Why Romeo Hates Juliet (32 page)

Juliet was sitting at the kitchen table, just about to take her first sip of morning coffee when she heard a knock at the back door. She got up and went to open it and found a grinning Sara standing there.

“Where’s Romeo?”

“still sleeping.”

“Good, because I want all the juicy details now,” she demanded, as she pushed her way in.

Juliet laughed. “You’re up early this morning.”

Sara went to the coffee maker and poured herself a cup too. “That statement implies that I actually slept,” she laughed. “But who can sleep when my sister is spending her first night alone with the man who’s crazy in love with her and who also happens to be a gorgeous, hot movie star?

So - did he give it to you good?”

Juliet choked on her coffee. “Sara! Really!”

“Oh, come on, Juliet, give me something to savor. I want to know if Holl ywood prime beef tastes better than what the rest of us common folk get,” she teased.

Her sister laughed. “Sorry, but I don’t kiss and tell.”

Sara raised her eyebrows. “Oh, so there was kissing, was there? Interesting. What else did you two do together?” Juliet’s eyes twinkled at her little sister. “Nothing,” she stated, which was actually the truth. Except for some kissing and playful foreplay, she and Romeo hadn’t really done anything, and Juliet was sure Sara would be disappointed to hear that.

Sara frowned in disbelief. “Nothing, huh? Then why is your t-shirt on top of the fridge?” She walked to the appliance and reached up, grabbing the incriminating clothing, holding it high like a major piece of evidence in a court case. “Or are the closets in this house so full that this is where you’re storing your summer wear now?”

Juliet’s cheeks turned a guilty pink. “Oops,” she admitted, having completely forgotten that she’d thrown the garment there the night before.

“Never mind ‘oops’; start spilling,” Sara declared, grabbing her mug and sitting down at the table, getting ready to hear a good story.

It was at that instant that Juliet’s cell phone in the living room rang.

Juliet laughed, as she walked out to answer it. “Saved by the bell,” she mumbled to a pouting Sara, who was none too pleased by the interruption.

After a few minutes, Juliet came back into the kitchen, a worried frown marring her pretty features. “That was Faith. She wants us to go over to her place right now. She said it’s an emergency.”

Sara immediately became concerned. “Are Brad and the kids alright?”

Her big sister nodded. “She said it’s something about me. She wouldn’t say what it was, only that she needed to see us now. She sounded upset.”

Sara was already getting up. “Let me go home to get my purse and I’ll meet you at the car.” Juliet nodded again. “I’ll just tell Romeo that I’m leaving for a bit.” As Sara left the house, Juliet made her way upstairs towards her bedroom.

Romeo had slept with his good arm around her all night long and when she’d awoken this morning, she’d found him awkwardly asleep against the headboard, in the same position he’d assumed when she’d fall en back asleep after her nightmare. He’d slept like that just to make her feel safe. Maybe Sara was right after all; maybe he did care for her. Maybe he did love her. Juliet had quietly extracted herself out of his embrace and she’d then gently pulled a blanket over him, not wanting to disturb him. He hadn’t woken up but in his sleep state, had re-positioned himself in the bed so that his body was more comfortable. She’d given him a soft peck on his cheek and had silently tiptoed out of the room, closing the door after her to let him sleep some more.

Now as she re-entered the bedroom, she discovered it empty. Moving back out into the hall, Juliet walked to the upstairs bathroom where the door was closed. She knocked. “Romeo, are you in there?”

“Yeah, I’m in the bathtub, but the door is locked,” he answered.

Romeo was not in the bathtub. He’d been sitting on the closed toilet seat for the past fifteen minutes, nervously thinking about how he was going to tell Juliet today that his memory was back and that he loved her for real. How would she take everything? And more importantly, could she ever love him back?

He’d spent one hell of a night, holding her in his arm and not being able to love her like he wanted to. It had been sheer torture and he’d barely slept. But she had needed him to make her feel safe after her nightmare and he’d meant it when he’d told her that there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her. Last night had proved that.

Juliet’s voice suddenly broke into his thoughts again. “How’s your shoulder feeling this morning?”

“Better. I think resting it overnight helped.”

She was relieved. “I’m so glad to hear that. Listen - I have to go out for a bit with Sara to see Faith. Will you be okay by yourself or do you need something before I go?”

Romeo breathed his own sigh of relief. He was glad that she was leaving the house so that he wouldn’t have to face her right now. The next time he’d see her was when he came back from the hospital and he’d be able to sit her down then and tell her that his memory had ‘miraculously’

recovered and that he loved her. He wouldn’t be completely honest with her, of course, and tell her he’d been faking his amnesia all along. He wasn’t that stupid! If she ever found out the truth, she’d hate him all over again and who knew what she’d do then? Juliet was a dangerous wildcat when she needed to be. His gun shot shoulder was proof of that. No, he couldn’t take that chance right now. Maybe he’d come clean someday about faking the amnesia when they could laugh about it together, but not today… definitely not today.

Juliet nervously knocked again when Romeo didn’t answer her. “Romeo, are you okay?”

“Yeah, sorry, umm - no, I don’t need anything right now and Tommy’s coming to pick me up in an hour for my appointment anyway. You go and have fun with Faith and Sara.”

“Okay. I’ve got my cell on if you need anything.”

“See you soon,” he mumbled back.

Juliet suddenly had an uneasy feeling about today as her thoughts raced back to Faith’s telephone call. What was her friend so upset about?

~ ~ ~

As soon as the girls had arrived, Faith ushered them both into her living room and sat them down, side by side on the couch.

Juliet studied the concerned expression on her friend’s face. “Faith, you’re worrying me. What’s this all about?” she asked.

Nervously, Faith began wringing her hands as she looked from one to the other. “I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’m going to show you instead.” She reached over to her computer desk and held up a small magazine. It was a copy of Soap Stars, a weekly magazine that detailed the world of TV soap operas. “You two know how much I enjoy watching my soaps, and I’ve had a subscription to the Soap Stars magazine for six years now. I’ve kept every copy and…”

Sara interrupted her. “Faith, you didn’t get us over here to discuss TV shows, so what are you trying to say?” Faith looked down and started thumbing through the magazine. She stopped at a page and held up the book. “I’m saying - this!” She shoved the article in front of their faces.

There, in blazing color, was a photo and an article on soap actor, Nick Mathison, who at the time that that particular issue had been released, was playing the role of Doctor Augustus Bradley, head of the psychiatric unit at the fictional hospital on the soap opera, Sunsets of My Life.

Shocked speechless, the two sisters stared at the picture.

Faith continued. “This issue is from a few years ago and he was only on that show for about six months before his character got killed off. I knew I’d seen him somewhere before and it wasn’t at the Charlottetown Hotel like he said. It’s been bothering me ever since. Last night I was getting into bed and it suddenly came to me, just like that.” She snapped her fingers to make her point. “I went down to the basement and started rifling through all of my old copies of Soap Stars until I found his article.” Stunned, Juliet took the magazine out of Faith’s hands. “But - but - I don’t understand…” she stammered, as her frantic eyes scanned the article detailing Nick Mathison’s career goals as an actor. The interview also stated that he had started out in the business as an underwear model, but was now on the popular soap where he was hoping his fans would keep him for awhile.

Faith came to sit beside Juliet, and both she and Sara gave each other a concerned look before re-focusing on Juliet’s bent head which was still engrossed in the magazine article. They were very worried how she was taking the news.

Looking up at them, Juliet shook her head, still not wanting to believe what was clearly in front of her. “How - how can he be this Nick Mathison actor person if he’s Dr. Burrell?” she squeaked breathlessly. Sara and Faith remained quiet, not knowing what to say. “Maybe - maybe there’s some mistake…” she continued, trying to grasp at anything that would have her continue to believe in Romeo Boyd’s innocence.

Faith shook her head. “There’s no mistake, Juliet. I Googled him and look, come see…” She led both girls to the laptop computer on the desk.

After pressing a key to erase the screensaver, a paparazzi photo popped up of a group of people coming out of a Los Angeles nightclub from a few years back. Romeo Boyd was in the center of the pack with ‘Dr. Burrel ’s’ intoxicated face stumbling right behind him. It was clearly him and the caption below the picture referred to him as soap actor, Nick Mathison, drinking buddy of Boyd’s.

Shocked to the core of her being, Juliet took a few steps away from the screen as she continued to process all of this new information. Both Sara and Faith stared hard at her, holding their breath and waiting to see what she was going to say or do next.

“Juliet, are you okay?” Sara finally whispered, worried for her sister.

Slowly, Juliet looked from one to the other; and suddenly, raised her fist, the one clutching the magazine, high into the air. “That bastard!” she yelled, at the top of her lungs. “He faked it! He faked the whole goddamned thing! He never had amnesia. I’ll bet he never even had a headache!” She started to pace the room as anger flared through her system. “How could he do this to me? That slimy rat, that worm, that despicable, phony, son-of-a-bitch. He’s been taking me for a fool, laughing at me and playing me! He’s made me waste all this time helping him recover his supposed memory when I could have been writing my book. And now, there isn’t even enough time for me to finish it and I’m going to have to declare bankruptcy when I get back to Vancouver and then…” Juliet stopped her speech in mid-sentence and with a shell-shocked expression on her face, stared back at her sister and friend. Suddenly, her shoulders began to shake and tears started streaming down her cheeks. “I - I thought - he loved me…” she sobbed, as the wrenched words choked out of her.

Sara and Faith both rushed to Juliet’s side and wrapped their arms around her, trying to comfort her as much as they could. Sara began to cry along with her sister. “I - I’m so sorry, Juliet. I thought he loved you too. I would never have left you - with him, if I didn’t think that,” she cried, as her own tears ran down her cheeks.

“Oh, honey, it’ll be okay,” Faith lamented and she hugged her friend tighter. And on seeing the sisters crying, she began to bawl too.

It was at that moment that Faith’s tall, lanky husband, Brad happened to walk in on the scene. But on seeing all three women hugging and sobbing their eyes out, he immediately did a 180-turn and walked out of there, cartoon-style. Whatever was going on in the living room, he wanted no part of.

Meanwhile, Faith grabbed the tissue box on the coffee table and passed it around to her friends. Grabbing a couple of tissues, Juliet loudly blew her nose into them before dabbing at her wet eyes.

“I guess - it was all bullshit, wasn’t it?” she sniffled. “He never cared about me. It was all just one big joke to get back at me - for what I did to him.”

Sara wiped her own eyes. “Juliet, I have to ask you something. Did - did you - sleep with him last night?” She whispered the words quietly, afraid to ask the question, but more afraid to hear the answer.

Juliet shook her head. “No. We were going to but he hurt his shoulder again and he was in too much pain to do anything.”

“Oh, thank God for that. If you had, it would have been my fault. I mean, I practically pushed you into his arms. I’m so sorry, Juliet. Can you ever forgive me?”

Juliet squeezed her sister tightly. “You have nothing to be forgiven for. None of this was your fault, none of it, you hear me?”

“But I was so sure that he was in love with you. All the signs were there. How could I have been so wrong?” Juliet blew her nose again. “Because that asshole is an amazing actor, that’s why. It’s his business to be good at pretending; it’s what he does.

He didn’t get to be number one at the box office on his six pack abs alone.”

“But - but he ripped out his pool for you. Why would he do that if he didn’t love you?”

“Because he was protecting his blonde bimbo girlfriend by destroying the scene of the crime, in case I changed my mind about pressing charges against her, what else?” her big sister sniffled. “It all makes sense.” Dabbing at her own eyes, Faith hugged Juliet tightly one more time before releasing her. “I’m going to make us all some coffee,” she announced, before turning to walk away, wanting to give the sisters some time to themselves.

“Faith?” Juliet called after her and her friend turned back. “Thank you so much for what you did - for finding out about Mathison. I don’t even want to think about what could have happened if you hadn’t remembered.” Juliet gave Faith one more hug before letting her go.

Faith smiled. “I’m glad that we’ve found out what kind of a person Romeo Boyd is before - you know…” Juliet nodded and knew exactly what Faith was trying to say. Today, a miracle had happened. They’d found out how she was being duped. And thank God she hadn’t slept with that snake last night, or tonight, which she’d been hoping to. Her friend had saved her just in the nick of time.

As Faith disappeared into the kitchen, Sara quickly retrieved her purse and pulled out her cell phone. She started scrolling through her phone list.

“Who are you calling?” Juliet asked.

“The airline. We’re first going back to the beach house to tell that prick off, and then we’re flying home to Vancouver tonight. I swear, Juliet, you’ll never have to see him again.”

But as Sara put the phone to her ear, Juliet grabbed it out of her hand and closed the device. “No, we’re not,” she declared.

“What do you mean? Don’t you want to leave after everything he’s done to you?”

“We’ll leave when we’re good and ready, and no bastard is going to chase me or you off of this island until then.” Juliet’s eyes glinted with determination. “And we’re not ready.”

Sara frowned. “Oh no - what are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to make him admit to me what he’s been doing and how he’s been lying to me.”

“Juliet - no!”

“Yes! Don’t you see, Sara? If we just confront him with the truth and then leave, it’s all too easy and he doesn’t suffer one bit. But if I squeeze him and put him under pressure, he’ll break and have to tell me the truth himself - to my face. It’s going to be a game of chicken and we’ll see who cries fowl first. But I can tell you, it won’t be me.”

“Haven’t you learned anything all summer?” Sara shouted. “Everything you’ve done to him has backfired on you. From his arrest to the superglue, to the shooting, everything - you ended up getting caught in your own mess and the tables turned on you.”

“It won’t this time because I’ve got the upper hand,” Juliet replied with dazzling determination.

Sara approached her sister and grabbed her by the shoulders, hoping she’d heed her next words. “Juliet please, I’m begging you, let’s just go.

We can fly out of here tonight and put this awful summer behind us. We don’t even have to speak to that - man - again. We’ll just go back to the beach house, pack our stuff and get the hell out. Let’s not make a bad situation even worse,
please
.”

“No, Sara, he has to pay for what he’s done.”

“He will, trust me, he will. Karma will get him, but if you do something else to him, then karma will get you too.”

“I’m not slinking out of here on my belly and letting him win.”

“Juliet, this isn’t about winning or losing. This is about you not getting hurt anymore. I’m scared for you.” Resolute, Juliet raised her nose in the air. “I was practically naked in his arms last night and if he hadn’t hurt his shoulder, he would have taken advantage of me in the worst way that a man can take advantage of a woman.”

Sara paused as Juliet’s words sank in. Suddenly, she saw red again, thinking of how close her poor sister had come to actually sleeping with him. “That slime!” she hissed. “Nobody does that to you. Count me in.”

Sara felt very responsible for having convinced Juliet that Romeo Boyd had been in love with her. If she hadn’t done that, then she still would have been in the house with the both of them and nothing physical would have happened between them last night. Besides, as sure as there were stars in the sky, whatever her sister was cooking up in that diabolical brain of hers would certainly backfire on her and land Juliet into more boiling, hot water and Sara needed to be here when that happened. “Okay, so tell me what kind of clever scheme you’re hatching and how much damage control I’m going to have to do when it backfires on you.” Sara plopped down on the couch.

Delighted at having her sister’s consent, Juliet smiled wide. “Let’s wait for Faith to come back because I need her help too, but it’s a good one.

That snake won’t see this coming.”

When Faith came back with their coffees, they all sat down on the couch and Juliet explained her plan. After getting agreements to help from the both of them, Juliet finally felt the knot in her stomach relax. Her scheme would be put into operation this afternoon and Romeo Boyd would soon be spoon fed some of his own medicine. She hoped he’d choke on it - the rotten, sneaky, lying bastard.

When Juliet asked to use Faith’s bathroom on the pretense of having to pee, she quickly shut the door and gazed at her pale reflection in the mirror. Suddenly, images of her and Romeo together, talking and laughing and kissing at their clambake last night started streaming through her mind. And what had happened afterwards in his bedroom, when they’d been almost naked together and his lips had been on her and her hand had been on him? But it had all been a lie, and he had never loved her.

But she had loved him.
That
had been the truth. That had been real and honest and genuine, on her part, at least. Tears sprang to her eyes and began to race down her cheeks as she continued to stare at herself in the mirror, thinking about him. He didn’t love her; he never had. It had all been fake and now her heart was breaking for what could have been, for what might have been, for what she thought was but wasn’t.

Unrolling some toilet paper, Juliet wiped the tears away and blew her nose. This was going to stop now. She wasn’t going to let Sara and Faith see her cry anymore and more importantly, she wasn’t going to let herself shed one more tear for that jerk ever again. He didn’t deserve it. Romeo Boyd, car salesman and loving husband, was dead and the movie star asshole had taken his place again. And by focusing on her anger for him instead of her heartbreak, she could find the strength within to put her plan into action and survive the next few days until she went home to Vancouver for good. Then she’d never have to see Romeo Boyd again. But deep in her heart, she still didn’t know whether that would make her glad or sad.

~ ~ ~