“Did she hide it from you, Cole?”
“She didn’t hide it so much as she didn’t disclose it at first, but that’s natural when you’ve just met someone I think. It only took her about a week to tell me, but even then I was a little skeptical. I did my research and knew who C.W. Oliver was supposed to be, and I couldn’t imagine this beautiful diminutive blonde was the same person.”
“It is a little funny, because Ted, the guy that most people thought was C.W. Oliver, is a very tall guy,” Trent explained. “When I saw the back cover of this book for the first time, I was slightly taken aback, because you weren’t at all what I expected. Does that surprise you, Camdyn?”
“Not really,” I smiled. “I have a tendency to be slightly unpredictable, doing things such as upchucking in decorative plants, so for me to not be what someone expected is fairly normal.”
“Do these kinds of things happen often?” Trent asked Cole with a smile.
“That was actually a first,” he explained, “but Camdyn has a way of getting herself into situations, I will admit.”
“Well, hopefully the situation she finds herself in this week will be at the top of the bestseller lists,” Trent tidily wrapped up. “The name of the book is Crossing Heartbreak, and it’s available today. Camdyn, Cole, thank you for coming by. Next time we’ll give you a first aid check-up in the dressing room.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, sighing and looking down at my hands.
With that, we were ushered off set and I found Lex to retrieve my purse. There was a toothbrush lurking in there, and I was in desperate need. We didn’t really have time to wait, though, because we were out the door and headed to the next interview with Karen and Jen, which started in ten minutes. Luckily for us, they were just a couple floors up in the same building. Standing in the elevator with a toothbrush in my mouth, I glanced over at Cole, who was trying very hard not to laugh and not being very successful.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he reiterated.
“Yes,” I insisted around the toothbrush. “Can we just forget about it already?”
He nodded, but a few minutes later when I stepped onto the set for Karen and Jen, I couldn’t help but notice that there was a blue plastic bucket by my chair. Rather than a couch this time, there were three barstools, so it appeared that Cole could breathe easily for the moment. Since I was still in the makeup from Trent’s show, a young man who looked remarkably like our friend Tony from back home popped over to fluff my hair a bit. He raised his eyebrows a bit at the bucket and chuckled, and then he was gone, leaving me to wait for my hostesses. To my surprise, they started the countdown about fifteen feet away from me on a kitchen set, and I sat there alone wondering what was happening.
“Okay, Karen, as you know, it’s time for Tuesday Morning Book Club,” Jen stated, stretching out her arm under a multicolored draped sleeve of her tunic dress. Her blonde hair was straight and fell to her shoulders, about the same length as her earrings, which featured tiny black chains with multicolored baubles at the bottom.
“Yes, Jen, and I can’t do any proper reading without a glass of wine, so let’s break out the goblets, shall we?” Karen laughed, tilting her head underneath a dark braid that was plaited down one side. Her red pencil skirt was topped with a white flowy blouse, and as soon as they had bantered a little about their wine, they headed in my direction.
“Hello,” Jen called to me as she entered my line of vision. “The gang’s all here, Karen, so put down the wine bottle and get over here.”
“Okay, okay,” Karen answered, rushing over to us with the wine glass firmly in her hand. “I would offer you some wine, but…” Karen brought her free hand up from her stomach and shoved it out past her face in a graceful movement that looked like it could have been sign language for vomit.
“No, no wine for me, thank you,” I assured her.
“Karen, this is C.W. Oliver,” Jen stated as Karen perched on that barstool.
“It can’t be…”
“Yes, it is, see the back of the book here?” Jen pointed to my headshot and Karen pretended to be shocked. “C.W. Oliver is actually Camdyn Taylor, and she’s a wee bit nervous.”
“I’m actually fine…” I insisted.
“Why would she be nervous to be with us?” Karen asked, giving me an exaggerated wink. “Of course I’m only messing with you, Camdyn, because I’m a huge fan. Huge. Aren’t I, Jen?”
“She is, really.”
“The last time we had a C.W. Oliver book release was for The General’s Wife, and I showed up that day dressed like Martha Washington. No lie. I had a mass of petticoats.” Karen took a sip of her wine as she gazed over at me.
“I actually did see that,” I told her with a smile.
“I was authentic, really,” Karen continued. “I even used the appropriate language for the time period. Jen can attest to it. I stayed in character all day.”
“That’s amazing,” I said.
“What I want to know, Camdyn,” Jen interrupted, “is how hard was it for you to not tell people you were C.W. Oliver? When The General’s Wife released, for example, and you saw Karen acting like an imbecile. Or, if you were at the bookstore, and you saw someone carrying your book around. Was it killing you not to say, ‘I wrote that!’ in those cases? That would be literally killing me.”
Literally killing you? Um, no, that is not grammatically correct.
Wow, Camdyn, are you going to mentally correct their English now, on national television?
“Sometimes it was difficult to accomplish things – I think that was the worst part for me,” I informed her. “It would have been a lot easier to do some of my research if I could have gone in confidently and told people that I was C.W. Oliver, but for the most part I would have to pretend to be a college student or a tourist. Luckily for me, I am clumsy enough that most people wound up feeling sorry for me and helped me, even though they shouldn’t have.”
“But that will be over now, because you can just walk in and say, ‘I’m Camdyn Taylor,’ and people will be lining up to help you,” Karen added. “Can we talk about Crossing Heartbreak for a moment? Oh, Camdyn, this Robert character… The dark hair and the smile, and… Oh my goodness, I can’t even talk about it. Is this him?” She pointed to Cole just beyond the cameras. “Did you bring him with you? I mean, if you did, I will pay you any amount of money to take him home with me.”
“Actually, that is my husband, Cole, and I wouldn’t accept any amount of money for him,” I jokingly answered. “He is priceless.”
“Cole, you are something, isn’t he Jen?” Karen smirked as she stared out at him.
“Please hold your thoughts, Camdyn, while we flirt with your husband,” Jen teased, shaking her head at Karen. “Karen was a little obsessed with Robert after she read your book.”
“I want to move to Tennessee now,” Karen added, raising her wine glass a little higher in the air. “I will get in a horse-drawn buggy if I have to, I am quite serious.”
“Since I actually did follow Cole to Tennessee, I won’t chastise you for that,” I laughed.
“You live in Tennessee?” Karen wanted to know. “Wait a minute, I have to hear this. How did you follow Cole to Tennessee?”
“Okay, truth be told, I followed Willa to Tennessee, trying to find the rest of her story for Crossing Heartbreak. I wound up in the middle of nowhere, completely lost, and suddenly, I had the most unbelievable rescuer.”
“Was it Cole?” Karen wondered, flashing a swoony-looking smile.
“Naturally. In a strange turn of events, he wound up living on the same land Willa lived on all those years ago.”
“It was meant to be,” Karen sighed.
“Now you’ve got her lovesick juices flowing,” Jen complained. “I won’t be able to get her to do anything the rest of the day. I actually have a question I want to ask, if I can interrupt this romance lesson for a moment. Are you going to be making cameo appearances in your movies? I know some writers like to d
o that.”
“There has been some discussion about it, but I’m not sure at this point,” I answered.
“You’d be a fantastic actress, I can tell,” Karen interrupted. “Just don’t throw up on anybody.”
“That’s wonderful advice,” I laughed.
“The book is Crossing Heartbreak,” Jen wrapped up. “Go out and get it today, unless Karen has already purchased every copy so she can assemble this horse-drawn buggy she’s going to ride to Tennessee. Thank you, Camdyn, and we hope you’ll be back. Maybe next time we can offer you a drink.”
“Your husband really is cute,” Karen whispered as she stood up, grinning at me. “Oh, your book. I could pick your brain for hours. ‘My heart never stopped waiting for you.’ I died, seriously. I’m still picking up the pieces.”
“Thank you, really.” She thrust her book out for me to sign, and I flipped it open and scrawled my name across the page. It was only then that I remembered about Rachel and the autographs, but not having anything with me, I pulled off my blazer and asked her to sign the back of my shirt. She thought that was pretty humorous, and told me I was her kind of girl. Once she motioned Jen over to sign my back to further prove that I had in fact turned into a backwoods hillbilly, I was with Cole and Lex again, this time headed just up the block to our last stop. While we were on our way, though, Lex had a call to cancel the interview. As soon as he said the words, I abruptly stopped walking and placed my hands on my hips, watching his reaction.
“Change of plans,” he stated calmly. “No morning show interview, because they want you on late night instead with Jamie Price. Camdyn, I think you just got me a promotion.”
“See there, Lex?” I asked with a smile. “That’s what happens when you team up with someone who’s not afraid to vomit on national television.”
-§-
Three hours later, I found myself in yet another dressing room, this time without the company of my husband, who had gone out to pick up another outfit. Lex insisted that it wouldn’t do for me to wear the same thing on the morning and late night shows, but they didn’t want to take a chance of me not arriving in time, so Cole was sent on the clothes errand. I was sitting there imagining his annoyance at being sent on that mission when there was a knock on the door, and in stepped Jamie. He liked to meet his guests before the show, he said, and he was very gracious. I had seen his face on TV so many times that it was strange to be standing face to face with him. He seemed taller on TV somehow, and in person his hair contained more gray around the temples. All in all, though, it was a good meeting. I even convinced him to sign my t-shirt. (I figured I couldn’t get much lower than my morning escapade, so I might as well go all out.)
After he left, a chatty young lady came in to touch up my makeup yet again. She had neon pink streaks on one side of her brown hair, and her clothes were head-to-toe black.
“How you feeling?” she wondered. “I heard about what happened this morning.”
“Oh, I’m fine,” I assured her. “I think my nerves just got the better of me.”
“Yeah, I see some nervous people in here from time to time,” she stated. “I wasn’t feeling too well this morning myself – had a terrible case of cramps. I’m talking terrible.”
Chronic over-sharing about your monthlies – nice.
“I’m sorry about that,” I tried to sound sincere, though feeling slightly weird about the conversation.
“Sometimes they’re bad enough that they make me sick to my stomach,” she continued. “Maybe that’s what you had.”
Someone interrupt us, please!
“I really don’t think so,” I muttered. That was a pretty far-fetched leap she was making. Anyway, since we’d been married, I hadn’t even had my…
Oh.
But come on, that’s impossible. We’ve been married for, what, three and a half weeks? That’s completely crazy.
Isn’t it?
I remember checking the calendar for that before the wedding, and it was about two weeks before, right? That would have left me with two weeks before it came around again.
And it’s been three and a half.
So, just a slight delay.
Slight, like if you would call whiffing a pitch by two feet as it hits the dirt a slight miss.
Yeah.
“Hey,” Cole suddenly burst into the room, carrying a garment bag in his hands. “Sorry it took so long. I was walking back up to where Jesse was waiting with the car, and I saw this dress in a window, but I didn’t know what size to get, so I had to call Rachel. Then we had to have this whole conversation about sizing and how some of these New York places size things smaller, or so she said. Anyway, I hope it works and that you like it.”
I’m a week late, my heart wanted to blurt, but my head thought better of it.
“You bought a dress,” I stated slowly, rising to my feet. The makeup girl excused herself and slipped out the door while Cole hung it against the wall and began to unzip the bag. As soon as I caught a glimpse of it, I couldn’t help but start laughing.
“What?”
“That looks remarkably like the dress Hannah loaned me last week.”
“I know, right?” he asked with a dazzling smile. “I saw it in that window, and it was like it was calling my name.” With a slight grimace, I held my hand up against my curls as I stared at him.
“So did you buy it for the show, or so I would have it at home?” Twisting his mouth to the side, he appeared to be thinking it over.
“Does it really matter?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Another weary plane ride, and we were back in Tennessee by that evening. Rosalie was making us dinner, and then we were going to have a watch party to enjoy my late night appearance. Going to the bed and breakfast was making me a little uneasy, as I hadn’t been there since the day I instructed Rita never to breathe on me again. That had probably been a little dramatic, and now that I was removed from it I really wished Rosalie hadn’t witnessed it, but it was too late. It probably was better that I didn’t speak to her anyway, at least for the time being.
When we pulled up at the two-story white home, it was impossible not to notice Charlotte’s form at the window, bouncing up and down excitedly.
I’m not ready to be a mom.
I mean, am I? I certainly don’t feel any different than I did three weeks ago.
“What are you thinking about?” Cole wanted to know, staring at me in the passenger seat of the car.
“Um…” I hesitated, not wanting to tell him the truth. “Do you think Rita’s here?”
“I have no idea, but Aunt Rosalie wouldn’t let her bother you, if she was.” He leaned over and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. “Just in case I don’t get the chance to say it later, Cam, I am amazed at how you handled yourself today. You really surprised me.”
“You didn’t expect me to hurl?” I teased, but he didn’t smile.
“You have a really bad habit of trying to be funny when I am legitimately paying you a compliment,” he complained, looking deeply into my eyes.
“Because I’m such a screw up,” I offered. “It’s easier to laugh it off than to convince myself that you honestly believe those things.”
“Well, I want you to look at me, and don’t laugh this off, Cam,” he ordered. “I was proud these past couple of days to stand beside you as you went through this, and to let the world know that we’re a team. I didn’t even mind when one of those people at the last interview called me Mr. Taylor. I don’t want you to forget that.”
“I know,” I whispered.
“Make sure you know, because you have turned my life upside down, and I’m perfectly fine with that. I love you way more today than I did when we got married, so I can’t imagine how much I’ll love you a year from now – how well I will know you a year from now.”
“Just think of all the other opportunities I’ll have to throw up in front of you,” I replied.
“I thought you weren’t doing that,” he s
ighed.
“I’m sorry,” I admitted.
“So, just remember how much I love you when I have to relay this message to you. I’ve been putting it off, but I feel like I have to tell you now.”
No more surprises today, please!
“Message from whom?” My chest felt like it was constricting, and my palms started to get a little clammy.
“When you showed up on your grandpa’s doorstep, he believed it was a miracle,” he began slowly, continuing to stare at me without any hint of emotion. “He is really happy to have you and Charlie in his life, and he wanted me to tell you that he loves you very much.”
“And?” I squeaked out, feeling my fingers trembling a bit.
“And, he loves Darlene, too. He wants her to know, and he thinks you’re the only one who can tell her.”
“Oh, Cole…”
“Because he loves both of you, he doesn’t want to see you with anything unresolved, like Isabel. He doesn’t want you to live with a life of regret.”
“Well, what does he want me to do?” I asked with exasperation, shoving my hair behind my ear.
“He wants you to forgive her.”
Not able to work out a proper expression of my feelings in my head, I opened the car door and stepped out into the yard, calmly walking in the direction of the house. Cole’s door slammed shut just seconds later, and in a couple of quickly jogged steps, he was at my side and had me by the elbow.
“Hold up,” he breathed. “I knew you wouldn’t like me telling you that – that’s why I put it off for so long.”
“I’m not angry with you,” I assured him, allowing him to pull me into his arms. “I just… I don’t know if I can, Cole. It’s easy to talk about forgiveness in a broad concept, but the actual process of doing the thing feels monumental. It’s not simple words – it’s deep seeded emotional hurt that I’ve fought for years to bury. To bring it to the surface and just toss it out like it doesn’t exist…”
A Reason to Forget (The Camdyn Series Book 3) Page 29
