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Shelley blew out a shaky breath before bringing up her fist to knock on the door to Rudolph’s office. She’d known that she needed to talk to him about the showcase all day, but her nerves continued to get the better of her and she kept putting it off. But there was no more time to stall, not when she also needed to tell him about the minor changes it would cause for the setup in the showcase.
“Yeah,” Rudolph grunted from inside, prompting Shelley to push open the door.
The old man glanced up at her, his face set in its typical scowl as he asked, “What?”
“I have an update about the showcase,” Shelley said, trying her best to keep her voice from shaking. She had figured out enough to know that Valerie was a trigger for the old man, for whatever reason. But surely, he’d be able to see the benefit in having a movie star tied to their event? Or at least, that was what she hoped.
“Go on, spit it out.”
She walked farther into the office, taking one of the seats across from Rudolph.
“A few of us were talking and we wanted to drum up a little more interest in the surrounding towns,” she explained carefully. “And we figured what better way to do that than to get Valerie involved, so we asked her if we could theme the ice-skating showcase…”
She didn’t even get a chance to finish her sentence as Rudolph pushed himself away from the desk and began shaking his head.
“No,” he demanded. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not?” Shelley argued back. “Surely you know that it’s only a good thing if people from all around come to see us. And Valerie can help with that.”
“This town can stand on its own,” Rudolph insisted. “We don’t need movie stars coming in here and stirring it all up.”
“Rudolph, please,” she began, her eyes tracking him as he walked quickly around the desk toward the door.
“No.”
That was Rudolph’s only answer as he stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him. Shelley stayed seated, not sure how things had gone so incredibly wrong. She had assumed that he wouldn’t be thrilled with the information, but she hadn’t anticipated a flat-out refusal.
“Why does he seem to dislike this woman so much?” Shelley said to herself, shaking her head as she contemplated it.
She racked her brain, thinking of everything that she knew about Valerie from reading magazines and news articles over the years, but nothing that Shelley could remember would warrant such a reaction from Rudolph. She stood, walking toward the door, and pulling it open. She half expected the old man to be on the other side, rearing and ready to give her a piece of his mind about including Valerie. But of course, the hallway was empty.
She pulled out her phone as she walked, making her way to the rink, pulling up Google and immediately typing in Valerie Bernard. The first result that popped up was a wiki page dedicated to the actress, and Shelley clicked on it. She read through it quickly, eyes skimming for anything of particular interest.
“Landed her first big movie role at the age of nineteen,” she murmured to herself. “Moved to LA when she was eighteen, did some commercial work before that. Did theater in high school and was raised by a single mother named Paula… wait.”
Shelley blinked as the picture she’d seen of Rudolph with some mystery woman flitted through her mind suddenly. That woman’s name had been Paula, and Shelley had thought that she’d looked familiar. Now that she considered it more closely, she realized it was because the woman vaguely resembled Valerie.
Quickly, she searched ‘Valerie Bernard’s mother.’ Immediately, images filled the screen and she let out a small gasp. The woman in the photo had for sure been Valerie’s mother. She and Rudolph had known each other!
Going back to the original article, she began skimming it again. Looking for anything additional about Valerie’s mom. But there weren't any more mentions of her, apart from the fact that she had passed away not too long ago. There was, however, a mention of the fact that her father had never been in the picture, and as far as anyone knew, the man’s identity was unknown.
“Oh,” Shelley whispered, her hand fluttering to her mouth in shock. “Oh my.”
Puzzle pieces began fitting themselves together in Shelley’s mind, forming one question and one question only. Was it possible that Valerie was Rudolph’s daughter?
* * *
Valerie stepped back, whipping the back of her hand across her brow to clear it from the sweat as she studied the wall she’d been painting. It was a beautiful, sage accent wall that she’d picked out after talking to Margaret and found out about her favorite colors. Valerie had arrived at the house about an hour before, wanting to make headway before Clark showed up. She couldn’t help but want to make him proud of her.
Her phone began ringing, a bright cheery noise, and the suddenness of it made her jump. Valerie bent, setting down the brush so that it wouldn’t drip onto the floor, and then walked over to the windowsill she’d set the device in. Glancing down at the screen, she let out a small groan before reaching down and pressing ‘accept.’
“Hi, Florence,” she said immediately, pressing the phone to her ear.
“Valerie, darling,” Florence said excitedly, speaking so quickly that her words blended together. “I have the best news, the absolute best. Are you ready for it?”
Wanting to get the conversation over as quickly as possible, she nodded. “Yup, go for it.”
“Lose You to Love Mehas been nominated for a Heart Award!” Florence crowed, and Valerie could hear her jumping up and down and clapping on the other end of the line, clearly having put Valerie on speaker.
