"Jackson, we have a problem."
Jackson looked at his producer in the mirror and shooed the girl away, who was putting the finishing touches on his makeup. Denny Vera stood aside so she could leave Jackson's trailer.
"What do you mean, trouble?"
"I mean, the way you left things in New York is coming back to bite you in the butt."
"What? With Evie? She calls me every day. She's practically begging me to take her back."
"You so sure?"
"Yeah, why?"
Denny threw a copy of the World Star at Jackson.
Jackson read Sasha Miller's article. "Are you kidding me?"
"You know I have someone on the inside that has been trying to spin this differently, but if you look at the fund this Decker has going for her. She now has over $20,000. They aren't buying our version of the truth. They are buying his, literally."
"Pfff. That doesn't mean anything, so Evie gets some money. It still won't be enough to fund her restaurant. She'll never leave me."
There was a knock on the trailer door. "Go away!" Jackson yelled, but the door opened anyway. His personal assistant stuck his head in. "Jackson, I'm sorry to interrupt but there is a POD delivered to your residence and they want to know if they should accept it."
"POD delivery? What's in it?"
His assistant shifted from one foot to the other. "Um, it looks like all your stuff from New York."
"What?"
"That's just what I've been told. It was sent by Evie."
"Not going to leave you, huh?" Denny said with a knowing smirk.
"Accept it and get out of my face," Jackson told his assistant.
"Yes, sir," the man said, rolling his eyes and giving Jackson the finger the moment the door was closed.
"I'm going to crush this Decker guy," Jackson told his producer.
"Not your best move, Jackson. You can't smooth this out with Evie by steamrollering over it. You need to finesse this one."
"Finesse? I'm going to straighten this out right now." Jackson picked up his phone and dialed Evelyn's number. It went straight to voice mail. Jackson looked at the phone like he was surprised it dared to defy him and hung up.
He started playing back his messages. At first, Evelyn sounded concerned, like she wanted to fix things between them and Jackson smiled as he played them for his producer. Then he hit the play button on his last message.
"Hi Jackson, it's obvious you don't want to talk to me and I can honestly say I don't want to talk to you either. In fact, I will be quite happy to never talk to you again. So, in case this message is unclear, let me make it simple for you. It's over, Jackson. You and I are finished. Don't call. Don't text. I'll send your things to your place out in LA. Have a nice life, Jackson."
Jackson stared at the phone in disbelief.
"You need to get her back," Denny told him shaking Jackson out of his shocked daze.
"I don't need her," Jackson tossed his phone onto the couch.
"Jackson, she is gaining money for her restaurant. Social Media is backing Evie 100%. There are meme's popping up everywhere showing you, popping that guy in the face with the hashtags heartless, brutal, harsh, or worse. You don't put a stop to this now and by the end of this week you'll be the most hated guy in the U.S. and beyond."
"She sent me my stuff."
Denny handed him a plane ticket. "Get your ass back to New York."
"You heard her. We're over."
"You listen to me. You aren't over until I say you're over. Millions of dollars have been dumped into this movie. Thousands of investors are now threatening to pull out."
"Why? I've always come through. I've always given them what they wanted."
"Because no one is going to pay ticket box prices to watch someone they hate on the big screen."
The gravity of the situation finally sank in. He could be ruined. Permanently, if he doesn't fix things with Evie. If he doesn't convince all of America that he's faithful to her and her alone.
Jackson snatched the ticket out of Denny's hand. "What time do I leave?"
"There's a car outside waiting for you."
"I will fix this," Jackson said opening the door. Denny tossed him his phone.
"You better," Denny told him as the door slammed shut.
____
Evelyn's phone pinged with a notification.
She smiled. Jackson accepted the POD she sent with his belongings. Their relationship was officially over. Now if only she could fix that other problem she had.
For several days now, Calem hasn't answered her calls. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Evelyn pressed her hands against her nervous stomach before entering the building that housed World Star magazine. She looked up which floor the magazine was on and took the elevator. Upon entering their offices, Evelyn was greeted by a young woman with glasses at the front desk.
"Hello?" She seemed nervous for some reason. "Can I help you?"
"I sure hope so. I'm here to see Sasha Miller?"
"Oh, umm Sasha isn't here."
"Is she in a meeting or something? I'm willing to wait."
"No, I'm afraid she no longer works here."
"What? Why?"
"The truth of the last article she went to print with was disputed and she became a liability so the owner had to let her go."
Evelyn blinked a few times, not daring to believe what she was hearing. "You mean he fired her? But everything she said, everything Mr. Decker said was true."
"Well unfortunately that doesn't matter if it's not what the public believes."
"How is that fair? I have public support. Look at the account Mr. Decker started for me."
"It is impressive but people will throw money at any cause. A man once asked to be funded to buy time with David Grohl."
"From the Foo Fighters? Seriously? Did he raise any money?"
The woman nodded her head. "A few thousand. I really wish I could help you but..."
"Damn, it!" Sasha was Evelyn's last lead on where to find Calem.
"May I ask why you wished to see her?" the woman asked.
"Because I feel indebted to Mr. Decker. He was only trying to help. To show me what I could have if I'd only open my eyes and see. Stupidly, I turned him away. I've ruined his reputation, probably his life and I wanted a chance to make things right."
"You really care about him, don't you?"
"Probably more than I should admit," Evelyn said. "Well, thank you for your time."
"Wait!"
Evelyn turned around and saw the woman waving for her to come closer. She glanced around the room making sure they were alone. Quickly, she wrote an address on a piece of paper.
"You'll find Calem here."
Evelyn couldn't believe her luck. "How do you know this?"
"I was her assistant before they let Sasha go. I hope you can fix things, Ms. Quinn. He is a really nice guy. The kind of guy you'd hate to see being taken advantage of. With everything happening here in New York he thought he'd lay low for a little while. He has family out there."
"I promise I will use this information responsibly, uh?"
"Janice Abrams."
Evelyn hugged the note to her heart. "Thank you, Ms. Abrams. You won't regret this."
As Janice watched Evelyn Quinn get on the elevator she thought. I already do.
____
"He's in Missouri," Evelyn told Dina as she packed her bag for her flight. "Supposedly he has family there and figured he needed to lay low for a little while."
"So, you're really going?"
"Of course. I have to fix this."
"What if you can't?"
"Why would you say that?"
Dina sighed over the phone. "The guy hasn't returned any of your calls and has left the state, Evie. Maybe he doesn't want to be found. Maybe he wants to be left alone."
"I may have blown my chance with him but I have to know or it will haunt me forever."
"Okay, safe trip then."
"Thank you." Evelyn always appreciated even if she thought her insane Dina would always support her.
The taxi dropped her off at JFK. Evelyn took a deep breath as she boarded her flight. She hoped and prayed Calem wouldn't refuse to see her. If she lost him, she may have made the biggest mistake of her life.