CHAPTER 7

It had taken Peter a couple of hours before he found the emergency pill amongst the female crew. Tobias headed down to Marietta’s room. On his way there every couple of seconds he almost convinced himself not to give Marietta the pill. But then he remembered the way she spoke about her parents, and he felt guilty. His life had been totally opposite from her. He never seemed to be able to get far enough from his parent’s hugs and couldn’t imagine growing up so lonely.

He knocked on her door and waited nervously. And when the door opened, he heard laughter that wasn’t Jessie’s or Marietta’s. Chris opened the door and at first, he seemed excited about meeting Tobias Harden, but Tobias Harden wasn’t excited to meet him.

“Is Marietta in?” Tobias asked in a stern voice.

“I’m here.”

Tobias followed the sound of her voice into the room. He gently took her arm and dragged her to the corner of the room. “Why is he here?”

“Are you crazy?” she hissed, “Do you have what I need?”

“It’s here. I want to see you take it.”

“Sorry what?” Marietta felt accused and she immediately became defensive, “I don’t want to have your baby just as much as you don’t to have mine.”

“That’s not the point. If you aren’t having mine, you are sure as hell not having his.” Tobias gestured towards Chris who watched them with a puzzled look on his face, “He’s leaving tomorrow right? That pill works for the next seventy-two hours.”

“What’s wrong with you?” He watched as Marietta studied him.

Feeling self-conscious, he pushed the pill into her palm and dropped her arm. He was about to walk out the door when Marietta called out after him. He watched as she put the pill on her tongue and washed it down with a glass of water.

“What was that about?” Chris asked once he closed the door behind Tobias.

“I’m not sure.” Marietta replied honestly. “I have never seen someone feel so insecure.”

“Are you guys’ friends?”

“Not really, we only started talking today.”

“What was that he gave you?” Chris stared at her suspiciously, “It’s not dugs, is it?”

“No, don’t be stupid.” She obviously didn’t want Chris to know what happened, but she couldn’t have her one true friend thinking badly of her, “It was… birth control. We had an encounter.”

Chris covered his ears with his hands like he was a little boy and shook his head, “I don’t want to know.”

Marietta watched her friend and laughed. It was understandable that he wouldn’t want to know the intimate details of her sex life, especially since they were each other’s firsts, but it bugged her that he wasn’t jealous. “So, what are you doing on this side of the Sahara?”

“I’m on a photo safari. I got a call from my mom, and she told me you were here. So, I thought I would come and see you.”

Marietta knew Chris all too well to know when he was hiding something or trying to protect her from some truth. It was the same look he gave her when they first discovered her mother’s body. Chris was the first to see her. He closed the bathroom door and wouldn’t let her through. Marietta had to resort to threats before he agreed to let her see her mother’ lifeless body. She didn’t have any more family to bury, so she assumed it wasn’t death, unless?

“Are you dying? Because if you are, you need to tell me right now?” She said as her voice quivered.

“I’m not dying. I am as healthy as an ox,” he reassured her.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“There is a developer who wants to buy your old family home. He already bought all the houses on that block. He plans on tearing them down and building a complex.” Chris pulled her statuesque body to the bed and made her sit, “I think it’s time to let go of all the memories and nightmares.”

“Those nightmares got me to where I am now.”

“I get that, but you need to move on.”

Marietta didn’t sleep that well the rest of the night. Apart from Chris’s elbow digging into her back, she was disillusioned at the idea of selling her family home. But she knew she couldn’t hold on to it any longer. There was nothing left for her back there. She had left that little town to build a new and happy life for herself, and so far, she had been successful. Keeping that house was like that little dark spot on a white canvas. But even with the cons outweighing the pros she still couldn’t come up with a definitive answer.

Marietta woke up midafternoon, hours after she had sent Chris off and the rest of the cast and crew had reported to the set. She decided not to take the jeep to the new location that was only blocks away from the hotel. She walked hoping that the fresh air would help her think. When she got to the small café, Tobias and Sarah were having a brainstorm with McKenzie. Marietta stayed out of it, sure that her jumbled mind couldn’t come up with anything of substance. But even when she sat aside, it didn’t stop McKenzie from calling her into the discussion.

She barely heard the ideas being thrown around. And when they asked for her opinion, she would always lean towards what the director said. He saw the vision and was in a better position to offer an interpretation than she was.

“What’s wrong?” Tobias pulled Marietta aside.

“What?” Marietta hadn’t realized that it was just the two of them or that he was talking to her.

“I asked what’s wrong. You seem dazed and out of it.” He put his palm against her forehead feeling for a fever.

“My body isn’t sick, my mind is.” She pushed his hand away and ran her fingers through her braids.

“Did he spend the night?”

“Yes, but we didn’t-,” She paused for a second, abandoning what she was saying then asked, “Would you hold on to a past that has been a part of your life, events that shaped you, no matter how dark they were, or would you just get rid of them to forget.”

“You never forget, you learn and move on,” he said his soft eyes offset by worry, “You never forget what made you, but you don’t have to hold onto the darkness or any symbol of the it.”

Marietta nodded and blinked back the tears threatening to spill out in gallons, “I’m going to go.”

There was a knock on her hotel door later that night. Marietta sat on her bed, making sigh of agreement with her lawyer. She needed to know just how long it would be possible to hold on to her childhood home before the developers strong armed her. She watched as Jessie got up to open the door and she was certain she knew who was on the other side of it.

As Tobias stepped into the room Jessie stepped out. Before she left, Jessie made a phone gesture asking Marietta to call her whenever. Marietta nodded and watched as Tobias sat next to her on the bed. She moved closer to him and snuggled into his side, letting him hold onto to her before she fell apart.

“Thanks, tell them I just need a month to consider this.” She mumbled, “I will be back in the states in the next two weeks, we can talk then.”

Marietta tossed her phone on the bed, sighed, breathing out and trying to release the tension that had been building up in her. She looked up at Tobias and a smile passed over her lips. He responded by squeezing her tight against his body, but he never smiled. Instead, his face was seamed with lines of concern.

“You want to talk about it?” He asked as he placed a kiss on her temple.

Marietta shook her head and snaked out of his grip. She crawled into bed and invited him along. Tobias lay next to her, curling his arm around her, he pulled her tiny body against him. She appreciated the gesture, with Chris gone and Jessie unable to take anything serious for two seconds, Tobias’ comforting hug was all that was holding her together. She could slowly feel herself unraveling at the seams. She was a ball of wool and fate was a kitten stringing her along.

Silence settled around them like a cloak. Fifteen minutes into the silence, Marietta heard Tobias’ slow steady breathing and she knew he was asleep. Bringing her head forward she stared at him, the hard planes of his face, his strong and stubborn jaw but what tugged at her the most were his pink plump kiss me lips. She rose and supported herself on her elbow. With her free hand she combed her fingers through his hair. She pulled back when he moaned, but once he went silent, she planted a kiss on his lips.

Marietta laid her head on his chest and wondered if she could have a lifetime of this moment. It seemed so easy, effortless, to lie next to him like this. He would help her through her tough moments, and she would do the same. They would have sex, or graduate to making love. They would be at each other’s sides as their careers grew when tragedy struck and when they just wanted to be. She had never had something so stable before. Her most stable relationship had been with the characters in her books, her scripts, and the creative voices in her head. She needed human contact before she finally lost her mind, although it was her mind putting food on her table.

Human contact, maybe one day she would be brave enough to have a baby. Someday maybe she could build a family with someone and maybe that someone could be Tobias Harden.

Marietta erupted in laughter at the thought. Tobias Harden, monogamous. She had better luck witnessing a fish walking on water. Bad boys, players they never changed. The only place a bad boy reformed was in her stories and that was because she forced them to take an unnatural path to life. She couldn’t see Tobias change nappies or wake up for two am feedings or even drive a station wagon. It just wasn’t natural.

She closed her eyes chuckling to herself before Tobias’ steady breaths and heartbeat lulled her to sleep.