The Red Carpet

Silence followed Mark’s request. Bethany stared at her boyfriend, not sure how to respond. “I…” She brushed a hand through her hair. “What would it entail?”

“Nothing more than you already do when we go out.”

“It’s a red carpet event.” She couldn’t quite believe she was saying those words. “Eyes are going to be on you, and I…” Nibbling on her bottom lip she shook her head. “Why didn’t you say something before?”

“People, when they find out about me, always seem to treat me differently. You…” He shook his head. “Being with you was a breath of fresh air. I felt like I could be myself for the first time in so long, and I was scared that would change when you found out the truth. That doesn’t excuse me keeping this a secret for so long, but I hope that you can at least understand the choice I made was for what I felt were the right reasons, and it wasn’t because I was trying to hide you.”

Her eyes met with his. It was easy to see the worry in his eyes, and Bethany studied him, wondering if he was the same person he had been before. Mark was someone she’d chosen to be with for who he was, but she wasn’t sure she truly knew who he was. He’d kept such a huge part of his life a secret from her. “I don’t know.” She sighed. “I just… this changes things, Mark, and I need some time.”

Disappointment flashed in his eyes, before he nodded, reaching out with one hand to gently touch hers. “I’m sorry for keeping the truth a secret for so long.”

“Thank you.” She stood, feeling the urge to move, and part of her wanted to tell him everything was fine. That she’d go with him to the event. That she could get over the massive breach of trust. Only it wasn’t that simple. “I’ll call you soon. I know you’re going to need an answer before the event.”

“Beth, love, I want you to take your time with this. As much as you need. This is one event, nothing more. There will be others. If you don’t want to come to this one I understand.”

Other events, because he was a film star, and she hadn’t even known it. Bethany looked down at the table in front of her. He’d been there for her at a time when she desperately needed someone, even though he’d been little more than a stranger, and it had never once crossed her mind that he might be anything more than he said he was. When she looked back up her eyes met with Mark’s. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologise for.” He ran his tongue over his bottom lip, looking less certain than he’d ever looked before. “This was never going to be easy, but I am glad you know now. All I’ve wanted is to have you by my side, and I hope, as hard as I know it’s going to be, you’ll be able to forgive me for not telling you sooner.”

Their eyes met across the table. Bethany could see the tiredness in her mom’s eyes, and she wished there was something more she could do to help. “You can’t stop living your life, sweetheart. I appreciate having you here, more than you can know, but if he’s coming all the way to take you out you should make the most of it.”

“Mom…”

“You’ve done so much for me already. One day I’m not going to be here, and I want to know that you’re going to be okay.”

Eyes filling with tears Bethany glanced down at the table. Both of them knew that day would be there far sooner than either of them wanted it to be. Then, having blinked them away, she looked back at her mom. “I am going to be fine.” It was so easy to say the words. “Mark will understand.”

“I’m sure he will, but you’ve been talking so much about him I don’t want you to lose this chance. Happiness is so important, love, and more than anything in this world I want you to be happy. Your eyes light up whenever he calls. I know you want to spend some time with him. Take the evening. Nothing bad is going to happen to me, darling.”

“Maybe not, but I want to make the most of every moment I have with you.” Bethany couldn’t stop the tear from falling then. “The doctor…”

“Doctors aren’t always right. I could have another twenty years ahead of me. Putting your life on hold is not what I want you to be doing. Having this chance to spend time together has been so wonderful, but having an evening to myself would be really nice, so that I can have a long bath, drink a hot chocolate, and do my things. By going out you’d be doing me a huge favour too.”

Nodding, Bethany smiled at her mom, before it faded. “I get it. What you really want is for me to get out of here for a bit. This is all for you.”

Laughing, her mom reached out to take Bethany’s hand. “You’re right. It is all for me.” Their eyes met again. Seeing the mix of emotions there, that had been there for so long, was a reminder of how things truly were. “One evening, Beth. It’s not going to be my last night. When that comes you’ll know it. I won’t be feeling anywhere as good as I am now.”

“You’re sure?”

“I wouldn’t have been pushing you like this if I wasn’t sure, love. Go out with your boyfriend. Spend some time being Beth again, rather than being my daughter. I know how much you gave up to be here.”

“How could I not? You and I have so little time left.”

More tears were streaming down Bethany’s cheeks when she opened her eyes. Dreaming of her mom wasn’t unusual, and she scrubbed them away, unable to stop herself from wishing things were different. Cancer had taken her mom from her, but they had been able to spend the last six months together. That had been the time when she was getting to know Mark too. A chance meeting at the airport meant she found herself opening up to a total stranger, who’d, unexpectedly, offered his number if she ever needed anyone to talk to. Actually calling it was something she’d hadn’t ever believed she would do, only he’d taken her number too, so he’d been the one to call her up a week later to ask how she was doing. From that day forward they’d been in contact with each other at least every other day.

Unable to stop herself Bethany went over the conversations she’d had with him. Mark had mentioned work every so often, but it had never been in detail. He talked about late nights, early mornings, and the stress of having a lot to remember, which could have been related to any number of jobs. When they met up for dinner, which ended up happening at least once a month after the first time, they’d avoided any complicated subjects, because it was their time away from the stress of their lives, something they both seemed to be so grateful for. Raking a hand through her hair she sat up. He’d been keeping the whole truth from her since the beginning. Instead of being honest about who he was he’d gone with half truths.

Knowing that hurt more than Bethany thought she would ever be able to put into words. She stared at the wall opposite her. From the day they’d met he’d known almost everything about her. Opening up to people had always been hard for her, but he’d made her feel like she could talk to him about anything, and he was right when he said that being honest with a stranger could be so much easier. He had no expectations of her. She could tell him how scared she was. She could tell him how angry she was that neither of her siblings seemed at all bothered by the fact their mom was dying. She could say all the things she’d stopped herself from saying to her friends, because they’d all talked about how brave she was to be making the choices she was. Telling them she didn’t feel brave felt wrong.

Telling Mark she didn’t feel brave was easy. Bethany thought about him holding her hand, telling her that she was making the best choices she could considering the circumstances, and the tears fell once more. “What would Mom be saying right now?” Her voice was loud in the silent room, but saying the words out loud helped. “Mark did make me happy, and that hasn’t changed. He hasn’t changed. She’d tell me to go, to make the most of every moment, because you never know when you don’t have another one.”

Calling Mark wasn’t anywhere near as easy as Bethany hoped it would be. For a long time she stared at his number on her phone. Even though she’d been certain she was making the right choice when she woke in the middle of the night everything was different when the sun rose. Biting hard on her lip she thought once more about what her mom would have said. He hadn’t kept anything bad from her. He’d not kept a criminal past from her. If he had… would it really be that different? Either way it felt like a lack of trust, but then maybe it was best that he did keep the truth from her, at least until she was home.

Had she not been at her mom’s Bethany could see herself realising sooner that he was someone more than he seemed to be, but for six months she’d disconnected from almost everything. There’d been no Internet at her mom’s, because the house literally was in the middle of nowhere, and when she had needed to deal with emails she’d relied on her phone data. Not having much of that meant she didn’t bother with social media. Her mom refused to watch the news, saying that there was nothing good in it, so there was no chance of her seeing Mark on the red carpet, being talked about with the other celebrities. Still she would have thought she’d have so idea of who he was from before that, only she hadn’t. Mark, to her, had been nothing more than someone she’d happened to run into at the airport.

Sighing, she sipped her coffee, and then pressed the dial button. Mark answered the phone in seconds. “I wasn’t expecting you to call so soon, Beth.”

“Neither was I.” She looked down into her mug, wishing she had a better idea of what she wanted to say. “How long have you been an actor?”

“Almost a decade, and this is my third big role. For a long time I was the guy who was always in the background role. I never thought I’d be anything more, so I was planning on giving it all up, until I got the call to say I had the role I so desperately wanted. Getting that changed my life in ways I never could have imagined. With the first film it was easy enough to keep from being noticed, but the more films I do the more often I get noticed, and every time I do I feel like I lose a little more of who I was before. With you I didn’t feel like that. With you I felt like myself for the first time in almost two years.”

“Why do you want me to join you?”

“I can’t imagine not having you there. I’ve been trying to work out how to talk to you about this for a couple of weeks now, because you’re the only person I’ve ever been able to imagine walking with me down the red carpet.”