Second Chances (17 page)

To her surprise, she’d actually slept through the night, peacefully without any wild and crazy dreams disturbing her unconscious state. And now she felt good, ready to seize the day despite the chaos it promised to bring. In a little while, she’d have to deal with the turmoil of Tim and Pashmina but right now her stomach was rumbling, an angry and hungry reminder of how long it had been since she’d last eaten. Tim and Pashmina could wait, breakfast was her first priority.

Rose stared unabashedly as Amelia entered the kitchen taking critical note of her fluffy pink robe and matching fuzzy slippers. “Well good morning Sleeping Beauty,” she drawled pointing to the open gossip rag in front of her. “News flash, the Easter Bunny wants his suit back.”

“Very funny.” She grabbed the tabloid away from her.
“Famous & Fabulous,”
Rose? Seriously, is this where you’re getting your information from these days?”

Rose lunged for the magazine as Amelia spun out of reach calling out articles in her best entertainment reporter’s voice, “’
Which Celi-butts have Cellulite?’
,
‘The Real Truth About Reality TV’
. Oh, hold on, this one’s my favorite and a must-read for all you struggling actors out there,
‘Casting Couch Crud: Be Careful Where You Sit!’
”

Tears of laughter streamed from her eyes. “Is this why you’re up with the birds this morning?”

“Early to bed early to rise.” Rose’s pretty pink lips pursed together in a petulant pout.

“Go ahead, don’t believe me,” she dared challenging the blatant doubt on her friend’s face. “Truth is I had no one to go out with last night; you were comatose and nobody else was around. What choice did I have?” She shrugged disconsolately, “What a waste of a Saturday night.”

“A good night’s sleep is hardly tragic,” Amelia reminded her laughing at Rose’s mournful expression. “Think of it as beauty rest,” she consoled. “And I must say you do look wonderful.”

Beaming, Rose gave her a quick hug and handed her a Diet Coke. “Thanks, you look great too. So what’s on the agenda today? Want to have a girls’ day out or are you doing something with Timmy Poo?”

“Neither I’m afraid. I’m going to Pashmina’s.”

“On Sunday, what for?” Filling her cup with equal parts coffee, cream, and sugar, Rose sipped and sighed contentedly.

“I’m not really sure,” she mused unable to keep anything from Rose. “All I know is that Pashmina is Tim’s mother, he’s upset with her and won’t talk to me, and somehow this is all connected to Pashmina’s book.”

“Sorry,” Rose said wiggling a delicate pinky in one ear. “I thought you said Pashmina is Tim’s mother?”

“You heard right.” Grabbing cold pizza from the refrigerator Amelia took another swig of her soda and tore off a chunk of pepperoni topping. Delicious.

“Can you believe it?” She continued talking between ravenous bites. “Pashmina is Tim’s mother. Now I know what they mean when they say the truth is stranger than fiction.”

“I guess so.” Preoccupied with her own breakfast preparations Rose was momentarily distracted. She slathered a thick layer of whipped cream cheese over her Asiago bagel, topped off her cup of cream and sugar with a little more coffee, and turned back to Amelia. “How’d you find out?”

“Not from Tim that’s for sure. Pashmina called and told me.”

She ran a frustrated hand through her hair. “When I think about what he put me through Friday night I could kill him. It was the most humiliating moment of my life, or it was until yesterday at least. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to admit that your boyfriend doesn’t trust you enough to confide in you? Maybe it’s a sign I should just cut him loose.”

“Whoa, Sea Biscuit don’t jump to any conclusions before you have all the facts.” Impersonating the voice of reason Rose surprised them both. “What did Tim say?”

“Nothing, that’s the problem, he’s avoiding me.”

“Are you sure?” Maybe Amelia was just being melodramatic.

Finger by finger Amelia began ticking off her reasons. “I haven’t spoken to him since he drove me home from dinner. He hasn’t called or returned my calls. He purposely left his apartment when I told him I was coming over to talk. He never said a word to me about Pashmina even though he’s known about her for weeks. He didn’t even tell me he’d met his biological father until after he’d left town. What would you think?” she finished bitterly.

“I’d think he was avoiding me,” Rose agreed. Not for the first time, she wished she’d never let Amelia go out with him in the first place. “So what now?”

“I don’t know. I guess I’ll see what Pashmina’s thinking first then figure out my own plan for dealing with Tim. If I ever find him,” she added.

Rose toasted in solemn agreement. She hated to say ‘I told you so’ but she’d always thought Amelia was too good for Tim.

As Amelia foraged for more pizza, Rose flipped quickly through the pages of
“Famous & Fabulous”
in search of divine guidance for her friend. But besides a debate on whether or not Rihanna should take Chris Brown back, the skinny on Kirstie’s umpteenth incredible weight loss, and a pregnant actress guessing game of ‘is she or isn’t she?’, the gossip oracle lacked any insight to real people problems like Amelia’s. Disappointed, she closed the magazine wishing she could be a better friend and help Amelia figure things out, but just like “Famous & Fabulous,” Rose didn’t have any answers either.

*   *   *

Eager to hear what Pashmina was planning Amelia rushed to her home never slowing until the author’s Beacon Hill townhouse came into view. But as she approached the quaint brick building with tendrils of ivy climbing gracefully up the front walls, a sudden fit of nerves threatened to overwhelm her. This was one of those life-altering moments when for better or worse a simple act can set the wheels of your future into dizzying, out of control motion. In the movies, it’s the part where audiences squirm in their seats silently urging the onscreen character forward into the unknown or screaming them back to safety. Which would it be for her?

Before she could knock or change her mind and run away, the door opened and Pashmina pulled her inside like she was saving her from an oncoming train. “I’m so glad you’re here, we have a lot to do today,” she said. “Would you like something to drink, coffee, soda, water?”

Clasping Amelia’s hand firmly in her own Pashmina led her into the study where just 24 hours before she and Tim had sat at first awkward, then more relaxed, and ultimately at odds with each other. But today would be different. Today she and Amelia would actually start to make things right between her and her son, and if they were really lucky, maybe they could patch things up between Amelia and Tim too.

“All set for the moment, thanks.” Sheepishly she raised her hand holding a Diet Coke. “I brought my own.”

“I’m good too so maybe we should just get started then.”

“Sure, but I don’t really know what that means,” Amelia confessed. “Do you want to talk about the book or Tim?”

Still holding Amelia’s hand Pashmina guided her to a seat on the couch and contemplated her answer. Amelia was waiting patiently for her to speak, so different from Tim though in his defense he’d wanted more than just information. For the thousandth time that day she wished he hadn’t left before she could explain herself.

Choosing her words carefully she began, “In my mind they’re not mutually exclusive. Although I had a hand in creating both of them, only one is truly mine.” Amelia’s head tilted to one side, confused. “Tim is my son.” Pashmina sighed, “He might not like it very much but that’s the undeniable truth. On the other hand,
“Family Secrets”
is not my story; it belongs to someone else, someone who hurt me deeply and who I wanted to hurt back.”

She paused, organizing her thoughts. “I thought if I shared this person’s story with the world I could expose him and ruin his life like he ruined mine.”

Tears glistened in Pashmina’s eyes as Amelia tried to understand what she was saying. Her lips were moving but she wasn’t making any sense. Not knowing what to say, she stayed quiet patting Pashmina’s hand comfortingly.

“But I can’t do it,” Pashmina gulped, openly crying now. “I won’t do it…..for Tim’s sake. For years I didn’t do anything, but not anymore. I won’t hurt him again.”

Her chin lifted slightly as quiet determination settled over her. “I’m pulling
“Family Secrets.”

Amelia didn’t react right away. A movie reel of memories flashed through her head distracting her. Wasn’t it just yesterday she was profusely thanking Stuart for making her editor of Pashmina Papadakis’ new novel, pumping his hand enthusiastically and fighting the impulse to hug him? She couldn’t believe it. It didn’t take a genius to know what a plum assignment this was. More than that, it was the apex of professional success, something she hadn’t even realized was important to her until now.

Her mother always said ‘anything less than well done is half-baked’ so though she’d never considered herself an overachiever, Amelia always tried her best at everything she did. She was good at her job, she knew it and with this career boost Stuart was showing her that he knew it too. If Pashmina pulled the book it could be the end of her brief and shining career. Over her dead body.

Focusing on the woman in question Amelia tried to instill calm, “Let’s just slow down a minute. Are you telling me that publishing
“Family Secrets”
could hurt Tim?”

“Yes.”

“Okaay,” Amelia let the word hang between them. She needed more than that to work with. “Would you mind telling me how?”

“It isn’t my story.” Pashmina cut to the chase, “It was a rough manuscript I’ve had in my possession for years. I simply refined it to be more in line with my other novels.”

“I see.” Amelia had a sinking feeling she’d just hit a Titanic-size iceberg. “So the book isn’t yours, or at very least credit for it belongs to someone else. Have I got that right?”

Pashmina blushed slightly but answered, “That’s right. None of it, the idea, the plot, not even the title is mine.”

Stunned, she looked at Pashmina so beautiful and composed. Author extraordinaire or plagiarizing fake? Will the real Pashmina please stand up? “I don’t know what to say, this is just incredible.”
Incredibly bad
. With forced confidence that didn’t exist she added, “Fortunately you’ve got an incredible editor. Don’t worry, I’ll find a way around this.”

“No!” Pashmina raised a panicked hand. “You don’t understand. I don’t want to find a way around it. I want to throw it away and forget all about it.”

“What?” Amelia panicked too. “You can’t do that!”

Besides a binding contract Pashmina was overlooking her promise to all the loyal fans eagerly awaiting her next great read. “Pashmina you
have
to release a book this year.” She squeezed Pashmina’s hands tightly. “Please, tell me what’s going on. Tell me and I promise I’ll do everything I can to help.”

Their eyes locked in a contest of wills, blue vs. brown but Amelia refused to budge. No one was going anywhere until she knew the truth no matter how awful that might be.

Pashmina caved first. Everything would be fine if she trusted Amelia, she had to believe that. “The manuscript is George’s,” she confessed, relaxing a little as the burdensome secret poured from her lips. “He wrote it, he lived it, and he gave it to me for safekeeping just before he disappeared.” Sharing was easier than she’d thought it would be. Feeling better by the minute, she continued.

“To tell you the truth, I’d forgotten all about it until a year or so ago. I was home visiting my family and I ran into George.” She remembered the shock of seeing him again looking older but handsome as ever as he studied her with a possessive arrogance that was annoying and flattering at the same time. “We hadn’t seen each other in almost thirty years, needless to say we had a lot of catching up to do,” she smiled wryly.

“George told me everything that had happened to him, why he left so suddenly, why he didn’t tell me he was going, so many things I never knew about and by the time he finished talking I wanted to kill him as much as the Greek mob did.” Bitterness stung her throat; George had overstepped his bounds without an ounce of concern for her or what she wanted. Was a lifetime of happiness with Harry too much to ask?

“I gave up my own child for a second chance with Harry. I’m not proud of that, and I regret my decision every day but what George did was worse; he stole my life, he made sure I’d never have the future I hoped for.” She begged Amelia to understand, “I couldn’t let him get away with it, taking everything from me like that, so I decided to publish his story knowing full-well he still has enemies who want to harm him, knowing exactly how it would turn his world upside down.”

“But that’s all changed,” she said coming back into the present. “Now that Tim’s in the picture I’ve changed my mind. For better or worse, Tim knows who his father is now. If I hurt George I’ll hurt Tim too and probably lose him forever. I’m not willing to take that chance.”

Drained and dying of thirst Pashmina stood to get some water. Amelia quenched her thirst too polishing off the remains of her soda in one long gulp. What she really needed was a shot of something stronger, something to slow the spinning in her head and help her process what had just happened.