or whatever else you were lying about. You did that just to get back at Ashe, didn’t you? Well, I’m not falling for this ‘we’ve got to talk’ shit, alright? Just go, Gareth, and spare me the drama. I have enough drama right now.”
Gareth leaned against the window. “You’re not overreacting. I’m sorry, alright? But we really need to talk – get a few things straight once and for all.” He winced as thunder rumbled overhead. “C’mon, Riley, I’m getting wet out here. Please? Just talk. We need to talk about us.”
“There is no us, Gareth. There hasn’t been any us since you put me on a plane back in LA three years ago and said you’d come back for me but you never did,” Riley said. “You can freeze your ass out there for all I care. Watch me.”
For the next ten minutes, Gareth stood outside, arms crossed in front of his chest, his shoulders hunched forward, waiting for her to open the door. He wasn’t giving up, not that Riley expected him to. He was dogged when he wanted to, which confused her. What did he want to talk about? And as much as she needed to put the books away, she couldn’t do it knowing someone was soaking wet from the rain as he stood beneath the awning, the wind whipping his hair about his face. Did she really want him to freeze to death? Of course Gareth wasn’t that stupid, but still – with Gareth, she’d given up figuring out why he did the things he did. What happened to his ever-present trucker hat anyway, she wondered as she took a deep breath and opened the door.
“Come in then,” she grumbled then lowered the blinds of the door completely as soon as she shut the door. The last thing she needed was another photographer misconstruing their conversation for something else.
“And I’m not making you any espresso either,” Riley said as she walked past him to continue packing the books into the boxes. Gareth shrugged off his wet jacket and hung it from the coatrack next to the door, ruffling his wet hair and then stomping his boots on the doormat.
“What’s with all these books? Are you closing the place up?” he asked as he crouched in front of her, the books forming a barrier between them.
“No, but someone wrote an online review claiming they’d seen a rat in here, and we had to clean up the entire back area, including the food service counters and pastry shelves, but
we’ve yet to find a single rat or mouse dropping. So Allen figured that maybe it came from the bookshelves,” Riley said, spreading her arms to her sides to indicate the shelves that were currently barren of books. “He decided that we’d better take everything down and wipe the shelves clean – maybe even get rid of them altogether.”
“If you do, you can’t really call it the Library Cafe anymore, can you?”
Riley shrugged. “Better than having rodents live in the books though, isn’t it?”
“Still, that’s a bit drastic, Ri,” Gareth said, frowning. “Did they leave their name? Those online reviews are usually linked to verified accounts – well, as verified as accounts can be verified, I guess. But still, what’s to stop some rival coffee shop from saying something that’s not true? I’m sure it’s not the first time it’s ever happened.”
“I didn’t check who left the review,” Riley said as Gareth pulled out his phone and logged onto the Internet. She’d been too freaked out to check, and she also got distracted over the news about Ashe being replaced by Gareth in the Conley Brennan film. Come to think of it, that was the real answer, for she never got around to check the online review site at all.
She was still stuffing books into the box in front of her when Gareth placed his hand over hers just as she was about to place a book titled How to Survive Betrayal inside a box.
“What?” Riley asked. At least Gareth wasn’t being romantic, she thought. She’d have to kick him back out into the rain if he was trying to do one of his moves again.
“I’m sure the review is a fake,” he said, showing her his phone. “Look, the person just registered their account today and left that review. They haven’t left any other reviews for other places at all.”
“So it’s not real, then? What if seeing a rat prompted them to get an account for the first time?” Riley asked, her shoulders slumping. She was relieved, but at the same time tired – exhausted, even. Why would anyone do such a thing?
“I doubt they’ve even been here,” Gareth said, frowning as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. “It could be some jealous girlfriend, who knows?”