The Skye Collection, page 38
Philippe came around and opened her door. ‘It’s quiet, everyone is sleeping, so you are safe. No one will see.’ He held out his hand and she took it to climb out.
‘You live in a lovely area, Philippe,’ she whispered.
‘Oui, Jericho is very pleasant. Not too close to the crazy city.’ He laughed. ‘Come on inside.’
She pulled her coat close around her body and followed him up a few steps to the front door. It was opened before he could insert his key in the lock. A beautiful brunette woman wearing pyjamas and a fluffy robe beamed at them from the hallway.
‘I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve met you, Miss Locke. Welcome to our home. Please, come on in.’
Ruby stepped inside and shook the woman’s offered hand. ‘Oh goodness, please call me Ruby. And thank you so much for having me to stay. It’s all very… I don’t really know what to call the situation I’m in without swearing.’
The woman leaned in conspiratorially. ‘It’s after midnight and the twins are in bed, so swear if you feel the need. Although they could probably teach you some new words. I’m Jessica by the way. Philippe has told me so much about you.’
Ruby smiled but felt a familiar flush rising from her chest. ‘Oh heck, I won’t ask what he’s said. Especially not under the current circumstances.’
Philippe put an arm around his wife. ‘I’ve told Jess that you are innocent, because you are.’ He shrugged as if he was stating the obvious.
Jessica shook her head. ‘How anyone could think otherwise is beyond me. Now, come on and let me get you a drink. Are you hungry? Can I cook something for you?’
Ruby held up her hand. ‘You’re so kind and I’m very grateful but… would you mind awfully if I just went to bed? I’m exhausted. And it’s so late, you must be tired too.’
Jessica nodded. ‘Of course, you must be wiped out. I’ll show you to the guest room. But if you need anything at all just holler, okay?’
Ruby followed her hosts along a corridor, admiring family photos as she passed. She hadn’t realised Philippe had teenage children. She felt guilty for not enquiring more about his personal life.
Jessica stopped at an open door and gestured inside. ‘Well, here you are. There’s a bathroom just through the door in the corner and fresh towels on the bed. Sleep as late as you want, after all, tomorrow is Sunday. Or should I say today. Sweet dreams.’ She turned to walk away, but Ruby grabbed her hand.
‘Thank you. I can’t express how much this means to me. Your kindness… it’s…’ She swallowed, trying to dislodge the ball of emotion in her throat.
Jessica pulled her into a hug. ‘Honey, you don’t deserve any of this. And Tyler Harrison doesn’t deserve you. I couldn’t believe it when Philippe told me what he’d done. Just goes to show fame doesn’t cultivate humility, even if the folks appear to do good.’
Ruby smiled. ‘That’s so true. Thank you again.’
In spite of the late hour, she fired a quick text to Valerie to let her know where she was staying. Almost immediately there was a reply.
Suite on hold at Four Seasons as soon as you need. Will be in touch later when I’m awake! Flowers delivered to my office for you today with the message, ‘I still love you, H’. Who is H? Stay strong. Val.
Ruby wracked her brains trying to think who H could be but came up blank.
Sleep evaded her. This had felt like the longest Saturday she had ever known and when she did eventually nod off, she was promptly awoken by arguing teenagers.
‘You have to ask before you raid my closet, Bay!’ said one female in a high-pitched tone.
A door slammed and another girl yelled, ‘Yeah, well maybe if you were nicer, I wouldn’t have to steal things! You’re supposed to share! Tu es si méchant!’
As an only child, Ruby had never had the issue of siblings. She’d always wondered what it would have been like to have brothers or sisters, but judging by the noise coming from along the hallway, she’d had a lucky escape.
There was a gentle knock on the door and Ruby sat up, smoothing down the bird’s nest of natural red curls atop her head. ‘Come in.’
The door opened and Jessica appeared with a tray. ‘I thought you might prefer breakfast in bed. I have croissants from the local bakery and some fresh coffee. I hope that’s okay.’
Ruby smiled. ‘You really didn’t have to do that, Jessica, but thank you.’
A dark-haired girl appeared behind Jessica. ‘H-hi, hi, Ruby Locke. It’s an honour to meet you, ma’am.’ The girl, who was around fifteen, curtseyed. ‘I’m Bayleigh Brodeur.’
Jessica sighed. ‘Bayleigh, go and eat your breakfast. Miss Locke doesn’t need to be bothered. And you don’t need to curtsey.’
‘It’s fine, honestly,’ Ruby insisted. ‘Although your mum’s right. You don’t need to curtsey, and you can just call me Ruby.’ She giggled as Bayleigh’s skin glowed pink.
Another dark-haired girl, almost identical to the first, appeared in the doorway. ‘Mom, I wanted to wear the blue sweater, tell her to take it off.’ She spotted Ruby in the bed and gasped. ‘Oh shiii-ooot. Shoot, I’m so sorry to interrupt you. Miss Locke, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.’ She too blushed.
‘Girls, we’re not in a Victorian era movie, for Pete’s sake.’ Jessica laughed. ‘This one is Brienne.’
Ruby grinned. ‘Hi Brienne. Lovely to meet you.’
‘Oh my god, your accent is so cool. You’re so… British,’ Brienne said.
‘I know, right? So cool,’ Bayleigh agreed. ‘I’ve seen all your movies. You’re awesome. I want to be an actor too. It looks like such an exciting career.’ The smile dropped from her face. ‘Although… I know it can be kinda hard and scary too.’
‘Okay, girls, let’s leave Ruby to eat.’ Jessica ushered the twins from the room before turning back to Ruby. ‘Please don’t worry; the girls won’t say anything about you being here. Their father has instilled into them that they should never gossip about the details of his job and they take that very seriously. I just wish they’d apply it to other areas of their lives.’ She rolled her eyes and closed the door behind her as she left the room.
Once alone again, Ruby devoured the fresh, crumbly croissants with a groan of delight. She was more of a tea drinker but made an exception on this occasion, letting the earthy aroma of the coffee wrap in her in its warm, comforting blanket. She wondered to herself why life couldn’t be this simple all the time.
She reached down to grab her phone from her bag and realised she had several missed calls and messages from Kitty. One of the messages contained a link and simply said:
I’m so, so sorry, sweetie. I love you and would happily smash his pretty face in.
With a combination of trepidation and inquisitiveness, Ruby clicked the link. There on the screen was Tyler at his charity event. A buxom, heavily made up, blonde reporter – wearing lipstick the colour she had seen on Tyler’s shirt – held a microphone in his face.
Flicking her hair and pouting her artificially plump lips, she said, ‘So, what do you think of the comments made by your fiancée this week?’
Tyler’s nostrils flared infinitesimally, but he plastered a clearly forced smile on his face. ‘I have to announce that Miss Locke and I have parted ways. I cannot and will not condone anyone saying such horrific things, especially no future wife of mine.’
Ruby stared at the screen as a mixture of rage, sadness and bile rose within her. So, he had announced to the world last night that he had dumped her before having the common decency to tell her first? Was he hoping she would be watching so his life would be made easy? Maybe he wasn’t expecting her to be at the hotel when he returned? She glanced down at the glinting diamond on her ring finger and removed it. No point wearing it any more. She’d drop it off at Valerie’s office and he could collect the wretched thing from there.
As if Valerie had sensed her name being thought about Ruby’s phone rang. ‘Hey, Valerie. If you’re calling about Tyler, I’ve seen the footage.’
‘What the hell was he thinking? Who is this guy? I feel like I don’t know him at all.’ Valerie’s voice was filled with exasperation.
‘Tell me about it. I feel like such an idiot.’
‘Hey, honey, you weren’t to know what an asshole he is. He’s clearly a better actor than either of us knew. I’m just so disappointed in him.’
Ruby sighed. ‘Me too. Why did I waste so much of my time on him?’
‘Love’ll do that to you. But at least you didn’t relocate to LA, huh?’
‘Very true.’
Valerie paused for a moment before asking, ‘Have you heard from him at all? Directly, I mean?’
‘Not a word. Can’t say I’m bothered though.’ The last thing Ruby wanted was to hear the dickhead’s voice.
‘Didn’t you have any wedding stuff to cancel?
Ruby scoffed. ‘We never actually set a date, so nothing was ever booked. That alone should’ve been a red flag, eh?’
‘Hindsight and all that. Oh, and more flowers have arrived from H. Any idea who that is?’
‘Not a clue. It’s a bit strange but probably just a fan. I’ve received gifts before, and I suppose I should be grateful it’s something nice like flowers. It could be so much worse under the circumstances.’
‘Ah well, at least you know you have a supporter out there. Look, the suite at the Four Seasons is still on hold as soon as you need. But let me know if you decide not to take it, okay? And, Ruby, we’re gonna get you through this.’
There was another knock at her door.
‘Thank you, Valerie. Look, I have to go but I’ll speak to you later. Bye.’
She sniffed and wiped at her eyes. ‘Come in!’ she said as brightly as she could manage.
Philippe cleared his throat. ‘Miss Ruby, I’m afraid I have seen Monsieur Harrison on the news and—’
Her lip trembled. ‘It’s okay, Philippe, I’ve just seen it.’
He shrugged. ‘Now you see what I knew all along. Il est un sac à merde.’
She nodded, figuring out, with what little French she could remember from school, what he’d said. ‘Oh yes. He certainly is a gigantic sac à merde.’ And if she got the opportunity any time soon, she would tell him that to his face.
Sunday was family day for the Brodeurs. They graciously invited her to stay another night so she could join in with their board games. Bayleigh had suggested Trivial Pursuit and Ruby had gone on to answer every single entertainment question correctly.
‘I think we should ban Ruby from answering pink questions!’ Bayleigh said with a giggle. ‘I say we make her answer all the science ones instead.’
‘If that’s how it’s gonna be, maybe you should be banned from answering the sports questions!’ Brienne interjected with a wink at Ruby.
‘Maybe we could go out to the garage and play pool?’ Philippe suggested.
‘Oh yeah, Dad, let’s play a game you can actually win, huh?’ Bayleigh said and Jessica and Brienne laughed along as Philippe feigned innocence.
The day was so much fun, and as Ruby watched the four family members playing around and laughing with each other she smiled. The love that Jessica and Philippe had for their daughters shone in their eyes, and every so often they would share a secret smile that spoke of their love for each other too.
Dinner was pizza which was to be followed by a movie. Brienne and Bayleigh sat, one on either side of Ruby, as Philippe cleared away the dishes and Jessica made a bowl of popcorn.
‘I think you should choose what we watch, Ruby,’ Brienne told her. ‘I mean, I’m guessing there are certain movies you really don’t wanna watch,’ she said with a cringe. ‘So, if you choose, we know you’ll be happy.’ She shrugged.
Ruby smiled at the sweet gesture. ‘Thank you, Brienne. That’s very kind. What type of movies do you both like?’
Bayleigh chimed in, ‘I like horror, but my sister’s a wuss and has to hide behind a pillow if we watch anything scarier than The Addams Family.’
Brienne rolled her eyes. ‘Oh yeah? And who had to sleep with the light on last year after she watched that old movie about the kids in the woods and the witch?’
Ruby interjected, ‘The Blair Witch Project? That scared the pants off me!’
Bayleigh nodded vehemently. ‘Right?’ She shifted in her seat and waved her hands. ‘Oh my god, the tree outside my window was tapping on the glass and I had to get my dad to go out at midnight and trim the branch!’
Ruby giggled. ‘Oh no, poor Philippe. Anyway, weren’t you a bit young to be watching The Blair Witch Project?’
Bayleigh chewed her lip and appeared sheepish. ‘Hmm… I was at a friend’s house for a slumber party and her brother dared us to watch it. Brie had stayed home.’
Brienne gave a hearty laugh. ‘Mom and Dad went ape when they found out.’
Ruby grinned and shook her head. ‘Honestly, you two are hilarious.’
6
After dinner the following evening, Ruby helped clear the dishes. Whilst alone with Jessica in the kitchen, she told her, ‘Jessica, I’ve heard from Valerie and there’s a booking for me at the Four Seasons as soon as I can get there, so I’ll chat to Philippe about driving me, and be out of your hair.’
Jessica placed down the dishcloth and turned to face her. ‘Phil and I were talking and we agreed that you’re welcome to stay here until things are dealt with. We both feel that being surrounded by people who believe in you, and who care about you, would be better than you being alone. Obviously, you’re free to do whatever you think is best, but we wanted to give you the opportunity to stay.’ She smiled warmly.
‘Really? I don’t want to intrude on your family, you’ve been so generous having me here at all, and—’
Jessica placed a hand on Ruby’s arm. ‘We’d love you to stay longer.’
Ruby beamed. ‘Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how lovely it’s been to be surrounded by family chatter again. I’ve really missed that. I’ll drop Valerie a message and say she can cancel the booking. Hopefully the matter will be sorted out soon and I can go home. But I’d love to stay a little longer.’ She hugged Jessica tight.
Once the dishes were done, Ruby retreated to the comfort of Philippe’s guest room once more. There had been no word from Veronica, and she was now wondering if the editor had decided not to help her after all. They weren’t exactly friends, but Ruby had certainly felt a little more solidarity coming from Veronica during the interview, compassion too. She was relieved because, in her humble opinion, women in such high-profile positions should stick together and raise each other up, not treat one another as competition.
She picked up her phone and noticed several missed calls from her parents’ number. Her heart sank and she closed her eyes for a moment as the realisation hit. They know. She hit the return call symbol and held her breath. The sound of her dad’s worry-filled voice made her heart ache. ‘Ruby, love, are you okay? We’ve been worried sick. Can you come home?’
‘Hi Dad. I’m afraid I can’t really do that just now. But I’m fine. Honestly. I’m staying with friends who live outside the city. Things are under control, so please don’t worry.’ Going home would bring its own issues. The last thing she wanted was to bring her parents into the mess surrounding her, so the longer she stayed away until it was sorted, the better.
‘Hey lass, we’re your mum and dad, o’ course we’ll worry, it’s our job, don’t forget. We love you so much, you know.’
Tears escaped the corners of her eyes. ‘I know, and I love you too.’
Her dad went on to try and cheer her up with local news from Pontefract and then her mum took the phone and they chatted about her upcoming weddings and a ‘right old cock up’ that a groom had made by ordering the wrong colour flowers for his buttonholes. By the end of the call, she felt as though a weight had been lifted.
There was a light knock on the door, and it cracked open slightly. ‘Ruby, there’s a piece on the news about you. An interview. I thought you might want to see it.’
Her heart skipped at Jessica’s words and she quickly rose from the bed where she had been trying to read but failing to concentrate.
Once in the living room, she perched on the arm of the sofa and Jessica gripped her hand. ‘This could be the end of it, Ruby. This could be the help you needed.’
Ruby squeezed Jessica’s hand as her heart pounded in her chest. She hoped her new friend was right. She just wanted to get back to normal sooner rather than later.
The presenter on the news show began to speak and it seemed everyone in the room with Ruby held their breath.
‘Now onto a scandal that has rocked the movie world. Actress Ruby Locke allegedly posted some rather bigoted and vile comments on social media, for which there has been no apology. We now have an exclusive video interview that New York Star editor Veronica Lucas fought to obtain with the actress. Unfortunately, we can’t show the entire interview due to time constraints, but here are the salient points.’
Cut to a split video-call screen showing a beautifully made-up Veronica and a puffy-eyed Ruby.
‘So, Ruby, this all must have taken a toll on your career, would it be safe to say that’s true?’
‘It most certainly has. And through no fault of my own. I just wanted people to know my feelings. What it’s like to be me. Anyone who thinks differently is crazy.’
‘And what do you say to those who feel you should apologise for what was put out there?’
‘I won’t apologise. People need to know the truth. That’s all there is to it.’
‘And what if this changes how people see you?’
‘I want people to see the real me. Not some airhead who can’t think for herself. My feelings count too. I’m important too.’
Cut to the TV presenter who understandably appeared shocked. ‘Well, there you go, viewers, Ms Locke in her own, unapologetic words. Such a shame, we all thought she was a different person.’
