Page 19 of Country Road Romance

Her voice faded away again, and it was another moment or two before she came back into the room, her face set in a resolute expression, the type of expression that said very clearly that she was going to ask him to do something he didn’t like.

She once again took up a position right in front of him, looking him up and down as if she still couldn’t quite decide what to make of him.

“There’s only one way we’re going to be able to manage this. Rebecca and I agree that we’ve got to get you out of Huntington for a day or two, just until this has time to blow over. We’ll make sure that you’re back here for your big premiere.”

She sighed. “We’re lucky that it’s almost the weekend and that the news cycle will move on pretty quickly.” She frowned. “Unfortunately, there are some voices in the City Council who are making noise about potentially pulling the funding for the festival and banning it from the City Hall. I don’t think I need to tell you how devastating that would be, not just for the Festival, but also for your personal brand. This whole trip is supposed to be proving to the studios that you can be on your best behavior and that you won’t be a liability.”

“And all of this ruckus is because I got into a fight with some guy at a bar?”

“Once again, Charlie. Damage control. That’s the most important thing right now.”

“So where are you shipping me off to?”

“Rebecca and I have decided that you’re going to stay with Jared’s parents until Sunday.”

“And he’s okay with that?”

“Since he was supposed to be keeping an eye on you and yet he let this happen anyway, I don’t see that he has much choice in the matter.”

“I don’t think he likes me very much.”

Charlie supposed that wasn’t entirely true, particularly now that they’d managed to have at least one semi-intimate moment together. His mind wandered back to the moment when he’d been so close to kissing Jared, and he could almost forget what was happening around him. Until, of course, Sheri snapped her fingers.

“Charlie, snap out of it,” she said. “One, I don’t think that’s true, and two, it doesn’t really matter. We need to make sure that you’re not in town for a while to cool things down. Do you think you can manage to stay out of trouble while you’re off the grid?”

Charlie knew he should be focusing on what she was saying, but he wasn’t quite able to get around the fact that she’d said that she thought Jared actually liked him. That couldn’t be true, could it?

“Charlie, where are you?” Sheri asked. “You’ve got that look on your face like you’re a mile away.” She huffed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “You’re thinking about Jared, aren’t you?”

He could feel himself blushing, but he didn’t care. “And what if I am?”

“Charles, you hardly know the guy.”

How could he tell her that there was something rich and uncomplicated about Jared, something that reminded him of all of the things that he’d always liked about the guys he’d grown up with, without all of the annoying baggage and toxic masculinity bullshit. Jared was in fact just the kind of gay that he could never seem to find in California, the type that drove a truck, wore a backwards baseball cap, and yet still wasn’t afraid to have a rainbow flag on the back windshield.

He was, in other words, perfect.

He didn’t say any of that to Sheri, of course, both because that wasn’t the nature of their relationship and because he could already tell that she would just call him an idiot.

“Look, you can do whatever you want with this boy while you’re with him, but at least try not to punch anyone else, okay? This is your chance to get your big break. If you don’t straighten up and fly right, I’m not going to keep picking up after you. Spend the weekend getting your head on straight, and then come back here and give your big speech, and we’ll go back to LA and forget this ever happened. Do you think you can do that?”

He actually wasn’t at all sure that he could, or that he wanted to, but Charlie knew that this wasn’t the answer she was looking for. He could tell from the set of her shoulders and the hard glitter in her eyes that she wasn’t messing around, and that if he didn’t do a quick course-correction that his career as he’d known it would be over.

Would that be such a bad thing?He asked himself.Maybe I’ve been going about this whole thing the wrong way since the beginning. Maybe I should have stood up to the studios earlier…

But no, he knew that he couldn’t do that. He had his mother to look after. And, much as she frustrated him sometimes, he wasn’t going to leave her out in the cold.

“Okay, fine,” he said. “I’ll do whatever you tell me to do.”

“One last word of warning,” she said. “Don’t let yourself get too involved with this Jared guy. I know you think I don’t care about you, that I only see you as a paycheck, but I do care about you as a person. I think that you deserve happiness, but I don’t think you’re going to find it here. Remember that there was a reason that you got out of this state in the first place. Don’t let it suck you back in.”

“I think I’m more than capable of making my own decisions when it comes to my love life. Or lack thereof.”

Sheri rubbed her temples.

“You are without a doubt the most rebellious client that I have ever had, and considering the types of people that I’ve hadto deal with, that’s really saying something. It’s a good thing for you that I see a lot of potential in your career and that I happen to like you. Otherwise I’d toss you to the curb and let someone else take care of you.”

“You know, some people would be happy that their client has a conscience and is attracted to non-toxic people.”

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