by Hattie Lou
Fame
You
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by Hattie Lou
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover design: designrans
Dedication
This book is dedicated to Angie for being my everything and so much more! I would be lost without you.
Prologue
Olivia
I walk around town feeling numb after leaving the cemetery. This wasn’t part of our grand plan. We were supposed to be together forever. My future, my life, my love, is all gone just like that.
The rain is coming down at a fast pace. I don’t have my umbrella and I don’t care if I get sick and end up in the hospital. It’s not the worst thing that can happen to me since I’m already living in my own hell.
Three hours of walking and my legs feel like they can’t go any further. I sit down on the wet sidewalk and cry myself uncontrollably. “Why Ethan?” I repeat to myself over and over wishing I had the answer to my own question. People are walking past me on the street. They probably think I’m crazy and maybe I am. I didn’t think my life would be over at nineteen.
A warm hand touches my shoulder. “It’s going to be alright, honey.”
I shake my head at the stranger. She doesn’t get it. It’s not going to be alright. He is gone.
She joins me on the sidewalk and holds me until I stop crying. By the time my eyes dry, I see that the sun has already set and the streetlights are coming on. “Let’s get you cleaned up and into some dry clothes so you don’t catch a cold.” She offers her hand to me and pulls me up. I normally don’t trust strangers, but I have lost all willpower to give a shit about what happens to me anymore.
We walk to her house where she lets me take a bath and hands me a pair of clean clothes. I take my time in the bathtub, staring down at my cellphone at the photo from our wedding day. We looked so happy in the picture. Ethan was an amazing guy. So loving, handsome, and caring.
We were married for less than a year and now I’m a widow.
A light tap at the door brings me back to my sad reality. “Honey, are you alright in there?”
I dry my tears. “Yes, I will be right out,” I tell her.
The clothes she gave me are too big on me but comfortable. I walk down the long hall and into the kitchen where the woman is sitting down at the table. I look around at her clean and shiny kitchen. It’s so spotless. “I hope you like tea.” She says, handing me a warm cup.
I nod and join her at the table.
She reaches for my hand. “I know the pain you are going through right now. My husband died last year from a heart attack.” She is a stranger. We never met before today. How does she know that I lost my husband? “I was visiting my husband’s grave when I saw you at the service not too far from where I was. I don’t mean to be nosey, but you look very young.”
That is because I am. Ethan and I met when we were only thirteen. My friends thought I was crazy when I told them that I was going to marry him one day, but it happened. He was my soulmate. He’s the only boyfriend I ever had. The only love I have ever known.
“I’m nineteen.”
She looks at me with sympathy. “You poor thing. Where’s your family? Your parents?”
When Ethan got accepted into the army, I knew he was going to be away training so I moved with him a day after our graduation. My parents didn’t approve of our relationship. They never believed that Ethan and I were going to be together forever. Mom wanted me to go to college to have a “bright future”. There wasn’t a future without Ethan. I didn’t care what they thought. I just knew that I needed to be with him. I haven’t spoken to my parents since the day I left their house.
“I don’t have any family.”
The woman keeps holding my hand. “I’m Katherine. What’s your name, sweetheart?”
Chapter One
Luke
“As long as we are together, we will make it.” I lean in and pull her body into mine as we kiss in front of the train station where we fell in love just two weeks earlier.
“That’s a wrap!” Mason Willis, the director, shouts from behind the camera as the lights come on. Everyone starts clapping. We have been filming the movie for a little over ten months now. I love my job as an actor, but I hate showing up to film almost every day. There were a lot of parties that I couldn’t go to because of the filming schedule. I have been stuck here in Colorado for the past three months. The cold weather here sucks! I need to go back to California. I really miss my life in LA. The parties, the women and the food. I need to book a flight first class back as quickly as possible.
I change out of my clothes in my dressing room and into my suit. I slap my Rolex on my wrist.
“Hey, you want to go out for a drink to celebrate?” Leslie, the actress who I’m supposed to be in love with in the movie, asks me as she stares at me just like every other woman out there does.
She’s cute but a low budget actress whereas I’m an A-list celebrity. I know what she is doing. She thinks if she is seen in public with me while the paparazzi take our photos then she will land bigger movie roles. She wants to make a name for herself.
It’s not happening on my watch. “I have an early flight. I can’t miss it.” I say, reaching for my sunglasses as I head out.
The world thinks I’m happily taken by Erika Ash, a well-known Victoria Secret model. Her face is on practically every billboard there is in LA. We have been living together for the past three years. We are an exciting couple in Hollywood. We’re like Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck if their relationship would have lasted. Everyone wants to know more about us. Paparazzi always follow us to see what we are having for dinner or where we are going for vacation. What people don’t know is that we aren’t really together in a couple sense. Sure, she’s hot and I know from the ladies that I’m pretty hot myself. We pretend to be a couple for attention. I like to show up to the red carpet events with her on my arm. Cameras go crazy in every direction wanting to get that perfect shot of us smiling and whispering to each other as we enjoy their eyes on us. Erika and I both know how to keep the media eating right out of our hands. It brings in more money making me richer by the day.
I was born into money and yet I can’t seem to get enough of it. What can I say? I’m a greedy bastard. My dad, Michael, was a famous screenwriter in Hollywood. He has written over thirty films in his forty years of working. One of his films “The Lost Guards” won an Oscar for Best Motion Picture. With him being a legend, it wasn’t shocking when I started acting school shortly after high school.
I saw the way people would fall to their feet whenever Dad would walk into the room. Women flirted with him and didn’t care that he was married. Of course, Dad didn’t flirt back. He was faithful to my mom. She trusted him and never questioned him. I was drawn to the way people were in awe of him.
Dad told me that he was proud of me for wanting to stay in Hollywood like him. He hoped that one day I would follow in his footsteps and become a screenwriter. That is where we were different. I prefer being in front of a camera while he liked to stay behind the camera. I love the spotlight. The thought of women watching me and wanting me is a craving that I like having. It makes me feel in control. Anyone would love to live this life of mine. I got it all.
I manage to make it back to my hotel dodging a few cameras. I look down at my phone to see I got a missed call from Matthew. He is my best friend. We grew up together. His dad was an actor. He starred in several of my dad’s movies. Matthew is the only person that I trust. I know he is loyal to me and would never sell me out for money no m
atter the cost the magazine is offering him.
“Hey, man! How’s it going?” I ask when he picks up the phone.
“Good. I just got done doing a photoshoot with Everglued. They apparently found me to be interesting enough to write an article about.” He says with a laugh.
“What’s it about?” I ask, pouring myself a shot of whiskey.
“This one is a bit different. They didn’t care about my personal life. It was all about my latest movie.”
Matthew is always in the media for the new girl he has been photographed with. Every week he is seen with a new woman. He hates relationships and just likes to meet them wherever he can. He likes to keep the media guessing who he is hooking up with. “So, enough about me. I heard you finished filming your new movie. What are you going to do now?”
I haven’t really thought about it. We were supposed to film for the next two and a half weeks, but we are done early. I’m not used to being ahead of schedule. I let out a sigh. “Probably just head back to LA and relax until the next film comes along.” Which shouldn’t take long. It seems that my agent tends to find movie auditions for me on a regular basis. Directors love working with me. Most of them knew my dad.
“I thought you said you and Erika were getting the house remodeled next month.”
Shit! I forgot about that. She is busy out of the country doing photo shoots for several magazines and I was supposed to be here for a while. We agreed to get a pool installed and a new deck added to our house while we are away. “Maybe I should do some traveling around the country for a month. Somewhere warm and sunny.”
Matthew tells someone in the background that he is almost done with the phone. “You could always go see your mom. You keep saying that you want to see her. Now would be a good time.”
I cringe. We haven’t spoken since the day of Dad’s funeral. She wanted me to move closer to her in Pennsylvania where she had family. My whole life, I grew up in LA. Pennsylvania had nothing to offer me. I told her that I couldn’t. She was disappointed. I didn’t call her because I knew she would find a way to tell me how lonely she was there. She’s good at giving the guilt trip.
I got nothing to do, so why not? I decide not to call her; I would rather surprise her with my warm welcome. We can catch up and forget how sad she was when I told her that I was staying in LA. I’m sure she will be happy to see me standing at her doorstep after all this time.
Chapter Two
Olivia
After dinner, I get a basket of yarn and the new knitting needles that we purchased yesterday at the local knitting store as we take our seats on the front porch enjoying this nice beautiful spring day.
“What do you feel like making today?” I ask her, handing her a cold glass of iced tea.
“A blanket for Savannah. I think she is outgrowing her old one.”
Katherine has been like a mother to me since the night she took me in like I was her daughter and not some woman who just lost her husband. I was expecting to stay for one night, but the next day we spent more time together. I told her everything about my life including the fact that I was pregnant. We became very close in just one day. She never asked me to leave. Days went on and we became like mother/daughter. When I asked her if she wanted me to leave, she insisted that I stay.
“I got no one here. My husband is gone. My son never calls to check in on me. It gets lonely here all by myself with no one to talk to. I feel like we met for a reason. Let me help you.” She said to me as her eyes begged me to stay, so I did.
As time went on, she filled me in that she was rich. I wouldn’t have guessed considering she lives in an average brick house with four bedrooms. Nothing too fancy. The inside of the house doesn’t look like it has been updated in over twenty years. The walls look like they were once bright yellow but now they’re a brownish color. She didn’t even own a flat screen television. Her television was the old school kind where it weighed way too much to pick up. It’s a real pain in the ass to clean. She told me that she likes to live a simple life away from Hollywood. I was shocked when she told me who her husband was. Michael Stewart was a well-known screenwriter. I have heard the name mentioned a handful of times from people who loved his films. I never saw a film of his, but Katherine made me watch every single one. My favorite was the only horror movie he wrote. It's about a crazy killer on the loose in a small city looking for victims. We watched it numerous times together. She recited all the lines through the film.
She got diagnosed with dementia two years ago. Sometimes she doesn’t remember her husband’s name or his movies. I like to turn them on from time to time just to try and help her remember. It’s the least I could do after she saved me. I will stay as long as she needs me.
Luke
I pull up to the house and stare at it for a moment. The house was built by my grandfather years before I was born. My parents would drive me here during the summer months when school was out. The town is too quiet. Mostly boring at times. No flashy cameras or people wanting your autograph. I bet I could walk around town without even being noticed. That’s why I don’t like it here. I want all eyes on me. People calling my name as I turn the corner to go grocery shopping.
It’s past ten at night so I know Mom is already asleep in her bed. I don’t want to wake her up so I use my key and sneak inside. We can catch up in the morning. One look around the living room and it’s the same way it has been since I last stepped inside years ago. Nothing changed. Mom got a lot of money after Dad’s death and yet she won’t upgrade to a flat screen.
I’m about to turn down the hall and head into my room when I stop. The sliding door outside is open. I tiptoe over to see who’s outside. Mom shouldn’t be outside this late. It’s too dark out there for her to be all alone. I hear a woman’s voice and it’s not Mom’s. She’s talking low on the phone. I can’t see her since she is sitting in a lawn chair facing away from me. Who the hell is this woman? And why is she at my mom’s house at this hour? Mom always liked to be in bed before it got dark out.
“Yeah, I will call you tomorrow. Love you.” The woman says before standing up to make her way back inside.
I stand hidden next to the refrigerator waiting for her to get close. What if she killed my mom because she knows she got money? I would never know since we haven’t spoken in years. She could have Mom somewhere holding her for ransom. The sounds of her feet hitting the kitchen floor as she gets closer makes me have crazy thoughts. The second I see her shadow approaching near, I quickly grabbed her and turned her around causing her back to hit hard off of the refrigerator.
Her eyes widen like I just scared the living daylight out of her and I know that I did. She looks like she is about to scream so I take my hand and place it over her mouth. Her warm breath hits my hand as she stares at me with fear.
“This is my mother’s house. I’m going to remove my hand and you better start telling me who the fuck you are and why you are here.”
She nods and I back away. Her breathing is heavy as she is still recovering from me grabbing her. I shouldn’t have done that, but I wasn’t thinking. It’s wrong to put your hands on anyone especially a woman. The poor woman is now terrified of me and I can see why. I’m well over six feet tall and all muscle while she looks barely over five feet. She’s tiny.
“I live here.” She answers with a shaky voice.
I walk over to her and box her in. “Where’s my mom?”
“I will explain everything to you if you would just back away from me and give me some space.” She demands.
I listen and pull out a chair at the table. This one I got to hear. She better not say Mom needed a roommate to cover some bills. Mom has more than enough money to pay for everything. She can buy anything she wants.
“My name is Olivia. I’m your mom’s caretaker.”
Okay, now I know she is using Mom for money. Mom doesn’t have any health problems. She is as healthy as a horse. She is still young and active. I wonder what this bitch said to convince her that
she needs a caretaker.
“Luke, your mom has dementia.”
I laugh. This woman is good at lying. Maybe she should become an actress. I almost believed her. “She is fine.”
“How would you know? You haven’t spoken to her since your father died.” She says.
What the fuck? I don’t know who she thinks she is but I don’t like her and I don’t want her here around Mom.
“Look here, Olivia, if that is your real name. I’m her son. I would have been informed if she was diagnosed with dementia by a doctor. I would prefer it if you would leave this house now.” I am done playing games with her.
She crosses her arms. “No.”
“No?”
“You heard me. Katherine wants me here so I am staying for her. The only way I will leave is if she asks me to and that isn’t going to happen.”
“I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but I can assure you that I will make sure that you get the hell out of this house soon,” I say, letting her take in my words. I’m not backing down. She doesn’t belong here.
She doesn’t back down from my threat. “Let me ask you this since you care about your mother. Why haven’t you called her in the last few years?”
I run my hands over my face, getting pissed off at her. I walk to where she is standing. “I don’t answer questions from con artists like you,” I say, pointing directly at her before I walk away to my room. Mom always kept my old room in case I ever stopped to visit like tonight.
“Don’t open the door. You will wake her!” Olivia says whispering as she runs down the hall to where I’m standing.
“Who the hell is in that room?” I ask, pointing to my old room. How many people are living in this house?
“That’s Savannah’s room. She’s my daughter. Katherine wanted her to have that room.”
I don’t bother to ask her any more questions. I go outside to the porch to have some privacy as I pull out my phone and dial Matthew’s phone.
