1 6
KAI
I had to admit these film festivals weren’t half as bad as I thought they would have been. I had spent a great day with Tinsley and the gang and that poker game with Michael last night was nuts. I met so many cool people from the industry.
As I made my way down to the breakfast buffet, I scanned the room and quickly found Tinsley tucked away in a booth. She was taking turns sipping her coffee and laughing hysterically at someone she was talking to via facetime. I grabbed a breakfast plate, then added a second one for good measure. This mountain air had me famished.
I got to the table right as she was finishing her call. “Was that Lucas?” I asked with a smile.
“It was. He apparently has a new obsession with something called an axolotl which is this weird lizard thing,” she went on explaining Lucas’ conversation to me.
I loved watching her talk about him. Her whole face lit up when she spoke of Lucas. It was as if she let off some sort of energy. Lucas put her in a good mood and as a result anyone in her orbit was suddenly happier too.
“So have you said anything to Ryan about him yet?” I asked.
“Asked me about who?” Ryan questioned. Damn! I hadn’t even seen him walk up.
Tinsley’s face fell instantly. Shit, shit, shit!
“Okay guys what the hell is going on? Is there some sort of sixth member of this relationship that I don’t know about?” he asked.
“Oh gosh no, nothing like that,” she said. She had managed to regain some composure.
“Then what is it like?” Ryan asked, getting annoyed.
Tinsley looked at me and I looked at Ryan. “Can we go somewhere quiet to talk?” she asked.
“All of us,” I asked.
She nodded meekly, “It would be great if you could be there for this.”
“Okay now you’re starting to scare me guys, what the hell?” Ryan asked, agitated.
Tinsley and Ryan grabbed their coffees. I grabbed a napkin and stuffed as much of my breakfast as I could into it. At least if my mouth was full, I couldn’t fuck things up even worse.
We made our way out to the private courtyard off the conference room the studio had reserved for us. Ryan was staring daggers at me and didn’t look much happier with Tinsley.
“There is no easy way to say this. So, I’m just going to say it. But before I do, I want you to know that I realize you are going to be mad at me, even hate me. I did what I thought was best at the time,” she said, tears starting to form in her eyes.
“Ryan, Lucas is your son,” she said.
I looked at Ryan. An expression of pure shock ran across his face. He looked at me and I nodded slightly. Then he looked at Tinsley. He tried to speak but his mouth just hung open in surprise.
Tinsley got out her phone and began showing Ryan pictures as she tried to explain away the last seven years. She told him everything, that she had been a virgin when they’d slept together and that she hadn’t had another relationship of any kind until Lucas was several years old.
She explained her reasoning for keeping quiet. How his star had just begun rising when she’d found out she was pregnant and how for the better part of seven years it had been easier just to let it be.
“Stop!” Ryan finally yelled out when he had found his voice. “I can’t’ believe that you would do this to me, to us. That you would keep Lucas from me for all these years.
“What? Did you not think I was good enough to be around my own son?” he growled.
“No Ryan no!” Tinsley cried out in a wave of tears. “It had nothing to do with you or who you are as a person. It was my choice. I didn’t want to be the one responsible for side-lining your career.”
“That wasn’t your decision to make,” Ryan barked. Then he got up and stalked out of the room leaving a devastated Tinsley in his wake. She collapsed against me in a heap of sobs.
I held her for twenty minutes whispering apologies in her ear as her sobbing continued. She finally looked up at me with tear-stained eyes. “I have to find a way to fix this.”
I pulled out my phone. “Let me text Adrienne. If there is anyone that knows Ryan better than me, it’s her. Plus, she’s really good at talking him down.”
“Thank you,” she said, choking back tears.
“Don’t thank me. It’s my fault you’re in this mess.”
“No Kai, it’s mine,” Tinsley said solemnly. “I think that’s what has me so upset. He’s right. I did this. I kept Lucas from him. I kept him from Lucas. And for what? He’s an amazing guy. Why did I think I should keep the two of them apart?”
“You didn’t know. Stop blaming yourself. He’ll come around and it will all work out. I promise,” I said. My phone rang out with a text from Adrienne. “She’s going to go find him now.”
I felt like such an asshole. How could I have let this happen? She had trusted me with this secret and now like a bonehead, I’d let it slip and hurt both her and Ryan in the process. They were the last two people on the planet I wanted to hurt.
I had to make this right.