Page 67 of Game Changer

Chapter28

Buckie

The breeze wafting in through my open bedroom balcony doors sends the opaque white curtains billowing into the room. I watch them for a while wondering where my life goes from here. The sun rising over the crystal water and golden sands used to make me so happy. I liked my life here, but now it seems empty. Now I realise how truly lonely I actually am here. All the shit that’s been going on around me and not one person has asked how I am. It’s true that there are no real friends in showbiz. You make lots of acquaintances but the more popular you become the lonelier you get. It was one of the reasons I wanted to move back to Scotland in the first place.

I grab my phone from my bedside table and turn it back on. I turned it off last night after the chat show aired because I wasn’t interested in the fallout from it. I don’t care what happens now. All I care about is that I made my point with regards to Annalise. I’ve asked Shelly to make sure there is no more interaction between us. I’m done with her. She’s taken what should have been an amazing experience working on this film and ruined it because she’s a selfish narcissist. Whether that is by nature or nurture, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass. She’s a fucked-up individual who thinks she can mess with people and get away with it. If, at the end of this, I don’t get Zara back, the fact that she won’t be able to do this to anyone else is a cross I’ll have to bear.

The voicemails and texts start streaming through the phone. The constant beeping and pinging makes me want to throw the phone at the wall. But I notice a voicemail notification from Zara. I call it up and cycle past all the ones that are there before her message. I don’t care what anyone else has to say. When I get to her message, and I hear her voice my heart sings. Especially because the first thing she says is that she loves me.

I quickly dial her number and the wait for it to connect seems like a lifetime. It rings once and she answers.

“Buckie,” she says on a breath.

“My sweetheart, I love you so much.” I feel tears roll down my cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

“No, you don’t do that,” she sobs. “I need to see you. I’m at Heathrow airport. I’ll be at LAX in ten hours.”

“Oh my God Zara, I’ve missed you.”

“Me too. I was hoping to surprise you. But I didn’t want to end up doing one of those rom com things where I go to America, you go to Glasgow, and we miss each other.”

“I can’t wait to see you.”

“This is going to be the longest ten hours of my life Buckie. I have to go. I don’t have much time before my connecting flight. I’ll text you my flight details. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

As we hang up, I smile. I quickly dial Shelly to let her know what’s happened.

“Buckie, did you get my messages?”

“Hello to you too Shelly.”

“I’ll take that as a no then.”

“No, I haven’t had a chance to read them. Shelly, Zara is on her way here. Things are going to be okay.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself there Buckie. There will be some fallout from this. Take it a day at a time for now until we make sure she’s completely out of the picture. She’s a bloody loose cannon and I have no idea what she’ll try to do next. I do have it on good authority though that her PR company have parted ways with her. And you know Shaun, her PA, he’s been sacked by the agency he worked for. It turns out he was the one feeding stories to the press and tipping off the paps. Obviously, she was using him, but he was either too stupid or too lovestruck to notice what she was doing.”

I suck in a breath through my teeth. “So, she’s not only tried to ruin mine and Zara’s careers, but she’s also fucked her own and Shaun’s. No one’s ever going to want to work with her again after this. She really needs help.”

“Don’t I know it. Be careful okay. Until this has blown over, we have major damage control to do. You’re going to have to be squeaky clean you hear me?”

“Roger that Shelly. I’ll see you at some point. I want this house gone as soon as possible. The sooner I’m back in Scotland with Zara the better. I’ve put an offer in on a house already so I’m waiting on a reply from the estate agents. I don’t think it’ll be a problem though. I’ve offered way more than they want for it.”

“Wow, you sure worked fast.”

“I actually put the offer in before I left the UK. When I thought Zara wasn’t coming back to me, I almost backed out. How glad am I that I didn’t?”

“Right, I’ll probably see you tomorrow. You and Zara have a lot of catching up to do so I’ll leave you alone tonight.”

“Thanks for everything Shelly. I don’t know what I would have done without you these last few weeks.”

“It’s what I’m paid for, but you’re very welcome. Speak soon okay.”

“Bye Shelly,” I say with a huge smile on my face.

I stare out at the Pacific Ocean, the sun sending glittering lights dancing across the waves. I’m happy that Zara is coming here, and I know exactly how I’m going to surprise her.

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