Aftershock: A Charity McAdams Novella

Aftershock: A Charity McAdams Novella

Elizabeth Storme

(2013)

After waiting three years for her fairy tale ending, Charity begins to realize that dating one of Hollywood's leading men is a little more complicated than she had originally imagined.

As tabloid drama spirals out of control, Brandon and Charity's relationship is pushed to new limits as they struggle to find balance between the sleepy, small town life of their past and the harsh glow of the L.A. spotlight that is being forced upon them.

With everything they have gone through, Charity thought that nothing could tear them apart again, but as tensions rise and gossip swirls around them she begins to wonder whether there is any way to stay together when everything seems to be pulling them in opposite directions.

Aftershock

A Charity McAdams Novella

Elizabeth Storme

Copyright © 2013

Elizabeth Storme

ElizabethStorme.com

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Any references to real people, historical events, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, persons living or deceased, are entirely coincidental.

Chapter One

Dating a movie star is turning out to be a little more complicated than I had originally imagined. It’s only been a little over a month since Brandon and I reunited, and while it’s been amazing, there have been a few snags along the way.

“Charity? Are you even listening to me?” Brandon asks, impatiently.

We just hit one of those snags about ten minutes ago…

We were walking back from the grocery store, after picking up some supplies to make dinner, and about halfway to my townhouse Brandon had asked (for the third time) what I’m currently thinking in regards to my decision about whether or not I want to move to California when he goes back to start work on his next movie shoot. 

“Yes, I’m listening! But I don’t know what to say. It’s a big decision to make,” I answer, totally exasperated with the entire conversation.

Brandon doesn’t say anything and when I glance over at him, his jaw is clenched and he won’t look at me. I reach out my free hand to grab his arm. “Please don’t be mad. I just need more time to figure it all out.”

“All I want is for you to talk to me, to tell me what you’re thinking.”

“Ok,” I agree. “After dinner, I promise. We’ll talk. I’ll bust out the pro and con list and everything,” I joke, trying to lighten the mood.

He knows me well enough to know that I
actually do have
a pro and con list scribbled out somewhere. He rolls his eyes but then he smiles and I feel myself relax. He shifts the bags around so that he has a free hand and he reaches over and wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me closer as we finish the walk back to my house.

When we walk through the doors I am assaulted by reminders of our recent cohabitation. There are at least three pairs of running shoes by the front door (why a person even needs
that
many pairs of running shoes is beyond me), a laptop and tablet on the coffee table, and a couple old, faded sweatshirts thrown across the back of the couch.

Brandon’s been staying with me for the past few weeks and he recently had a few boxes of clothes shipped up from his home in Los Angeles since he decided to extend his stay for three months.

I love having him around, but my townhouse was already pretty full when it was just me, so adding in all this extra stuff has caused a little bit of an overflow. It’s also very apparent that he’s become quite used to having a maid clean up after him for the past few years.

Fighting the urge to comment on the mess, I shift the topic. “How was your mom doing today?” I ask, as we make our way to the kitchen and start unpacking the groceries.

His mom had a double mastectomy a couple weeks ago, to hopefully get rid of her breast cancer. She is still recovering and Brandon spends a lot of time at his parents’ house, on the other side of town, to help take care of her.

“She seems to be getting better, stronger. We went on a walk today, just around the neighborhood. I think it took more out of her than she was letting on though,” he answers.

He seems distracted for a moment but then brightens and adds, “She wants to know when you’re going to come over for a family dinner.” He gives me a smile over his shoulder.

I finish putting away the last of the contents of my reusable shopping bags and go to hang them inside the pantry. I move around Brandon to get to the pantry door but I don’t meet his gaze.

Back in high school, when we were dating, we spent a lot of time at his parents’ house, and then when we were engaged, we would have dinner over there every few weeks.

So,
rationally
, I know that his request is not off the wall, and the fact that his parents want to have me over for dinner is very sweet. I can’t explain it, but there’s something about the whole thing that makes me anxious and…resistant.

“I didn’t realize you’d told them we were back together,” I finally say

“My parents? Yeah. I told them a couple weeks ago.” He pauses and grabs my arms, turning me to face him. “Cherry, what’s going on? You don’t even want to talk about moving to California, and change the topic anytime I bring it up. And now you’re acting like I did something wrong by telling my parents we’re back together again.”

I know he’s right, I’ve been acting like a complete nutcase. It’s only been a month since he came back into my life and before that, we had spent three years apart. I never imagined I would see him again, let alone the possibility that we would fall in love all over and start a new relationship. The newness makes it all feel very fragile and almost dreamlike.

When we’re alone, just hanging out, everything is so good and it feels comfortable and right. But then I start thinking about everything changing and I overanalyze all the details to death and freak out again.

It’s exhausting.

“Brandon, I’m sorry, I really am. I know I’m driving you crazy. I’m driving
me
crazy!
”
I say. “Things with us are so good right now and I guess, in some weird way, I’m afraid that if we change things and start telling everyone we’re back together and go around all happy and smiley all the time, that we’ll jinx it somehow and that it’ll all fall apart again. And that’s the thing I fear the most. Losing you. Again.”

Brandon takes my face in his hands and tilts my chin up to look him in the eyes. “Cherry, you’re not going to lose me, I’m not going anywhere.”

“How can you know that? I mean, think of all the possibilities! Let’s just say I go to California. You’ll be so busy with your movie that you won’t have much time and I won’t have anything to do, so I’ll be home alone, and bored. And then, what if you start to resent having to entertain me? Or if I start resenting you for taking me away from my hometown and everyone I know?

“On the other hand, if I don’t go, we’ll say that we won’t break up and that we’ll find a way to make it work long distance, but we both know that eventually we’ll drift apart. It happens all the time, especially in Hollywood! And so, I figure, if we just stay here, and don’t rock the boat, everything will be good and we’ll be ok…” I realize that I’m rambling and let my voice trail off.

He smiles at me before petting my hair like I’m some kind of mental person. “Baby, you’re overthinking this, big time! I had no idea you were this stressed out about everything. Why didn’t you tell me all this sooner? We have to learn to work through all this together, you can’t keep all of this anxiety and doubt pent up, it’s not good for you and it’s certainly not good for us.”

I wrinkle my nose. Why does he have to go and be all
logical
?

He kisses me before continuing, “I want you to come to California because I would miss you too much if you stayed here. We’ve wasted too many years apart already. And I told my parents that we’re back together because I’m so happy now and I want to tell everyone! None of that is going to change anything between us. And as much as it would kill me if you don’t come with me, we
would
find a way to make it work. I promise.”

I nod. I know he truly believes what he’s saying but I also think that his brain is a little too much in “Hollywood dreamland” sometimes and that he doesn’t always remember that life rarely works out as perfectly as it does in the movies. I’m not saying he’s stupid or simpleminded but, perhaps, a little overly optimistic.

I start to tell him this, but decide against it and just lean into his embrace instead, pressing my face into his warm chest. He smells amazing and I want to stay like this all day. I don’t know what will happen if I do leave home and go with him to California, but I do know that if I stay here and he goes, that I will be completely miserable.

Chapter Two

We make a simple cheese and broccoli casserole and then settle on the couch to eat and watch a movie. We’ve been spending a lot of time indoors and keeping things low-key for the past month. After Brandon and I got back together I had a bit of a scuffle with one of his ex-girlfriends and someone caught bits of it on video which inevitably made its way online. The tabloids ran some ridiculous story about the whole thing but my identity was (thankfully) not released.

It’s hard to keep a low profile when dating a celebrity but in our home town things seem to be fairly mellow so far. Of course, there is the small town gossip mill to contend with, but we’re used to that by now, having both grown up here.

I set my plate down on the coffee table, pushing a pile of Brandon’s electronic gadgets and cords out of the way, and then snuggle into his lap. He wraps his arms around me and starts kissing my neck. I laugh softly and lean back, giving him a better angle. He unbuttons the front of my sweater and pushes it down my shoulders as he moves down my collarbone. “So, about, dinner,” he says staccato, between soft kisses, “with my family, can we do, tomorrow night?”

I pull back and brace my hands against his chest. “Are you serious?” I cannot believe he is asking me about having dinner with his family while simultaneously trying to seduce me. Has he lost his mind? Or have we reached some sort of inevitable place in our relationship where a discussion of daily events becomes a pathetic excuse for foreplay?

What’s next? We move a TV into the bedroom and have sex with the local news broadcast blaring in the background?

“What now?” Brandon says, clearly irritated. “What’s wrong?

“I just can’t believe you’re asking me
that,
in the middle of…
this
!” I say, gesturing between us.

Brandon rolls his eyes and stands, dumping me off his lap and onto the couch. He doesn’t say anything but starts to grab stuff and shove it into a gym bag he had sitting by the front door.

“Where are you going?” I ask, crossing my arms across my chest.

“I’m going to go back to my parents for the night.”

“Ugh,” I sigh. “So, you’re just going to leave? What about the whole, “I’m not going anywhere” speech?” I challenge.

He stops gathering his belongings and swirls around to face me. “Apparently it doesn’t matter what I say! If I say it’s going to be fine and that we’ll figure it out, you don’t believe me. I feel like everything I say gets thrown back at me and questioned. I have tried to be patient and understanding because this is all new territory for us and I knew that it might take some adjusting but you have to trust me! That’s what we agreed on!”

“I do trust you, Brandon. I trust that you have the best intentions and that you’re trying really hard to make this work but I don’t think you’re being realistic. You think you can just snap your fingers and everything will rearrange itself to fit your lifestyle. I should reintegrate back into your family, practically overnight, and that I should drop everything and move to your fancy house in California. To do what? Become your live-in girlfriend who works her whole life around your career? You have this picture in your head that it would all be so easy and seamless and wonderful but I think the reality might be a little more complicated than you think.

“We have almost two months until you have to go back and you told me I’d have all the time and space I needed to make my decision. But you won’t leave it alone! You have to keep asking and asking!”

He pauses for a moment, absorbing my words. “I guess I just didn’t think it would take this long for you to decide! I thought it would be easier than this, that there would be an obvious choice,” he finally says his voice softer, almost sad.