Page 74 of Fresh Start
Alice and Tracy exchanged glances, but when they turned their attention back to me, they looked as clueless as before.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Dawson,” Alice said. "Anyway, we'll get you some make-up, and you'll be presentable in no time. I managed to get you a meeting with one of the three streaming giants for a producer role in one of their new TV series."
"And since it's a big step for you, we thought we might come early and prep you before we go," Tracy added.
"And in case you were wondering, the meeting is today," Karen said when I didn't say anything after a few seconds. “In New York. So we’ve got the jet ready to fly you back so you can meet them.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Not only had they ruined my one chance at love, they also were clueless to the fact and didn't care that I was upset with them.
"Do you even realize what you've done?" I asked, trying hard to keep the wild beast inside me tame.
"What have we done?" Tracy asked.
"I phoned you the other day to tell you to get me into the Death Knight film as a producer. And what did you do?" I said.
The look of disgust on Leo's face came to haunt my vision again. I was trying to be calm about it, but the more Leo looked at me with burning hatred in my head, the angrier I got.
"What did we do? We made a bit of a headline to open up your options a little. And guess what? It worked. You can thank us after the meeting today."
"And no need to rush. We've got a whole bunch of meetings for you over the coming weeks, so you can take your pick," Alice added.
I touched my temples to massage them. It was unbelievable. I couldn't fathom how completely and utterly oblivious they were to the fact that they'd cost me my happiness. I knew they hadn't done it out of malice, but it still infuriated me.
"I told you about that film because I wanted to be behind the scenes. You've been begging me for years to take on a producer role. But I finally found theoneproject I was passionate about and you go and ruin everything. Out of all the times you could have made a headline, this was the worst," I said.
Karen reached out to me and touched my hand.
"Dawson, are you okay? What happened? What are you talking about?"
I looked at her. She was innocent in all of this, but she looked apologetic as if she had done something personally and wanted to make up.
"There is this person I met here. No, scratch that. I reunited with a person I used to know. We used to be… we used to be lovers. But then stuff happened, and I betrayed him. I was young and stupid. I cared about my career more than my personal life.
"But I saw him again, here of all places, and I got him to forgive me. It was an apology owed for so many years. But as much as he hated me and I pretended I didn't care about him, it turned out all those feelings we had for each other were still there. So he opened up to me, and I did the same with him. And he trusted me with his top-secret project. He's finally getting his big break. The one I stole from him all those years ago.
"I wanted to help him and support him. And to be with him. That's why I asked you to get me in the production team. But what you guys did…" Vocalizing everything that had happened made me break a little more inside.
Karen squeezed my hand tighter. "He thinks you betrayed him again?"
I nodded.
"Oh my God, you guys!" Karen squealed.
"I lost someone I care about. Twice." I sighed and wiped my face with the back of my free hand, not realizing I’d been crying.
Alice put her pancake down and grabbed my shoulder.
"Have you tried to explain to him? Because if he can't understand what you are doing, then maybe he wasn't the right person for you, sweetie."
I knew what she was trying to do. Alice was my friend as much as she was my agent, and she was trying to help. But this wasn't helping.
"You know, being with him, I was starting to make plans. It sounds stupid, I know, to make plans with someone you've just met, or reunited with, whichever way you want to look at it. I was even starting to think if and how I could come out, girls. I mean, I did to my parents, yesterday. Or they came out for me. It’s confusing, but—”
All three women leaned closer, a mix of shock and surprise written on their faces.
"What?" Tracy said.
