Chapter 30 #2
Janie’s eyes fill with tears again. “Because you already deal with so much, Derek,” she whispers.
“You’re stressed as it is, and with your mom going after your friends, I couldn’t…
I was trying to protect you.” She shakes her head.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you. I made a mistake, and I know how much you hate those. ”
Guilt builds in my stomach. How much have I been pushing my issues onto the people around me? Looking at Hunter, I take a moment to study the pain in his expression before I ask, “Why didn’t you? How long have you known?”
He ducks his head. “Almost from the start,” he admits, looking up at me again.
“And for the same reason. I’m sorry, Derek, but I agree with Janie, and I don’t think you would have handled this well.
You get…” His eyes jump to Donovan. “You’re not always logical when it comes to the people you care about. ”
I don’t know whether to be offended or accept that he might be right, even though I used to pride myself on being logical.
As I learned this week, there’s a lot about my reactions to things that I can’t control, and if what my friends dealt with from Hot Scoop is the mild version of things, Hunter likely has the right idea.
I didn’t react well to the paparazzi getting a glimpse of Donovan yesterday.
If I had known who was behind the attacks on my friends…
I would have torn the world apart until I stopped Hollywood Hot Scoop once and for all.
With a groan, I hang my head and rub the back of my neck.
My frustration with my employees has fizzled out completely, leaving me simmering with anger that has nowhere to go.
“I hate this,” I admit. “I hate that you had to deal with this on your own, Janie. I hate that I don’t know how to fix it. I hate all of it.”
“Do you know why she’s doing it?” Donovan asks over me. “If she hasn’t talked to Derek in years, what does she hope to gain by attacking his friends? That’s only going to make him hate her more.”
She’s got that right.
“I don’t know,” Janie says. “She always says she’s doing what’s best for him.”
“She has an odd way of showing it,” Hunter grumbles.
Donovan scoffs. “I think we all can agree that there are a lot of things wrong with that woman.”
As they continue to talk like I’m not in the middle of them, throwing out all sorts of theories that range from ridiculous to infuriating, my thoughts run through some of the recent stories that circulated about my friends.
Very few of them mentioned me by name, but when they did, it was almost always something similar.
Bonnie has moved on—Derek must be heartbroken!
Poor Derek has been replaced in Princess Freya’s life!
Derek must be feeling so alone now that his best friend is married with a kid on the way!
So many of the articles seemed determined to make my friends look like bad people.
Not worth the chaos and damage they allegedly cause.
Hot Scoop has done their best to convince the world—maybe even convince me—that I’m better off without them.
Better off alone.
The laugh that bursts from my lungs silences the conversation happening around me. I feel anything but happy, but the truth of it all is so ridiculous that any other reaction would feel insufficient.
“Uh, Derek?” Donovan puts her hand on my shoulder, her eyebrows low. “Everything okay?”
I stand and stuff both my hands into my hair as I start pacing my now-familiar path across the carpet.
“She’s trying to be my mom,” I say, instantly realizing how stupid that sounds.
“I mean she’s trying to make me her son.
” As if that is any better. Meeting the three worried gazes fixed on me, I grimace and try to find the right words to explain the insanity that is my life.
“You almost had it last night,” I tell Donovan.
“Isolate me from my friends so I have to find someone else to turn to.”
Her eyebrows fly up. “Someone like your loving and concerned mother who has only ever wanted the best for you.”
“Exactly.”
“But for that to work, she would have to make sure you have no one in your life.” Her lips lift in a smirk. “Does that make me a complication?”
“I didn’t know you guys were…you know…” Janie looks from Donovan to me, her face pink and her eyes full of fear again.
“I didn’t know who you really were either, Donovan, and I thought mentioning you would be a red herring.
But then Brenda got really excited, and once I searched your name, I knew I’d messed up.
I’m…I’m so sorry.” Her apology comes out in a barely audible whisper.
Donovan and I seem to realize the truth at the same time, and I scramble to grab my phone from my pocket while she jumps up to join me.
The headline of Hot Scoop’s latest story sounds as innocent as it did before, but I only have to read the first few lines to know just how far my mother is willing to go to get herself back into my life.