The boy sneered, “We’re the kids you could have had if you hadn’t been such a jerk.”
Just like that, the children vanished, and the man stood alone at the graveside. Anguished. Tortured. He picked a hydrangea from one of the floral arrangements and lifted it to his lips. “I love you. With all my heart. This is forever, Georgie.”
The screen went dark.
Georgie sat therestunned, then shot off the bed and stalked into the hallway.Of all the…She raced down the stairs, across the veranda, along the path, and out to the guesthouse. Through the French doors, she saw him sitting at his desk, staring at nothing. As she charged inside, he jumped to his feet.
“Love letter?”she cried.
He gave a jerky nod, his face pale.
She shoved her hands on her hips. “Youkilledme off!”
His throat worked as he swallowed. “You…uh…didn’t think I’d killmeoff, did you?”
“And my own father! My ownfatherburied me!”
“He’s a good actor. And a—a surprisingly decent father-in-law.”
She gritted her teeth. “I spotted a couple of familiar faces in the crowd. Chaz and Laura?”
“They both seemed to”—he swallowed again—“enjoy the ceremony.”
She threw up her hands. “I can’t believe you killed off Scooter!”
“I didn’t have a lot of time to work on the script. It was the best I could come up with, especially since I had to…shoot around you.”
“I’ll say!”
“It would have been done yesterday, but your angelic fake daughter turned out to be a diva. Total pain in the ass to work with, which doesn’t bode well forTree House.She’s playing the kid.”
“A great little actress, though,” Georgie drawled, crossing her arms over her chest. “I know I had tears in my eyes.”
“If we ever have a child who acts like that…”
“It’ll be her father’s fault.”
That stopped him cold, but she wasn’t ready to let him off the hook, even though little balloons of happiness had started to rise inside her. “Honest to God, Bram, that was the stupidest, sappiest, most maudlin piece of cinematic garbage…”
“I knew you’d like it.” He couldn’t seem to figure out what to do with his hands. “You did like it, didn’t you? It was the only way I could think of to show you I understood exactly how much I hurt you that day on the beach. You understood that, right?”
“Oddly enough, yes.”
His face twisted. “You’re going to have to help me, Georgie. I’ve never loved anyone before.”
“Not even yourself,” she said quietly.
“Not much to love. Until you started loving me back.” His hand slipped into his pocket. “I don’t want to hurt you again. Ever. But I’ve already done it. I sacrificed what you wanted the most.” His face twisted. “Helene is really gone, Georgie. The contract is signed. That role meant everything to you—I know it—and I screwed that up, but I couldn’t think of anything else to do. Unless I signed another actress, I had no way to prove I need you for yourself.”
“I get that.” She thought of the painful things people did to themselves and to each other because of love, and she knew the time had come to tell him what she’d only recently figured out herself. “I’m glad.”
“You don’t understand. I can’t fix this, sweetheart, and there’s no way I can make that up to you.”
“You don’t have anything to make up.” She said it aloud for the first time. “I’m a filmmaker, Bram. A documentary filmmaker. That’s what I want to do with my life.”
“What are you talking about? You love acting.”
“I loved being Annie. I loved being Scooter. I needed the applause and the praise. But I don’t need that anymore. I’ve grown up, and I want to tell other people’s stories.”
