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“Oh, no.” Ginny shook her head.
“I knew it!” Patty clapped her hands together. “What did I tell you, Heather? I told you that Virginia Valentine wouldn’t put up with his wandering eye. She deserves better than that cheater Derek St. Vincent.”
Ginny lowered her voice and scooted forward, both Patty and Heather moved closer to her. “Actually, Derek is a really great guy. Our relationship wasn’t what it seemed. We have always been good friends and still are.”
“Now don’t you do that,” Patty wagged her finger at Ginny. “Don’t you let him off the hook and make excuses. Even if you were…what do you kids call it? Benefits with friends.”
“Friends with benefits, Mom,” Heather corrected.
Patty tsked dismissively. “Even if you were friends with benefits, he shouldn’t get away with that.”
Ginny shook her head. “No we were only ever just friends. There was never any benefits. Our relationship was more of a media thing.”
“No, that can’t be.” Patty looked almost devastated. “I saw pictures of you guys smooching at his premier. You looked so happy. So in love. He surprised you at your concert in Toronto, I saw it on YouTube, he came out with flowers and planted a big one on you. And you were dancing at your mom’s wedding not even a month ago. I saw the pictures, you looked like the perfect couple.”
This conversation was really the first time Ginny felt like she’d actually done something wrong by going along with the fake romance. She’d willingly deceived people and for what? She’d been so detached from the entire thing that she’d just thought of it as a Virginia Valentine thing, not a Ginny thing. But her fans didn’t know that there was a difference. They trusted her. For better or worse, there were good, hard-working people that were invested in her private life…and she’d lied to them.
Not to mention, as much as Derek loved his bad boy image, and he did a lot to earn it and live up to it, he actually hadn’t done anything wrong in this case. He didn’t deserve to have people thinking he was a cheater.
She’d already determined that she was done lying, done having fake relationships, but this conversation just cemented her convictions even further.
“I know you saw that,” Ginny explained gently. “But that was just for the cameras.”
Patty sighed in resignation. “You know Dax did tell me not to believe everything I saw in the papers.”
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea, Mom.” Heather chimed in just as their server arrived with their food.
Ginny hadn’t even taken a bite of her first fry before Patty asked, “So you don’t have a boyfriend then?”
“Um, no.” After answering she stuffed not one, not two, but a handful of fries in her mouth. She was sometimes a nervous eater and Dax’s mom’s tone had started the strobe light in the butterfly disco in her stomach.
“So, is there anything going on with you and my son?”
Thankfully her mouth was full and she was chewing so she had a moment to consider her response. She was used to reporters asking personal questions and she’d become a master at deflecting them. But this wasn’t an interview. She’d never been in this position before.
She liked Patty and Heather and didn’t want to lie to them, but she wasn’t about to kiss and tell. She’d just decided that she was done lying, though so she was still trying to come up with an answer when a young girl that didn’t look older than seven or eight approached the table.
“Excuse me,” she said nervously, “Are you Virginia Valentine?”
Ginny had never, never been happier to have her dinner interrupted by a fan. “Yes, I am. What’s your name pretty girl?”
“Oh my gosh!” The girl’s hand slapped over her mouth and her eyes grew round as tears began pooling in them.
That was actually a much more common reaction than someone might think. And she got it. She’d almost started crying when she’d met Karina today.
Thankfully she’d been in this exact scenario enough to have a few tricks up her sleeve. One quick scan of the girl and she locked in on something she hoped would distract her from being overwhelmed. “I love your braid. It’s fishtail, right?”
The girl nodded mutely.
Ginny continued. “I’ve always wanted to learn how to fishtail braid. My mom only knew how to do a French braid, so she couldn’t teach me. Do you ever wear French braids?”
“Yeah, my mom taught me.” The girl’s voice was quiet, like she was still in shock.
“Hannah, I told you not to bother her.” A woman walked up behind the girl. “I’m sorry, I went to use the restroom for a minute and my son,” the woman motioned to a preteen looking boy playing on his phone at a table across the restaurant, “was supposed to watch her. She spotted you when we came in.”
“It’s okay.” Hannah’s mom had no idea how okay it was. She assured her, “She wasn’t bothering me.”
“Thank you, I’m Shari.” She introduced herself and then patted her daughter’s head. “And this little one is your biggest fan.”
“Hi Shari, it’s so nice to meet you. I’m Ginny and this is Patty and Heather.”
All the women exchanged hellos and Shari smiled sheepishly. “I know you’re in the middle of eating but would you mind taking a picture with Hannah?”
“Of course!” Ginny enthused. She took a few pictures with Hannah and she talked to the girl about what grade she was in, what her favorite subject in school was and Hannah told her that she had a pet turtle named Zippy.
Dax returned just as Shari and Hannah were heading back to their table and Ginny sighed an internal sigh of relief. With Dax’s return she’d dodged the bullet of having to answer any uncomfortable questions.
“You were so good with her,” Patty remarked. “Have you ever thought about having kids?”
Okay, maybe not.
