Page 71 of Rumor Has It

“Do you lie to your manager a lot?” Cass swallows.

We stroll to the edge of the driveway.

“It’s not as dogged as it sounds. We hold information back until the right time and so does Will.” Knowledge is power and sometimes having a boon to match a bust works in a person’s favor. “Will is holding off the PR team about the video I won’t agree to. Two weeks from now, they’ll turn on Will, wanting a tribute to Kylie to appease the fans. My manager will get on my case. I’ll offer new material to play for the concert crowds as a surprise for them. Viola! I’m one step ahead and everyone is happy, though trying out new songs on the road is par for the course.”

Cassidy seems to accept my answer. A breeze blows and she pushes her hair behind her ear.

We pass through the driveway gates. The Tudor is on a main road outside the town proper. There’s hardly any traffic in these parts, though out of habit we look both ways before crossing. The scrub on the other side of the road is trampled or dying because of the season. Behind an old rock wall is a dense thicket.

“What’s behind the trees?” I ask.

“This is, was, no man’s land.” Cassidy and I jump up and off the stone wall. “Our parents wouldn’t allow us over here as kids. Afraid we’d get hit by cars. Only one of my cousins—Gatlin’s brother—ever really disobeyed. There was plenty of secluded land on the ranch side to find trouble in, and most of us preferred sneaking to Taysha Creek to hide a six-pack because the water would keep it cold enough to drink. Anyhow, the quints bought up a lot of the surrounding land when my grandparents were alive to fight it from becoming rezoned or developed. Aside from the acreage Gatlin and Bellamy bought and built on, there’s well over two hundred acres left over.”

I push a limb out of our path. “Perfect size for a golf course.”

We enter a small clearing. A red-tailed hawk takes flight. In the distance, I see shingles on a dark rooftop.

“Yeah, but where would anyone stay? The B&B only has so many suites…” Cassidy abruptly changes the subject. “Isaiah, I owe you an apology.”

“I’m the one who left. You have every right to believe I’m dishonest.” That’s why she grilled me about the story I gave Will. “If I were you, I’d be convinced all a celebrity asshat like me does is tell lies of omission.”

Her lip quirks as if she agrees. “But I didn’t ask for details about—” she sighs heavily, her arms widen, gesturing, “Any of this. I didn’t want to pry or dig or act possessive.”

“So, what would you have asked me—‘Hey Isaiah, got any kids you’re hiding that the press hasn’t sniffed out yet’?” I chuckle unenthusiastically. Yet my feet move closer to hers.

“Probably not.” She inspects the undisturbed carpet of leaves on the ground.

I cram my fists into my front pockets to stop myself from reaching out and grabbing her. I like that Cassidy doesn’t feel the need to snoop in my personal business. That she treats me like any other man. Falling for a woman like Cassidy Cavanaugh is as effortless as waking in the morning. I regret the days I’ve opened my eyes and she wasn’t the first person I’ve seen. I think I’m in love with her.

“Pretend you did ask that, Cass, and that I answered the way I’m about to. When we were just starting out, Kylie and I understood what the other was going through like no one else could. I stood up for her when anybody in the industry asked her to do something as a woman that I’d never have to do as a guy. And Kylie pushed just as hard to support me. We were both stars on the rise and our labels took advantage of the rumors we were a couple when all we were was friends with occasional benefits. The busier we got, the more time we spent apart. Me in the studio, her on the road. Vice versa. We had separate lives until Kylie wanted to split from her parents. Things started getting nasty. There were articles printed saying she was using drugs, and I stepped in as a friend because I loved the girl I grew up with.

“Her PR team thought her image was taking a beating. She needed a committed relationship to make her seem more mature. I agreed. Getting married wasn’t supposed to be forever, and it wasn’t changing who we’d always been to one another. The wedding brought huge publicity for both of us. Kylie liked to show off the magazines touting me as the solid, dependable guy who tamed the wild girl.”

My first clue.

“We talked about an annulment on the beach during our honeymoon. The first year, we had to prove to our fans we’d given it the old college try.” I click my tongue. “The second year, every time we got together, we ended up having sex.”

My second clue. How do you share something intimate with someone you care about and then pick up a pen, a legal pad, and divide the assets that aren’t in your prenup? We were still friends. So, I got evasive, and she used her house in LA to avoid me just as much.

“Last summer, Kylie wanted to see me at my place in Nashville. She had canceled some dates right in the middle of a tour. My team was lining up one for this year. Big budget with more stops in more cities. The difference was this time Kylie visited, she asked me for a divorce before we took off our clothes. She even showed me the draft of a ‘mutually decide to part ways’ statement her PR team was waiting to release.”

“That had to have been a shock. What did you say?”

“I told her no.” Not because our marriage ever stood a chance. I was more worried about my reputation when the story broke. I was about to announce the tour dates and I knew the media would be all over it. The DJs wouldn’t hold back during interviews. Not all of them have the same good sense that Gatlin and Bellamy do. “I hadn’t wanted to deal with the fallout. Each time she asked me to stay married another year, I grew hopeful that maybe we’d settle down someday, and I gave in. But, after a while, it became crystal clear the level of mutual cooperation in our marriage was me cooperating with whatever Kylie wanted. If the things I wanted in my personal life weren’t coming to fruition, my career deserved another year. I agreed to announce our separation once the Rumor Has It tour was over.”

Kylie got mad. She told me to suck it up and admit that the way our lives worked, a divorce would never happen at the best time for either of our careers. She was filing for divorce whether or not I liked it.

“I remember looking at her before she stormed out. Her face was puffy, and she had on big clothes.” I chalked it up to her using cocaine. “An hour later, the police were at my door. She’d wrapped her car around the tree.” On the way to the hospital, I was sure she was using. “In a million years, I never would have guessed she was pregnant.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

CASSIDY

“Do you think the reason she wanted a divorce was because she wanted to be with the baby’s father?”

“Stands to reason. I only ever wanted her to be happy and, for as fucked up as it seems on the outside, I thought we were both looking out for the other’s best interest. If she’d been upfront—” Isaiah hangs his head. He drags a toe, creating an arc of leaves and exposing the dirt below our boots. “Kylie loved the limelight, but she deserved better than the crap her parents pushed on her to get to the top. It was abusive and turned a really great girl into a victim and an into addict. I told her as much the day she died. Except, back then, I felt like I bore the brunt for how she died, and I held all the blame for why Aria would never meet her mother. A counselor helped me accept that no story is ever one-sided. We both played our parts.

“I won’t lie to you, Cassidy. I spent a lot of the past year battling depression. I still wonder if marrying Kylie enabled her. Or if tensions weren’t running high about whose career would implode on a grander scale, and I had said yes to the divorce, if everything would have happened exactly the same way. Part of me hopes Kylie’s reason for hiding her pregnancy under baggy clothes and not telling me why she wanted out of our marriage was her fucked up way of sparing me the betrayal. One thing’s for sure, when the shit hits the fan, I know I’ll fall back to anger and believe it was sheer cowardice on her part… And culpability I feel about how Aria wound up parentless won’t ever fade. That baby is stuck with me because I was a pompous ass who wouldn’t grant her mother a divorce. If Kylie stayed just a few minutes longer, I could have called 911. I could have saved her.”

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