Wandering Heart (9781101561362) (27 page)

Charlotte sat back on the cushions. She and Colin had made their getaway in the nick of time. Just like in the movies, she thought.

T
HEY
stayed out on the water all day and even did some fishing. Charlotte caught a large sea bass but decided to throw it back. She told Colin she felt bad for the fish once it was in their bucket. He laughed and said she must be identifying with it and helped her toss it back.

They headed back as the sun was starting to set. Charlotte grew tense as she saw the land come closer. She had a horrible feeling that no matter where Colin pulled the boat in, reporters who knew about her past would be there, waiting for her.

She had spoken to her publicist twice during the day. Renee was still trying to track down the person in charge of the show to find out exactly what they knew and didn’t know. Charlotte wanted to call Mike and explain why she had run off, but she was too afraid that Mike would insist she come back before the coast was truly clear.

“Don’t panic, Charlotte,” Renee had said. “It could be something
completely different from what you think. But keep your head down until I call you back, okay?”

Charlotte agreed that’s what she would do. She had sent Meredith a short text, explaining that she was trying to duck a pernicious reporter and would be back as soon as she could. Meredith had texted her back right away. Charlotte hadn’t opened the message.

The boat was coming closer to the land. Charlotte stepped up beside Colin as he steered the boat. “Are you going to pull in at the dock again?”

It had grown cool and he had given her a hooded sweatshirt to keep warm. It was much too big and she had to roll the sleeves but she loved wearing his clothes.

“I was thinking of going around to the other side of the island. I can tie up at a dock near my cottage, and we can walk to my house. I think you’ll be safely hidden there. Reporters come by once in a while, looking for movie stars. But not that often.”

His teasing tone made her smile and put the situation in perspective. Of course she was safe out here. No one would find her in a million years.

“Is it a long walk to your cottage?” she asked, wondering how long she would have to be out in the open. Maybe reporters didn’t roam these streets, but one of his neighbors might recognize her.

“About half a mile. But we’ll give you a disguise.” He glanced at her. “The first thing we have to do is hide that hair. I have some hats in the cupboard under the bunk, and some old jeans and boots in a cubby somewhere. Go see if you can make yourself look like a fishing buddy, okay?”

“Good idea. I’ll pretend I got a role, playing a guy,” she said, heading below again.

Her answer made him laugh. “Highly unlikely, but give it a try.”

A short time later, Charlotte came back on deck. They had reached the dock, and Colin was slowly and carefully bringing the boat alongside so he could tie up.

“How do I look?”

He glanced at her. “Not bad. I’ll have to call you Charlie while you’re in that getup.”

“That’s fine. My family calls me Charlie all the time.” Hearing him say the nickname touched her.

“It suits you. Here, take the wheel a minute, Charlie. Just hold it steady. I’m going to jump on the dock with the line.”

Charlotte quickly did as he said, then watched as he nimbly straddled the boat and dock and quickly tied the first line on to secure it. He extended his hand and helped her off the boat, then went back for the bucket of fish they had caught.

“Hold this net over your shoulder. It’s a nice prop as we’re walking along.”

Charlotte took the net and they set off. She felt a little nervous at first and couldn’t help looking around the dark dock and beachfront for any signs of people searching for her. But there were none.

They soon reached the cobblestone streets of the fishing village, and Colin led the way to his house. Some of the cottages were dark and empty looking, but many windows glowed with warm lights within. Charlotte couldn’t help peering inside at the people who lived there: women cooking in their kitchens, children playing games, a man reading a newspaper. She envied their quiet, anonymous lives.

“So far so good,” Colin said as they turned a corner.

He glanced around at the next street. She couldn’t tell if he was teasing her, thinking she was paranoid, or if he, too, feared they would be spotted. “Not too much longer.”

“Good. How am I doing?”

“Not bad. But you need to walk more like a guy,
Charlie
,” he said, glancing quickly over her shoulder at her rearview. “No one would ever take you for a man with that wiggle.”

“Oh, right. I forgot.” She quickly adopted a lumbering, side-to-side male strut. “Better?”

“That’s the idea. You look a little like a chimpanzee,” he commented casually. “But it’s definitely an improvement.”

“Glad you approve. These clothes you loaned me smell like dead fish, by the way.”

He gave her an appreciative grin. “I was wondering when you’d notice.”

They reached his cottage, and Colin led her around to the back door and let them in. He turned on a few lights and closed the curtains. “In this neighborhood we pretty much look out for each other. But that does sometimes translate into my neighbors knowing more about my private life than I like them to.”

“I guess I should stay away from the windows then.” Charlotte pulled off the baseball cap, and her pinned-up hair tumbled out in all directions.

When she looked up, he was staring at her. “Uh … yeah. That would be a good idea.”

He turned and headed for the kitchen. “I’ll go fix us something to eat. I think fish is on the menu. I hear it’s very fresh.”

She smiled, knowing he meant the fish they had caught that day. “Sounds great.”

So he could cook, too? This guy was too good to be true, Charlotte thought. She helped Colin in the kitchen as much as she could. It was a simple meal of broiled fish, boiled potatoes, and frozen beans, everything seasoned with butter, parsley, and salt.

While the food cooked, Colin showed her the bathroom and gave her some towels and extra clothes he thought might do if she wanted to freshen up. Charlotte appreciated his thoughtfulness. There was certainly some awkwardness and tension between them, being in such close quarters, but he was trying to make it as easy for her as possible.

When they sat down to dinner, Charlotte thought she had never tasted anything so good, not even in the fanciest five-star restaurants. They were both tired from the day and didn’t talk much. Colin had put on some music, a light baroque melody. Charlotte didn’t know much about classical music but she found the delicate harmonies very soothing, the perfect ending to a nearly perfect day.

As they sat in easy silence, Charlotte realized she felt a genuine sense of peace, even protection here. Once again, Colin had stepped in to help her and even take care of her, without any self-serving motives. He hadn’t been hired as an assistant or security guard and wasn’t part of the production staff. He was just … Colin. And she was here because he cared for her. She wasn’t used to that. It rarely happened in her professional life—or her real life.

After dinner was cleared, they went into the living room.

“Should we check the news, to see if there’s a manhunt on for you?” His tone was teasing, but she could tell he was partly serious.

“I sent Meredith a text that I was alive and well, just waiting out an aggressive reporter. So I don’t think they have the bloodhounds looking for me.”

“That’s good. Because I don’t own a TV. But we could look on the Internet,” he added.

She couldn’t help asking, “You don’t miss having a TV?”

He shrugged. “I’m not the best-informed person you’ll ever meet. But I figure your brain is like an attic; there’s just so much useless junk you can dump up there. Pretty soon the useless stuff crowds
out the important stuff. And I don’t want to waste time I could be using more efficiently.”

“For your writing, you mean?”

He nodded. “Like my writing. Exactly.”

She respected that. He was willing to make so many sacrifices for his work, living a rustic life out here, all alone. Focusing totally on his dream.

“That’s real dedication. I hope it pays off for you.”

“I do, too,” he admitted. “But everyone has to pay their dues. I’m sure you had a lot of little, invisible roles before you got leading parts.”

“I did,” she agreed. “I was lucky, though, that the right people saw my work and offered me better parts. I worked hard for years, without getting very far—then boom. It sort of all came at once. I still can’t believe it. Sometimes, I feel as if I don’t quite deserve it,” she said honestly.

“I wouldn’t say that. There’s such a thing as natural talent. Some people can study writing or painting or acting all their lives and never be any good at it. And some people don’t have to study at all. They’ve just … got it.”

Charlotte had never thought of it that way. His words made her feel better.

He gave her a curious look. “Is that why you don’t like talking to reporters? You feel as if you haven’t worked hard enough for your success?”

Charlotte was surprised by his question, though it did hit a nerve. She did fear being found out. Not about her acting. She felt confident enough about her abilities there. But about her past, the fake happy childhood that had been cooked up to hide the dark truth of her family’s dysfunction.

She didn’t answer right away. She gazed into her mug of tea, as
if she might find the right words there. She wanted to be truthful with him, but there were truths she could never tell anyone.

He reached over and touched her hand. “I’m sorry. I can be too blunt sometimes. You don’t have to answer that. I just want to know you better. I want to understand you.”

She looked up at him. “It’s a fair question. But that’s not what I’m afraid of. That’s not what I think the reporters will find out about me either.”

His blue eyes studied her as if they could see into her soul. He was still holding her hand, his touch warm and reassuring. “What is it, Charlotte? You look so … worried and scared.”

Charlotte wondered if maybe she had been wrong. Maybe she
could
tell someone the truth she had been hiding for years. Still, she wondered if she could trust Colin with it. Would he think less of her for pretending all this time to be something she was not? Would he think she’d been selfish and cold to leave home and desert her younger siblings the way she had?

During her first few years in L.A., she had barely had contact with them. She didn’t have any spare money to send home but would call every month or so, talking only to Lily. Even that limited contact was painful. Charlotte always hung up feeling terribly guilty and tugged back toward that toxic household. But Lily would remind her that the only way to really help the family was for Charlotte to follow her own path, and become strong enough and successful enough to someday help them all get away.

It had taken time, but Charlotte had started secretly sending money to her mother, begging her to take the kids and leave. About that time, her stepfather had died, and Charlotte was able to fully support them. She had been supporting them ever since. Still, so much damage had been done.

Charlotte glanced at Colin, who was still waiting for her answer. She had been lying and hiding this so long, it was hard to tell the truth to anyone.

As she sat there, trying to find a way out of her own secrets, her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that it was Renee calling. She quickly answered it, wondering what her publicist had found out.

“Well, it’s all settled. You can come out of hiding,” Renee announced cheerfully. “I finally tracked down the producer of
Hollywood Buzz
and got him to tell me what they have on you.”

Charlotte braced herself. “What is it exactly?”

Renee knew the truth about her past. She had in fact been one of the authors of Charlotte’s fake story. But she seemed to take these situations so casually at times, claiming any publicity was good publicity, a theory that had never made sense to Charlotte.

“It’s not what you think, so don’t worry. It’s not even about you really. They want to know about your sister Lily. It seems someone’s found out she might come out to the West Coast to go to school, and they’re already wondering if she’s going to be the next hot young actress. They want to interview the two of you together.”

“A story about Lily? That’s what they’re after?” Charlotte didn’t entirely believe it. It was definitely not the disaster she had imagined, but she also hated the idea of her little sister being pushed into the public eye. Lily had no desire to act, and Charlotte wasn’t about to let anyone try to change her mind.

“Don’t worry, they promised they would leave her alone. For now. But I had to promise you would give them an exclusive interview when you finish this film.”

“All right. I guess that would be okay.” Charlotte was reluctant to help the show at all, but knew she couldn’t refuse. Better to give
them a story that she wanted them to have than to let them dig up one of their own.

“So, back to work, kid,” Renee said briskly. “The little escape is over. Do you want me to call Judy for you?”

“No, I’ll call her. Thanks for your help, Renee.”

“That’s what I’m here for. I’ll see you soon. We’ll have lunch when you get back, okay?”

“Yes, of course.” Charlotte said good-bye and ended the call.

She turned to Colin. He’d been listening. He couldn’t help it, since he was sitting so close. “Good news?” he asked.

“In one way, I guess.” Charlotte explained that the reporters were after a story about her sister and that her publicist had called them off by promising an exclusive interview for their show.

“I see. So you can come out of hiding?”

“That’s right. I can shed my alter ego, Charlie, the fishing buddy.” She tried for a light tone, but the moment felt bittersweet. Just when it seemed they were growing closer to each other, she had to go.

“Well, that’s a plus at least. I could never quite see you as a guy, I must admit.”

He smiled, but she saw a flash of disappointment in his eyes.