Bab 86: Chapter 86
"All packed?" Rhys asked as he loaded his suitcase into the foyer. They were leaving the following day for Ontario, he was shooting again til the end of January and Pearl was going to spend this week with him before they had to spend three weeks apart.
"Yes." She said, feeling nervous and carrying the worry with her about the visit they had the day before. She had talked to Rhys about what David's father had said to her, his stipulation about them being married. Rhys agreed that it sounded like some plot to play with the both of them and hurt David in the long run. She had completely cut ties with David, and she had let David and Maggie know about it, so neither her or Rhys could fathom what this could be about.
They decided to move forward and have Pearl join Rhys for the week before the meeting, that way she could see what his work life was all about and feel some security in that. Rhys and the director met as young adults, acting together on a teen comedy sitcom, so he was pretty lenient about Pearl coming for a visit since it was her first time ever being on set. Rhys said spouses sometimes visit but the hours are so unpredictable, they rarely do more than a few times. The actors have to arrive at call time and leave when cut happens and this can be at 7 am or 3 am or 8pm, depending on the flow of the day. Rhys is the star and Pearl made sure not to watch any of the show before visiting the set. She wanted to see the behind the scenes before watching the first three seasons.
They had an early dinner and Rhys spent a few hours going over the script for the scenes he was scheduled to shoot the upcoming week. Pearl sat in her chair in the library working on a song. It was like they had settled into a nice little life for themselves and it was starting to feel normal. Her phone dinged and she looked down to see it was a text from John.
"Hey! I don't know if you read online entertainment magazines or if you even get online at all, but I think you should." And the next text was a link for her to click on. She opened it and saw Rhys and herself as the subject of an article for the biggest entertainment outlet in the country. Her name. Her face. Her band. Her marketing job. Her prior marriage. Everything. It had a zoomed in picture of the 3 carat diamond ring on her hand. Another zoomed in picture showed some cellulite in her leg when she was walking in her high slit dress. Even her college mugshot from when she was arrested for public intoxication when she was at the wrong place at the wrong time at an outdoor tent party that got busted. There were pics of her kissing Rhys through a window and some of her walking down the street in New York alone. There were pics of her onstage and there was link to the video of her band playing that went viral. Her entire life was public now. It made her stomach turn and her anxiety bubble.
"Thanks John. Just what I needed to see." She replied.
"All publicity is good publicity. Just sorry it has to be at your expense, kid. But it comes with the territory. Soon it will be all of us." He sent back.
He was right. But it did t make her feel any better.
They flew out the next morning and landed in a small airport, in the middle of no where. The show was set in a fictional fantasy world of warriors and castles and open areas so the location was perfect. Hotels were scarce so she would stay on set with him in his trailer. The scenes they were focusing on there involved open fields and a river and forest scenes. Later in the winter, they would fly to Iceland and Ireland to shoot the rest of the movie before returning to LA for the on set, interior scenes, wrapping by the end of May. Pearl would travel with him for as many shoots as she was able, depending on the album progress.
They were met by a man driving a large SUV and he promptly grabbed their bags and loaded them into the vehicle. They headed out to what seemed like the middle of nowhere to come upon a small colony of trailers and buildings set up. Rhys and the driver carried their bags to the largest trailer on the lot that was also the furthest away. They walked in and Pearl was completely surprised to find it as nicely designed and almost as spacious as the New York loft. It was gorgeous. Large screen TV, sectional couch, recessed lighting, a full island kitchen, a large bedroom and full bath and half bath. "Whoa." She said under her breath. "It's nice, right?" Rhys asked.
"It's nicer than my old apartment. And bigger." She said.
They got settled and Pearl noticed some things on a desk in the small room adjoining the living area and hall leading to the bedroom. It was the book she wrote her number in and several notebooks where Rhys was jotting down moments they had had and writing little lines of poetry to her, as if to have another little line to leave for her or send her. One of the notebooks said, "She smelled like rain. Clean and with a little sadness yet promising hope. Remember how your skin smelled like her after she left." It was so sweet. And another, with notes about the house he bought. The library. And another designing her ring. He was working on how to be good for her while he was away, before she even knew.
"Ah. So you see now that I never thought about anything else after I met you." He said, his face red from embarrassment.
"Yes. This is so sweet." She said, smiling at him.
"Hey Rhys! Welcome Pearl! I'm Matt." A handsome man said as he poked his head into the trailer. "Pearl this is my director", Rhys said. "He just walks in at any time so don't walk around naked."
"Noted." Pearl laughed.
"Hey we had a slight change with the schedule. I wanted to tell you ASAP because it's going to change what we do tomorrow. We shoot the "The river unites us" scene tomorrow and the "Leaders of the Bend" scene when that is cut. Abigail had a family obligation later in the week so we are switching it up. Nice to meet you, Pearl." And he stepped out.
Rhys looked unhappy.
"What's wrong? Need help with your lines?" She asked.
"No. I was hoping tomorrow you'd see an epic scene being filmed where we discuss appointing my character as the new leader and a lot of action sequences. But they changed it. Now I'm shooting my character's first love scene of the show."
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NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
*I hope you are enjoying reading this book as much as I am writing it! Please leave comments and feedback. I love to hear from you! Thanks for reading!*
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Power 
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