Aidan held the borrowed cell phone to his ear, holding his breath.
One ring… Two rings….
She wasn’t going to answer. He knew it. This was what she always did. Straight to voicemail. He wondered if he should leave a message. Maybe he should fill up her mailbox again. Couldn’t hurt. That’s what got her to come back the last time she ran away.
He began to rehearse inside his head the first message he should leave. “Kate,” he would say. “I know you’re upset. Can we please be rational adults and have a conversation about this…”
No, no. That might make it worse. Never call a woman irrational. Even if she was being completely batshit crazy. She was, wasn’t she? Or was he the crazy one?
Three rings… Four rings….
Always best just to apologize. No matter who was right and who was wrong, always apologize. Just say, “Kate, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so, so, so, so sorry—“
“Hello?”
Aidan stood in silence, temporarily stunned by the sound of Kate’s voice on the other end of the line.
“Hello?”
She answered. She actually answered. His mouth wasn’t working.
“Hello?” she said for a third time.
He could hear her voice trailing off at the end of the word. She must have pulled the phone away from her face - probably about three seconds away from hanging up.
Speak, Aidan screamed at himself inside his head. “Don’t hang up!” he managed to shout at last.
“Hello? Is somebody there?”
“Kate! Don’t hang up!”
He heard nothing but dead air on the other end of the call. Was he too slow? He looked down at the screen to see if the call had dropped. No, it was still connected…
There. That was her voice again. He put the phone back up to his ear.
“—this conversation ,” she was saying. “Don’t you think?”
“What? Don’t I think what?”
“Aidan, where are you?”
“I’m here!”
“You are?”
“Just—“ He broke off, trying to collect himself. His mind was racing. He still couldn’t believe she picked up the phone. Now he just needed to convince her to let him talk to her before she got on a plane.
He needed to be calm. Calm and soothing.
“Listen,” he began again. “I know you’re upset. Just tell me where you are, OK? Please?”
“I’m here,” she said.
He closed his eyes and forced himself to breathe slowly. In and out. In and out. Calm and soothing. “Could you possibly be more specific?”
“Where are you?”
“I’m in the big main hall thingie.”
“You mean the lobby?”
“Yeah,” he said. “You know, where the people line up at the counters.”
“The check-in desk?”
“Right.”
“Aidan, why are you down there—”
He missed the end of her sentence, as an announcement came booming over the PA: “THIS IS THE FINAL BOARDING CALL FOR US AIRWAYS FLIGHT 361 WITH SERVICE TO…”
YOU ARE READING
Hollywood Remake (A Celebrity Love Story)
RomanceKate Morgan walked out on her boyfriend seven years ago, without so much as a backward glance. She had no idea he'd go on to become the notorious Aidan Sands, Hollywood 'It' Boy and frequent flier of the celebrity gossip columns. Now Aidan's back in...
