The last time Catherine Rosdale was in Goldstone, she was 26 years old. It was a few weeks before her wedding. She went there to check on an apartment her parents had left her because she always wanted to start a life in the city.
When she met Bill Ludlow, all her plans gradually changed. It became Bill and Catherine’s plan, rather than her own. The apartment stayed vacant with the hope that one day she was going to use it. She never told Bill about it, he would tell her to sell it, but she never sold it. It was the only thing she owned that reminded her of who she was before Bill Ludlow.
To be in Goldstone 20 years later, brought back a lot of memories of the times when life was kinder because of how young she was. Somewhere along the line, she had given up hope that she would ever use the apartment. But there she was in Goldstone, holding her key.
She couldn’t sleep thinking about what she will have to face when she gets home and tell her husband about their daughter’s change of plan. But she wasn’t going to let him do what he did to her 20 years before, completely robbing her of her future. She wasn’t going to let Tom do the same either, and that’s why she was determined they shouldn’t live together. They have to lead their separate lives.
“Don’t give him the luxury to have you as a wife before you are married, if he wants it, make him earn it,” was what she told Charlie when she asked about it.
It was a relief that they agreed to her terms. The more reason she started to see that Tommy was not all they say he was in Bluebridge. But it needs more than to trust Tommy to make sure her daughter is going to be okay.
She never thought the day would come when she picked up the phone and dialed a set of numbers. She silently hoped that the number had changed, and she could just hang up and forget about the whole idea.
The phone clicked, she gasped.
“Hello?” the heavy low voice on the other side answered.
“Malcolm?” her voice almost inaudible.
There was silence for a few seconds.
“Cathy?”
Even after 20 years, they could recognize a familiar voice.
THE SECRET PARTIES
They call it Secret Parties, even though it’s not really a secret. Every party pertaining to the Goldstone entertainment industry were ‘Secret Parties”. They were private, anonymous, glamorous, and most of what’s happening inside were illegal. There are at least half a dozen secret parties held every night in Goldstone. Wrapping up a shoot, be it an advertisement for top brands, or a movie, an end to a fashion week or whenever a celebrity decides to throw one was a good enough reason for such an event.
He had to attend without Charlie, even though he didn’t really want to. Vicky was becoming a constant companion to him since she became his manager, some sort of a guide to a world he didn’t know much about. She showed him places he needed to be in, people he needed to know. She taught him things he needed to do, she was shaping him into the person he needed to be to mark his place in the spotlight. Even only after a couple of weeks, he was already questioning himself whether he was up for the challenge.
Drugs and booze were scattered all over the place, served in bowls, given away like candies. Condoms were provided in a dispenser. Familiar faces all around, doing things they shouldn’t be doing. Older men with under aged girls, older women with young boys, men on men, women on women, anything and everything.
The new upcoming faces for the limelight like himself were lured into the mix with all kinds of bait. Fame and money being the invisible yet most powerful bait of them all. He managed to stay away from all that when he was dancing at The Silver Tongue, but this was a whole different circle in a whole different level.
He tried to lay low, took a seat in the dark corner of the venue. Vicky mingled with guests, people from the industry. There was a girl in a beaded bikini sitting on a couch next to him, parting her legs in front of a man who was old enough to be her dad. There were two other girls on each side of the old geezer who was snorting cocaine from the girls chest. He looked away with a long sigh, he wondered how much longer he needed to be there. If Charlie was there, he would’ve taken her to a private room and made love to her, but she wasn’t there.
“Hey there lover boy,” a woman’s voice greeted him from the dark. He couldn’t remember the last time he was so glad to see Deeta’s face in a room like that.
“Deeta … hey.”
She sat beside him with a cigarette between her fingers, “You look bored? How long have you been here?”
“Long enough,” he was unenthusiastic.
Deeta laughed at his fretfulness, “Isn’t this what you came here for?” she swayed her hands around the room, but she was referring to Goldstone.
He shrugged at the irony, he always dreamed of being a part of the glitz and glamour of Goldstone, not realizing that all the glitter wasn’t gold. “Not this part,” he replied.
“Well it comes with the territory Tom, you have to get used to it,” she took a drag of her smoke. “Put your feet in, test the water … but don’t dive in, you think you can handle it?” she took a pinch of the white powder from the table with her long fingernails then snorted with her left nostril.
Tommy shook his head, he looked down, once he gets his feet dirty, he wouldn’t be able to stop.
“Aww … that’s sweet … but I should warn you, everyone has a breaking point in this city … everyone …” she emphasized on the last word.
He’ll take his chances, he thought. He’ll hold on for as long as he can.
“The portraits are ready,” Deeta mentioned. “She’s been working on it hours on end, and they’re finally ready … she wants you and Charlie to come by to her house to see them,” she continued.
He was excited, and nervous at the same time. “I’ll let Charlie know.”
“She knows,” Deeta blew out a smoke and smiled.
It seemed like other people knew more about what’s going on with Charlie than him.
“I heard they’re very good,” she was talking about the portraits. “Maxine’s been slaving me up on her bed because of it … she said she wanted what Charlie had that night at the studio … I told her she’s gonna have to ask you about it,” she laughed.
On the far side of the room, he could see silhouettes of people having sex in the dark corners of the room. As the night grew later, the place felt more like what ‘hell’ would look like if he was a religious believer. He asked to leave, only to find Vicky was already high on something she took from the party.
He picked up his phone to call Charlie. She was sobbing after a fight with her dad on the phone. He wanted to console her, tell her that everything was going to be alright, but he could hardly hear her.
She mentioned something about her dad was going to cut all her allowance, he even threatened to cut her off the family’s will, that she wasn’t his daughter anymore, she sniffed and whispered how much she needed him at that moment. But he couldn’t leave the damn party. She said it was fine, Jeremy was going to pick her up at the hotel.
He winced, he squeezed his phone, he wanted to smash it to his own head. “Okay … I’ll see you later,” that was all he could say.
He was exhausted, all he could think about was how Charlie was crying and in need of his comfort, but Jeremy was the one who was there for her.