Page 46 of Before We Were Famous

Heath called my name and I turned to see him following. I don’t know why. What remaining insults did we have to fire at each other? If he was worried I was going to be felled by the storm, well, right now that would have been a relief.

I sped up, walking as fast as I could and he caught up beside me and grabbed my hand, I pulled away.

‘Leave me,’ I hissed at him.

I kept walking but when we reached some huge rocks, ‘our rocks’ that were our childhood caves, he reached out and grabbed my hand again.

‘Just stop, Cathy, for the love of God, stop for a moment!’

I wheeled around on him, pulling my hand out of his grip and we glared at each other. We were both so angry that we’d probably implode before we got a word out. The wind was howling around us but we stood in the middle creating our own storm.

We both breathed heavily and then Heath spoke, his words hitting me like weapons. He spoke with more emotion than I had ever heard him express.

‘Cathy, why would you do that to us? Do you know what hell you have put me through?’ he asked, anger rising in his voice. ‘Every waking moment I thought about you. I looked out for you at every performance, hoping that you had changed your mind and come back to me.’

I butted in. ‘I asked you to meet me at home, I called and messaged but you ignored me.’

‘You were calling me while you were seeing him,’ Heath answered. ‘If you were serious about saving us, you would have come to me. Instead, I’m working my butt off trying to stay busy and distracted, all the time wondering if you were with him or who you were out with, who you were kissing.’

I returned to my pain. ‘Why Isabella? Do you love her?’ I asked, not wanting to know but needing to hear the answer.

‘The shiny Lintons,’he scoffed.‘She asked me out over and over again, she’s a distraction. You told me films would raise my profile, well she’s doing that with her million sycophant followers excited by every photo she puts up of the two of us. She’s an accessory.’

‘You’re going to marry her. Of all the ways you could have caused me pain …’ my voice broke and Heath looked away. He could never stand it when I was teary and this time he couldn’t hold me and fix it.

‘Cathy …’ he moved towards me and I stepped back. I wanted him so badly I almost weakened and ran to hold him, but I was still seething with anger and I hadn’t worked through that yet, and that’s partly because he hadn’t said what I needed to hear. I wanted him to say he’d call it off with her in a heartbeat if I came back to him now, but he didn’t say the words. I just needed to be us again and that was gone.

I needed to know he wanted me because I’m different now too. I’ve lost the carefree side of me, and it took so long to get that back after Mum and Dad’s death. I am older, maybe even harder. Nothing about us was the same.

‘You put these wheels in motion, Cathy, this is the freedom you wanted,’ he reminded me. ‘Look what you have done to us. I am in anguish.’

I laughed cruelly. ‘I’m not wishing you to feel any greater torment than me, Heath. After all, misery loves company … what a fine couple we could be.’

Even then he didn’t take my prompt; he didn’t say we could be a couple again or that he would drop his accessory, Isabella. Perhaps he wanted her more than he was prepared to admit. She was fun and sexy and rich, all the descriptions you wouldn’t put on me.

We had run out of words and now it was just us, the moors, the storm around us, and our hearts beating fast.

He let out a ragged breath and I ached for making him so anxious – that same ache I’ve been feeling for the past months.

‘I have to go, Heath,’ I said. ‘Edgar will be waiting for me.’

‘Yes, I know how much youcareabout him, best you run to him then,’ he said.

I turned and walked away, across our moors to my new life.

*****

Entertainment Weekly

RUMOUR FILE:

Filming begins and tension abounds

Filming has begun on director, Nadim Ramirez’s drama,The Meaning of Nothingand our industry spies tell us that the set is a hotbed of tension and dare we say, passion.

Lead actor Heath Earnshaw—fresh from a successful stage career in the West End and applauded for his portrayal earlier this year of Brick inCat on a Hot Tin Roof—is adjusting to life on a film set. It’s fair to say the numerous takes are taking their toll on Earnshaw and the waiting around apparently hasn’t done much for his sense of humour either. Production assistants have been sent to track him down and bring him back when he was required on set – rumour has it he has been found in the gym, at his apartment, and on one occasion watching an amateur theatre stage production! Homesick to tread the boards?

Our sources tell us Earnshaw has not endeared himself to the hair and make-up team either with his lack of interest in touch-ups. A friendly ‘talking-to’ from the director has him staying put on set but running laps around the studio to keep awake and keep him on his game. Oh, dear!

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