Now That I've Found You - Kristina Forest Page 0,82
how I feel into words. But one thought is clear: This is just another empty house. Just like her townhouse in Manhattan this week. Just like my house back in LA. I’d be left alone all over again. For once in my life, I’d like for someone to stick around and show up for me. For someone to stay.
“Gigi, I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you thought to do this for me,” I say. “But the FCC ceremony is starting soon, and we need to be there, both of us together.”
She shakes her head, looking at me sadly. “Evie Marie, I don’t need this award. That was all James’s doing. He persuaded the board to honor me, and it was his idea to have you as the presenter. He’s trying to atone for what he’s done, but I will tell you the same thing I told him: I don’t need to stand up in front of a crowd to know my worth, and neither do you. That’s what I want you to understand.”
“It’s not just about your award.” I point at James. “He’s remaking Every Time We Meet and he offered me the role of Diane. But only if I got the two of you to meet and if you gave your blessing.”
Gigi turns to James sharply. “Really, James? In your gallant plan to come here and woo me, when were you going to reveal that you were blackmailing my granddaughter?”
“I was getting around to it.” He backs away sheepishly. “And I wouldn’t necessarily call it blackmailing.”
Gigi heaves a sigh, turning to face me again. “Eight years ago, James and I planned to purchase the rights to reproduce Every Time We Meet. People were still in love with that movie even forty-two years after it had first premiered, and it meant so much to us—a symbol of a love that would always come back to you.” She stops and smiles sadly. “Producing the movie was supposed to be something we did together, but James went behind my back and secured the rights on his own. He was going to remake our movie without me.” James takes a step forward to hold Gigi’s hand, and she tries to wave him off, shooting him a pointed look. “And as I’ve said, I’ve already forgiven him for this.”
But James manages to capture her waving hand and holds it to his chest. He picks up the story where Gigi left off. “After everything we’d been through, everything I’d put us through, I wanted to make my big comeback while standing on my own two feet.” He smiles sardonically. “I ended up breaking your grandmother’s heart and, therefore, mine as well. When she found out what I’d done, it was the final straw. We had separated privately, well before the FCC ceremony. The board didn’t know that, of course, so they asked your grandmother to present my lifetime achievement award.”
“I was still so hurt and angry that instead of saying no, I agreed to attend the ceremony,” Gigi says. “And I yelled at James on live television. When it was all over, I was so embarrassed by what I’d done that I never wanted to talk about it again. We divorced, and then I moved to New York.” She shrugs her elegant shoulders. “That is most likely why he wanted my blessing for the remake, because he didn’t ask for it the first time around.”
I look back and forth between her and James, my head spinning. “I never would have agreed to play Diane if I knew that backstory.”
“I know you wouldn’t have, baby,” Gigi says softly. “It’s a story I should have told you a long time ago.”
“Is that the only reason you gave me the role?” I ask, looking at James. “To make up for what you’ve done to Gigi?”
“No,” he says, frowning. “I meant what I told you yesterday. You’re talented. You deserve the role.”
I barely absorb his words as I back toward the hallway. I don’t know what to believe anymore. What I do know is this: I’m going to the ceremony, and I will make things right for myself with or without Gigi. I don’t know what any of this means for my deal with James, but going to the ceremony is my chance to prove to everyone that I’m all right. To erase the terrible impression I left in their minds when that video leaked. Even if I’m never in another movie for the rest of