“You leave me almost speechless when you say stuff like that. You knew Kyle wasn’t in love with you when you married him, so you can’t blame me as the reason it didn’t work out. No matter how you twist things—that Kyle pursued you and you gave in during a weak moment, or however you’ve attempted to explain it to me in the past—you slept with the man your sister was in love with. The man your sister had been sleeping with for two years, and you did it practically the minute I left town. Even worse, you got pregnant by him—”
“As if I had any control over that! And I lost my baby! Don’t you think I’ve suffered enough?”
There was a brief silence, after which Olivia spoke in a more measured tone. “Noelle, let’s stop this before...before we ruin the progress we’ve made. I can’t get involved. I love you as my sister, but whatever happens with you and Kyle...that’s between the two of you.”
“Great. Thanks for nothing,” she said and hit the end button. But she wasn’t going to leave it there. Olivia, Kyle and Brandon and all their popular, stuck-up friends had everything. They’d always had everything, and they’d never been willing to spare even a few kind words for her.
She was going to get back at them if it was the last thing she did.
*
The article in the Gold Country Gazette hit the national media six days later, on Thursday. Lourdes had been about to start dinner when she received several texts from Derrick.
What the hell? You’re seeing someone else? Already? When were you going to tell me?
And:
No response? What we had for three years doesn’t warrant even a short explanation?
He’d tried to call her several times, too, but she’d let those calls transfer to voice mail. If he cared about her, if he was planning to save their relationship, he wouldn’t have left things as they were since her ultimatum about Crystal.
Besides, she felt she should see what was circulating in the media before she took him on in any kind of argument.
Rubbing her arms against a sudden chill, she sat at the kitchen table with her laptop and put her name into a search engine.
Sure enough, there were quite a few Tweets, Facebook postings and blog mentions on the internet. Her love life wasn’t exactly front-page news, but it was receiving a fair amount of attention in the world of celebrity gossip. Nearly an hour later, she was still sifting through posts and articles.
Country Star Lourdes Bennett Bails Out on Love?
After more than three years, Lourdes Bennett is no longer romantically involved with her manager, Derrick Meade. According to an interview given to the Gold Country Gazette, a small paper in the town of Whiskey Creek, California, where she’s taking a sabbatical from the music business, she’s dating a new man...
Lourdes didn’t mind that article so much. It was fairly factual. Many others were also based mostly on what she’d said. But some weren’t.
Has Crystal “Hottie” Holtree stolen Lourdes Bennett’s man?
For several months rumors have been floating around the country music industry that chart topper Lourdes Bennett’s highly anticipated wedding to her manager and longtime beau, Derrick Meade, might be on hold—or canceled altogether. It seems that interloper Crystal Holtree has not only upstaged Lourdes in her professional life but in her private life, as well. Word from an anonymous friend tells I Heart Country that the embattled Lourdes has abandoned Nashville for the safer climes of Northern California where she grew up...
Which friend had spoken to the media? Lourdes wondered. Probably no one very close to her. Her real friends wouldn’t betray her like that. For all she knew, it was one of the assistants or interns at her old label. Maybe someone there had seen her arguing with Derrick—out in the parking lot, perhaps? Because she’d never been stupid enough to reveal her displeasure in public.
For that matter, it could’ve been someone on her stage crew who overheard them arguing in her trailer...
Refusing to read the rest of that particular article, she skipped to the next link.
Business or Pleasure?
You decide. What’s going on in this tête-à-tête between country music’s latest darling, Crystal Holtree, and her manager, Derrick Meade?