Page 53 of Promise Not to Fall for the Rich & Famous

“Hi, sweetheart,” Mom came from the kitchen.

Carly was not ready to invite another world of drama into the moment. She needed an escape. “Hi, Mom. It smells good.” She moved quickly toward the front room, snatched her keys off the piano, and tugged open the front door. “Be right back. We’re…out of milk,” she hollered over her shoulder.

In moments flat Carly was in her car and heading down Lilac Lane. “What a jerk,” she mumbled while gripping the wheel. “How dare Jill even…” She let her mumblings die off, but the rant carried on in her head. Easy forherto point fingers. Jill had a healthy baby back at home and a loving husband too. She had no idea what it was like for Carly.

It seemed though, that her tears were all cried out. Bigger than the pain pulsing through her was the dilemma nagging at her brain. As if she were solving a puzzle of sorts. But to what—life happiness? She pictured standing on the set of a TV game show, lights blaring, buzzer at the ready, and an obnoxiously handsome host with a sparkly grin. “Get this one right, Carly, and you’ll get that happily ever after you’ve always wanted. Make the wrong choice, and misery will be yours until the day you die.”

But what choice was right? What, was she just supposed to call Gage and tell him she was sorry for overhearing a conversation he hadn’t intended her to hear? Say that it was okay if he wanted to tell his father and the media and all the soon-to-come raging female fans that he’d forgotten all about that blonde who taught him how to surf?

Carly had played that sit-in-waiting role for far too long.

Exactly nine miles into her musings, the mortuary came into view. Rolling green hills dotted by gray headstones marked each grave. She pulled up to the curb, shut off the engine, and rolled down the window to let the fresh air in.

You didn’t even let him explain, Carly.

It occurred to her, as she made her way to Ava’s grave, that her musings only validated what Jill had said. Shewasafraid. Maybe she wasn’t scared enough to outright sabotage a perfectly good relationship with Gage, but perhaps she was just scared enough tonotmake an effort to fix things.

She let that idea simmer as she picked the overgrown grass around Ava’s tombstone. “What do you think, kiddo?” she mumbled, freeing a handful of broken grass blades from her fist. “Is your aunt Jill right?” She swept a palm over the corners and edges, then traced over the large letters of her headstone one at a time—Ava.

It occurred to Carly, as she pictured Gage’s handsome grin, that she was equally afraid of losinghim.She had been since the beginning.

Sure, she’d blamed it on different things. Worries that he was just like Jimmy. Worries that Gage would want to remain a Hollywood bachelor forever. But he’d never done anything to validate those concerns, until the elevator. So why was she so averse to hearing him out? It was almost as if she worried that he’d have a perfectly good explanation for himself, and she’d be stuck in that vulnerable spot once more, worrying that he might still leave her one way or another.

She could love the kids in her classroom easily enough. When new students came into her class each year, Carly knew that—at the end of the year—they would move on. The knowledge took the sting out of the goodbye, but it also allowed her to love each one without reservation or fear.

But having some sort offorevermentality with anyone outside of her family was just too risky.

And so it had come back on her, hadn’t it? Jill was right.

Still, at the very idea of calling Gage, desperation sparked in her chest anew. It was all the confirmation she needed. Somewhere, hidden in parts Carly hadn’t even known werethere, she’d let fear take the lead in her decision to come home, and to shut off her phone too. It was probably the very reason she’d allowed Jimmy to string her along all this time. It was old pain. Familiar pain. Easy-to-handle pain. To the point it was comfortable.

Now she was vulnerable all over again, and she had a choice to make. Give herself and Gage a shot at that happily ever after, or go back to the familiar life of living alone.

CHAPTER 23

Gage glanced at the chaos surrounding him. The cast ofStar Chatstood behind the massive camera crew while makeup artists stroked powdered brushes over Tristi and Brock’s noses, foreheads, and cheeks.

Unlike the hosts, Gage had already taken his place on the set, and was touching base to see that Christian had been able to do his part. A part that required him to talk to Cyree, get her to pull Carly’s file and collect her home address and phone number, in case she still had a land line.

Christian picked up the line, his face filling the screen as he answered. “Yo, man.”

A sudden tightness clenched around his chest. It all came down to this. To whether they could get Carly to tune in. “Did you get hold of them?”

Christian squinted into the phone and pulled that audience-winning grin. “You bet I did.”

“So the number really worked?”

“Sure did.”

Gage sighed. “Thanks, man.”

“Sounds like her mom and sister are on your side. They say that Carly’s torn, but that she’s coming around. Her sister evensaid that Carly might call you tomorrow before you take off to Maui.”

Gage shut his eyes and offered a word of thanks to the man upstairs. “Let’s hope our timing is right on then,” he said. “Hopefully, if she’s coming around on her own, Carly will really hear what I have to say. And believe it.”

Christian nodded before panning out the view on his end. There, surrounding his lifelong friend, were at least two dozen staff members in some sort of lounge room, a big screen TV blaring behind them.

“We’re all rooting for you,” Christian assured.