Page 104 of Unscripted

The way he said my name, the way he called me “Pop,” struck something deep and angry within.

He had never, not once before in all the years we had been dating, called me that. We had not been a nickname couple. To hear him say it now, when I knew it was something that only the people in this villa called me, Callum especially, jolted me back to reality.

“What are you doing here?” I spit out.

“I missed you,” he said. But he didn’t take another step forward. He must have known he was on thin ice.

I took him in as he stood there. He looked exactly the same as he always did; light brown hair, slightly curled at the top. A dimple in his left cheek and a small birthmark above his right eyebrow. But now I saw him in a way I hadn’t before. The sleazy glint in his eye as he peered around, looking at the world like it was his for the taking. How he stood slightly on his toes, trying to make himself appear to be six feet tall like he claimed he was.

I turned toward the camera, peering around to look for Harry. I didn’t care that it wasn’t allowed, that I was supposed to be acting like there wasn’t a whole production set up behind me. Bringing Gavin here was crossing a line. Production had tried this once before, when they asked me about him on After Amore, and I refused to let them do it again.

I shouldn’t have been surprised to find that Harry was no longer standing there and that in his place was none other than Cecilia. I would bet all the money in the world that she had orchestrated the whole thing. Of course she would be here to watch it go down. It would likely be ratings gold.

Well, if they were going to use me like this, I could use them right back.

“You missed me?” I asked Gavin, turning back to face him and taking a step in his direction.

“I did. I came all this way to tell you that,” he said, eyes filling with tears.

It seemed he had learned how to act since I’d been out of the country.

“I’m curious,” I said, taking another step toward him. We were just inches apart. “Did you miss me before or after you drained my bank account and stole all my money?”

There it was. Out loud for everyone to hear. For the public at large to know. If Gavin was going to be here, was going to try to get famous, or rehab our relationship, or whatever it was that he wanted, I wasn’t going to sit by and let it happen.

I wouldn’t go quietly. I wouldn’t let him off the hook.

He was clearly stunned by my words because he opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Good. It was his turn to listen anyway.

“I thought I was going to marry you, Gavin. I thought you were going to be my person for the rest of our lives. But you’ve only ever been your own person. You’ve only ever been there for yourself. I deserve more than that. I am more.”

And I was. I realized then that the greatest gift this show had given me wasn’t a new relationship or a steady paycheck. It wasn’t even the possible prize money.

It had healed me, given me a chance to find my way back to myself.

Gavin would always be a part of my past, but he didn’t have to be anywhere near my future.

“Goodbye, Gav. Enjoy Italy. The beaches are great,” I said, patting him on the shoulder and turning my back on him.

As I walked away, I looked past the cameras, locking eyes with Cecilia. She was grinning at me, of course. I had given her the showdown she wanted. But she also looked proud in a way that felt real.

Maybe she was.

***

Walking back to the garden, the rush from my confrontation immediately began to fade, and it felt like I was teetering on the edge of depletion. I was proud of myself in a way I had never felt before, yes, but I was also exhausted. Seeing Gavin zapped me of all my energy.

Still, there was one more conversation I needed to have before my social battery was totally dead. I needed to tell Callum that Gavin was here before he found out from someone else.

I caught his eye from across the lawn and mimed smoking a cigarette. He nodded, tossing me a wink. He got up to walk toward me when a producer called out over the speakers, “Callum, to the Love Shack, please.”

My heart sank for him. If his family had been here, if anyone had shown up for him, he would have been told to go to the living room.

I mouthed “Sorry” to him. He shrugged and held up his hands, signaling that he’d meet me in ten minutes. I nodded and made my way to the little area on the side of the house that had become our place.

Fifteen minutes later, I was kicking around crushed cigarette butts that littered the ground when I heard the gate open.

“What took you—” I stopped speaking when I looked up realized it wasn’t the gate that led to the villa garden that had opened.