25. CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 25
C lara had assumed that Taylor would get bored of her, that he would soon begin to get slower at answering her texts or not call her quite so often, and she was prepared for it. But every day, he texted her good morning, and multiple times throughout the day he would send her messages about anything from which actor was throwing a tantrum on set, to memes, to ridiculous selfies of himself.
In return, Clara would send him the same photo, a selfie of herself sitting in the operating theatre in front of the anaesthetic machine. The only thing that changed was the hat she wore.
She half thought it would make him realise how mundane her life was compared to his and ensure the end of their relationship, well, it wasn’t even a relationship, their friendship? No, that didn’t sound right to Clara either; she had never had a friend like this—someone who seemed to be as excited to talk to her as she was to them.
Each message she received from him made her fall for him a little bit more, and each time they FaceTimed, she spent the whole time grinning, no matter how awful her day had been. And she allowed herself to hope. Maybe, just maybe, this was real for him too.
As usual, when Clara’s phone beeped, she snatched it up, keen to see if it was Taylor.
‘The date of the premiere has been set.’
Clara stared at Taylor’s text, and her heart fluttered; that would mean he wouldn’t have to date Devon much longer. And maybe, just maybe—. She cut that line of thought off. He had already told her that he had work lined up for the next twelve months, and whatever he promised her, he wasn’t going to come to her town and take her on a date.
She needed to move on with her life, get over him, and try to meet someone who was attainable.
Staring down at her phone, she opened the dating app she had downloaded and began to scroll through the single men in her area. It was hard as every few seconds, she had the urge to open her text messages instead and read everything Taylor had sent her.
Clara squinted harder at the photo of the man on her screen. His profile said he was thirty-eight, although he looked like he had turned thirty-eight over twenty years ago. His hair was a shock of white, his wrinkles were so deep that his eyes were hard to see, and his broad smile showed a distinct lack of teeth.
She scrolled to the next photo; this one looked alright, average looking, with a friendly smile. Then she read his profile, which stated he had only just got out of prison after twenty years inside. No wonder his skin looked so good; minimal sun exposure.
Scrolling again and again, she dismissed man after man until she sighed with frustration, deleted the stupid app that she should never have downloaded in the first place and threw her phone across her sofa in disgust.
When another text arrived, she debated not looking, but she desperately wanted to talk to Taylor, so she shuffled over and grabbed her phone. Sighing with disappointment when she saw it was Damien Atrosky.
‘Can you get time off work to attend the premiere of Dreamless Sleep?’ he asked.
‘I’ll do my best. When and where?’ Clara replied.
‘LA. July 15th.’
Clara stared at the message. America, the premier was in America. She had assumed it would be in Australia, where it was filmed. There was no way she could go. Her budget was tight and if she wanted to pay off Jack’s debt in the time she planned, she couldn’t throw money away on trips.
Although, she did grab her computer and check the price of flights, just to see. She winced when she saw the total; she had figured that if it was under a thousand, she could maybe swing it and stay in a cheap hotel. Even after searching for a while, she couldn’t find anything under three grand.
Leaning back on the sofa, she sighed. That was it. She wasn’t going, and with that realisation, her dreams of seeing Taylor again shattered.
Another message from Damien arrived. ‘Have you ever flown first class?’
Clara quickly changed her search to see what first-class flights would cost. The figure was so large it made her feel queasy.
Staring at her phone for a few minutes, she debated how to answer, eventually typing, ‘No. First class is a little out of my budget.’
‘Fantastic, you’re going to love it.’
She blinked at her phone in bewilderment, finally replying. ‘I’m sorry. I won’t be able to come.’
‘Oh, that’s a shame. If you change your mind, let me know, and I’ll book your airline ticket.
She read and re-read the message. Was he saying that he wanted to pay for her to go? Her fingers hovered over the screen of her phone before she typed. ‘You want to book me a ticket?’
‘If you want to come to the premiere, we’re paying for your flight and hotel. No arguments. Without you, there would be no premiere.’
Clara stared at the text; she didn’t want to appear greedy, but it was her only chance to see Taylor. Her hand hovered over the screen until she decided to be truthful. ‘Thank you. I would love to come. I declined due to the cost.’
‘Excellent. Louisa asked if you could try to come a few days before the premiere so she can take you dress shopping, and we’d like you to come over for dinner.’
‘I won’t need to go dress shopping. I’ll bring something with me.’
Clara thought about the dresses hanging in her wardrobe. She had one from medical school graduation and one from when she attained her consultancy and went to the graduation ceremony.
When her phone pinged again, she expected it to be Damien asking her to confirm dates, but it wasn’t. It was Louisa.
‘I need pictures of the dress you’re bringing.’
Clara sighed, pulled herself up off the sofa, and headed to her room, grabbing both dresses out of her wardrobe, hanging them up and taking a photo of each. She sent them to Louisa, hoping that one would pass muster.
‘Put on the red one and send me a photo. You’re not wearing the green one. It’s not your colour.’
Clara scowled at her phone. They had only met once, and Louisa was already telling her that things looked terrible on her. But she still did as she was told; pulling the red dress on, she looked in the mirror and cringed. It was the one she had worn to her medical school graduation, and it didn’t fit anymore. It was tight in very unflattering places and gaped in strange spots that she couldn’t remember it gaping in before. She took a selfie, hoping it didn’t look as bad as she thought it did.
It obviously did, as Louisa stopped and started a message multiple times before she finally sent.
‘I love shopping. Please let me buy you a dress, my treat. And before you object, my husband is alive because of you. I want to buy you a dress.’
Clara stared at herself in the mirror, about to decline the offer of a dress, when she sighed in defeat. She needed a new dress, and it wasn’t in the budget, so she accepted the offer.
‘Thanks Louisa, that would be amazing.’
‘Wooo. Shopping!’
Clara stared at the message on her phone. She was going to America, staying in a hotel, attending a premiere, wearing a new dress, and seeing Taylor. She flopped back onto her sofa and grinned at the ceiling.
Her phone rang, shattering the silence. When she checked, it was Taylor on FaceTime. She stayed where she was and answered it.
“Hi.” She smiled widely when his face appeared.
“Hey. Did you see my message about the premiere?”
“Yes. And I got a message from Damien about it,” she told him, grinning happily at the thought of the director’s kindness.
“Did he invite you?” Taylor sounded hopeful.
“Yes. And he’s paying for my flights and hotel. Which is amazing, or I couldn’t have come.” Clara frowned when Taylor’s face tightened. “What?”
His voice was soft. “Clara, I would have paid for you.”
Clara shook her head. “I couldn’t have accepted. It’s not up to you to pay for things for me.”
“Even if I want to?” Taylor challenged.
Clara sighed. “I can’t let you pay for things for me. It’s not right.”
“But it’s okay to accept something from Mr Atrosky?”
“Yes, no. Maybe. They’ve been sending me flowers every single week. And Louisa keeps sending me knick-knacks that she thinks I’ll like. They keep telling me how they want to repay me, which is crazy. I’m hoping that by bringing me to the premiere, they’ll stop feeling beholden to me and stop sending me stuff.”
“You don’t like people doing nice things for you.” He wasn’t asking a question; it was a statement.
“I just don’t like people wasting their money on me.” Her firm words hung in the air between them.
“You deserve so much more than flowers,” Taylor finally muttered so quietly that Clara wasn’t sure if she had heard correctly.
Clara didn’t want to dig any further because it made her uncomfortable. After years of Jack telling her she wasn’t worth anything, it was tough to believe that people could be so generous to her.
“Anyway, what have you been doing today?” Clara asked, moving the conversation to safer topics.