Everett will be here soon for dinner, and I want to double-check everything.
“You have plans?”
I sigh. “Yes, I have plans. I have a life here, or at least I’m building one. Dylan, just ...”
“Fine. Sorry. Listen, my new publicist thinks that I need to address the press.”
“New publicist?” He’s been with Catherine Cole for years. “When did you get a new one?”
“I fired Catherine after she lectured me and wasn’t helping. Things are really out of hand here, and we need to make a statement jointly and maybe some photos.”
I pull the phone down, staring at the screen, wondering ... is he serious? Did he just ask me to do a joint press conference with him?
“Why would I do that?” My voice rises in confusion.
“Because ... we should try to mitigate the press frenzy.”
“I don’t have a press-frenzy issue. You do.”
He sighs heavily. “Vi, I need you to help. If it keeps up like this, I could lose the role of a lifetime.”
“I’m not sure what you want me to say. You cheated on me, Dylan. For I don’t even know how long. You took me away for weeks, claiming you wanted us to reconnect, but you ignored me, and then I get back and find out all of it was a lie. If you have a press or image issue, I suggest you ask your girlfriend for help. Now, if there’s?—”
“I’m going to release a statement.”
“Then release a statement.”
“It’s going to paint you poorly unless you come back for a few days and we can salvage this mess.”
I laugh once. “Dylan, I don’t have a mess. I don’t have a press issue. I don’t have a job issue. If you want to make some big statement, making me the problem, go ahead. It’s not like you haven’t detonated my life already.”
“You left.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“I’m just saying that you ran off, making it look bad for both of us.”
He keeps saying that and I’m not even sure what I could do to get into his thick head that I don’t care about his publicity issues. I don’t care if he never works again. I don’t care if the press vilifies him or me or her. I just don’t care about any of it.
I sigh heavily, letting as much frustration out as I can in that moment. “You want to blame me and ... I can’t for the life of me understand where I hold the fault in your decisions, but there’s not a chance in hell that I’m coming back to California because of this.”
“I won’t sign the papers.”
“Then don’t. I’ll wait the six months and get my contested divorce. I’m sure Whitney will love that. She really handled our vacation well, didn’t she?”
Whitney is who leaked the photos of them. She didn’t like seeing the very staged photos of Dylan and me on vacation.Apparently she was texting him nonstop while we were away, and when she didn’t get what she wanted, she made the divorce happen the best way she could.
Whitney sounds like a real peach.
“Okay, fine, then I’ll sign the papers this week, but you should want to salvage this too.”
He really is delusional. “Sign the papers and I’ll consider it,” I lie.
Then I hang up, again taken aback by the absolute selfishness of the man I once loved.
I can do this.
I’m fine.
