Backstage Romance: An Austen-Inspired Romantic Comedy Box Set by Gigi Blume (ebook reader with highlighter txt) 📕

an exchange of photos of what they ate for lunch. Sometimes, he’d ask her about her day, what she learned in school that day, what she bought at the mall. For about three seconds, I felt sorry she was growing up without her adopted brother. Then the texts got into personal territory. “Send me a picture of yourself.” She’d send a pouty snapshot of her face. “What are you wearing?” She’d reply with poop emoji. A tight coil wrenched in my gut. He was preying on her. Then a few texts later, he’d say how much he enjoyed seeing her at a friend’s party. At the beach. At the coffee house she studied at most afternoons. All that time I wasn’t present in her life because I was working long hours on set. Sometimes out of the country. I blamed myself. If I’d only been there. So I took away her phone and made sure she came straight home from school. When I couldn’t pick her up, I’d send a car. She hated that. Hated being the movie star’s sister. In retrospect, I realize I could have handled it better. I didn’t know how to deal with a teenager.

I put impossible restrictions on her freedom. Forbade her to go to parties or out with friends. I think it made her a little rebellious. All I wanted was to protect her, but my efforts seemed to push her away. I told myself I didn’t care if she hated me. As long as she was safe. And she was. For a time.

One night, I was up late, long after she was supposed to be asleep. I was on the other side of the house, and I wouldn’t have heard anything if it weren’t for Lady. Her ears perked up, and she started growling in the direction of the bedrooms. I followed her up the stairs, and that’s when I heard voices. When I forced open the door, I saw a sight I will never unsee. Jorge had my sister pinned down. The expression of fear on her face was conviction enough that his advances weren’t welcome. She was sixteen.

“Shut the front door!” I didn’t realize I had said that aloud until three heads swooshed in my direction, everyone with various degrees of shock in their eyes.

“Beth, what the?”

“Are you okay?”

“I’ve never heard you cuss before.”

I shoved the letter under my comforter and turned my head to acknowledge them. I smiled on one side of my mouth, dismissing their concern.

“I didn’t cuss.”

Lydia nodded vehemently. “Knowing you, that was close enough.”

Jane came to sit on the edge of my bed and looked at me in the eyes. She put a soft hand on my arm.

“What’s wrong?”

She knew I wasn’t reading show notes.

“I’ll tell you later,” I whispered, nodding in the other girl’s direction. She understood. I couldn’t say anything in front of Holly and Lydia. They didn’t take anything seriously. But Jane gave me a reassuring smile and quietly left the room. I glanced over at Holly and Lydia, happily oblivious to the world’s woes while they threw various clothing into piles. They made a huge mess of my room. I told myself it was only a reflection of my life at the moment. Just piles of stuff everywhere. No real direction. No plan.

In a last-ditch effort to read the rest of the letter in peace, I took a stroll down to the community pool and claimed one of many unoccupied lounge chairs. The gated-in area was perfect for a reprieve from the noise in my apartment. The breeze made little ripples in the pool water which glistened with the orange glow from the setting sun. Soon, it would be too chilly to sit there without a sweater, but only one page remained of the thick stack of papers Will gave me. I didn’t think I’d care to read this far, but now I was invested in learning all he had to say. I couldn't escape it now, no matter how crazy his story was. I didn’t want to believe him. I couldn’t imagine Jorge doing those things. But Will’s account of things was too horrific to be made up. He wouldn’t involve his sister in the story if it weren’t true.

Thankfully, I caught him before anything happened, but because of that, and the trail of text messages they’d been exchanging, the authorities shrugged it off. They didn’t believe her. He got off scot-free. But my sister didn’t recover so easily. She became more and more distant. Counseling did little, and she became rebellious.

Beth, I’m only telling you these things so you will know the truth about Jorge. Whatever he said about me and my family could only be half-truths at best.

Very few people know about what my sister went through. Could you imagine what it would do to her if the media got hold of this story? Keeping it hidden was the last thing I could do. I failed her. But I hope I can at least keep you from being one of Jorge’s victims.

I know he must have given you some sob story. Maybe even told you I had something to do with his failure in the business. But the truth is Jorge is extremely unreliable and difficult to work with. If he can’t get a job in Hollywood, he has no one to blame but himself. The only reason Stella took him on at the Gardiner was to honor my father’s memory. She knows how much Dad loved him.

I sincerely hope he is a changed man. From what I’ve seen, he appears to be sober now. Maybe I should deal with my trust issues. But I’ve been burned by a lot of people in my life, and I can never forgive Jorge for what he did to my sister. I’ve told you before that I hold grudges. Now you know one of the reasons why.

I shook my head, trying to un-jumble it all. I hope I can at least keep you