The Game (Wagered Hearts Series, #3)(49)

How wrong I'd been. How stupid. Maybe Darla and Kelsey were right. I'd become the biggest, snobbiest bitch in town. I thought I was hot shit--the next big thing. What a cruel and fitting lesson it had been when I finally fell back down to earth, right on my ass. I could just imagine how much glee people like Kelsey and Darla were having at my fall from grace. I felt a bit of shame just thinking about it. A knock at my door made me snap up my head.

"Honey, it's me," my mother said before she opened my door.

I smiled at her as she made her way in. At least she knocked first, I thought sardonically. I remembered when she didn't even give me that courtesy and just barged in whenever she felt like--as if she'd were trying to catch me doing something I wasn't supposed to.

"What's up, Ma?" I asked as she sat on the end of my twin size bed.

"I just thought you'd finally like to talk," she said.

She'd been trying to get me to open up about what really happened with Rob. At first, I didn't want to and she'd given me space, but I knew it was only a matter of time before my mom brought it up again. She couldn't help herself. That's how she was.

I'd been brooding too long and decided to tell her everything. It wasn't like she hadn't read the blogs and papers, or seen the news anyway. At least I could give her my side of the story. So we sat there and I told her everything from the beginning, about how Kelsey had tried to drag my name through the mud by leaking a story that I was sleeping with her husband. My mother nearly had a heart attack at that.

"As if I'd raise my daughter to be a home wrecker!" she exploded, looking like she was ready to go find Kelsey and give her a piece of her mind.

Once she had calmed down, I finished explaining to her how the whole arrangement with Rob came to be.

"We both needed each other and it seemed like a win-win situation at the time," I said.

My mother looked at me sympathetically before patting my knee. "And then you two fell in love," she said.

I stared at her in stunned silence. I hadn't yet told her about my feelings for Rob, so it surprised me that she knew. What was even more shocking was her belief that Rob felt the same.

"Don't think you can slip one past your own mother. I know you better than you think, Gina Marie. You love him, and he, if I'm not mistaken, loves you too."

She didn't say anything else and got up from my bed and left the room. I sat there and contemplated what she said. Could it be true? And did it even matter anymore?

***

The Golden Globe nominations had taken place this morning. I'd been informed of the fact by Charlotte. She called me at home and asked if I had watched. I didn't. In fact, I hadn't even realized it until she called me. Three months ago, I would have gotten up early and parked my butt in front of the television screen, waiting anxiously for my name to be called.

The Golden Globes was the official start of award season, and a nomination practically guaranteed an Oscar nod. For the past several months, I'd bought into the hype and believed that I was a shoo-in for the win, but after the recent events in my personal life, I had serious doubts now. I couldn't deny that I desperately wanted that nomination. Still. Even after everything, I wanted to feel validated and like I had something to offer the world.

"Do you want me to tell you?" Charlotte asked.

I paused briefly. "Y-yes," I said, my body suddenly tense with anticipation.

"I'm sorry. You weren't nominated."

All the air seemed to deflate out of my body at her words. Not nominated. I almost couldn't believe it at first. It wasn't possible. It'd been a foregone conclusion that I'd win only months ago, so how could I not even be nominated? Could a couple of weeks of bad press really turn the tide out of my favor? I wanted to scream--to punch somebody--but I felt so helpless and angry.

"Are you there? Emilia are you ok?" Charlotte asked.

"No, I'm not ok. How could they do this?" I asked, my voice a mixture of anger and confusion.

I heard Charlotte release a heavy sigh. "Who knows? They nominated Jessica Lendler instead."

"Who the hell is Jessica Lendler?" I asked. I hadn't even heard of her one month ago.

"She was in some indie film that has been getting a lot of buzz. People are saying she might be a dark horse to win," Charlotte explained.

I didn't really want to hear that, so I remained silent, trying to calm my roiling emotions. Charlotte hung up the phone soon after, and I lay back down in my bed and stared at the ceiling, trying not to think. I tried not to think of all the hard work and wasted effort, of all those times I'd had watch the plum parts go to actresses who had no qualms about f**king for roles. I tried not to feel anything either, but the anger was just under the surface, waiting to explode and consume me.

I don't know how long I lay there. It had grown dark by the time my father knocked on my door. He didn't bother to wait for my answer before barging his way into the room.

My father was a stout man. When he was younger, he'd been quite the charmer, according to my mother at least. He'd been fit and muscular and had hair to die for. I couldn't picture it now looking at him. The years of alcohol abuse had taken its toll, along with a life of hard work and bad diet. He was stocky with a protruding gut and a bushy salt and pepper mustache. That once luxurious hair had thinned in the back until his scalp shone through his crown.