"What is it, then? You know if it's something gossipy, I'm not going to want to see it. I haven't been paying attention to any of the crap."
Even the reporters out front seemed to have gotten bored with the lack of movement here. After Elias and I decided we'd just hole up all week, they'd disappeared, one by one. I'd heard one of them was still in town, but at least everyone had left the front lawn, chasing after some other person of the moment.
"Well," June said. "You're going to see it eventually. And it's probably better you see it now, before you get blindsided by it."
She brought up one of the gossip sites, the headline emblazoned on the screen:
"Viper Gabriel proposes to model Brenna Andrews at a Hollywood Club: River Andrews Devastated!"
I scanned through the article, my hand over her mouth. "I'm sure it's not even true," I said. My voice sounded soft, hesitant, not like me.
I felt dizzy.
"There's a video, River," June said. "Of the proposal. But maybe it's fake? They can fake that stuff, can't they? I mean, it's obviously not completely true-they don't have access to you, so they don't know your reaction."
She sounded like she was trying to console me. Maybe I looked like I felt devastated. Was I supposed to feel devastated?
I just felt numb.
"I mean, I guess if they're happy," I said, shaking my head. "Why would he make that stupid song apologizing to me? Ugh. I mean, I know why. That's typical Viper, to capitalize on something like that, the media frenzy and shit."
"Are you upset?" June asked.
I shrugged. "They deserve each other," I said. "Viper can have her. If that's what they want to do, it's fine with me."
But I still felt dizzy, lightheaded. I reached for the back of the chair, numb, and collapsed heavy into it, still staring at the screen.
"You want a cup of tea?" June asked.
I nodded. "That would be nice. Thank you."
I clicked around on her laptop, looking at a few more pages that outlined the "exclusive details!" of the relationship between Viper and Brenna. They were saying it had been going on for a year.
A fucking year.
Can't believe what you fucking read in the tabloids, I reminded myself.
June set a cup of tea down on the table. "You doing okay?"
I nodded. "I don't give a shit about Viper getting engaged," I said. "Just...my sister, you know?"
What a fucking traitor.
Both of them.
And my mother...she and my sister were close. She would have known.
"Elias seems like a good guy," she said.
I only half-listened, my mind preoccupied with thoughts about my mother. She knew, I was sure about it. After everything else she'd done, all the shit she'd put me through, it was the final straw.
Let my sister support her ass.
"I need to make a call," I said, preoccupied with what I needed to do.
June had a funny look on her face, but I didn't want to think about what it meant. "Sure," she said. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?"
After she left, I did a quick search, and then dialed my accountant's number. This was the line in the sand. I was cutting my mother off.
The knock on the door startled me. I had just pressed "end call" on the phone.
When I peered through the curtain covering the window, I sighed.
"Really?" I flung the door open, and my manager pushed her way inside.
"This little stunt of yours couldn't have been better publicity for Small Town Love," she said. "I mean, the town is fucking perfection, isn't it? The goddamned movie could have been shot here."
I hadn't met the man in the suit who stood beside her, holding a briefcase, but I knew immediately he was from the studio. He grunted something in response, his expression pinched as he looked around the room in obvious disgust.
He was important enough to not be bothered with introductions.
"My point is, River," she said. "You've made your dramatic exit to the countryside. We've spun the story - you weren't running away. The studio's official position is that you were retreating to research your role as a small town girl for the film."
"During filming?" I asked, shaking my head. "It's unbelievable."
"Yes," she said. "It is. It's un-fucking-believable that someone of your caliber would do something as ridiculous as this. I mean, you expect it from some two-bit actress who doesn't know any better. But you're River Andrews. You've been around the block. You understand the ropes. You. Don't. Fucking. Leave. In. The. Middle. Of. A. Shoot." She punctuated each word of the last sentence, rapid-fire like a machine gun.
"I'm not going with you," I said, annoyed with the fact that she'd tracked me down here, flew all the way out here to strong-arm me into returning. I wasn't completely irresponsible. I'd never done anything like this before. I knew the consequences of running away during the middle of the shoot.