Fifteen Minutes: A Novel (13 page)

Another year passed before a story ran in
People
magazine and
USA Today,
declaring that Kelly couldn’t act. “But she looks like a million bucks,” the reporter wrote. “Even if she’s playing scenes that are a little scandalous, she’s still America’s sweetheart.”

The article also questioned whether Cal Whittaker III—America’s premier faith-and-family filmmaker—could be happy about his wife’s choices. Maybe to silence the critics or to keep an eye on her, Cal had asked her to be in one of his bigger films. Kelly turned down the offer. Another decision questioned by the media.

She remembered the night she tried to explain her decision to him. “I don’t need your audience scrutinizing me. Church people will hang me up and throw darts at me.” She kissed him. “Try to understand, okay?”

What he did next would forever stand as the first blow, the first battle in a war they’d eventually lose.

To pay her back—at least it seemed that way at the time—Cal hired an actress who had publicly hit on him. The woman made a spectacle of herself by talking with reporters about the crush she had on Cal Whittaker. “Star Actress Hot for Kelly Morgan’s Guy,” the headlines read in that week’s tabloids. Kelly was asked about her husband’s decision in a dozen interviews over the next few months, especially when she landed her biggest role of all—the lead in a movie about a singer trying to hold on to her fame.

That year the paparazzi were ruthless. “Is Cal having an affair?” they would shout at her as she left the studio. “Has he walked away from his faith?”

Kelly ignored them, but she and Cal fought about the situation constantly. He swore that the executive producers had made the decision to hire the actress, but she believed he had a hand in the matter. “You wanted to get back at me,” she would insist.

Around and around the argument went. Kai and Kinley spent more time with their nanny, and Kelly took parts in three films back to back, each of which took her away from L.A. for months at a time.

It was while she was on the set of the third movie that she first saw pictures of Cal and the European model. The girl was stunning, just twenty-four years old. In the photo Cal had his arm around her as they ran from a Hollywood restaurant to a cab in the pouring rain.

More fighting and unhappiness followed. More insistence from Cal that nothing was happening, that there was an explanation for the photo. He was a producer. Of course he spent time
with possible leading ladies, looking for the right fit for his next film. Kelly quickly grew tired of the fighting. She had always resisted the sort of roles that put her in bed with her costar. But in light of Cal’s public antics and the way he had humiliated her in front of the world, she took a guest role on a racy hit vampire show. Her role recurred for three weeks and over that time she had several steamy sex scenes.

The show filmed in North Carolina, and a couple times local photographers caught her with her costar at a café or coffee shop. She had barely flown home when Michael Manning direct-messaged her on Twitter. She remembered the tweet word for word.
Heard about the steamy vampire scenes, love. You still married? I’m next in line.
She didn’t respond but his message did strange things to her heart and made her feel twenty again. Every girl was in love with Michael Manning. He couldn’t be serious, right? She was a decade older than him. But the situation presented a possibility Kelly hadn’t really considered since her wedding day.

The possibility of being single.

Six rocky months passed, and one day over backyard coffee with Cal she brought up the idea of divorce. He panicked at first and swore he and the model had met only to discuss her interest in family-friendly films. “Not all things are in my control,” he told her. “We need counseling, Kelly. We made a promise before God.” Tears filled his eyes. “I didn’t cheat on you. I never would.”

“Come on, Cal. You don’t talk to me or text me. You’re sharing your life with someone else. Whoever she is.” She clenched her fists, equally frustrated. “It’s like we’re strangers.”

“You’re never home.” Cal waved his hand in her direction. “How can I share my life with you when every few months
you’re on to the next big thing? Where do I rate on your list of priorities?”

“You have plenty of women in your life. You don’t need me.”

Cal studied her, his face a mask of pain and suspicion. “Is there someone else? Because if there is, I want to hear it from you. Not the tabloids.”

“There’s no one, Cal.” The words came easily and felt like truth. At that point she hadn’t responded to Michael’s tweet. She kept her tone controlled. They didn’t need to give her housekeeper a reason to think they were fighting. “This isn’t about other people. It’s about us.”

He reached for her hands, but the gesture somehow lacked the passion they once shared. “Kelly, please. Don’t do this.”

“It’s the only way.”

His voice fell to a whisper. “How did we get here?”

Kelly had no answers. That night she finally responded to Michael Manning’s private tweet.

Hey Michael . . . I finally found time to get back to you. I’d love to get coffee some time.

At the end of the message she included her cell phone number. She said nothing about her marriage. That week two things happened that prompted Kelly to call her lawyer and have the papers drawn up. First, the tabloids had new pictures of Cal and the model, along with a whole slew of photographs of Kelly and her vampire costar.

Second, Michael Manning called her.

From that first conversation Kelly knew there would be no turning back. She fell for him in a way she’d never fallen before. Cal had been the only guy she’d ever loved, but her feelings for
Michael made her wonder if she and Cal had simply been too young, the influence of her pastor father and church friends too overbearing.

One night with the kids and their nanny upstairs, Kelly and Cal had it out in a heated fight. “It isn’t working,” she yelled at him. “I want out.”

“Of course it’s not working. You’re taking roles that make you a joke. I mean really, Kelly? That vampire show? So the whole world has to see my wife—the pastor’s daughter—in bed with some other guy? Body parts fully visible?”

“It’s art. The show won six awards last year, okay?” Rage heated her face. “And don’t tell me nothing happened with you and that . . . that girl. We both want out. Quit lying to yourself. You have to see it.” She paused for a long minute. Then she blinked and in a tone more controlled than she’d felt in weeks delivered the final blow. “Cal.” She sighed. “There’s someone else.”

And like that something snapped. The fight left his body and his expression went flat. He hesitated for a long minute and then exhaled. “Who?”

“Michael Manning.” She felt a thrill just saying his name.

“The singer?” Cal’s shock was immediate. “He’s got a different girl every other week. He’s a decade younger than you.”

She shrugged one shoulder. “He’s crazy about me.” She went on to assure Cal that she and Michael were only friends. “But it could get serious.”

Cal’s eyes—the eyes that once were so like Zack’s—grew dark and distant. “Fine.” He stood and headed for the bedroom door, looking back just once. “Have your lawyer send me the paperwork.”

She had stayed with Michael at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna
Beach that weekend, leaving the kids with their nanny. When her father called three times that week, Kelly refused his call. Michael had that sort of power over her. The offer from
Fifteen Minutes
came the next week, and since then she and her singer boyfriend had been very careful. She was still married, after all.

Which was why she needed to make this call.

KELLY TURNED HER
back on the city of Atlanta and leaned against the railing. She stared at her phone again, at Cal’s profile and the picture from another lifetime.
Why haven’t I deleted that?
She looked long at the photo, at the people they used to be.
Enough.
She tapped the call button, held it to her ear and waited. One ring . . . two. On the third ring he answered.

“Hi.” His voice sounded different, defeated and kinder at the same time. “You really called.”

“You gave me no choice.” Kelly faced the city. The people down below were too small to see clearly, but there were lots. She wondered if any of them were trying to navigate a messy divorce. “How are the kids?”

“They’re great. We went to the park today. Kinley learned how to roller-skate.” This was something new for Cal, the time he was spending with the kids. Usually they were with Kelly or the nanny; Cal was simply too busy. But between her contract with
Fifteen Minutes
and the divorce, Cal had changed. Kelly was glad—both for him and the kids. But it didn’t change the reasons why they were separating.

She breathed in deep. “Cal, look. I don’t want to drag this out. Rudy called. He gave me your message.” She paused, frustrated. “What do you want me to do, take a personal day and fly there? Have it out face-to-face?”

“None of that. I want—”

“Stop. You’re playing games, Cal. We both want this divorce.” She found a calmer voice. “I have Michael now.”

“That’s your choice. Mine is simple.” His voice held no trace of anger. “I want to stay married to you.”

One of the assistants opened the door and leaned out. “Two minutes.”

“I’m on set. This shouldn’t be so hard.” Kelly motioned to the assistant that she was nearly finished with the call. “You want to stay married? Really, Cal? What’s that mean, exactly? We don’t have a marriage. We have a legal document.”

“We have two kids. And we have a past.” He hesitated. When he spoke again there was no denying the pain in his voice. “Yes, the world knows you’re having an affair. And yes, that hurts. But you’re my wife and I won’t let go of us. Even like this. Don’t forget that.”

She felt her heart start to respond, but her common sense was louder. Who was he kidding? This wasn’t going anywhere. “My lawyer will be in touch.” She kept her tone kind. “Cal . . . if this gets ugly we both lose.”

He started to say something and stopped himself. “I’m sorry for everything. When you’re ready to talk, I’m here.”

The last thing she’d expected was an apology. It caught her off guard and took the edge off her anger. “I need to go. Good-bye, Cal.”

“Good-bye.”

If he was going to say something else, she didn’t give him a chance. The phone call had gotten her nowhere. She looked at Cal’s contact and with a few swipes of her finger she deleted the photo. She had it in a frame in some box back home. Something
their kids would want one day. For now she didn’t need reminders of a past better forgotten.

A sad thought hit her as she headed back inside. She could delete the photo and have her lawyer contact his. She could make plans with Michael Manning for the coming weeks and believe that life would be wonderful once Cal signed the divorce papers. She could box up yesterday and dream of new tomorrows. She could publicly disclaim the faith she was raised with and cut her father out of her life. She could walk further away from everything she had once been.

But there was one thing she couldn’t stop.

The way Zack Dylan’s eyes made her remember.

C
handra was at the airport the next morning when she spotted Zack. He was with a couple of the guys who had made it through, the three of them buying water bottles at a Hudson News stand. Kelly and Cullen had taken the private flight on the
Fifteen Minutes
jet the night before. Chandra had an early meeting with her manager, so she’d opted for a commercial flight. The same one as the contestants.

She hadn’t stopped thinking of Zack since his audition. He had it all, Zack Dylan. The voice, the look, the rare and intangible charisma that set stars apart from everyone else. Chandra had hoped for the chance to talk to him. She was partway out of her seat before she stopped herself.

There was no rush. They would be holed up in the same Lower West Side château in the Village. Besides, she couldn’t talk to him here, with so many other contestants gathered near the gate. For now it was enough to watch him, to imagine what
the world would do with him once he was discovered.
Poor boy,
she thought as she settled back into the hard airport seat.
He has no idea what he’s headed for
.
No idea that his days of wandering casually unnoticed through a busy airport are about to be cut short.
Zack and the guys headed for a section of seats not far from Chandra. She glanced in that direction and saw several other contestants including the blond cheerleader, the one who had been in the tent auditions with Zack.

Chandra stared straight ahead. Last night’s meeting with Samuel Meier and the rest of the judges and production staff had been jarring. It was the first of its kind. Until now they’d been focused on the cities and finding the right kinds of contestants. That alone had been strange. Samuel Meier kept a list. There needed to be a racial mix, a gender mix, and a diversity of stories. Especially that.

But yesterday’s meeting had taken another slant altogether. The team sat in chairs gathered in a circle on the set with Meier standing in the middle. “We have a few new policies. Strategies, I guess.” He glanced at Cullen. “They’ve always been a part of the show, but now they’re going to be in writing. Legal wants it that way.” He wandered to a nearby open chair and sat down. His looked at the faces in the circle. “First, we are not a show that endorses any one religion.” He moved on quickly. “We’ve been fairly lenient with our contestants. But from here out we have to be more careful.” He held up a piece of paper. “Legal has crafted a release that every contestant will have to sign. Basically saying they won’t talk about their faith on the show once we’re at the New York rounds.”