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Allison hated the sadness and bitterness in his tone. He’d obviously been through a lot with his family. She said quietly, “I’m sorry you had a horrific childhood. I can understand why you don’t want to associate with actresses if people with no morals, who have hurt you deeply, are your examples.”
He looked at her, and very unemotionally and matter-of-factly said, “The story gets worse.”
Allison had no idea what to say to that so she simply nodded for him to continue.
“We’ll go quickly over my own stupid mistakes and, suffice it to say, I thought I was in love in high school and the first couple years of college with a friend from childhood. She was an aspiring actress and once she’d used my family connections to be successful she dropped me. I was heartbroken for a while but now realize she was never who she portrayed to be. She played a role with me and everybody else.”
Allison felt frozen. “I’m sorry that she hurt you.”
He shrugged as if it didn’t matter, but she feared it did.
“So you think all actresses are playing roles all the time and are never genuine?” Maybe she shouldn’t have put those words in his head but she was pretty certain they were already there.
His dark eyes were now filled with torment. He nodded slightly. “That’s why I was so rude to you. I apologize.”
“Thank you.” She searched his face and finally said, “But you still believe all actresses are insincere and immoral?”
Birch blew out a breath and angled slightly away. “You’ve definitely made me second guess those opinions.”
“But not change them completely?”
He splayed his hands. “I don’t know that I could ever let go of those opinions. Not with the way I was raised.”
“If you can’t trust an actress, if you can’t believe that I am genuine and know how to shut on and off my acting skills, and also that I would never lie, cheat, or sleep my way into any role, then we are at a pretty awful impasse.” Her words were far too passionate but she couldn’t help it.
Birch didn’t respond in kind. He studied her and said quietly, “From all I’ve observed, you are genuine, amazing, and impressive, but trusting any actress is going to be hard for me.”
Allison wanted to lash out at him, but she could see he was hurting. She didn’t want to pretend with him, but she had to force herself to hide everything she was feeling as if she were on screen. Birch needed her to play the role of long-suffering patience not what her instincts were screaming to tell him off and act like the diva he thought actresses were.
Carefully, she chose her words. “Will you give us a chance? Let me earn your trust?”
“I would really like that.”
Allison released a pent-up breath, thinking maybe they had a chance. If he would try and she would not let herself get offended, maybe they could date and see where it led.
“But there’s still more to my history with actresses.”
“More?” Her eyebrows went up. “You fell in love with another actress who hurt you?” she guessed.
He snorted in derision. “No, I have never been that stupid, I learned my lesson.”
She reared back. “So being with me is ‘stupid’?”
Birch’s eyes widened. “No. I apologize. I didn’t mean that. I simply haven’t dated any actresses since my failed attempt with Bermuda.”
Bermuda? As in one of her closest friends? Allison was so shocked she couldn’t form a sentence quick enough to ask before Birch continued, “No, the one who fell in love and got destroyed was my younger brother.”
Allison swallowed, realizing she’d have to come back around to questioning him about Bermuda later. For the moment she was just trying to get her bearings and keep up with the tragic story. The pain in Birch’s eyes was palpable. “You have a brother too?”
He nodded. “Blade.” His eyes got a faraway look. “He was the best of any of us. Funny, charming, handsome, athletic, everybody adored Blade, even my mother and sister.”
Allison was concerned about the past tense descriptions. “What happened to him?”
“He fell in love with an actress, Amelia Amhurst.” The fury was back in his tone and Allison wanted to scoot away but she held her position. She’d heard of Amelia. She’d been a child star but she hadn’t acted in anything in a while. “He was barely out of high school and thought she was ‘the one’. My sister didn’t like Amelia because they were child stars together and always competing for roles. So mother forbade Blade from seeing her. He got really depressed and started sneaking to meet her and also messing around with hard drugs with her and her friends.”
He blew out a breath before continuing, “She cheated on him. Publicly and multiple times. When he confronted her about it she laughed in his face and dumped him. Told him she refused to play Romeo and Juliet and risk offending my mother and sister. Told him he wasn’t worth ruining her career or missing out on multiple partners.” He swallowed hard and studied the fireplace mantle. “He came home the very night Bermuda dumped me, broken and a shell of his happy, carefree self. He made me promise to never date an actress. I swore to him I wouldn’t.”
Allison sucked in a loud breath and stiffened. He’d promised his brother not to date an actress. If she promised her brother something she would definitely stand by it. Especially if her brother was gone. Everything felt stiff and awkward and she understood his reactions to actresses a lot better.
