Something Old, Something New

Part 20

Sadie hands Kelley a coffee, "Thanks."

"Kelley, it's been a week and you've barely left the hospital. You need to go home, get some sleep, shower, eat. I'll call you if anything changes."

"I can't leave. Maybe she'll change her mind about seeing me. I need to see her, I need to know she's okay."

"Kelley, she doesn't want to see you, right now. She is pretty adamant about it, she would probably yell at me if she found out I've been speaking with you."

"I love her so much, I can't even function right now without talking to her."

"Kelley, I need you to do something, I need you to speak with the Network about everything and sort out a plan for the show so that Avery isn't fined with breaching the contract. They keep sending people by and it's upsetting to Avery, do you think you can handle that for us?"

Kelley stands up and hugs Sadie, "I'll do my best, please tell her that I'm only a call or message away if she needs anything." "I will, and Kelley, she doesn't hate you, she just needs time and space to process everything. You should know that arrangements are being made for her to come back to California with me to complete her recovery."

"I expected as much. Thanks for keeping me in the loop about everything and don't worry, I'll handle the Network."

Kelley leaves the hospital and heads back to her dark and lonely apartment. She sees a stack of unopened mail on the table and decides to take a look through the letters. Most are just requests for personal appearances and or donations which ended up at her address rather than her agent. She puts them to the side and separates the ones with Avery's name on them, with the intention of dropping them back to the hospital later.

Heading into the bedroom, she decides to put on some running clothes and head out to clear her head for a bit, before tackling everything else. Returning home she grabs a long hot shower, gets dressed and then makes herself something to eat. Looking at her phone she takes a couple of deeps breaths, before selecting a contact in her phone and pressing the dial button.

"Hello?"

"Joseph, it's Kelley O'Hara."

"Hey Kelley, how's Avery doing?"

"I don't really know, she is refusing to see me. Listen, who should I speak with from the Network about our situation?"

"Kelley, don't worry they aren't going to take either of you to court. It's their way to apply pressure to get things done, because of the money factor."

"They need to lay off Avery or else I'll be going public with their bullying tactics."

"I wouldn't do that, they have a ton of lawyers who will bury and bankrupt you and I don't want to see that happen to you guys. Kelley, they are in the process of taping the final episodes for the other participants, would you be agreeable to coming in and taping something for the finale?"

"What are we talking about?"

"I'm sure I can convince them to allow you to talk about the process and emotions of the experience without going too far in-depth as to what happened between you and Avery. I'm sure they would be okay with just running a storyline that she was involved in a serious car accident and unable to finish the filming."

"Would they be expecting me to reveal my decision about us staying together or not?"

"I'm sure that would be a part of it. I promise I will do everything I can to keep your past out of it."

"No. That's exactly the opposite of what I want. I need to be held accountable for my actions. I've probably lost the love of my life because I didn't stand up to the bullies back then; me remaining quiet about it, is continuing to let them win. Bullying isn't acceptable in any way, shape or form and I intend to speak out against it."