Chapter one

“You look beautiful,” Richard sighed looking as his beautiful girlfriend came down the steps of his main staircase.

Charlotte blushed and quickly made her way down. Her thin body was encased in fitted white cocktail dress with gold sparkles worked into that material that only sparked when light hit them. “Shut up Rich,” she cried laughing and throwing her hands around his shoulder.

 Looking into his eyes she placed a chaste kiss on his lips and smiled. At 50 Rich was a lot older than the 30 year old beauty that Charlotte was. His brown hair had nearly completely grayed and he had definite age marks throughout his face. Charlotte had always had a thing for older men, so it was no surprise to anyone when she had started dating Richard. What had been a surprise was when she had made the decision to move out to California to live with him, leaving behind her entire life in the Midwest. Charlotte was in love and when she fell she fell hard.

“Ready to go,” Richard asked looking down at his date whom he held in his arms.

“Yes, but I need to go check on Olivia,” she smiled pulling away.

Olivia was Charlotte’s daughter. The two were very close and always had been probably due to the small age gap between them. Charlotte had had Olivia when she was just 16. From that moment on Olivia had become the center of Charlotte’s life. She had abandoned her old lifestyle to be the best mother she could be.

Knocking lightly on Olivia’s door, Charlotte slowly pushed the door open and entered. “Hey Liv. How’s it going?” She spoke softly and carefully.

Olivia lied on her bed staring at her flat screen TV placed on the wall in front of her. She flipped through the channels easily ignoring her mother. She had not been happy about the move. For the entire week since they had moved in, she had remained mopey and bitter and effectively ignored her mother the entire time. She had cooped herself up in her new bedroom, which had been converted from one of Richard’s old guest rooms.

Placing her gold clutch on a dresser, she made her way further into the room and lied in the bed next to her only child and wrapped her arms around her. Kissing her head she whispered in her ear, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry baby.” She rubbed back her loose curly hair and sighed holding back tears. “You know I would never do anything to hurt you.”

“I know … You wouldn’t on purpose…” Olivia trailed off on purpose.

“I always think of what’s best for you Livy,” Charlotte said quietly. “If it isn’t good for you, it isn’t good for me. Richard loves both of us and wants to take care of us and he can. He wants to be a family.”

“…But my friends, my school… my life.” The last part came out choked as though she was holding back tears.  

“I know baby. But we can always visit and you’ll make new friends. The schools here have a better rating than the ones at home.” Sighing Charlotte pulled away and sat up. “Me and Richard are going to that industry party tonight. We won’t be out too late. Do you feel okay being here alone?”

“Yes,” grumbled Olivia returning to her television.

“You know the alarm code and everything correct? It’s on the fridge if you forget. Call me if you need anything at all” She made her way to pick her clutch back up and adjust her dress. Turning back to her daughter she frowned, “say the word Liv and I’ll stay. You are the most important thing to me.”

Once again there was silence. She was back to being ignored.

“I love you,” Charlotte said before finally returning to Richard.

She struggled hard to pay attention to what the Botox filled woman was saying to her, something about some shopping mishap with her dog. Charlotte found it very hard to pay attention to something so trivial when all she could think about was her child at home.

“Charlotte…Charlotte. Are you listening?” The brunette woman asked.

“Oh I’m sorry,” she quickly apologized. “I think I’m just tired from the recent move and maybe even a little drunk.” She laughed alittle to be polite at the last part. She didn’t want to be rude she needed these people to like her. She was now an extension of Richard and the last thing she wanted was to embarrass him. “Excuse me. I think I’m going to have Richard take me home.”

She turned away from the women and set her sight on finding Richard. Making her way across the room, she became fully attuned to her task. She didn’t want to spend another minute at this event. Finally she spotted him talking to some guy she could only see from behind. She assumed it must be the big time actor he had been trying to impress. He had been talking about it for months. Since Richard was only an Indie film director he had to work hard to get the A list actors he snagged. Though his films were successful, it took a lot for the actors to give up their big pay day. It took a lot of schmoozing and persuading until he finally signed them, but it usually eventually worked.

Charlotte took a large swig of what was left of her champagne and set it on the table beside her. Smiling she made her way to her man’s side. She wrapped her body around his arm and leaned into his slightly plump body.

“Charlotte, I’d like you to meet Porter Ryan hopefully the lead in my next film. Porter… my girlfriend Charlotte Bethe.”

Turning to look at the tall man before her, Charlotte jaw dropped before she could stop it. She had prepared for this moment, the moment they would see each other again. It had been so many years.  She knew there was a chance they would run into each other. She had heard he had been doing some acting, everyone had. He was Porter Ryan everyone had heard about every step he took. She hadn’t expected it to come so soon. She wasn’t ready.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said sticking out her hand politely and attempting to act as normal as possible.

“You too,” he replied taking her hand. To a regular outsider it seemed like an average situation, but Charlotte saw that spark in his eyes.

Turning to Richard, Charlotte tried to make her escape. “I think I’m going to head home. I’m a little drunk and tired. Feel free to stay and have fun. I’ll send the driver back and see you at home.” She kissed him once again on the cheek and turned to say goodbye to Porter hopefully for the last time she prayed, when she was cut off by Richard.

“She’s eager to get home to our daughter,” he smiled explaining Charlottes need to leave.

“Congratulations! I didn’t know you had a child Rich. Really both of you,” He gave Charlotte a very meaningful look.

“We don’t,” Rich continued much to Charlotte’s disdain. “She’s Charlotte’s daughter. She’s in been a little angry about the move down here. She’s a teenager though so it’s to be expected. Charlotte’s been worried all night about her.”

“She is my baby,” Charlotte mumbled through pursed lips praying that Rich would shut up. She prayed that after she left they would change the subject to something other than her and Olivia. “Well I’m going to get home to her. It was nice to meet you Porter and I’ll see you at home Rich.” She quickly escaped Rich’s grasp and made her way for the car parked right outside the building. The driver quickly whisked her away back home.