kate
“Chelsi, are you home?”I ask, walking through the front door of our condo, frazzled by the sea of paparazzi outside our building. All of them were shouting, flashing their cameras, and trying to get me to share any tidbit about my relationship. Questioning whether it’s real and why he’s with me rather than some of the starlets he’s dated in the past. Talk about a shitty way to come home after a long day at work.
“Yeah,” she responds, making her way into the living room in comfy clothes. “What’s going on?”
“Were there paparazzi and fans outside when you came home?”
Chelsi laughs, shaking her head at the absurdity of the question. “Yes, the vultures were there. They followed me to work this morning. Apparently, they thoughtIwas you. A few got into the building over the weekend and pounded on our door until I called security.”
“What?”
Chelsi waves her hand like it’s not a big deal. As if her security and mine aren’t important.
“My guess is it took them a bit longer to figure out where we lived because everything for the condo is under an LLC. Kudos to my days of being an accountant for helping with that one.” A small smirk graces her face.
I collapse onto the couch, kicking off my heels and tucking my legs underneath me. “Are you okay with all of this?” I ask, wondering if I’m a complete asshole for not anticipating how this might impact her life. Her safety.
“It’s fine.” She shrugs. “Definitely livens up my day. But the real question is how you’re doing. I imagine it’s been a lot to process.”
I nod silently. Talk about the understatement of the year.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Chelsi nudges my elbow as she sits next to me on the couch.
I loudly blow all the air out of my lungs, wallowing in the overwhelming feeling of the last few days. How much has changed. The way I feel about it. The questions it’s raising.
“It’s a hot mess. That’s the only way to describe it. Paparazzi are camped outside our condo. Stalking you on the way to work. Calling my office nonstop, pretending to be potential clients on the off chance they’ll get to talk to me.” I shake my head, closing my eyes tightly, wishing I could make this chaos go away. “It went from zero to a million almost overnight. And the things they’re saying about me on the internet. It’s just?—”
Chelsi glares at me. “You told Jake you weren’t going to look at that bullshit anymore.”
“I’m not, but it’s impossible when friends and colleagues constantly send me screenshots of what they’ve seen on the internet, questioning whether it’s true. It’s all being thrown in my face, no matter how much I try to stay away from it.” I sigh, pulling my legs to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. “I knew this wouldn’t be easy, but it’s become much bigger thanI expected. What is it going to look like a week from now? A month? A year? What happens when we have kids?”
Unease grows in the pit of my stomach, thinking about subjecting more people to this situation. About what my choices could mean for others in my life. The possibility of children having cameras pointed at them every time we leave the house. Is this what my future—ourfuture—will look like?
Chelsi gently places her hand on my arm. “Whoa. You need to take a breath. Stop spiraling. We cannot assume the shitstorm of the past few days is how it will be forever. What has Jake said about it? Or Anna?”
I turn my head, averting my eyes and biting down on my lip. Bracing myself for the lecture I’m about to get from Chelsi. The one I fucking deserve for keeping some of this to myself.
“Please tell me you’ve told Jake and Anna about what you’re experiencing?”
When I shake my head and meet Chelsi’s gaze, her eyes widen in shock and frustration.
“Holy shit, Kate! You can’t keep this from them. Anna is literally the best in the business. You should be texting her constantly with updates so she can better manage the situation.” She exhales deeply, frustrated. “You’ve at least told Jake about the stalkerazzi outside, right?”
I grimace. “He’s in the middle of recording. I don’t want him to stress about me any more than he already does, not when I can handle it.”
“But you can’t handle this one on your own. Neither can I. This iswayabove our pay grade. We need their help.”
“I know,” I murmur, picking a piece of fuzz off my black dress pants. “This whole situation is crazy. I never imagined feeling unsafe in my own home, questioning whether we should potentially move into Jake’s rental house until things calm down. Or will that make everything worse because that placedoesn’t have a security gate or doorman? At least our condo has some security.”
“I don’t think we can refer to Carl as security. He’s nearly seventy and is slower than a turtle. He can protect us from nothing.” Chelsi chuckles.
She’s not wrong. Carl is incredibly sweet and extremely useless when it comes to safeguarding anyone or anything.
“I’ll call Anna.” I tap her name on my phone and wait.
Three rings later, Anna’s Southern drawl comes across the phone. “Hello, Kate. How can I help you?”
“You’re on speakerphone. Chelsi is with me.”
