by Maya Hughes
“Partially, yes. I admit that, but things have changed now. I would never keep you apart from Emma.”
“Then why keep the papers? Why bring them here? Especially after how things have gone with us since you’ve been here.” Was she only with him because she thought he wanted to take Emma from her? Was this all to protect against a custody dispute?
“I completely forgot about them, Gabe. Honestly, I brought them with me because they have always been like a security blanket when it came to Emma. You’ve been out being a big movie star, making millions of dollars, and it was possible you could show up out of the blue and take my little girl from me. I didn’t want to take that chance. So that’s why I had the papers drawn up,” she said, tears in her eyes.
“You thought I would try to take her from you?” he asked, shaking his head. “I thought we were doing so well and making a lot of progress in our relationship, but I was fooling myself. I thought that you knew me, Alex.”
“Gabe, it will be okay. I’ll throw away the papers right now. We can work on a different agreement. One that’s fairer,” she said, trying to calm him.
“I don’t want an agreement, Alex!” he roared. “I want a family. I want you and me and Emma to be a family. I don’t want a court order telling me when I can see my little girl. I want to be able to walk down the hallway and give her a hug and a kiss and read her bedtime stories. And I want to be with you. You said you loved me and here you are talking about agreements when it comes to Emma. That makes me wonder if I’ve just been fooling myself all along to think we could move forward.” He slumped down on the bed.
“Gabe, we can have that. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought the papers, and I do love you, but this is all scary for me.”
“You don’t think this is scary for me too? This isn’t just about us. If things go wrong, I lose both of you. That was a chance I was willing to take, but apparently, your stance is scorched earth,” he said, gesturing to the envelope he’d placed on the bed next to him.
“Gabe, please,” Alex started.
“I think you should go, Alex,” he said, looking up at her with all the hurt and anger coursing through him.
“You want me to go?”
“I want you and Emma to go back to the States. With this tabloid story and this,” he said, gesturing to the envelope, “maybe it’s better that we spend some time apart and figure out what will be best for all of us moving forward.” He got up from the bed and walked past her as he headed to the bedroom door.
“I’ll have someone get in touch with you to give you all the details about heading back to the States. And I would appreciate it if Emma and I could video chat with each other at least once a day. I’ll go talk to her at the play group and have the nanny bring her back as soon as they’re finished,” he said.
“I never meant to hurt you. I’m sorry Gabe,” she whispered as he passed. A jolt shot straight through his heart. He’d had it all for a short while, and then it had all fallen apart.
“I’m sorry too,” he said as he left the room and walked out the front door.
Chapter 30
The trip back from Scotland was a blur. Gabe had made all the arrangements just like he said he would. They had their flights booked for the following day and their bags were packed for them.
“Daddy, where are your bags?” Emma demanded, stomping her foot at the front door. “We’re going to be late! I want to see the planes!”
He crouched down with a watery expression and pulled Emma to him, squeezing her in the tight hug.
“Daddy! Too tight. Go get your bags,” she insisted, pushing back in his hold.
“I’m not coming with you sweetie,” he sighed, squeezing her again.
“Why not?” Now Emma’s gaze was the watery one. She looked to Alex, who stood frozen, unable to explain to her daughter what had happened. Emma squeezed him back with her arms wrapped around his neck. “Daddy, why aren’t you coming?”
“I still have work here, Emma, but I can talk to you on your mom’s phone every night. And you can call me at any time, okay?”
“And once you’re finished working you’ll come back home?”
Gabe’s gaze darted to hers before darting away.
“We’ll see, sweetie. We’ll see.”
Alex wiped a stray tear off her cheek before Emma could say it. The hug from him was enough to quell Emma’s melt down. He kept avoiding her gaze and refused to talk to her. Every time she tried to get him alone to talk to him, he would walk out of the room. With Emma there, it made it harder to try to talk to him and he seemed perfectly fine with that situation. Emma took a nap just before the car was to arrive and she thought she finally have her chance, but he pushed back Emma’s hair and kissed her on her forehead and excused himself before she could speak to him again.
He came back as the car arrived to take them to the airport and she picked Emma up to carry her to the car. He said his goodbyes to Emma again, giving her a big hug and promising that he would talk to her as soon as they landed. The car pulled off and she peered out the back window, watching him as he stood in the middle of the road with his hands thrust into his pockets.
The flight was uneventful, if much more subdued than their trip to Scotland a few weeks earlier. There was a car waiting to take them home when they got to their home airport. Opening the door to their house felt like they were walking into someone else’s house. It was their house, but it felt different now. The cottage had become home while they were in Scotland. Their home with Gabe. All the items she had purchased in Scotland came in a shipment a couple of days later, and he included a few extra items for Emma.
Jen called to check in on her a few times.
“Why did you bring the papers if you didn’t intend to use them?”
“I grabbed them from the office when I was getting ready to leave. I was checking them over in my room and he popped in. I freaked. I didn’t want him to see them so I threw them in my bag and started packing on top of them. I forgot they were even there.”
“Why didn’t you tell him that you never intended to have him sign them?”
“I tried, but he was upset that I had them drawn up in the first place.”
“That’s not fair to you. He has no idea what things were like for you back then,” Jen snapped.
“I can’t say I blame him. I thought I’d put it all behind me. I thought I could let it go, then I found out the truth about Lesley and it made it all so much worse. If I hadn’t been such a coward back then and found out what really happened, we wouldn’t have had to be apart at all.” She threw herself onto the guest-room bed, clutching the pillow to her chest. It had been a few weeks, but there was still the faintest hint of his scent. She’d taken to sleeping in there since they got back.
“Alex, you can’t completely blame yourself. And you can’t completely blame Gabe. A lot of this crap storm is because of that prick, Aaron. He’s the one that should be miserable, not you two.”
“Hopefully that little shit will get his at the meeting Gabe’s having in a couple of days with his new talent agency.”
“Gabe’s coming back to LA?”
“Yes, there’s going to be a gap in production for a few weeks. He’s going back to LA for a while, and I hope he’ll come by here, too,” Alex sighed.
“Hang in there Alex. I’ll give you a call in a day or so and check in on you two.”
The pair moped around the house, staying mainly in their pajamas. She didn’t even make pancakes. This was cereal emergency time. Emma missed her daddy and was moaning that she didn’t get to see him in person every day like she’d grown accustomed to. And for her, she missed the companionship, the help with Emma, and most importantly, his love and affection. She’d been mostly numb since their fight in the cottage. She didn’t know which way to turn. Everything she’d done to try to protect herself from heartache and here she was, alone again.
She’d been so wrapped up in not being afraid to be alone that she forgot to be o
kay with being with someone when things were going right. Her fear of falling in love had put her in the exact place she’d always prepared herself for—being alone. Did she feel like she wasn’t worthy of a loving relationship?
*
He left the cottage immediately after Alex and Emma left. Rattling around the house all on his own, being reminded of them at every turn, was not his idea of a good time. He checked into a hotel and spent as much time as he could on-set. Trying not to think about them during working hours was much more difficult than he imagined.
Coming home to a house that was buzzing with energy, filled with laughter, and covered in toys was something he hadn’t realized he’d been missing out on all these years. Only a few weeks, and now he was lost without them.
The pain in his chest was still there whenever he thought about those papers. Alex had been so upset with him that she’d wanted to take his little girl away from him. Although she’d said she never intended to give them to him, the fact that she’d had them drawn up was enough to cut him to the core.
Heading back to LA the following day would help resolve at least a couple of his current issues. Who would have thought that two weeks ago, he wouldn’t have cared less about Aaron? But he wanted to make sure that Aaron paid for what he’d done to the three of them. Shopping around for a new agency had been easy. It wasn’t too often that a franchise star sought new management, but he’d gone with the one that had a stellar reputation and would be on board with the future career plans he wanted to put in motion.
Chapter 31
Gabe’s hands were sweaty as he walked into the executive-level conference room in the office of his new talent management agency. He’d yet to confront Aaron in person and he wasn’t looking forward to it. He kept telling himself not to jump over the table to deck that smarmy little prick. It would be just what he wanted and he would use it to add some onerous crap to the escape clause in his contract. His new management team and their lawyers were standing, getting ready for Aaron and his former talent agency to come in the door, when who should slide in the conference room door but the fiery redhead he hadn’t seen in years—Jen Taylor.
Staring at her with his mouth hanging open, he didn’t get a chance to talk to her because Aaron and his entourage stormed into the conference room, sucking all the air out of the room in the process. Jen pulled up a chair alongside the rest of his team and pulled out her notepad and pen. He hadn’t known she was working for the talent agency.
“I want everyone to know that Gabriel Stevens being here, presumably under your representation, is a complete and total breach of his agreement with my agency and we will be looking for full damages,” Aaron challenged.
He started to come out of his seat when one of the agency partners placed a firm hand on his arm.
“Mr. Stevens came to us after a serious breach of confidence that was orchestrated by your agency. In light of this breach, he was fully within his rights to break his contract with your agency and pursue damages in the amount of all the agency percentages that he has ever made for your company, plus interest. We feel that it is quite generous that he’s willing to leave it there financially and not pursue punitive damages.”
“That’s ridiculous! We haven’t breached any confidence. We provided the best path forward to ensure that his career wasn’t derailed and continued to thrive,” Aaron snarled.
“Derailed?” Gabe roared, unable to hold back any longer. He launched out of his seat and the partner grabbed onto his arm to keep him from vaulting over the table. “My daughter is not a derailment. She’s my daughter and because of you, I lost out on over six years of her life.”
“I only did what I needed to do to make you a star,” Aaron bit out.
“I didn’t ask to be a star. Not at the expense of my daughter and Alex.”
“Oh please—”
Aaron was cut off by one of his lawyers.
“While it seems like there is some disagreement over what has occurred in the past, there is still the case of Mr. Steven’s breaking his contract with our agency. Signing with you prior to terminating his agreement with us puts him in breach and we would require damages in the amount of any future earnings agreed upon under our current contract until it expires in another seven years.”
“Like hell,” Gabe snarled. “You’re not getting another cent from me.”
“Mr. Stevens—,” before Aaron’s lawyer could continue, Jen stood up and distributed folders to the five people on the other side of the table.
“In the folders in front of you, I have registered letters signed for by Aaron Mitchell. I have included copies of those letters as well as copies of the photos inside. I have also included the email correspondence between Ms. Alexandra Davies and Aaron Mitchell, where he repeatedly claims to be speaking for a fully informed Mr. Stevens, relaying his client’s desire to have no contact with Ms. Davies.
“I have a restraining order taken out on behalf of Mr. Gabriel Stevens under false pretenses, which is a criminal offense. If you pursue this, we will push this as far as it will go and there will be criminal charges. We will also let this entire city know the type of agents you have at your agency. Actually,” she said with a snap of her fingers. “I think that another stipulation for this dispute going away quietly will be that Mr. Mitchell should be immediately fired, and at least a portion of the damages due to Mr. Stevens should come from Aaron’s own pocket.” His balls crawled up inside at the venom dripping from her tongue. She was one scary chick. He sure was glad she was on his side.
“I heard you picked up a very nice waterfront property in the Pacific Palisades, Mr. Mitchell. I’m sure that would go a small way toward some of those expenses,” she said with a smirk.
*
Things wrapped up quickly after Jen dropped the bombshell in the meeting. Aaron was shown the door by his agency. Gabe enjoyed watching him nearly burst into tears as the lawyers informed him that they would not be representing him and it would be in his best interest to cooperate with their demands.
“Jen, I didn’t know you were working for this agency,” Gabe said, pulling her aside once the meeting was finished.
“I don’t, but my law firm wanted someone here to help with the negotiations and I made it known that I had essential information, so here I am,” she said, gathering up all her things.
“Listen Gabe, I don’t know one hundred percent what happened with you two in Scotland, but I want you to know that she’s been through a lot and does want to make it work with you.”
He was still raw over the custody paper discovery, and started to walk away.
“You need to hear this,” Jen said, putting a hand on his arm to stop his retreat. “She came to me when Emma was one and asked me to draw those up. Alex was deathly afraid of losing her. She’d already lost you. She thought you wanted nothing to do with her, but she thought that maybe one day you would want to see your daughter. She was in a dark place; heartbroken and terrified of the power that you had.”
“That’s crazy! I would never have tried to take Emma away from her,” he argued.
“I know that and she knows that. Now. But think of Alex before. As far as she knew, you wanted nothing to do with her. Cut off all communication, had her forcibly removed from your agency’s office, and filed for a restraining order against her. She thought she meant nothing to you and that you cheated on her less than a day after she left. And from that desperation came that custody agreement. She never intended for you to see them. I don’t even think she remembered she had them in her bag.”
“I never would have cheated on her. It always seems like something is getting in the way when it comes to us,” Gabe said.
“I know that, Gabe. But you two are finally in a place where this can work. She knows you never slept with Lesley. You know about Emma and you know how much she loves you. And how much you love Emma and Alex.”
“More than anything. And I sent her away in Scotland. We’ve done video chats with Emma every nigh
t, but she must hate me,” he lamented, his shoulders slumped.
“She doesn’t hate you, not at all. She’s scared to tell you how much she wants to be with you because she’s afraid she will be rejected again.”
“I would never. Those two are my heart. So, what do I do now?”
“You go get your girls!” Jen insisted, pushing him toward the elevator.
He said a few hasty goodbyes to the people on his new management team, and then he threw himself into the open elevator before jamming his finger into the Lobby button. He called the driver and told him to pull up around the front of the building. The phone cut out before he could call his assistant, so he practically bowled over the two people who were waiting for the doors to open in the lobby.
Jumping into the car that pulled up outside of the building, he was on his phone talking to his assistant, trying to make arrangements for the next flight out of LAX—he had two hours to get to the airport, but the car came to a sudden stop. He stared out the front window and it was absolute gridlock. Groaning, he glanced at the time and started doing calculations in his head. He had to get to them tonight; he felt it in his bones.
Chapter 32
Alex was packing up a small bag for her and Emma as she was on the phone trying to get through to someone at the airline. She tried to book online, but it seemed that she was too close to any departure times. Hoping that putting a call through would get them tickets a little faster, she rushed through the house picking up any essentials.
Emma was sitting at the bottom of the steps with her little flight bag, ready to go on another adventure. A beep in her ear let her know that she had another incoming call. Pulling the phone from the side of her face, she saw that it was Jen calling. Not wanting to lose her spot on the phone queue and not knowing how to put the other line on hold, she decided to let Jen’s call ring out. She put the phone on speaker and sent Jen a text.
A: Heading out soon. Going to get Gabe back.
