Take Three (The Jilted Bride #2)(29)

I pried the flap open and pulled out a beautiful piece of silk white paper. A wedding invitation:

Because you have shared in

our lives by your friendship and love, we

Melody Nicole Carter

And

Matthew Ryan Sterling,

together with our parents,

invite you to share

the beginning of our new life together when we exchange marriage vows at

Heartwood Lake

2665 Raleigh LaGrange Road

Memphis, Tennessee

“He wants me to come to his wedding? After everything I put him through?”

“He does,” she nodded. “He wants to leave that crazy stuff in the past and start all over, especially since you two were good friends in the beginning. He also wants me to emphasize that this is a private event, so no mention of this to the press and whoever you choose to bring as your date can’t be high profile.”

I ran my fingers across the intricate envelope and smiled. “I’m honored...”

“Are you ready for the bad news?” she looked as if it was hurting her to keep it inside.

“Yes…”

“I know you’re already aware that Cover Girl decided not to renew you as a spokesperson for their next campaign, but as of this morning, Macy’s pulled their holiday endorsement of you as well. They replaced you with Taylor Swift.”

Again?

It was bad enough she’d taken my place in the Sweet Tennessee film: They’d wanted to start shooting it next month, but I couldn’t bear being seen in public yet, so I had to back out.

“I can’t believe this Joan!” I covered my face and cried. “I didn’t know he was married! He pursued me! I’m not that horrible of a person…or maybe I am! Maybe I really am…”

“You’re just involved in a scandal. You’re not a horrible person. It happens to everyone at some point, and the truth is bound to come out eventually. We just need to keep preparing for when this all blows over and then—”

“Do you remember that news story about me saving those baby pigeons that fell out of a tree in Central Park?” I made no attempt to wipe my tears. “It was everywhere…‘Selena Ross Saves Baby Birds.’ The animal rights group even gave me a medal.”

She shrugged. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“I made my assistant knock their nest down with a brick first…Then I saved them.”

“You did what!”

“See? I am horrible…I did it because I was only mentioned in two papers that week and I wanted to be mentioned in them all…You remember that story about how I canceled my appearance at the Children’s Film Festival fifteen minutes beforehand so I could fly to Australia to visit that fan who was dying from cancer?”

“Please don’t tell me anything else.”

“She never had cancer,” I sniffled. “She wasn’t even a fan. She was a purse collector with a one of a kind Chanel bag I wanted but she wasn’t willing to accept money over the internet. I had to buy it in person within twenty four hours or she would’ve sold it to someone else. I made that other stuff up so I wouldn’t seem selfish.”

“Okay,” Joan shook her head. “No more confessions. Deal?”

“Those coffee shop friends I’m photo’d with every Wednesday? They’re all actresses under contract…I pay them to look like they’re my friends, so it looks like I’m down to earth and hang out with regular people because I can’t get anybody to hang out with me for free!”

Joan walked over and patted me on the back.

“This is all karma!” I bawled. “I’m a fraud! A walking joke! This scandal is going to expose me! It’s going to ruin everything!”

“It’s only temporary Selena,” she spoke softly. “Scandals come and go every other day. You’ll be on top of the world again in no time. I’ll make sure of it.”

I wanted to believe her, but I’d never been involved in a scandal before and it was beginning to take its toll on me.

I’d gone to CVS every day, picking up the latest tabloids, reading them cover to cover, discarding them before she was able to catch me reading them. I’d snuck away to the hotel’s business center in the mornings, reading all the blogs and celebrity news sites, crying as I read what people really thought about me.

I even read about how Phillip was telling his side of the story, saying that he “had a moment of weakness” that was spurred by “a seductive Selena Ross” coming onto him. He said he tried to break things off with me multiple times, but I threatened to go to the press. He said he was happy that the story had broken, happy so that he could finally work on things with his “loving wife” and family.

According to what I’d seen, the scandal was only getting worse, and I felt more alone in Fayetteville than I did in New York.

There were no paparazzi waiting around to ask me about my day or snap pictures of me walking down the street. There were no fans rushing up to me in the middle of the sidewalk for an autograph, no special treatment offered at restaurants or public places.

I longed for some daily press about my whereabouts, and being stuck in the middle of nowhere and not being able to command any attention from the locals was beginning to eat away at my soul.