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‘Oh, right. Well, it all got too much when I found him in the van, turning on the engine, about to leave.’
‘He was going to drive somewhere?’ Callum had stepped outside and looked at the garage attached to the house.
‘Yes. That really was the last straw. Imagine if I hadn’t caught him, and he’d got on the road.’
Callum thought,Why didn’t she just take the keys and hide them, or get rid of the van?He didn’t say that, though. He hadn’t been living with his dad. He imagined that the event was just one of many things that had been happening.
‘I took the keys, but then I caught him walking down the road. I asked him where he was going.’
‘What did he say?’
‘Home!’ She threw her arms up in the air in exasperation. ‘So, you see, I couldn’t keep an eye on him all the time.’
Callum caught sight of the taxi driver getting out of his car. ‘Do you still want a taxi, mate?’
‘Oh, yes. I’m coming.’ Callum turned to his mum. ‘Is there anything I should take with me for Dad? Anything he’d like?’
‘The keys to his van.’ The expression on her face said she wasn’t joking.
Callum gave his mum a kiss goodbye.
‘I’m glad you’re home, Callum. It’s been too long.’
He looked at her, surprised by the comment. ‘Oh, right. Thanks.’
He was about to leave when she caught his arm. ‘Is everything all right with you? You’re not on anything, are you?’
‘What do you mean,on anything?’
‘You know, you hear about all these celebrities taking drugs, and you look so ... thin. You’ve got a nice tan, but you’ve lost weight.’
Callum sighed. He hadn’t been taking care of himself; he knew he hadn’t been sleeping or eating properly since the show had been cancelled. It was the worry over the work drying up, and over the stupid financial situation he was in. He kept checking his phone, hoping the realtor had some good news regarding the sale of his Beverley Hills mansion. If only he’d invested in a nice little property back home ten years earlier.
‘Callum?’
He shook his head and smiled. ‘No, Mum. Contrary to what you read in the tabloids, not everyone in Hollywood is on drugs.’ In fact, in Callum’s experience, nobody was – at least not on the show he’d starred in for all those years.
‘Then what is it?’
‘What do you mean?’ he asked again.
‘I know my son. There’s something going on.’
Callum kept smiling. He was too embarrassed to tell her he’d been such an idiot with money. He knew he’d be lucky if he did get a buyer on the mansion to pay off the massive mortgage and settle his debts. What would she think if she knew that after all those years, and all that money, he had nothing to show for it, apart from a tan. Callum said, as nonchalantly as he could, ‘Of course there isn’t something going on.’ Unfortunately, his smile dropped ever so slightly.
‘I knew it!’
Callum sighed. ‘I told you already, the show has been cancelled.’
‘Maybe they’ll change their minds.’
He had heard of other studios picking up cancelled shows.
‘I thought it was popular –youwere popular.’
Callum shrugged.
‘Do you know why?’
