Chapter 58

“Anna? Anna, are you okay?”

I looked up as Barnett approached me. The concern in his tone and facial expression touched me, but I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing down my cheeks.

“No,” I choked out.

He wrapped me up in his arms and pulled me close.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, rubbing my back. “That was a low blow of him, bringing up your brothers like that.”

“Why do people even think that?” I sobbed into his chest. “There’s no way that their deaths could have been my fault.”

“People just love to sensationalize everything—”

“But why? Am I such a bad person that people would assume that even as a child I would do something so horrible?”

“No, no, of course not.”

“Then why?”

“Because tabloid reporters are jackasses just looking to make a quick buck, no matter who it hurts. All we can do is learn to ignore them.”

“But-but I can’t. I could ignore what they say about Charlie because it’s so ridiculous, but Michael…”

I couldn’t finish that thought.

“What?” Barnett asked. “What happened with Michael?”

I hesitated. Did I really want to talk about it right there, right then? I decided that I really had no choice, if I wanted to get this heavy feeling off my chest.

“If I hadn’t broken my ankle in that fall, I could’ve driven him that night, instead of him taking that stupid motorcycle. It was my fault, Barnett.”

“Stop talking like that. It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known.”

“But if I could’ve driven him—”

“Then maybe you would’ve ended up dead, too. You ever think of that?”

I lifted my face to stare him in the eye. I hadn’t thought of that. He was right, though, even if I didn’t want to admit it.

“I suppose,” I said.

“And we wouldn’t want that, would we?”

“No, not really.”

“And Michael wouldn’t have wanted that, would he?”

I hesitated again.

“No, not really.”

“Then there was nothing that you could have done to prevent it.”

He brushed a stray hair out of my face and gently touched my cheek. My skin tingled where his fingers made contact.

“You can’t go around bearing the weight of all this guilt, okay? Especially not alone.”

I nodded.

“Okay. Thank you, Barnett.”

He smiled.

“You’re welcome, Anna.”

I leaned my head against his chest, letting myself forget for a moment where we were and absorb his warmth.

Only for a moment.

“What a touching sight, huh, folks?”

I cringed at the sound of Thaddeus’s voice. I turned to see that one of the cameramen had managed to swivel his camera backstage and was filming us. Immediately, Barnett and I separated.

“Only on The Chuck Thaddeus Show, everyone,” Thaddeus said as Barnett and I reluctantly returned to our seats. He turned his attention to Barnett. “So, Barnett, what were you saying about there being no love triangle?”

Barnett’s fingers dug into the arms of his chair.

“I mean, what we just saw certainly seemed like one side of some sort of relationship shape,” Thaddeus continued.

Barnett took a deep breath before responding.

“What you just saw, Chuck, was one friend comforting another after someone brought up a very sensitive subject matter,” he replied. “We are close friends. That is all.”

Something stirred inside me at Barnett’s emphatic claim. On the one hand, I was happy to see that Barnett called me his friend and defended me as such so readily. On the other hand, a part of my heart died a little to think that he only saw me as a friend after everything we had been through.

I couldn’t process those emotions yet, not until I survived this talk show fiasco.

“What about you, Anna? Is that how you see your relationship with Barnett?” Thaddeus asked me.

I knew what he was doing, trying to bait me into contradicting Barnett on live TV. I wasn’t going to fall for it.

“Yes, 100%. We are friends, but very close friends.”

I took Barnett’s hand and squeezed it in what I felt was a platonic gesture. Barnett squeezed back, a little harder than I had expected, and I had to resist pulling my hand back due to the pain.

Thaddeus watched us for a moment before nodding.

“Very well, let’s talk about another ‘just friend’ of yours, Arthur Stardust. We started to talk about him before you ran off—”

“And I would rather not talk about him now,” I snapped.

Thaddeus tilted his head at me.

“Why is that? Something to hide?”

“No. Like you said, he’s my friend—just my friend—and my boss, and I would rather not have his name dragged through all of this.”

“But it’s clear to everyone, including his other employees, that Arthur lights up when you’re around. That’s not to mention how many times you’ve gone to dinner with him.”

A chorus of “ooo’s” emitted from the audience. I blushed. Barnett nearly crushed my fingers, but I let the matter slide.

“How do you know about that?”

“I have my sources, sweetheart.”

“Well, like I said, he’s my friend as well as my boss. So, naturally, we hang out sometimes, including going to dinner.”

“So, you’re saying that, without a doubt, you and Arthur Stardust don’t have feelings for each other?”

I thought back to the kiss that Arthur tried to steal from me and the times that he tried to convince me to have him as my fake boyfriend. Could I say for certain that he didn’t have feelings for me?

“No, we do not have feelings for each other, and I won’t talk about it any further.”

“Fine, we won’t touch on that subject again.” He turned to Barnett. “Barnett, we have your obviously pregnant ex-wife Julia here today—”

A round of applause and cheers interrupted Thaddeus. Julia waved at the audience and blew a few kisses. Barnett squeezed my hand hard again.

“Yes, yes, we’re all very happy to have her. Like I was saying, she’s obviously pregnant, and my question is the one that’s on everyone’s mind: Barnett, is the baby yours?”

Barnett didn’t answer for a minute. I glanced over at Julia, whose grin couldn’t have been any broader.

Could the baby really be his? I thought. He told me that he was finished with Julia a long time ago, and he said that she couldn’t even get him hard anymore.

“I prefer to not discuss that matter at this time,” Barnett finally said. “What I will say is that a paternity test is planned, and I will not say anything more on the matter until the results of said test are prepared.”

Julia’s smile slackened slightly but did not fully disappear. Barnett’s grip on my hand was tight enough to cut off the circulation to my fingers, but I did not try to move my hand. This matter clearly bothered him, and I would be here for him, just like he had been there for me.

“Well, speaking of tests,” Thaddeus said, “I did some digging and found out that Anna here had an emergency visit to the hospital several months ago. After that, she started her stint as a weight loss and exercise influencer. Tell us, Anna, did you have a health scare that night that led to your newfound passion?”

Barnett shifted in his seat, staring at me expectantly.

I froze.