Page 87 of Falling for Grace

“What about Brandon?”

“Grace, he needs you.” Her eyes fill with tears. “I couldn’t watch him self-destruct. My agent… They want me to walk away. I’ve tried to get through to him, but he won’t listen. He just sits and drinks all day. He’s doing drugs, he’s out every night, he’s a mess.”

I stare at her, shocked.

“So you're leaving him in his moment of need? Nice.” Theresa snorts.

“It’s not like that,” she says, looking only at me. “I care for Brandon deeply, but in this industry, you have to be selfish. Brandon… He needs help, Grace. But he won’t listen to me.”

I frown as my memory jumps to one of the last pictures I saw of the great Brandon Holder, plastered all over E! with the headline “Brandon Holder’s Fall from Grace.” God, it's sick how true that statement is. He’d looked awful.

“We aren’t together,” she adds. “The press was right about that. He’s in a horrible place.”

Her chin wobbles and tears leave tracks down her face. This is a far cry from the person I met at the funeral and, as much as I want to hate her, I feel sorry for her.

Sorry for the way Brandon treated her.

Sorry for what I did to her with Brandon.

“I’ve tried, Ava. What makes you think I can get through to him?”

Theresa is standing in the doorway watching the conversation play out, her head whipping from side to side as though she is watching a Wimbledon match.

“Because he loves you, Grace.” She says it so matter-of-factly, almost defeated. “Whatever you two had, it was special.”

I can practically see the “I Told you so” look in Theresa’s eyes.

This is my fault. I caused this, and now they want me to fix it. They believe I can get through to him. But I’m the catalyst.

“Grace, you can’t just write him off, you’d never forgive yourself.” It’s T’s turn to join in.

“But I caused it!” I snap, throwing a pillow on the floor in frustration. “You all think I can fix this, but don’t you see it was me who fucking broke him?”

“Don’t you see?” Theresa says. “You’re the best person to get through to him. Because you’ve been there. It can take seconds to fall apart, but it takes a hell of a lot longer to put yourself back together. You did it on your own. Do you really want that for him?”

I look at her, and I know she’s right. It took me weeks to fall apart, but years to bring myself back to this point.

“You know the grief of losing a child because you’ve lost one, too.”

“A child?” Ava says. “What are you talking about?”

We ignore Ava, who joins us and sits heavily on our other sofa.

“I’m sorry,” she says, looking down at her hands. “He never said anything…”

“He didn’t know,” I admit. “He found out after the funeral.”

She looks at me. “What you must have been through… You need each other,” she says.

I’ve heard that before.

Sue told me.

Bless Sue. How awful must it be for her? Watching her only remaining son have a breakdown.

It disgusts me. Poor sweet Sue’s heart is probably breaking all over again.

“I need the phone,” I say, standing up.

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