Round & Ravishing

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 1

It always seemed strange to me to take a lunch break after only two hours of work. Why even bother? Then again, I was hungry. And any break from dealing with the incessant whining of brides who couldn’t make up their minds, or men thinking flowers would fix their mess, or, the worst, the guys buying flowers for a first date and asking me what the woman would like.

How would I know?

Just because I was a woman did not give me qualifications to understand all of them. Especially when we hadn’t met.

And no. A picture on f*******: of said woman was not going to help me figure it out. Not unless she was standing in front of a garden and pointing to a flower with the caption, ‘My favorite flower!’

Maybe a lunch break after two hours wasn’t such a bad idea.

I could hear my mom’s voice out front talking to a customer and struggled to drown it out. It’d been eight months since I’d moved home. Eight months since I gave up on my acting career and left California. Eight months since my mom called and said my dad wasn’t doing well and she needed the help. Eight months since I moved back in with my parents.

I wasn’t sure I could last eight more days.

It was like being back in high school again. Living by their rules. Working at Coming Up Daisies, my mom’s flower shop. Having no life.

I clicked online as I sat down with my lunch at the computer. There was one good thing about living with my parents. The food. Both my parents enjoyed cooking and always made enough food for me to have lunch the next day. It was one of the only things that kept me there. I enjoyed cooking, but it kind of sucked to cook for just myself.

Without really thinking about it, I clicked through to search for Patrick Williams. My ex. He’d finally made something of himself and instead of pulling me up the ladder with him, Patrick dumped me and moved on to another hot actress. Hotter. Skinnier. Younger.

It was the cliché I’d hoped to avoid becoming. And yet, I was it. The poster child for why you shouldn’t follow your dreams if they led you to fame and fortune.

But I’d kept my dignity. Sort of.

Articles filled the screen about Patrick. After the first big movie he directed, he was suddenly in demand. All the big studios wanted him. He was the next big thing, and in Hollywood, big was in.

Unless it was your dress size. Then small was in.

I skimmed through the first article and saw he booked a new film. On top of three he already had in the works. I hated that I was jealous of his success. At one point, we’d been partners. Living in a tiny apartment on the not-so-great side of town and eating Ramen noodles and mac and cheese. Instead of the limited diet boosting my career, he’d taken a chance on a movie that turned into a blockbuster. One that he never even mentioned to me until casting was done. One I would have been perfect for.

If the lead was not a tiny waif.

But it wasn’t meant to be. That’s what I told myself. I wasn’t ever really in love with him. I wasn’t meant to be famous and have a life in Hollywood. I couldn’t handle what that life demanded of me. I was destined to return home and read all about how wonderful my ex’s life was online while listening to my mom talk to a customer.

I clicked the next article and read a little more about the new movie. Then read one about the movie he’s going to be shooting next. They weren’t releasing details about where shooting would take place, only say it was a small town. It wouldn’t be long before the details were out there. If shooting was supposed to start in a month or so, the media would need to know where to send people. Plus, they would need to cast extras and secure police support for road closures and countless other tasks that needed to be in place before everyone descended.

I closed that one since it didn’t give me any new information and sighed. One more article.

I knew I shouldn’t care what he was doing with his personal life, but it still irritated me that he’d dropped me so easily. Like we weren’t anything. He’d told me he loved me, but I guess Hollywood had a different interpretation of what love really was.

A picture of Patrick with his arm around Cassie Clarke filled the screen. He was looking at her like she hung the moon. His eyes were bright and loving, an expression I knew well. His smile was the one he’d always reserved for me. Not his I-want-you-to-like-me smile or his I-want-to-impress-you smile or his are-you-buying-this smile. It was the one he’d flashed me when he spotted me across the room at a party. Or when we were watching movies and comparing notes of how we would have done it better. Or when we were making love.

I scrolled up, not wanting to see that look anymore. I knew it wasn’t a look born of love. It was just another in his long line of fake smiles, but it still hurt more than I wanted it to that he was giving another woman that look.

I was not Cassie Clarke. And until Patrick hooked up with her, I wasn’t jealous of her dark, angled bob or her too perky breasts or her endless legs that she had no qualms about showing off or her willingness to do nude scenes.

She was Hollywood defined. And exactly why I was never a success.

I scanned through the article and saw that they were still the Hollywood ‘it’ couple. She was starring in one of his new movies but said she always worried about him going off on shoots. That she wanted to make sure he was faithful. I snorted. She had good reason to be worried. There were many reports that Patrick didn’t know how to keep it in his pants ever since he hit it big. I’d suspected him of cheating quite a few times, but I never had any proof.

It didn’t matter anymore.

Then I saw my name.

Patrick Williams’ ex, Tara Fisher, fell off the radar of Hollywood when Patrick became a household name. Rumors surrounded the couple for months following their break-up but neither confirmed or denied any of them. Now, more rumors are circulating as-

“Tara! I need your help,” my mom hissed from the office doorway.

I turned to her, startled, then shook my head. “Just a second, Mom.”

“I can’t wait a second. I’m finishing up with a customer now and there’s another one in the shop that I said I’d be with soon. A third just walked in and I need to go in a minute to take your dad to the doctor’s office. I’m going to be late as it is.”

I huffed. “Fine,” I sighed, closing the browser. I’d read the rest of the article later. I definitely wasn’t news anymore so whatever they thought they’d dug up couldn’t possibly be urgent.