Page 103 of Unscripted

I nodded. I knew my parents wouldn’t be able to come, and I understood it logically. Still, I couldn’t help but feel emotional about it. I really missed them.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Callum continued, “I doubt anyone from my family will show up.”

I turned around to face him, looking up at his kind face. My heart hurt for him knowing that because of his rocky family situation, he would likely be alone today.

“What about your sisters?”

“I told them before I came here they didn’t need to be involved in any part of this. I didn’t want to complicate their own relationships with my father. I don’t . . . I don’t think they’ll go against him and come.”

“At least we have each other,” I said, wrapping my arms around him and holding tight.

He squeezed me back.

“We do,” he said.

***

The last day in the villa ended up being one of the busiest.

One by one, each Bella was called out to visit with their families inside. I wanted to meet them all, to see where everyone came from, but was told that would have to wait until after the finale.

I watched as they all came back, red-eyed from their reunions. It made me happy, it really did, to see everyone so full of joy at seeing their families.

I was lying by the edge of the pool, soaking up the final rays of the day, when my name was called out over the speaker.

“Poppy, to the villa, please.”

I sat up with a jolt.

Could my parents have actually made the trip all the way out here? Or maybe it was Blair and Hunter. I had put them as my emergency contacts when I filled out my start paperwork all those weeks ago. They were practically family anyway. Oh, it would be so good to see a familiar face!

I bounded across the lawn and down the garden path, inside, and down the hallway to the villa’s living room.

Harry was standing almost at the end of the hall, facing me. He was frowning; the spot between his eyebrows furrowed as he kept glancing back over his shoulder. I wanted to tell him it was alright, that it was okay my parents couldn’t make it, and I would be more than happy to see Blair and Hunter.

As I approached, he reached his arm out, resting it on mine and slowing my momentum.

“Poppy, whatever happens next, just know that you’re a strong woman, and that I’ll be here for you when it’s all over.”

I didn’t understand what he meant. Why would he say that if it were—

I got to the end of the hallway and it all clicked into place. There, standing in the middle of the living room, perfectly backlit by the sun streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, was not Blair or Hunter. Or my parents.

It was my ex.

46

The last time I saw Gavin was in our shared kitchen. He had been looking at me with his head tilted to the side and his mouth slightly open, as though he couldn’t believe I was upset about our bank account being emptied. As though I was in the wrong for having a reaction.

It was an image that had been seared into my mind—his uncaring, almost smug face—and over the past few months, I had worked to erase it from my memory.

To see him standing in the very place that helped me forget was surreal. It was like some kind of bad acid trip I hadn’t signed up for.

I froze when my gaze locked onto his, like prey when it’s in sight of a predator. I could sense Harry behind me and a cameraman hovering to my left, poised to follow whatever I did next.

But I couldn’t move. I just stood there looking at the man that had once meant everything to me.

“Pop,” he said, taking a step toward me.