Page 45 of The Muse
I text Ivy, hoping we can meet up. She’ll be the most reasonable in her judgement of my relationship. I hope. Plus, if Landon has told the rest of the family, I’m sure I would have heard from them by now.
Sorry. I’m out of the country. But don’t worry. I’ll be back in a week or so. We have those horrible interviews for the feature. When’s yours?
What feature?
I know nothing about any interviews. She’s the one doing the interviewing, normally.
My phone rings, and I see Ivy’s face pop up on my screen.
“Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.”
“So, what’s this feature about?” I ask, happy to be distracted from the rest of my dilemmas.
“You know, the big 50th anniversary thing. It’s part of Landon’s CEO handover. There’s huge media interest. I’m surprised that Father’s not scheduled you in with the author.”
“There’s a book?” It's typical of Father to forget he has a fourth child. After all, I’ve not done anything as a Broderick, have I?
"No, not a book per se, just some in-depth look at the success of the Broderick empire. It’s really all about Daddy and the media world.”
“Which is why I know nothing about this. Remember, Ivy. I’m Seffi Castlewood.”
“You don’t have to be now. You’ve done what you set out to, and can finally come clean to the world. After all, the attention due to Landon taking over is going through the roof. You’ve been lucky that we’ve all lived quiet lives and the media speculation hasn’t been too probing—of course, Father has seen to that. But you can do what you want now.”
The idea sounds so simple. Announce who I really am. But I’m pretty sure that if I did that, any chance of there ever being a future with Scott would be lost, too. Daddy would be happy. He’d finally be able to show off my accomplishment, no doubt to his benefit, but not even being accepted by him could make me want to do that right now. My heart gives a little squeeze as if reminding me that it’s the part of me ruling my decisions of late. “Maybe,” I mutter.
“What’s up? You sound sad. Landon giving you a hard time?”
“That obvious, huh?” I almost manage a laugh at that.
“He’s just looking out for you. I know he can be overbearing,but he's not all bad. He could just do with having the stick removed from his arse sometimes. He used to be fun occasionally.”
My brows rise. She's never said anything like that to me before, and I've certainly never seen anything fun out of him. “He’s trying to be like Dad. But at least Dad left me to my own devices. Plus…”
“Plus what? Come on. I know when you’re holding out on me.”
“I might have done something to upset him. And I don’t know how to fix it. That’s why I was hoping you were about.” I pick at the corner of my thumbnail and turn over the decision to carry on down this confession path. But I’m not feeling courageous enough, and the anxiety surrounding telling her the truth or not starts to make me light-headed.
Will she understand? I can’t remember if Ivy has even been in love. She's always been off on some story halfway around the world. And as I think about her, and Neve, I worry that I’ll alienate every one of them by following my heart. And maybe there’s no point in telling them anything if Scott’s never going to speak to me again, anyway. I can avoid any future heartache or pain and pretend that it never happened—mine and Landon’s little secret.
“Seff?" My mind comes back to her on the line, eyes refocusing. “Listen, I’m sure whatever you’ve done is just a silly misunderstanding. You don’t have anything to worry about. Look, I’ve got to rush, but I’ll make sure to see you when I’m back, deal?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t let him get to you, Seff.”
She hangs up.
I drop my head back on the mountain of pillows I’ve built and go over what she said and come up blank. Nothing, is what she's said. She’s not given me any advice because she’s in the dark and doesn’t know my secret. This is all such a mess.
“Arghhh!” I scream into my pillow and then throw it to the side. I will not let this happen to me. From the age of three, I’ve been driven and determined. I saw what I wanted, and I went out and not only succeeded, I soared. It’s time I put some of that hard work into action.
Thirty minutes later, I’m dressed, my hair immaculate, and ready to confront Scott. He can’t ignore me forever.
Geoffrey is ready with the car to take me to The Herald.
“Ready when you are, Miss.”
