“Right, yes, assertive. So where am I taking you to lunch?”
With paranoia setting in, Ruby decided to leave the Mall for lunch and drove Steve to her favourite local café.
They were sitting in a corner making idle chit-chat whilst perusing the menu. Ruby had checked out the dessert menu first – as well as the cake options deliciously displayed on the counter. It always helped her choose what she wanted as a main. The café was quiet, with hardly any customers, which she hoped meant fewer chances of someone realising who Steve really was.
Would he fly straight back to LA if he was spotted? She liked him being here; it had been so long. She was trying to hold in some of her excitement at having her brother back in her life, for fear of scaring him away. She hadn’t believed it was Steve on the phone until she’d seen him in the flesh at the hotel, but she needed to rein in her forceful nature, otherwise surely he’d up and leave? Was he used to being talked to like this? Hollywood-bred divas were not used to being told no. Would Steve be the same?
She couldn’t help it, this is what she’d become. At work, she played her role firm but fair. She couldn’t afford to look weak; if her staff didn’t keep the hotel residents happy, she was just as likely to lose her job as any of the others.
Since her mum had died she had no one else but herself, so she’d toughened herself up and didn’t take shit – this part she stuck to particularly after a few failed relationships with lousy boyfriends.
She watched as Steve turned over the menu, looking at the choices, utterly relaxed. He appeared down to earth and laid back, like he’d been as a teenager, so maybe Hollywood hadn’t ruined him yet.
Steve looked up, catching her staring. “What?”
“Nothing,” Ruby said, smiling. “Can’t believe you’re really here, that’s all.”
The waitress approached the table and took their order, placing two glasses of iced water down that they’d ordered when first seated. Steve had probably been a bit Hollywood Diva-ish insisting on the slice of lemon. At least he hadn’t insisted on it being sparkling. This kind of café served water from the tap unless you were willing to pay for a bottle. Ruby felt strongly that there was nothing wrong with tap water, so why buy it? Even in the restaurant at the hotel she insisted on jugs of water being made available at the table. Admittedly, they did have ice and lemon too.
Once the waitress left, Steve sipped his water, then sighed with a frown, and said quietly, “Sometimes, Ruby, I think there is a price to pay for fame. It’s called loneliness.”
“Wow, you have got it bad,” Ruby said, tucking the menu back into its holder to tidy the table.
“I’m happy, don’t get me wrong. My dream came true and I’ve found success.”
“But?”
“I’m not where I thought I’d be with life. You know… kids, family, a wife.”
“Maybe you can’t have both.”
“I want to say nonsense, but now money and fame has arrived, maybe it’s true.”
Steve’s success had started slowly, with minor character roles in television programmes, bigger parts started coming his way. Heavens, Mum and Ruby hadn’t realised how famous he would get. Their mum had died before the release of Perfection, and the interviews on chat shows and in glossy magazines had intensified. Ruby was reminded of him very often, though eventually she’d stopped watching or reading, because she didn’t like what she read. It impaired the memory she had of her big brother, her hero.
As Steve had become more successful, Ruby remembered Mum had wanted the family to stay out of the limelight. At the time, Ruby hadn’t realised why. At the grand age of twelve, she’d boasted to school friends about her big brother going off to Hollywood to become an actor, and as he’d got small parts, usually in adverts, she’d shared the news. Good job that was before Facebook and Twitter. Those days, as a proud teenager, she wanted to stand in Cribbs Causeway with a megaphone, telling everyone who her brother was because she’d been so thrilled for him, but as Steve was finding now, she’d learnt people weren’t always true to you. They could have a hidden agenda.
Fortunately, she’d lost touch with most of her school friends now – she wasn’t a major fan of social media, not after Terry – so no one would know about Steve. Nowadays she didn’t tell people she was the sister of the Steve Mason – she’d learnt the hard way. The people she worked with certainly weren’t aware. As Steve understood, it was hard to trust people if they knew you were related to someone rich and famous. Were they hanging around because they liked you, or wanted to meet your brother?
She’d had her fingers burnt good and proper only two years ago in the early years of Steve’s fame. He knew nothing about it and she wanted to keep it that way. Bitterness still lingered in her heart over that sordid affair – how naïve she’d been. It grated on her to this day, the memory of her stupidity. She wouldn’t fall for it again.
Now, regretfully, she also carried a smidge of jealousy. He’d been able to follow his dream. Ruby had not – not that she truly knew what she wanted to do. When she’d felt ready to start her own adventure, Mum had got ill.
And now they were together, changing Steve’s image, trying to make him fit in, so he might stand a chance of finding someone to love. Maybe there was nothing to be jealous about?
“So what type of girl are you looking for?”
“I don’t know.” Steve shrugged, leaning on the table. “Someone I can take to a restaurant who doesn’t have to order salad so she can stay a size zero.” Steve quickly held up his hands defensively as Ruby stared, reproachful. “Sorry, I don’t mean it like that. Don’t get me wrong, I know that actresses work hard and it’s a major pressure for them. I have that pressure too, but nowhere near the same level. I suppose, what I’m trying to say is, I want to find someone who doesn’t have to worry about appearing ‘perfect’.”
“Okay, fair point.” Ruby nodded. Strict diets and no chocolate for life were not her idea of fun, she thought as she eyed the scrumptious chocolate fudge cake at the counter. And the size of the door-stop sandwiches heading towards them were not for the strict dieters either. Imagine the carbs.
The waitress placed the sandwiches in front of them, with salad and a pile of crisps on the side.
Steve smiled his thanks at her, then when she’d gone continued the conversation with Ruby, “I want a woman I can laugh with, too. A good hearty giggle. About silly stuff.”
“A woman with curves, and a good sense of humour,” Ruby said aloud, as well as making mental notes.
“Of course.”
“How fussy are you? Does she have to be pretty? Because you’re not going to find that many gorgeous girls to sweep you off your feet in Bristol,” Ruby joked. “Yes, there are plenty of attractive women, but we can’t all afford to have impeccable beauty treatments.”
Steve shook his head. “I know. There are immaculately groomed women lining the streets of LA but none are suitable.” He sighed. “There has to be an attraction, obviously, but I want someone I can…love, and who’ll love me. And maybe start a family.”
“Can’t make you any promises, Bro, but we’ll try. When there is a time limit, too, it makes things trickier.”
“I know.”
“There’s no guarantee this will work.”
“It had better work! You made me cut my hair, ditch my designer clothes, and made me wear glasses,” he said, narrowing his eyes. The corners