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“Jules—” But she’s on a roll and doesn’t stop talking.
“Well. Get this. Xavier McCormack just gave a statement and Millie was standing right next to him. Like, supporting him! The accusations they’re making about Nina are—”
“Jules,” I repeat more forcefully. She’s like an active volcano spewing lava and I’m the ill-prepared villager at the bottom of the hill. “Back up. Way up. I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.”
Jules takes a deep breath, and blows it out. “Okay. So, you know I how I feel about her because of what she did to you.”
“Over ten years ago,” I say, less in Allison’s defense but in my own. I’m not a fragile piece of china. A guy can get his heart decimated and live to tell the tale.
“Since this Oscar thing has blown up on the internet, I didn’t want someone to mention it to you and catch you off guard. I know how well you’ve trained yourself to ignore magazine covers at the checkout lines.”
Like a Jedi,I think. I stare at gum instead in case Allison’s face is splashed across a cover.
“And the news again is…?” I prompt.
“Nina stole an Oscar from Millie Duncan,” Jules says, calmer now. “You know, three-time-Academy-Award winner, Millie Duncan? The original America’s Sweetheart, Millie Duncan? Everyone loves her and now Allison’s become the town pariah since McCormack turned on her.”
That pinch of pain in my chest is general empathy. I’d feel that for anyone.
“Last Saturday night, McCormack and Nina were at her house for a party and Nina swiped one of Millie’s statuettes. There are pictures of Allison via the paparazzi. She was hiding it under a coat the whole time. It’s alarming.”
“I’m alarmed that we’re having this conversation,” I say drily.
“I wanted you to be prepared.”
“For what?”
“Anything!” she exclaims, exasperated. “McCormack gave a statement—”
“Stop saying his name,” I warn between clenched teeth. In the restroom in the hallway, I balance the phone on my shoulder and wash the drywall dust from my arms. The mention of Xavier McCormack makes my neck muscles go tight. I don’t know what Allie, or the rest of the world, sees in that douchebag. Doesn’t the fact that he won his own Oscar only prove he’s a really good liar? The press calls them McNina, which is as stupid as McCormack himself.
“Jax. They broke up.”
I pause, towel in hand, my eyes on my reflection in the mirror. My hair and beard are dotted with dust, making the brown strands appear gray. My face is drawn and white—-partially from the dust and partially from this conversation. I towel off my hair and face and turn from the mirror, cellphone in hand as I repeat what my sister just told me.
“They broke up?”
“Yeah. He said that Nina stole the Oscar in a fit of jealousy and that she boarded a plane this morning for a rehab facility. I don’t even like her and even I felt sorry for her when he disclosed that. It wasn’t his story to tell. Plus, he seems full of shit.”
“Because he is,” I snarl.
I’ve always hated Xavier, and not only because he’s dating my ex. From the second I saw his smug, pretty-boy face in the movie Legends and Bygones, the title that won him that treasured statuette, everything about him rang false.
“She’s better off without him,” I add, walking to the stairs. My stomach interrupts with a mighty roar. I tug my too-long hair out of the elastic holding it back. I’ve let it grow, and as a result it’s in my way a lot. Since I’m doing it to impress no one at all, I’m considering a haircut.
“Thanks for the update. I have to grab something to eat. Call you later?” I ask as I jog down the stairs.
“Yes. But…you’re okay?”
Since I know what she’s really asking, I answer the unspoken question instead. “Jules, I’ve been working in her parents’ house all week long. This isn’t the first time I’ve thought about her.” I know Jules is less concerned about someone chattering to me about what happened and more concerned that I’ll catch a magazine cover or an entertainment blip on TV and lose my shit.
“For a while you wanted her back.”
“Yeah, well, that was a long time ago. It’s not like she’s here, Jules.”
“I know. I just…I worry.”
“You don’t have to.”
