Caitlyn opened her mouth to argue, but Finn cut her off.
“I will not let this mess derail my project at this point. Go on camera and say whatever you want to make yourself feel better. Say we’re just friends, or that you were trying to steal me away from Naomi. I don’t really care. Just say something and be ready to stick by it. But think carefully about what you want to say, because you’ll have to ride out whatever comes after that.”
“In other words, you’re not going to involve yourself? How typical of you to just remove yourself from the situation. It gives me the choice of either getting pulled into a catfight with Naomi over you or falling on my sword. Great.” She collapsed back with a sigh and rubbed her hands over her eyes.
“You’re overreacting. I’d recommend you take the middle path and just let it blow itself out. You only have four days of filming left before the rest of us go back to L.A. to finish up. You can suck it up for that long.”
She pushed to her feet and started to pace. “Gee, Finn, thanks for the support.”
“Frankly, I’ve had it with the whole damn lot of you. The pettiness, the egos …”
“My ego? You’re practically asking me to wear the scarlet letter for the sake of your project and you have the nerve to complain about my ego in the same breath?”
“You’re damn right. Big picture time, Cait. The project is what matters here.”
“To you.” She threw his words back at him.
“It should matter to you, too. You of all people—”
That stopped her pacing. She stepped in front of him. “Me of all people?”
“Your father is famous for saying it’s all about the work, not the people. You know that’s how it works.”
“Do not quote my parents to me. I’m well aware what they say in public. Unlike you, though, I know what they say in private. And my father told me many times that starlets are infinitely replaceable. Why do you think—?” She interrupted herself. “Oh, that’s right. You don’t think about anything other than yourself.”
“Says the person too focused on her own press to realize that if she’d focus on Folly instead of—”
He knew just where to aim the blows to do the most damage to her ego. Well, so did she. “Screw you, Finn. This isn’t about the damn film. Your precious picture will be fine. Your grandparents will be so proud, and you’ll outshine your brothers for once. Hip, hip, hooray.”
His eyes narrowed. “Don’t bring my family into this.”
“Why not? You brought mine into it.”
“Because it was relevant.”
“Here’s relevance for you. Go to hell.”
“Oh, grow up, Cait. This kind of garbage just comes with the territory.”
“No, this kind of garbage comes from being with you. Once again I’m getting dragged down, and you won’t lift a finger to help.” There—she’d said it. It had been simmering under her anger all day.
“I am trying to help.”
“Lord, I’d hate to see what you do when you do nothing. Oh, wait—I already know. Maybe I should just pack my bags and head back to London.”
“Don’t play the martyr, Cait.”
“I’ll play whatever part I damn well want. It’s well within my range. Rest assured, though, that I’ll make sure that Folly is everything you want it be. Can’t let your grandparents down again, can we?”
“Well, just realize that there’s no project in the world that will make your parents proud enough to actually pay attention to you.”
She saw red and heard the slap reverberate around the room. Only when the painful sting started crawling over her palm and up her arm did she realize she’d actually slapped him. It had been hard enough to turn his head, and his cheek was turning red from the impact. She’d never been mad enough to hit another person before. Guilt battled with the elation of vindication as the silence grew heavy between them.
Finn rubbed his fingers over the mark. “The A.D. will be in touch about call times tomorrow. After losing time today, we’ll be rearranging the schedule.”
Caitlyn was still breathing hard, and the anger and adrenaline rushing through her blood had her shaking. The sinking feeling in her stomach, though, came from something else entirely and bordered on pain.
“I’ll be there.”
A curt nod was Finn’s only response, and he was out the door before she could say anything else. She heard the shouts of the crowd outside, then the roar of Finn’s motorcycle.
That hadn’t gone as planned.
She went to the fridge in search of wine.
Five hours later Caitlyn was comfortably buzzed, but it wasn’t enough to take the pain away. In fact, it was simply making it easier to be depressed and cranky. She should have known better than to seek solace in a bottle again. It wasn’t helping any more this time than it had in the past.
The throng outside her door had thinned a little, but not enough for her to brave going out. Not that she had anywhere to go.
And she didn’t have anyone to call, either.
So instead she got to sit here, alone, and think. And thinking was the very last thing she really wanted to do, because the more she thought, the less she liked her conclusions.
Funny how everyone had used to say she was a happy drunk. Today she was just a maudlin drunk, steeping in her own pity.
Finn had been partly right. It galled her to admit it, and it disgusted her that she’d been so far off-base before as to not see it herself. She’d spent her whole life trying to prove something to her parents, and when that hadn’t worked she’d bounced the other way and made sure she had their—and everyone else’s—attention. From then on, it had just been a vicious circle.
Funnily enough, Finn was the only person who had genuinely seemed to accept her back then. She snorted. Because he hadn’t cared.
But he had to have cared a little bit. Maybe? At least back then? Or not. It was very hard to tell because he cared about so little. Especially now, damn him.
She’d locked up all her inner parts to keep them safe and under control, and then she’d given the key to the last person on earth she should. Why on earth was she surprised to end up right back here again? It would have been insanity to expect a different result.
Caitlyn leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes. At least Finn was consistent. And he seemed happy enough. Maybe she should take his advice.
Why did she care what people said about her? The tabloids contained no truth at all, so why let it bother her? Why not just do as she damn well pleased and at least make herself happy?
Folly would guarantee her entry back into her career. It wasn’t Finn who’d made her look like such a loose cannon that no one wanted to work with her. So as long as she kept the partying to a minimum she’d still have her job. The rest of it … Well, she’d just have to hold her head high and act like she didn’t care.
It wasn’t as if she didn’t have a shining example to follow. Finn was certainly the master, and she could simply emulate him.
It had to be easier than this.
“Do you need me to find you a local dentist?”
Finn looked up to see Liz, one of the P.A.s, looking at him oddly. “No. Why?”
“You keep rubbing your jaw like it hurts or something. Do you have a toothache?”
“I’m fine.” His jaw was a little sore. Who’d have known Cait had such a strong right arm? He fully admitted he’d deserved it, though; that crack about her parents had been uncalled for and he was honest enough to admit it. But her accusations and blame-throwing had pushed him to retaliate in kind, and he’d gone directly where he knew it would hurt most.
And he felt bad about it. That wasn’t his style or usual M.O. He just hadn’t decided how—or if—to apologize for it.
Because, honestly, he was still pretty damn angry over the entire mess. It had little or nothing to do with the media circus playing out around them; he’d spent his entire life jumping from one ring of the circus to another, and he kn
ew that eventually the circus would pack its tents, move to another town and someone else would grab the spotlight.
Right now, he’d just like to finish this project with a minimum of headaches or disasters. That would be lovely.
It was also highly unlikely.
He was in an evil mood, and he felt bad about what happened at Caitlyn’s the other night. He hadn’t spoken to her since then, figuring they both needed some time to cool down. He still wasn’t fully there and wouldn’t be until he’d had a chance to sort out her warped thinking.
According to her, everything was always his fault. And her constant fall-back argument that he simply didn’t care was growing old, not to mention insulting. If he didn’t care about her he wouldn’t have taken her to that stupid fair in the first damn place. Maybe going to the fair wasn’t the best idea he’d ever had, but that didn’t warrant him getting branded the villain again. Either she was unbelievably shallow or completely self-absorbed. Possibly both.
Evil wasn’t a strong enough word for his mood, actually.
The crisp, disapproving email from Nana had just about pushed him right over the edge. His brothers he could ignore. Their calls went straight to voice mail to be deleted. The crew … they were professionals and would get the job done. The cast—well, they could just suck it up and act like adults. Naomi was getting all the mileage out of this that she could, and Jason was just an idiot who could also be ignored. Nana, though, was not ignorable, and she had the irritating ability to make him feel like a naughty child.
She was avoidable, though, and for now he was avoiding both her email and voice mails. It wasn’t as if she could get more upset over this “deplorable and embarrassing” situation.
Cait was also avoidable—and she was avoiding him—but that would soon change. A glance at the activity outside showed that the crew had broken for lunch, so he sent a text to Cait: “Meet me in your trailer so we can talk.”
A reply came back a few minutes later. “Now is not a good time.”
Finn was sorely tempted to text back Tough, but Cait’s next message came through before he could.
“I have a long day ahead and talking to you now will only throw me off. I need to concentrate.”
Had it been any other excuse he’d have searched her out at the catering trailer whether she liked it or not. But Cait was doing exactly what he’d asked her and everyone else to do: sucking it up and getting the job done.
She’d even made a statement to the media from the stairs of her condo: “Finn Marshall is a colleague and a friend, but that line got blurred the other night. We all know how dangerous trips down memory lane can be. My apologies go to Naomi for my behavior, but only she and Finn can decide where they will go from here. You can all be assured it was a one-time mistake. Now I’d just like to focus on finishing this film.”
He’d told her he didn’t care what she said, so why did that tick him off? Obviously he was just going to be in and stay in a foul mood all day.
At least until he got to talk to Caitlyn and get this sorted out.
CHAPTER TEN
HURRY up and wait. That was the mantra of all productions. Usually Cait didn’t mind; she enjoyed watching the crew—the attention paid to every detail, the work that went into making the magic. The actors’ parts in the production almost seemed superfluous sometimes, like an add-in at the last minute.
But today she had no patience for the hanging around. This was her last scene on her last day of filming. Unless something went wrong, or a problem was discovered at a later date, her part was done. And, while she felt some sadness at putting aside Rebecca and moving on, Caitlyn couldn’t ignore the itching feeling between her shoulderblades. Freedom seemed just a short distance away.
The last two days had given her time to think, to focus on what she really wanted and what was really best in the long run. Now that she knew, she was ready to move on and put this behind her.
It was big talk—if slightly repetitive at this point—but she had a real plan now. Just because she was now on Plan Q because Plans A through P had gone up in flames, that didn’t mean it wasn’t a good plan, nonetheless.
She sat in her chair, waiting for the director to quit arguing with the script supervisor, and fiddled with her phone for lack of anything better to do. The upcoming scene would be a relatively easy one: awkward moments with Jason and Naomi’s characters and a stilted goodbye. It was perfect for her mood. It would barely count as acting.
When a shadow crossed over her she looked up with a start.
It was only Naomi, but the relief was short-lived. While she’d been avoiding Finn the last two days, she’d been tense because Finn might decide he wanted to talk, anyway—whether or not it would throw her off her game—but Naomi wasn’t exactly who she wanted to talk to, either.
With a cold, smug smile, Naomi took the seat next to her. Caitlyn went back to her phone, determined to ignore her, regardless of how childish it might seem.
Naomi opened with a dramatic sigh. “Well, I hope you’re happy, Caitlyn.”
Pretending to misunderstand her meaning seemed the best idea. “I am.” She forced herself to sound cheerful and relaxed. “It’s been great working on this project, but I’m looking forward to having some time off.”
Naomi’s eyes narrowed. It wasn’t a good look for her, especially with all the makeup she had on. “I meant, I hope you’re happy that you’ve managed to make this entire production all about you.”
The scold in her tone only raised Caitlyn’s hackles. She wasn’t in the mood for this. “I know what you meant, Naomi. I was just giving you the chance to not act like an immature bitch.”
Naomi’s jaw dropped slightly, but she recovered quickly. “I can be an immature bitch. It’s one of the perks, you know. I’m America’s Sweetheart at the moment, and you’re just a has-been who can’t keep her legs together around Finn Marshall.”
So that’s how it’s going to be? Fine. “Stings, does it?” Sarcasm dripped off her words.
Eyes wide and innocent, Naomi played dumb. “What?”
“The fact he doesn’t want you.”
Naomi huffed. “At least I have some pride. Finn may want you, but he sure doesn’t love you. Not then, not now. You’re just a convenient playmate.”
Naomi’s words stung, but Caitlyn was a good enough actress not to let it show. “It still doesn’t change the fact that, given the choice between me and you, he chose to play with me. Losing out to me again has got to suck.”
Oh, she’d hit a nerve with that comment, but after a brief stutter Naomi shrugged. “Only if I really wanted him. Which I don’t.”
“Then you’re a better actress than I gave you credit for. Because you’re sure acting like you’re jealous. Everyone—especially the press—thinks so.”
“Better to be thought jealous than a drunk slut,” she fired back.
Caitlyn pretended to consider the statement. “You’re right. It’s a bit of a bummer I spent all that time trying to rebuild my reputation only to come home and pick up right where I left off.” Naomi started to smile at her seeming victory, so Caitlyn went in for the kill. “Unfortunately for you, though, I am home. And I’m here to stay. Even though every tabloid is dragging my name through the mud, at least they’re spelling it right. ‘America’s Sweetheart’ is just a nice way of saying ‘pretty but boring.’”
Heat flashed in Naomi’s eyes. “Big talk from the person who started this whole disaster just to try and make everyone forget what happened three years ago.”
“That was my mistake. I should have been wearing my past proudly to show how far I’ve come. So, while I may have fumbled this pass, I guarantee I’ll be doing my touchdown dance soon enough.”
“You think you’re that good? You actually think this will be the time you’ll step out of your mother’s shadow?”
“I know I’m that good. And if anyone’s worried about shadows, it’s you. I’m not the one who had to get Finn to take me on a couple of ‘
dates’ in order to make sure no one forgot I was working on this picture. And once it’s released—”
“I’ll have top billing,” Naomi interrupted smugly.
“Well, there’s a first—and a last,” she emphasized, “time for everything, isn’t there?”
If it were possible, steam would be pouring out of Naomi’s ears. Caitlyn watched as Naomi clenched her fists and knew she was itching to smack her. “Now who’s being an immature bitch?” she snapped.
“Caitlyn? Naomi?”
Caitlyn looked up to see one of the P.A.s approaching with a wary look. And it wasn’t just any P.A.; Liz worked directly for Finn. Her little snipe-fest with Naomi had not gone unnoticed, and while Liz wouldn’t spread tales unnecessarily, it would definitely make it back to Finn.
She forced her face into a neutral smile. “Yes?”
“They’re ready for you.”
“Wonderful. Thank you.” She stood and brushed at a wrinkle in her dress. She felt amazingly calm and centered, which was odd since she should be all tangled up after that conversation. Naomi, however, looked as if her head was about to explode. “Your face is a little red, Naomi. Maybe you should go back to Makeup and see what they can do for you.”
She left Naomi sputtering.
“I’ve never seen anything like it, Finn.” Liz was wide-eyed as she gave him the rundown on the showdown. “I mean, I was expecting hair-pulling and scratching to start at any minute.”
At least they’d waited until Cait’s last day to get into it. “Do you know what it was about?”
She shrugged. “Something about billing and bitchiness.”
“Personally, I’m surprised they didn’t go at it before now. Did everything go okay after?”
Liz nodded. “Perfect, actually. They got it in one take. They’re still finishing up with Jason, though.”
“Good. We can wrap this up and go home. I’ve had enough of this place. How about you?”
“Definitely. It’s so humid here.” Liz slowed down as they approached the trailers. “I’ll … urn … go pack up some more stuff. I’m pretty sure Caitlyn’s in her trailer.”
Redemption of a Hollywood Starlet Page 14
