Chapter Six #3
“No,” Amelia lied. The last thing she wanted to do was open herself up to a fishing expedition from Helen about what she knew about her already. This was Imogen’s very personal business they were treading on. She hated it already.
“It’s the ex-girlfriend, darling. The ex-girlfriend who ensured that your little love interest was well and truly cancelled. And I mean Cancelled—with a capital C. There was a very public internet shaming when they broke up, and frankly, it was painful to watch. Anyway, the whole thing went viral.”
Amelia was glad that she hadn’t seen it, and she never wanted to either. Her heart felt like it had been squeezed in a vice just thinking about how hard it must have been for Imogen to go through that. “Well, isn’t it so sad that happened? Poor Imogen.”
“Mmm. Poor Imogen perhaps. But cancelled is cancelled, and getting with someone who has been disgraced so publicly wouldn’t be good for your image.”
Amelia tightened her grip on the phone. “But Imogen’s the victim here—”
“That doesn’t matter,” Helen interjected.
“Come on, Amelia. You know the game. Reporters and gossip sites don’t give a damn about the truth.
All they want is a juicy story, and who’s at fault is irrelevant.
This Chelsealicious, who has a significant following, labelled Imogen as toxic.
Untrue or not, her followers believed it and got behind her like an army.
The comments were as cutthroat as I’ve ever seen.
If you and Imogen were to start dating, both the press and the public would be all over you like a rash. The scrutiny alone could be damaging.”
“I don’t care,” Amelia said, not caring how petulant or obstinate she sounded.
“Well, I do, and your career will,” Helen said matter-of-factly.
“You’re a successful, openly gay, beloved A-lister with a squeaky-clean image.
A Hollywood sweetheart—I made sure of it, although I admit that you’ve always made it incredibly easy for me.
However, it only takes one small scandal to tarnish the whole thing, Amelia. You know this.”
Amelia threw her free hand up in the air in frustration and almost fell backward off the wall, but she quickly grabbed on again. “But—”
Helen interrupted again. “And it won’t only be you who’s affected. Imogen will suffer too when everything from her past inevitably gets dragged back up again.”
Okay, that made Amelia feel a bit more nauseated. “So, what are you saying? That I can’t date her?”
Helen sighed. “You know me better than that. I would never tell you who you can or cannot date, and I imagine you would ignore me if I tried to.”
She imagined right. “So, what then?”
“All I can do is give you the information I have and advise you accordingly. In this case, my advice is to stay away. If you choose to do otherwise, then be upfront with me about it so I can be adequately prepared for the backlash. Needless to say, you’ll be charged accordingly.
” Amelia could hear a smile in her voice at that last part.
“I wouldn’t expect any different.” Amelia closed her eyes and rubbed her temple. “Look, Imogen doesn’t even know who I am.”
“Mmm. Another issue, in my opinion. She won’t even see it coming. It sounds like you’re playing a dangerous game there. I sincerely hope that you know what you’re doing.”
Amelia squirmed because she absolutely did not know what she was doing.
And the thought of Imogen getting blindsided was unthinkable.
She wouldn’t let it happen. Amelia would fix this.
Somehow. “My point is, we’re keeping things very low-key right now.
The risk of word getting out about us dating is minimal. ”
Helen snorted. “That won’t last long. It only takes one fan to get one picture of you making googly eyes at one another walking along the street and this whole thing blows right up.
At least think about it, Amelia. Consider the repercussions and ask yourself whether it’s worth it.
It’s not fun when your life turns into a circus.
So, ask yourself if you’re prepared for the fallout. Can you do that?”
“Fine. Yes.” Amelia wasn’t about to cut contact with Imogen—that wasn’t an option. But they probably wouldn’t see each other for a few days which would buy her some time to come up with a plan on how to handle things. “I’ll think it over.”
“Good. In that case, I’ll let you get on.
” Helen abruptly clicked off the call. Amelia wasn’t offended, that was just how she operated.
Helen was a busy woman with much to do, and likely many fires to put out.
Amelia just hoped that she wasn’t about to give her another one. Surely she was overreacting about this.
“So, who’s Imogen?” a voice purred from behind, and Amelia almost fell backward off the brick wall again.
She clutched her chest. “Bridget? How long have you been standing there?”
Bridget chuckled as she casually leaned down on her elbows on the wall beside Amelia. “Long enough to hear that your people are getting their underwear in a kink about this fancy woman of yours. You never mentioned you were seeing someone.”
“Why would I tell you?” Amelia snapped, then instantly regretted it.
She was usually better at keeping her cool, but between the fatigue, the cold, and her call with Helen, she wasn’t in the most patient of moods.
So much for escaping to her trailer for some R&R.
“Sorry. I just mean that I haven’t told people, Bridget.
It’s new. Too new for all this aggro,” she muttered.
Bridget remained undeterred. “So, that’s why you’ve been demanding so much time off. At least I know now why you’ve been distracted.”
Distracted? Seriously? “I wouldn’t say that I have,” she replied, her calm back in check.
And the only person Amelia had witnessed making demands on set was Bridget.
She even had a specification of the exact temperature she liked her drinking water served at.
All hell broke loose if it was a degree wrong.
“Hmm. Well, sort out your issues. There’s no room for girlfriend problems when we have our big scenes coming up and I need you on your game. In fact, the only reason I came over here was to see if you needed any tips.”
Amelia bit back a laugh. “You’re going to give me tips?”
Bridget daintily waved her hand. “I know it’s very generous of me. But in order for me to look good, I need you to at least look acceptable. Of course, I can probably carry a scene by myself, but why should I have to?”
Amelia stared at her. “You know I’ve done romance movies before, right? A ton. And I was in two different shows for four seasons each time. Kissing scenes galore.”
“But I’ve never done one with a wo—” Bridget’s eyes widened. “I mean, you’ve never done one with me before.” Busted.
“So, that’s what this is.” Amelia grinned. “This is your first kiss with a woman and you’re panicking. Bridget Clemonte is nervous.”
Bridget scoffed. “Please. I don’t get nervous. I figured you must be.”
“Nope,” Amelia replied chirpily, highly amused by this new revelation. “I’m all good, but thank you so much for thinking of me.”
Bridget glared at her. “I’m not naive to sarcasm, Amelia. And I am not nervous.” She waved a hand. “You know what? Forget I offered. I’ll let you get back to your PR crisis. I look forward to reading all about it when the shit hits the fan.” She pushed herself up and strutted back toward set.
Amelia had to hand it to her, Bridget somehow managed to look sophisticated even as she trudged through the muddy field in a sulk.
Amelia blew out another cold breath. At least Helen and Bridget had given her a momentary distraction from being frozen to the bone, though the ice-cold wind howling around her ears quickly reminded her.
Shuddering, she tried to breathe some warmth into her hands so that her thumbs would work well enough to reply to Imogen’s message, but it was fruitless.
She pushed herself off the wall and headed to her trailer where she could blast the heat and thaw out.
When she arrived, Amelia flicked on the light and the heating switch, then threw herself down on her white couch without taking her coat off. She reread Imogen’s text, smiled again, and finally fired off a reply.
You’re the mastermind who invented the platters, all I did was suggest you expand their audience, so I refuse to take credit. My day is long, cold, busy, and did I mention cold? How is it freezing after yesterday was so nice? A native must have answers. I hope your day is much better.
It was after five o’clock already, which had to be a busy time in bar world.
Wasn’t that why that saying existed—it’s five o’clock somewhere?
That meant that she probably wasn’t going to hear back from Imogen anytime soon.
With a sigh, she rose from the sofa and headed to the bathroom for a quick, hot shower—the only real way to warm up properly, in Amelia’s opinion.
When she stepped out blessedly all warm and toasty, her phone lit up beside the sink with a notification.
Amelia smiled. It looked like Imogen was free after all.
It was amazing how a shower and a text from Imogen could improve her mood so much.
A mint tea and Amelia would be ready to kick the rest of today’s ass.
She wrapped her pink, fluffy towel around her body as she read.