Page 21 of Written with Love

Chapter Seven

She was completely covered in dust and sweat when she stepped into the house later that night, but she was happier with her accomplishments than she had been in years.

“Mom? Dad?” she called out.

“Back here,” her dad called out from their back deck.

Her parents were sitting in the swing that her dad had built a few years ago. Her dad’s arm was wrapped around her mother’s shoulders, and they each held a beer.

“You look like you got into trouble today.” Her dad chuckled when she sat across from them.

“We demolished a kitchen,” she said with a smile. “It was probably the most fun I’ve had in years.”

“We’ve been watching the progress online.” Her mother leaned her head back against her dad’s shoulder. “It’s going to be beautiful once it’s done. You’ll have to persuade Max to have a grand opening so everyone in town can see what has been done.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” she agreed, her mind racing with new ideas.

Technically, Max owned the lighthouse and the land it sat on from the beach below it to the hillside that overlooked the property. But just beyond the fence line, the property bordered the national park. On the other side was the Ocean View property.

Still, enough people stopped and took photos of the lighthouse that it was easily one of the biggest draws for tourism in the area. At one point the entire property had been owned by the park, and they’d turned it into a museum of sorts. When funding ran out, it had been sold, which is how Max had gotten his hands on it.

He had told her that he wished to preserve its heritage. Yet he hadn’t explained exactly how he intended to do so. At least not yet.

“Well, I’m going to head up and shower.” She kissed her dad on his forehead and squeezed her mother’s shoulder gently. “Good night.”

“Night, sweetie,” her parents called after her.

She climbed the stairs and ran through plans in her head as she stripped to shower. When her phone chimed, she glanced at it and then stilled as she scanned the article that Sophia had just sent her.

Sophia’s message sat above the newspaper clip. “I didn’t want to be the one to show you this, but figured it would sting less coming from me. Don’t pay attention to the trolls. Love you.”

Hollywood Heartthrob Max Wilson: Hiding Out in Small-Town Oregon with a Nobody?

Is Max Wilson, the award-winning screenwriter behind some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, really spending his days knocking down cabinets in the middle of nowhere? According to his recent social media posts, it sure looks that way.

Wilson, once engaged to A-list actress Gabriella DeLuca, has taken a sharp turn from the red carpets and high-end parties of the Hollywood and Broadway elite to flannel shirts and budget renovations. Fans were shocked to see him getting his hands dirty—literally—on a rundown lighthouse project in the small town of Pride, Oregon. Even more shocking? The unknown woman he’s been spotted with in his videos.

Sources say Wilson was last seen in New York a few months ago, where he brushed off questions about last year’s breakup with Gabriella. It appears that the industry golden boy has gone off-grid to lick his wounds and cozy up to a local nobody.

His latest social media posts show him shirtless, flexing his muscles while playing handyman—a far cry from the high-profile world he once ruled. And who’s behind the camera? Some mystery woman, grinning up at him like she just won the lottery. Insiders speculate that she’s a small-time waitress, though no one seems to know much about her.

The real question is: What is Wilson doing with her? Is this just another short-lived escape before he returns to Hollywood? A PR stunt to shake off the engagement scandal? Or has Max really lost his mind and fallen for a small-town fling?

One thing’s for sure—his fans aren’t buying the whole blue-collar romance act.

“Max Wilson remodeling a lighthouse? Please. He probably doesn’t even know how to hold a hammer,” one commenter wrote.

“Gabriella and Max were perfect for one another, no one can convince me of anything else. Wait and see, he’ll go running back to his perfect woman soon enough,” another joked.

As speculation grows, so do the theories. Is Wilson just lying low, waiting for the Gabriella drama to blow over after her parents’ death and her younger sister’s rehab stint? Or has Hollywood’s most sought-after screenwriter really downgraded his leading lady?

Stay tuned—because if we know anything about Max Wilson, this fairy tale won’t last long.

She read the article three times as she sat on the edge of the bathtub, her eyes burning and her heart breaking.

She remembered all about Max dating Gabriella. They’d met during the filming of Never Enough. The movie had made Gabriella a household name and had been Max’s third hit.

They’d been spotted around town together, and rumors had turned into an official engagement announcement. Less than three months later, rumors swirled that they had called the wedding off in a mutual agreement. The drama started when Max moved to New York and started teaching at the New York Film Academy. Gabriella’s younger sister had been placed in a rehab facility and their parents had died in a skiing accident shortly after. Then Gabriella had started posting that Max had dumped her for some other woman in New York and, after everything she’d gone through, everyone took pity on Gabriella and shunned Max.