day or so.” Silver slid off the stool. “I’ve got to shower, and then I need to speak to you, Ayla.”
“Silver...”
“What?” She faced her dad.
“Are you one hundred percent certain that these rumors aren’t true?”
Her smile faded. “That I was in rehab? You know I wasn’t.”
“I meant that you’ve started using again.” She went to interrupt him, and he held up his hand. “I know you think I’m being incredibly invasive, but I need to know. You did walk out of a highly lucrative job opportunity.”
“I walked out because Oscar suggested I was too old to play opposite Tex Calmundo who is ten years my senior, and that they should get a teenager instead.” She held her dad’s gaze. “If that’s being ‘difficult’ then, sure, I was difficult. I don’t need the money, Dad. I only auditioned in the first place because you insisted on it. I’d rather not work with someone who thinks I’m too old to play someone my actual age.”
“And what about the rest of what I asked you?” Her father wasn’t a coward. Somewhere beneath her rising anger she knew that, but it didn’t really matter right now because she was so damn hurt.
“If you think I’m back on drugs then I’m not going to argue with you.” She shrugged. “I would hope that you’d know me better than that. I made a promise to all of you.” Her gaze swept her family. “I know in my heart that I haven’t broken it.”
She walked away before the tears that threatened behind her eyes actually fell. The lack of trust . . . that hurt more than anything.
Even after her shower she still felt sick to her stomach. When she entered her office again she was relieved to find only Ayla there.
“I’m sorry you got to witness all our family drama,” Silver said.
“It’s okay.” Ayla looked uncomfortable. “I hope you don’t mind, but your dad and I did talk about several ways we could deal with this issue. He asked me to present them to you.”
“Because he’s scared I wouldn’t listen to him?” Silver sat down next to Ayla and sighed. “Go on, then. Tell me.”
“Well, firstly he’s going to talk to your publicist and make sure we are all on the same page.”
“Sure.” Silver nodded.
“But he also thinks we should make some kind of statement—maybe not naming the ranch, but saying what you’d been doing, and why.”
“But how would the indie movie people react to that when I haven’t even been offered the part?” Silver objected. “It might even push them to publicly declare they would never consider me for such a role.”
“I had the same thought,” Ayla admitted. “I was wondering whether you’d like me to talk to Inola and get a sense of where they are in all this.”
“If you can manage it without making things worse, then please go ahead,” Silver said. “I can’t believe this is all happening right now when I thought things were going well.”
“Life sucks sometimes, doesn’t it?” Ayla agreed and hesitated. “Do you want me to put a call through to Morgan Ranch just to give them a heads-up that things might get busy their way soon?”
“Only if you must.” Silver groaned. “I feel so bad for them.”
“They might welcome the publicity for their dude ranch.”
“I suppose so,” Silver said dubiously. “But it still feels like a betrayal. Let’s hope that some other celebrity does something monumentally stupid tomorrow, and all this gets forgotten.”
* * *
Unfortunately, no one obliged, and the next morning, Silver faced a “crisis” meeting with her team, including her publicist who was screaming for something she could put out to the media.
Silver looked at the headlines and wanted to crawl away and die. Apparently, she’d been seen at more than one rehab and down on the streets of L.A. soliciting drugs. The fact that she’d done nothing wrong seemed irrelevant now. She knew how things went. The story would take on a life of its own and the more she tried to deny it, the worse it would get.
She broke through what her publicist was saying.
“Okay, put out a statement. Say I took two weeks off to go on a trail ride. That’s the truth.”
“But who’s going to believe that?” Aaron piped up. “You’re not exactly known for your interest in the Wild West, sis. It’s going to sound like a scam.”
Silver looked over at Ayla. “Any news from Inola?”
“She said they were very impressed by your answers to their questions, so maybe a