Detour to Love by Amanda Radley

Author:Amanda Radley [Radley, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781635559576
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2021-01-16T16:00:00+00:00

Alan

“I can’t do it.” Celia paced the small backstage area, her phone pressed to her ear. “I just can’t. I feel sick.”

“You can. You get up on that stage and act. I’ve seen you do it. You just put on a show, grab that award, give your amazing speech, and get out of there. You can do it!”

“I’m terrible at acting,” Celia argued.

“You’ll be fine. A couple of minutes, a few words which you know off by heart. Easy. I know you can do this.”

Lily’s pep talk was starting to dissolve her fear, but Celia still felt terrified. She had known it would be hard, but she had no idea it would be quite this hard.

The slow build-up was finally coming to a head. It could no longer be ignored or downplayed. It was here. After weeks spent ignoring the looming event, she was moments away from a golden envelope being opened and her name being read.

“Do you want me to come down?” Lily asked.

Celia seriously considered the offer for a moment. She hardly knew Lily, but already she was like an emotional rock to her. No longer some bright young thing who had been mugged due to her naive belief that people were fundamentally good and honest, now she was someone Celia depended on.

Without Lily there was no way she would have exited her room and gone downstairs to the dinner. She would have huddled on her bed and ignored the knocks on the door and phone calls as to her whereabouts.

She later would have pretended to have slipped in her shower, the inference that she was an old woman who fell in unfamiliar settings better than picking up the award.

“No, you needn’t come down. They’ll assume you’re my high-class hooker.” Celia teased her to lighten the mood.

“Oh, wow, you think I’m high-class?” Lily replied happily.

Celia laughed.

“I love it when you laugh,” Lily said.

“Thank you for making me laugh.”

“You sound like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons when you laugh,” Lily continued.

“Why do I think that’s not a compliment?” Celia asked.

But Lily had already changed the subject. “Ready to go and kick butt?”

Celia rolled her eyes. “Must we call it that?”

“Fine. Go and get ’em! Pick up Alan and then get out of there! Easy!”

“Alan?”

“Alan. The award. I’ve named him.”

“So I see.”

“I think we needed to take this step to identify with him on a more personal level. It will be much more cathartic to say fucking Alan than it will be to say that fucking award. Trust me.”

Celia opened her mouth to argue but quickly realised that Lily was right.

She could see the chairman being welcomed to the stage and knew that very soon she’d be called to accept the award.

Or Alan, as it would now be known.

“I have to go.”

“Good luck.”

Celia hung up and practiced controlling her breathing. She just needed to get through the next five to ten minutes.

✥ ✥ ✥

Lily pulled on the fluffy white robe that she’d found hanging in the wardrobe. There were two, so she was sure Celia wouldn’t mind.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.