“Write this girl off and come home. You’ll do press for the new movie and then come February, you go to Vancouver to start filming again. Work is always the answer.”
Sean shook his head. Work wasn’t going to fix this. He needed to make things right with Paisley. He’d hurt her and hadn’t meant to. But in all honestly, he had barely allowed himself to think about that. “She’s pissed, but I can’t leave until I make things right with her.”
“Fu-u-uck.”
Instead of answering Thom, Sean drained his glass and then shifted the phone to refill it. Getting drunk was starting to seem like his new plan.
“What are you going to do? Want me to help? I could come out there and talk to her.”
“No. You’re not doing that.”
Thom grimaced. “So...what do you want with this girl—”
“Stop calling her that,” Sean snapped. “Her name is Paisley.”
His agent put up his hands. “Okay, okay. I’m just trying to watch your back, like I always do.”
“I appreciate that...” Sean said.
“But?”
“I screwed up. I let her think I was Jack, my movie persona, and I want to fix this. She’s not the kind of woman who lets just anyone in.”
Thom rolled his eyes at that statement, and Sean shook his head. “She’s not.”
“You sound defensive. Women always know who you are.”
“She thought I was some low-rent guy who may or may not be a criminal.” Her standing by him was part of the reason why he wanted to make this right. Paisley had supported him, tried to urge him into better life choices and made him feel like he mattered. Even though he knew he wasn’t the aimless man she’d seen him as, he couldn’t help but feel moved by what she’d tried to do for him.
“Okay. So what can I do? The studio wants you to do press and explain the gir—Paisley.”
“I don’t want her to be a part of this,” Sean said firmly.
“Too late. Her face is going to be everywhere and once they find out that you lied to her—”
“They can’t. I don’t want that to get out, Thom. And I want her name kept out of the press. Take care of that.”
“I will. Who knows besides you two?”
“Her friends, but they won’t say anything,” Sean said. “Can you get the studio to hire a Chicago-based brand-imaging consultant for me?”
“You know I can. Who do you want?”
“IDG,” he replied. “And I want Paisley Campbell to be the one in charge of it.”
“Paisley runs this brand-image company?”
“She does.”
“I’m finding it harder to believe she didn’t recognize you,” Thom said.
“Not everyone is a schemer. She has a thing about honesty. Trust me, she didn’t know. You said you saw her face in the photo,” Sean reminded him.
Thom started typing on his laptop keyboard while they were talking. “I did. Okay, let me get this rolling. Do you want to do press and everything in Chicago?”
“Yes. Like I said, I have to stay and fix this.”
“Fine.” Thom blew out a breath. “Let me work it from this end. I’ll get back to you.”