One Hot Secret by Sarah J. Brooks
Chapter 37
Grace
I miss Kyle. He left this morning to drive down to Adrian’s ranch. I’m on the road too with Greg, headed to my parents’ house. It’s a beautiful day to be taking a drive, but instead, I’m all knotted up with tension.
I had the wisdom this time of warning my parents that I was coming. Greg wants to take a look at my paintings, which are in storage, and then come for the ones he wants another day. It’s going to be a long weekend without Kyle, but I should be busy working and not thinking about him.
Greg is the one driving, and I give him the directions until we get there.
“How many of them do you think are there?” Greg says as he kills the engine.
I smile when I hear the excitement in his voice. It makes me excited too. If it’s true that my paintings will do well in the market, that means that my savings will grow. I’ve been banking on that since Kyle bought two of my pieces at exorbitant prices. It took my parents to almost losing their house for me to understand the importance of savings.
“Quite a number,” I tell Greg.
I lead the way to the front door and knock. My mother opens the door, and though she’s not smiling, she doesn’t look upset either.
“Mom, hi.” I kiss her cheek and then step back to introduce Greg. “This is Greg, and he’s the owner of Uptown Gallery.”
Greg steps forward to shake her hand. “I can’t tell you how excited we are for your daughter’s first of many solo shows.”
My mom raises her eyebrow, and Greg realizes she doesn’t know. He turns to me in surprise. He must think I’m a complete weirdo.
“You haven’t told your parents about the show?”
“I was planning on telling them today,” I say weakly.
“Show?” Mom says. “Your father is in the living room. Come and tell us together.”
In the house, I introduce Greg to my father, and then he proceeds to tell them about the show. My parents are shocked and then excited. My father goes on to tell Greg how I did nothing but paint in the years I lived at home.
I notice that my mom has tears in her eyes. She insists on us having some tea, and when we’re done, I take Greg to the shed outside, where I store my paintings. I’m pleased to see that Mom keeps it clean and there are no cobwebs on my paintings.
Greg is like a kid in a candy store as he looks from one to the other. They are propped against the wall, and he has to rearrange some to see the rest. Through the window, I see my mom outside.
“Is it okay if I leave you for a little while?” I ask Greg.
“Yes, yes, it’s fine. Go and visit with your parents. I’ll find you when I’m ready,” he says.
I join my mother outside.
“I’m proud of you but not surprised,” she says. “You’ve always been so gifted.”
I’m stunned to hear her say that. In all the years I’ve painted, she always dismissed my painting as a hobby, and she made it clear that it could never replace a real career. It was part of the reason why I became a firefighter.
“You never said it.”
She folds her arms across her chest and looks away before swinging her gaze back to me. “I know. I have so much to apologize for, but I don’t know where to start.”
I’m truly at a loss over what she’s talking about and wait for her to continue. Tears fill her eyes, and I make a move to go to her, but she holds up a hand to stop me.
“Let me explain. I never wanted to encourage you to pursue your art because I knew that if you did, you’d get the world’s attention, and we would be back to the same circle of madness that my brother and your mother brought on everyone.”
I swallow hard as a lot of things start to make sense.
“When you came to live with us, I promised myself I would protect you so that your face would never be on another newspaper, magazine, or tabloid. When you started dating Kyle, it felt as if I had failed.” The pain she feels inside is reflected in her face.
“But Mom, it wasn’t your fault. It was my choice to continue seeing Kyle. I didn’t want to be in the limelight, but I’ve fallen in love with a very successful actor. I wasn’t going to let go of my chance at happiness because of my parents. Kyle is a different person from who my parents were. And so am I.”
She makes a sobbing noise. “I know that now, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you to end the relationship, and I should have encouraged you to pursue your art. I’m glad that despite my interference, your work will be displayed for everyone to see.”
She has a wariness in her eyes as she waits for my reaction. I can choose to be angry about the past, but she meant well. The situation I am in right now takes me back to when Kyle told me how Adrian Martin reacted to the news that he was a father. He had chosen to focus on the present rather than the years he had lost with Kyle. I do the same and choose to focus on here and now.
“I’ve missed you so much, Mom,” I tell her.
Tears fall from her eyes. “You’re a much better person than I am, Gracie.” She opens her arms, and I walk into them.
“I want you and Dad to come to the show,” I tell her.
“We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she says.
***
I’ve been working since noon when Greg dropped me back home and sharp pains in my stomach let me know that I actually need food to survive. I reluctantly put down my paintbrush. I’m on a flow, and if I didn’t have to eat, I would have kept going. Since returning from my parents’ house, I’ve been on cloud nine, and I can’t wait for Kyle to return home tomorrow so that I can tell him all about it.
I stretch and reach for my phone, which has been on silent mode. I see five missed calls from Isla, and my heart skips a beat. With trembling hands, I call her back while my mind tries to figure out what the matter could be. It’s not like her to call me five times. She knows that if she calls me once and I don’t pick up my phone, I’m most likely working and will call her back.
She picks up on the third ring. “Hey.” I immediately sense tension in her voice.
“Hi, Mrs. Cole.”
She doesn’t laugh or acknowledge the name. Something is definitely up.
“What’s going on?” I ask her. “Is Mark all right?”
“Yeah, he’s fine,” she says. “It’s about you, actually. You’re all over the tabloids and TV channels, Grace.”
My insides turn to water. “What about?”
There’s silence on the other side.
“You’re scaring me,” I tell her, clutching the phone tighter than necessary.
“They’ve found out the identity of your parents. They’ve dug out old pictures and articles of you and your parents. I’m sorry, Grace.”
I shake my head and feel as if the weight of the world has settled on my shoulders. It’s been so peaceful the last few weeks, even with Kyle’s father’s death. The media had not found out the connection between him and Adrian Martin, which would have caused a sensation for weeks.
“How did they find out?” Isla says.
“It could be anyone from my past. It doesn’t matter, and to be honest, I knew it was only a matter of time before they did. I guess they’re camped outside the gate now. It’s a good thing I’m not planning on leaving the house.”
“There’s more,” Isla says quietly.
I can’t imagine what more there would be.
“There’s an article claiming that your adopted parents are in debt, and that’s one of the reasons why you’re with Kyle.”
“That’s bullshit,” I explode. “My parents were in financial trouble, and I helped them out of it. I did go into debt, but I’m almost done with it. Besides, it was a long time ago. Oh, God.” I feel nauseous at the thought of all my family’s dirty laundry being aired out in public like that.
My father had made bad financial investments, and in the process, they had almost lost the house. I’d had to take out loans to pay off their debt, and it’s taken me years to recover. I’m embarrassed to tell Isla all this, and I gloss over it. “Thanks for letting me know,” I tell her when we’re done.
“Are you okay? Do you want me to come over?” she says.
“No, I’m fine, I promise.”
Against my better judgment, I go online and type my name on the browser. I see the subject headlines, and nausea rises up my throat. There’s even a picture of my parents’ home side to side to my biological parents’ massive home back in the day.
From This to This, the headline screams.
Tears sprout into my eyes, and I find myself defaulting to wondering whether it’s worth it. Don’t be silly; I scold myself. Kyle is worth it. I know I shouldn’t do it, but I find myself reading the articles. They have most of the facts right, but the one thing they have wrong is the timeline. They make it seem as if all this is happening currently. As if I’m still in debt.
My phone lights up with a call. The number is my parents’ landline.
“Grace, honey, how are you?” my mom’s voice comes through the speakers, laced with worry.
“I’m okay. I’ve seen the stories going around. Don’t worry about it; it’ll soon die down, and they’ll move on to something else. That’s what Kyle says.”
“I’m sorry, honey,” Mom says.
“It’s fine.”
“Your father wants to speak to you,” she says.
That takes me by surprise. My father is one of those old-fashioned men who prefer to have face-to-face conversations and avoid the phone like it has a contagious illness.
He comes on a second later. “Gracie?”
“Hi, Dad,” I say with as much cheer as I can muster.
“I just want to say I’m sorry. If it weren’t for me, this wouldn’t have come up.” He sounds so sad and defeated.
It’s true that he did make a bad investment decision, but at the time, he had been thinking about our family. He had hoped that with the money he would make, he would help me make a down payment on a house and maybe even get a newer car.
“That’s nonsense, Dad, and you know this as well as I do. If not for this, they would have found something else. Besides, it’s a long time ago, and we’ve all put it behind us.”
My mom’s flower garden provides them with a nice income for extras, and they own the house outright.
“What about Kyle? Has he seen it?” my father asks.
“He doesn’t read gossip magazines, and he would not be bothered about it anyway.”
My dad lets out a sigh of relief.
“It doesn’t matter, Dad. Forget about it, okay?”
“If you say so,” he says.
“I do say so.”
When I disconnect the phone, I feel so tired of it. But as long as I’m with Kyle, they’ll always be interested in my business.
