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“Pop kept urging me to tell you about my past.” I shrugged. “I did plan on telling you, but I didn’t think it was that big a deal. But now I understand that anything other than complete and total honesty is a problem.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” she asked. “I blabbed on and on about marriage and family.”
“You know, a lot of people go through awkward teenage years, and when they're through them, they burn their yearbooks and swear their family to secrecy,” I said. “But my awkward teen years are in reruns.”
I let her process that for a minute before telling her about my mom, and how I ended up starring in one of the most popular teen shows of its time.
“With no experience or education, she somehow talked her way into a job at a talent agent’s office. She made herself indispensable and eventually started getting me booked for commercials.”
“How old were you?”
“Two, almost three.”
“Eventually I got small parts in sitcoms and when the concept for Chase and Corbin came along, she pushed hard for me to read.”
“Did you enjoy it?”
“At first I didn’t mind, but once I got older, I hated it. Instead of going to school, I had a
tutor and I felt so isolated. It got to the point that I only spent time with the cast and my mother when she was home.”
“Did you tell her?”
“You met her today. Do you think she’d listen to a child?”
“I guess not.”
“She signed a four-year contract for me right before my eighteenth birthday. I’m sure I
could have gotten a lawyer and contested it, but I figured I’d play nice. I told them I was out when my contract was up. The show was still successful so they thought I’d keep doing it. But once I turned twenty-one, I was done.”
“And you came here?”
“I came here.”
I explained how Pop stayed in my life through the years and offered me a place to live and work.
“How have you stayed anonymous here for so long?”
“At first, I didn’t have a car or bills or anything in my name. So even though people could search the internet for my real name, it wouldn’t have led them anywhere.”
She chuckled, which I took as a good sign.
“You know how I kept saying you look familiar?” He nodded. “That’s because my daughter was obsessed with you. Kind of still is.”
“With me?”
“When all her friends went on and on about Chase, she only had eyes for you. Posters of you are still on the walls of her room and she watched the show so much, I probably know all your lines.”
“But I felt connected to you too, so I think there’s just something between us.”
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “Either way, it freaked me out when I realized you didn’t tell me something so big. It made me wonder what else you’re hiding.”
I drew a cross over my heart with my right hand
“I swear, this is it. There’s nothing else to tell.”
She looked down and traced her finger along the edge of the table. Without looking up, she said, “I need total honesty if we’re going to continue this.”
