One Year to Live: I Traded My Toxic Family for Global Fame novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: The Night Before
Cal Merrick was checking the last of the medical bags when someone knocked on the side of the production trailer.
It was the night before the gala, and he had expected the captain, or a producer, or Tegan.
He did not expect Rosalyn Stegman.
She stood on the gravel in the dark without her pearls, and her hands were bare.
"Mr. Merrick," she said. "I'm sorry to come so late. I don't know anyone else who will let me say this."
He looked past her for a car or a van.
There was only a rented sedan with its engine ticking.
"Is Camille with you?"
"No." Her voice broke. "I told her I was at the dentist."
He stepped aside and let her into the trailer.
She sat on the folding chair with her handbag on her knees and stared at the floor.
"I wrote the note," she said.
"Which note?"
"The one in your drawer. Keep her on the schedule. I wrote that, and I wrote Sign here on the little yellow paper for the transfer papers, the week Tegan left, and I don't remember being asked." She pressed her fingers to her mouth. "Camille had me practice. She said it was for a birthday card."
Cal sat down across from her.
"She had you write those sentences."
"She had me copy them again and again, in different pens. She said my handwriting was lovely." Rosalyn looked up. "I thought she was being sweet. I always thought Camille was being sweet."
"Did she ever tell you what the notes were for?"
"She tells me what to say, Mr. Merrick." She opened her bag and took out her phone with a shaking hand. "She sends it ahead. Look."
She held out the screen.
It was a long thread of messages, all from Camille.
Cry now, Mama. Look at the phone, then at her. Say she's still your daughter. Don't mention the cake until she does.
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