Page 54 of Close Match
Her eyes bug out. “Excuse me? Did you say your father? What did you do, hire someone from the Village to hold a seance to talk to Patrick again?” Pasquale doesn’t bother to hide his snicker.
I want to laugh and cry simultaneously. What does she think this little confrontation will do but further my bitterness against her? “Yes, I found my biological father. Of course, you remember me discussing him with you? Bristol and Simon were there? This was, of course, before I dared you to ever speak to me again for withholding that information from me.”
Pasquale’s laughter abruptly dries up. He takes a step back, whispering, “What?” I don’t bother to give him my attention. Being a part of their inner circle for almost as long as I’ve been alive, he should have realized that nothing short of treason would have ever caused me to stop speaking to my godmother.
Veronica neither confirms nor denies my accusations, but the high color along her cheekbones tells its own story. I step closer. “Get help. You need it more than Mom ever did. Some people still could love you. I just don’t know why you won’t let me be one of them,” I reprimand softly.
Instead of answering me, or making excuses for her behavior, my godmother turns on her heel and disappears into the crowd.
Pasquale’s eyes follow her for a moment before they meet mine. Now they’re filled with the wretched sorrow I expected. I have no idea what she told him. I’m too emotionally exhausted to care. “I’m sorry, Linnie. I never…”
I nod, accepting the apology for what it’s worth, which is next to nothing. Mom always warned me about being in this business—that you keep your close circle of friends close and everyone else just close enough. While Pasquale’s known me since I was three, none of that mattered when the gossip was flying. To me, he should have known better than to listen to a woman who was filling his head with nonsense while undoubtedly getting him off.
I don’t bother to say anything else. Instead, I feel nothing but pity for the woman I grew up with, knowing there’s no way she’ll ever find happiness at the bottom of a bottle. As for me, knowing the way it could impact my life, I’d be a complete moron to touch a drop of alcohol in this lifetime.
* * *
Bristol tossesanother news rag into a growing pile that’s spilled onto the floor. Practically every word I exchanged with Veronica made the tabloids last night. Unfortunately, they put a spin on it that we were fighting for Pasquale.
Ew. I’m so disgusted I want to vomit.
“I know! Let’s see what your friend at The Fallen Curtain has to say,” she says brightly. I groan. Bristol pulls her iPad into her lap and pulls up yet another gossip website. “Well, well, well.” Her voice is smug.
“What?” Not another recount of how I’m trying to buy my next part by sleeping with my former director.
“Sepi should be hiring her as your publicist. Listen to this:
Last night’s fund-raiser for NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts was horribly disrupted by Broadway Dance Center’s veteran dancer Veronica Solomone.
Solomone’s exclusive dance classes have become much less sought-after since Broadway star Evangeline Brogan recently changed studios. Solomone was selected by Brielle Brogan to act as her oldest daughter’s godmother.
Solomone approached Brogan at the charity event yesterday evening right after Brogan stepped off the red carpet. As always, the Broadway star stood her ground with class, letting the older woman embarrass herself with her date, Pasquale Beecher. Sources close to the trio note that Brogan showed the class she was known for while she held her godmother—who obviously had an agenda—at bay while one individual willing to speak off the record said, “It’s obvious Veronica needs help for her grief.”
Ms. Brogan hasn’t had nearly enough time to mourn the loss of her mother, who collapsed in her arms on stage during a performance ofMiss Me, with Evangeline in the starring role as “Kate Hynes.” This all-star cast also included Simon Houde as her love interest, “Michael Kirby.” Although Brogan was nominated for this year’s Tony Award for her performance as Hynes, neither she nor Houde walked the red carpet out of respect for their deceased family member. She was instead in Los Angeles recording an album of lullabies to be released just in time for the birth of her younger sister’s first baby with costar Houde.
While we wish the entire Brogan family nothing but peace as they come to terms with their new family dynamic, Broadway isn’t the same without the combined force of their voices.
“Is it wrong to be both grateful and a little scared that Courtney Jackson was in the crowd that close to me and I have no idea who she is?” I wonder aloud.
“Maybe it’s Pasquale,” Bristol suggests.
My eyes widen. “You don’t think…”
“Of course I don’t! Jesus, we can pull up her picture on the website,” Bristol exclaims and does just that. Seeing the petite blonde from The Fallen Curtain’s image, I vaguely remember her in the crowd around us. Out loud, I say, “Remind me to send her a bouquet of flowers.”
Bristol types in a reminder on the iPad. “Done. Do you think things are going to get better?” she frets. I talked to her right after I called a furious Sepi last night.
“I don’t know,” I tell her. “Right now, I’m not sure I care. I care more about getting answers to know who the hell I am.”
“And that’s not happening here,” Bristol concludes sadly.
I wish it could, but I have to agree. “No, it isn’t.”
We’ve spent the better part of the last few days with my telling her all about Ev and Char. I’ve even ventured into talking about Monty, though it’s odd every time I do. Bristol will start to ask a question, and I’ll deflect it. Just saying his name conjures up images of his gorgeous face that linger for hours.
I haven’t slept well since Bristol and I have been up all hours talking.
“With the way your luck is going, you’re going to end up madly in love with your new stepbrother and living in there…” She trails off, picking up something in the tensing of my shoulder, she correctly guesses, “You like him.”
