Chapter 23 - Hailey
Hailey
“How are you feeling, honey?”
I looked up from harvesting some spinach to see my mother standing next to me, giving me a concerned mom look.
“I’m mostly fine, Mom. I just… I really miss Tori.”
“You could call her from the landline,” Mom reminded me. “You’ve been here four days now. I bet your Tori is probably really worried about you by now.”
“I didn’t bring a charger,” I said. “My phone is totally dead so I can’t power up enough to get her number.”
“This is why I don’t like cell phones,” Mom said. “If you don’t have the phone, you’ve lost everything.”
“I need to buy a new charger, I’ll probably head into town after lunch.”
Although Ferndale was tiny, there was a larger town about twenty minutes away where the community members went to get anything they couldn’t grow or make themselves.
“Sounds like a good idea. You can use the cell tower while you’re there.”
I had to smile at my mother’s rudimentary understanding of cell phone technology. “I’ll go today.”
I should have gone earlier, but part of me was afraid that someone in town would recognize me from whatever salacious pictures were posted on the internet.
“Tori is probably wondering why you haven’t called her,” Mom reminded me.
I’d filled Mom in about our relationship, including the fact that I’d fallen for Tori and she’d been making noises about me moving to L.A. with her.
I shook my head. “No, I texted her and told her I was coming here and would be off the grid for a while. She knows you live in the middle of nowhere.”
Mom squatted down and started pulling some kale in the next row of the garden.
“If something crazy happened to me like what happened to you girls, and the person I loved disappeared, even if I knew where they were going, I’d still be worried. And maybe a little hurt to not have any communication.”
“My apartment was surrounded by those vultures,” I said defensively. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
Mom shrugged. “You know I love having you here, honey. Hell, if it was up to me you’d get a plot of land, build yourself a little cabin, and live here with us again. But it seems like another option was going back to Tori’s house and handling everything that went down together.”
I stared at my mother, surprised that I hadn’t thought of that myself. It’s not like Tori wouldn’t have contacted the pilot and asked him to turn the plane around to come back and get me. I guess I was just too used to handling things myself. Not that I’d ever handled anything like this before.
Just then we heard a car coming down the gravel road that was the de facto Main Street of this little community. It was a big black SUV, driving slowly, but still kicking up dust and gravel.
“Fucking cops,” Mom muttered, her distrust of police evident in the way her spine stiffened and her expression soured.
“It’s Tori,” I assured her, my feet moving in that direction before I even realized what I was doing.
Sure enough, as soon as the SUV pulled to a stop, Tori was throwing open the passenger’s side door and running towards me. I met her halfway, throwing my arms around her waist and tilting my head up to meet her lips as they came crashing down on mine.
I was dimly aware of my mother coming up to us and Rick exiting the vehicle, but for right now, I needed to reassure myself that Tori was here. She was real. Our kiss was deep and emotional, both of us pouring all our feelings out with one kiss.
“I love you,” I whispered against her mouth. “Maybe it’s too soon to tell you that, but I do.”
Her eyes scanned my face, then she huffed out a laugh. “I take it you didn’t see my texts.”
“No,” I said, confused at the change in topic. “My phone’s dead and I didn’t have a charger. I was going to go to the next town over and buy one today.”
“Well when you get it charged up you’ll see that I told you first.”
She looked very happy with herself.
“Told me what?”
“That I love you.”
I figured that she did, but I liked hearing her say it, even though it didn’t change the fact that I hated the world she lived in. I heard my mother make a noise that sounded like, “Aww” and turned around, grabbing Tori’s hand.
“Mom, this is my girlfriend Tori. And that’s her bodyguard Rick. Guys, this is my mom.”
“Hi, I’m Hailey.” At their confused look she shrugged and explained, “Men name their kids after themselves all the time. I figured, why can’t I name my daughter after myself?”
And that explained my mother in a nutshell.
“What are you doing here?” I asked Tori. “I didn’t know you knew where my mom lived.”
“Yeah, thanks for making it more difficult,” Rick grumbled behind her. “It took our PI a few days to track you down. Maybe try pinging a cell phone tower now and then. We had to bribe an Uber staffer to get a lead on you.”
“God, I’m sorry. The lack of a phone charger really messed me up. Well, that and coming home to a bajillion reporters looking for me. It freaked me out.”
“It’s all okay,” Tori said, rubbing my arm. “You’re not used to all that.”
My mom’s eyes bounced between us, her face softening when she saw the comforting gesture.
“Why don’t you folks come in for some tea?”
Despite my mother’s protests, Rick insisted on staying outside the house to keep an eye on things. Mom put the kettle on, serving me and Tori then taking two mugs outside.
“You two probably need time to talk,” she said. “I’ll go keep that big man company. Let me know when you’re finished.”
That was Mom code for I won’t walk in on you if you’re doing something sexy.
“How have you been?” I asked Tori after my mother left.
She looked exhausted. She had dark circles under her eyes, and her clothes seemed a little loose, like she hadn’t been sleeping or eating.
Tori shrugged. “Well, I fired my manager, broke ties with my mother, and sued the paparazzi.”
“So, you had a quiet week then?” I teased.
Tori smirked. “Yeah. I found out that my mom is who called the paparazzi and gave them permission to come into my yard and snap pictures.”
“She can do that?” I asked in surprise.
“No, but it’s not uncommon for celebrities to secretly give them permission to take pictures through an intermediary and then act all outraged about it as a publicity stunt, so they didn’t question her.”
“Wow that’s crazy. I had no idea.”
Why anyone would want to have their privacy invaded like that was a mystery to me.
“Anyway, I cut off my mom’s allowance, disabled all her credit cards, and gave her ninety days to exit my house or be evicted.”
My eyes were big as saucers. “Holy crap. That all sounds pretty final.”
“I’ve finally accepted that my mom doesn’t want a real relationship with me.
She only wants to use me. Maybe once I’m not paying for everything she does she’ll create her own life, and then we can have a relationship.
” Tori took a shuddering breath. “But I’m not betting on it.
It’s more likely that she’ll write a tell all book about our relationship and make a fortune going on all the talk shows to badmouth me. ”
“That’s so hard,” I said sympathetically. “She’s your mom.”
I sent up a silent prayer of gratitude that my mother was so awesome. She’d always put me first, treated me well, and taught me how to be self-sufficient. The more I heard about Tori’s mom, the more I appreciated my own.
“Yeah it was really hard, but I feel good about the decision,” Tori said. “To be honest, I should have done it long ago.”
I could see the truth of the statement in her eyes.
“But that’s not the only big change I’m making. I’m also quitting acting.”