Page 53 of Once Upon a Star

“Are you sure? I have the contract right here and it does look like your signature. At least it’s close enough to hold up in court,” Casey said.

Her admission could have been considered a threat. I knew what she was saying without telling me. “You had my mother forge my signature, didn’t you?” I asked.

“She was so good at it when you were younger, it only seemed fitting that she did it now. She was the one who helped put everything in motion. You don’t think she was going to let something like you wanting to be with some woman get in the way of your career.”

I clutched the phone tightly and said, “You are my agent, not my mother’s. You are supposed to do what I say and want, not her.”

“Come on now, Sebastian. She just wants what’s best for you. We all do. We let you have your fun, now it’s time to do the real work. Where would you like to have dinner with Eleanor tomorrow evening?”

“Casey, I’m not coming to LA,” I said.

“Oh, honey, that’s the wrong answer. She’s expecting you. You don’t want to get known in Hollywood for being difficult to work with, not when there’s so much riding on your success.”

I dropped my head down and took a few deep breaths. “Casey, you are not understanding me. I am not going back to Hollywood tonight, tomorrow, ever. My life is here in New York. If you knowingly allowed my mother to sign a contract for me, that is fraud. I will sue you and my mother for breach of contract, falsifying documents, ethics violations, and just about anything that I can think of.”

“You wouldn’t do that. It would be career suicide,” Casey said but I could hear the hint of fear in her voice.

“It isn’t if I kill a career I don’t want. I was never going to come back to Hollywood. You thinking you can make me only shows me how much I hate the town and everything in it. It’s only compounded by the fact that you were working with my mother. I thought you knew and understood my feelings about my mother. She is not a part of my life or my career.

“You have one of two choices. You can either retract the statement, say it was all a miscommunication and back me out of the movie. Or you can let me and my lawyer handle it and when I am done, you will never work in Hollywood or any town ever again. I’m sure you know which one I would prefer.”

“You’re bluffing. You don’t know any lawyers. You wouldn’t know what to do with your career without me or your mother,” Casey stammered.

“That’s something I’m more than willing to find out. Are you willing to risk your career, your reputation on thinking that you know me?” I countered.

“You can’t fire me. It will kill my career,” she stammered.

“Not my problem. Find a way out of this. You have until the end of the day tomorrow. Consider it your last duty as my agent,” I didn’t wait for her to answer before ending the call.

I stood outside the theater and took a deep breath. Was Casey right? Was this career suicide? Was I going to regret doing this later? Would Isla and I even be able to do what I was hoping we could? Was I putting too much into what I wanted over what was smart?

My mind immediately thought about Ara, her laughing at me as we went on the hike, her excitement over the pizza, her talking to Jack and Jill at the bar. I thought about how beautiful she looked in the firelight, her laying on top of me after we had made love. I thought about her being a doctor and how great she was going to be. I saw her as a mother and what her kids would look like. I thought how much I would hate it if I wasn’t there for any of it.

What I was thinking might be career suicide but it was worth it if it allowed me to be with Ara. Plus, I didn’t want to do the movie. I didn’t want to be in California. My life, my happiness, everything that I saw for my future was in New York. In the time I had worked with Isla, I knew I wanted to work with her again. I had felt more alive, more a part of the process and challenged as an actor when I had been working with Isla than anywhere else.

With her, I could see about doing some writing, something unimaginable if I were in Hollywood. I still might not be taken seriously but it was worth a chance. I had a plan in my head, one that was risky for not only me and Isla but even Ara. But if it worked, it would give me everything I wanted. After seeing what Casey had done, I understood that I needed to take this risk, that it was the only way I could find my happiness. I had let people control my life, make my decisions. I had lost what had mattered most to me because of it. I wasn’t going to let that happen again.

I moved to open the door to the theater when my phone rang. I wasn’t going to answer it but when I saw it was Ara, I did. I had wanted to call her, I had wanted to tell her everything that had happened but I wanted to have more answers for her when I did.

“It’s not true. My agent, my former agent, set everything up. She was trying to get me to go back to California. I don’t want to. Can you meet me at the theater and I will explain everything to you. It isn’t what you think; it isn’t what the articles are saying. Can you trust me?”

Ara didn’t say anything for a second and I was worried she was too mad at me to talk. I held my breath and waited.

“I knew it was something. You wouldn’t lie to me, you wouldn’t leave me. Of course, I trust you. I’m going to head over to the theater right now. I’ll see you soon,” she said.

“Good. Thank you, Ara. I promise I will explain everything when you get here. I love you.”

“I love you, too. See you soon,” she said and hung up.

I put my phone away and walked into the theater, feeling better and more confident than I ever had or probably should. I squared my shoulders as my mind raced; I had a deal to make so I could be with the woman that I loved.

Chapter 30

Aracely

I knew it had to have all been a mistake, a miscommunication, something. I couldn’t see Bash being the way he had been with me when we were at Winslow Creek and it all being an act. He had been honest with me; I had seen it; I had known it in my soul. Still, it had been hard to not take the article at face value. It was logical that with the play being done, he would go back to his roots. Except I knew that wasn’t what he was interested in doing.

Layla and Ella offered to stay at my place in case I needed them. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to. Hopefully, Bash and I were going to be too busy with each other for anyone else to matter. I appreciated them wanting to be there for me. I knew they would love and support me no matter what, but they were still a bit skeptical of Bash and what he was doing.