THE QUEEN, HERSELF: ISOLDE WILSON
They sat across from each other in the lobby of a hotel on a sunny Hawaiian afternoon, on comfortable, white leather upholstery. Jason Kamealoha had picked this location because he liked the way the light came in through the windows at that particular time of the day. He knew the natural light wouldn't interfere with the cameras or the set lights. He knew the inner workings of how to set a scene and even threw a few helpful suggestions to the crew, who happily took him at his word. After all, this was his home. He knew what was best.
He dressed simply in a snug, white t-shirt and jeans with a small tear in the knee. On the red carpet, he was the picture of GQ magazine. In his normal life, he says, he's a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy. Unless his lady love prefers to dress for an occasion--and boy, does she like to dress for an occasion. "But I'm home," he says. "This is where I'm comfortable. My hair's neat and my beard's trim and I don't look like a bum. She won't let me."
Isolde Wilson smiled across at Jason, amused by his comment. As they waited on the producers and the director to start the interview, she observed him. The first and only time she had ever interviewed him was back when he first broke big into the industry several years ago. He had been quiet, a little on edge, and slightly tongue-tied. It was merely a two-minute segment, but he sweated it like it was a police interrogation. Talking about his love life, or lack thereof, wasn't even an option. Now, Isolde got the opportunity to interview both him and his new fiancée.
Over his shoulder, behind the loveseat he sat on, he was constantly turning his body around to see what was going on. Across the lobby, out of the way of the set and the cameras, his fiancée sat in a chair while hair and makeup worked on her, preparing her to join him for the second half of the interview. Suddenly, he called out, "Hey! Wipe that shit off her face, she doesn't need that much makeup. She doesn't even wear that much makeup to dinner."
His fiancée turned her head and made a face at him, waving him away with her hand. He turned around and smiled at Isolde sheepishly. "She really doesn't need that much makeup. I picked this place so the natural light would come in on her enough so that they don't have to cake that shit on. It's not natural."
Isolde smiled. "You prefer her natural," she observed.
"I prefer that she looks like herself."
"So you picked this location for her, not for yourself. Interesting."
"Everything I do is for her."
Isolde's smile widened.
Moments later, after makeup had swept brushes over Jason's and Isolde's faces one last time, the director called "action" and the interview began.
Isolde smiled at Jason. "Jason Kamealoha."
Jason beamed at her. "Isolde Wilson."
Isolde had to giggle lightly. She could already tell that this would be an enjoyable interview. "How do you feel about being this year's Most Fascinating Person?"
"Fascinated," he answered. The two of them laughed. He scratched his nose as he continued, an obvious nervous reflex. "It fascinates me that people think I'm fascinating. I don't really do anything. I go to the gym and I go to work. Not really sure what's so fascinating about that."
"Well, you've had quite a year."
Jason looked around in thought for a second and then he nodded. "Yeah. I guess you could say that."
"You had two movies premier earlier this year that both did exceptionally well. One of them is even getting a sequel. And another one that wrapped filming not too long ago that's already creating...possible Oscar buzz? Congratulations on that."
Jason smiled graciously. A smile hardly ever left his face. "Thank you," he nods. "Gonna be a busy year next year. That starts filming...well, I'm heading out to Europe for that in a couple weeks actually. And then I just signed onto a much larger project that starts filming immediately after this one I'm about to start, so. I'm home now taking a break before my family thinks I've vanished into thin air again."
The two of them laugh lightly. Lots of laughing. Lots of smiling. Both of them at ease in this atmosphere. "What do you think of everyone talking Oscar with the one you just wrapped?"
"Uh, it's crazy," he says, humbly. "I mean, of course, as an actor, that Oscar is, like, the be-all end-all of your career." He paused to chuckle. "But, yeah, I'd love to win an Oscar--or be in an Oscar-nominated film. It'd be an honor. But if it doesn't play out that way, at least it's still a great film. Plenty of great films manage to slide under the Oscar radar, so. Winning would be nice, but I'm not gonna set my heart on it."
This was easier than Isolde thought it would be. Jason basically just opened the door right up for the next gauntlet she planned to deliver. "Speaking of your heart. You had a heart attack over the summer. What was that like?"
Jason's expression grew a little more serious and he shifted in his seat, glancing over his shoulder and then catching himself, obviously remembering that the cameras were rolling. He knew the questions would be personal, and maybe a little difficult, as Isolde had told him earlier. But it was obvious that there were times that he needed his fiancée by his side and this was apparently one of them. Jason Kamealoha was a strong, prideful man who didn't seem to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but an ever-observant Isolde Wilson found it painfully obvious that he wasn't quite as strong as he made out to be. The observation made her smile a little as she waited on his response.
"Uh, I don't really like to think of it as a heart attack," he finally said, fingering the tip of his nose nervously.
"But that's what it was."
"If you wanna get technical, sure, I had a small, mild heart issue. But it's not like I had a bypass or anything. They kept me under observation overnight and wrote me out of work for a few days. The after was more hell than the during."
"Was it scary for you, as an action star and playing the types of roles that you play, to have what you call a 'small, mild heart issue?'"
"Hell yeah, it was scary. One minute I'm chasing a stunt double down a sidewalk in downtown Chicago at full speed and the next minute I'm on my knees and they're rushing me to the hospital. The whole thing was a blur, I didn't know what to think. And then they're like, "Uh, Mr. Kamealoha, it appears you've suffered a heart attack..." and I was like, 'Uh, no the hell I did not.' You don't tell a man who doesn't smoke and who exercises and eats healthy that he's had a heart attack. People like that don't have heart attacks."
Isolde laughed lightly as his recount. "You were just gonna diagnose yourself, then."
Jason smiled. "You're damn right I was."
She smiled back at him warmly and her voice softened. "Melody was there, wasn't she?"
He nodded and blushed, glancing down at his hands. "She was. She, uh, flew in all the way from Oklahoma the moment she heard."
"And you weren't together then."
"No. She was my best friend. She still is. That's what friends do, they're there for each other. And she was there for me and, uh, to be honest, I'm not sure--if it weren't for her--well, she kept me sane."
"Reportedly, there was a scene during your hospital discharge."
At that, Jason laughed as he recalled the memory. "Wow. Yeah. Typical Mel in all her glory. She's a spitfire, that one. Uh, yeah, she kicked my director, both the producers, AND my agent out of my room."
Isolde's eyes widened and she scoffed. "All of them!"
"Every last one. I nearly had another heart attack right there. I thought for sure, I was getting fired. But her heart was in the right place and I was grateful. I was ready to get back to work and she was concerned for my health. She's a good woman, that one."
"So what happened after? Lots of reports from the set once you came back to work."
Jason sighed. "Yeah, I'm sure there were."
"Reports that you were difficult to work with, argumentative, verbally combative...late some days. You went from being a joy to work with to a typical Hollywood nightmare, which is extremely out of character for you. It's reported that you were almost recast. What happened, Jason? What caused this sudden change in personality?"
Jason paused again, glancing over his shoulder uneasily. It was apparent that he was starting to feel exposed and that his fiancée was his security. Finally, Isolde called him out on it, curiosity getting the best of her. "Every time I ask you a difficult question, you look over your shoulder. Are you uncomfortable?"
"Uh, no," he attempted to reassure her, shaking his head.
"You're looking for her."
"Um, uh, I mean, you know, just--checking...you know..."
"You don't feel safe without her, do you?"
His spine straightened at Isolde's observation. "My ego took a hit with that heart attack. My self-esteem. My motivation. I had some, uh, personal issues that suddenly piled themselves on top of all the mess and someone like me, who loves their work and is always on the go, you feel invincible, like nothing can touch you--and then you suffer a setback like that and it messes with your head. It was like--I couldn't pull myself out of the funk. I didn't know who I was. I wasn't an invalid with a bad heart, but that's what I felt like and that's how everyone treated me. I was mad. Frustrated. Mostly with myself. It was rough. I would have fired me, too."
"But they didn't."
He shook his head and he smiled. "No. They didn't and I'm grateful for that. Terribly grateful. They had faith in me. That was an excellent crew to work with."
"And then you announced your retirement?"
Jason chuckled uneasily. "That was--that was a temporary moment of insanity, I think. I can't stay away. I can't not act. I'm addicted to it, I love what I do."
"So what made you do it? What made you wake up one day and say, 'I just don't want to act anymore?'"
"Um--I was going through a few personal things. Messed me up a little more than I thought they would. Didn't really feel the motivation to act. Didn't feel inspired. And I thought if I was going to be that difficult to work with like I was then, I might as well just not do it, you know?"
"What happened?"
Jason was suddenly uneasy again. "Um, Mel--Melody and I, she--we--at the time, thought it would be best if our friendship sort of, uh, took a hiatus? Per se?" He let out a light, nervous laugh. "Kinda made me question life and the way I was living it--the way I looked at things. Suddenly, playing a bunch of fake characters didn't feel right anymore. I needed something real. Or, well, that was my mindset at the time."
"Because she was engaged to another man then. Another well-known."
"Uh. Yeah. Yeah, that was part of it, I guess. I mean, that never stopped us from being friends..."
"But you loved her then," Isolde said softly.
Jason was quiet. "It got to be too much."
"On who?"
"Both of us. She was preparing to get married and I couldn't stand in the way anymore. It was--it was right...at the time..."
Isolde then smiled warmly. "But now she's preparing to marry you."
He smiled and nodded. "She is."
"Tell me about the day you met Melody."
A smile spread across Jason's face a mile wide. It was an adorable, infectious smile and Isolde couldn't help but share in his joy. "That's a smile that says it all right there," she observed.
"God," he said, rubbing his face with his hands. "That was the day that changed my entire life."
"Love at first sight?"
"Absolutely. I always thought that was a bunch of bull until she walked into the room and she had me, hook, line, and sinker before she even opened her mouth. As a matter of fact, her first words when we met were 'Sweet Christ.'"
Isolde had to laugh. "Sweet Christ? Interesting first words."
Jason laughed. "She said it real quiet and to this day, she doesn't know that I heard it. Hell, she only said what I was thinking anyway, so."
She continued to smile. "How did you meet?"
"Blind date."
Isolde was amused. "A blind date, huh? Even hot Hollywood actors need help dating sometimes, huh?"
"Well, I wasn't--I wasn't Jason Kamealoha, Action Star then. Then I was just, 'Hey! Where's that Jason guy who's supposed to crash this car?'"
Isolde chuckled. "That is right, you did stunts before you became a star."
"Yeah. She knew me back when. Right before I scored my first lead role."
"So this blind date. How does a man like you end up on a blind date?"
"Not easily," he laughed. "Not easily. I was in New York, I'd stopped in to visit a couple of friends on my way from Canada to Hawaii. I'd only been in town two or three days and one of my buddies was like, 'Hey, I told my friend I'd go on this group thing with her and her friend needs a date.' And I was like, 'Nah, man. No thanks, I don't do blind dates, not gonna happen.' And he kept on and was all, 'Come on, do this for me, she's cute, I've seen her picture.' My buddy is gay, mind you. What the hell does he know about hot women, right?"
"You'd be surprised," Isolde laughed.
"Well, I'll give him this one."
"So your friend twisted your arm."
"I've never had my arm twisted so hard in my life. Finally, though, I caved and I was like what the hell, it's my last night in New York, might as well go out, right? So we end up in this Brownstone in the living room and by this time I'd already met Drew--"
"Andrew Brooks, correct?"
"Yeah. This was before her time, too. Anyway, so I was like, 'Okay, she's cute, surely she has hot friends.'"
"And then Melody happened."
"She hid from me!" He laughed.
Isolde laughed with him. "She hid from you?"
"Yes, literally, she hid from me. She rounded the corner and then she turned right back around. I could hear her and Drew whispering in the hallway, it was funny as hell."
"You made her nervous."
"She was more nervous than I was. I mean, we're talking, a whole other universe of nervous. It was adorable."
"What was your first reaction upon seeing her?"
Jason blushed as his grin widened. "I was a goner. It was all I could do to keep it together. She wore this--this short, silver dress made entirely of, like, those sequin things? It had one sleeve and it was tight and hugged her in all the right places. And the shoes she wore were so tall--I had no idea how short she actually was until later."
Isolde smiled at him with stars at her eyes. She almost found herself swooning. "You remember what she wore all that time ago."
"Well, you couldn't really forget an outfit like that," he joked. "But, yeah, I remember everything she wears."
"What did she wear yesterday?"
"White leggings and a red, silk, Hawaiian print button-down shirt. She looked amazing."
"Wow. You've got quite the memory, don't you? Most men don't remember what their wives wore to work that day."
Jason looked around deviously and smiled, adjusting his own shirt. "We don't really have to tell her that," he said in a loud whisper. "A man's gotta keep some form of dignity, you know."
She chuckled. "I understand. Duly noted." Then she grew serious again. "But it didn't last."
"It didn't even go anywhere. Our connection was instantaneous. Undeniable. But I was too late, she belonged to someone else. And he was married."
"And then he wasn't."
"And then she chose him. And I had to let her go. And I've been through hell and back for her but I'd do it again in a heartbeat, just to get to where I'm sitting today."
"I have a feeling there won't be a dry eye in the house when this episode airs, Jason."
Jason smiled in an attempt to brighten the mood. "Sorry! Didn't mean to depress everyone!"
Isolde smiled and, with that, they called cut on the cameras.
-----------------------
"Isolde, you're killing me," Jason said.
"I warned you," she said. "I'm a toughie."
"Yeah, you weren't kidding."
Getting up to stretch, Jason stood from the loveseat and wasted no time rounding the corner of it and heading straight for the space behind them where the makeup table was set up. His fiancée met him halfway, dressed in a blue, boat-necked dress that hung loosely above her knees and arms with white and green palm tree branches printed on it. A rope belt wrapped around and cork wedge heels completed the ensemble and the hair stylist had curled back her long, dark hair. Her splash of color against his white shirt and Hawaiian skin made them a match made in heaven. Isolde watched from where she stood, ever observant, as he pulled her close to him and said something inaudible to her. She reached up and touched his face and he smiled down at her before he kissed her. She prayed that someone was getting all of this on camera and she was more than thrilled when she glanced off to her side and saw, not only the red light on the video camera, but someone inconspicuously taking stills. No one could hear what was said, as Jason had left his microphone draped on the arm of the loveseat, but it didn't matter. Love was a language all in its own and Isolde had a feeling everyone in the room was learning it that day.
-----------------------
When the break was over, Jason Kamealoha and Melody Banks sat across from Isolde Wilson. Though the loveseat comfortably seated two, Melody's small frame left half a cushion untouched as she sat up straight in the crook of Jason's arm as he rested it across the back behind her. She seemed to click into him like a puzzle piece. It was a sight to smile at and Isolde did. Jason sat more confidently now than he had in his solo interview. He seemed collected and at ease. His other half was here now and he was allowed to feel secure. Isolde had done enough interviews over the years to have seen it all. You couldn't put an emotion, mannerism or act of body language past her. She read people like books.
Glancing down, she observed Melody's left hand, sporting the gold and diamond band on her left ring finger as she white-knuckled Jason's hand against his leg. As the cameras rolled again, Isolde couldn't help but observe, "Are you nervous, Melody?"
Melody nodded. "Uh, a little, yes. I've, um, I've never done anything like--I've never been on TV before, so, yeah, I'm scared to death."
"But you posed scantily clad in Maxim earlier this year. Twice."
Melody blushed. "That was so different. I didn't have to speak or--or even think, really."
"I see," Isolde smiled. "So, Melody. How are you?"
"I'm good. Really good, thank you. How are you?"
Isolde's smile widened. "Well I'm just great, thank you very much. So, Melody. Let's just start, right off the bat, and get the question out of the way that every woman in America is dying to know. How did you manage to land a catch like Jason Kamealoha?"
Melody blushed again as she laughed. "Make sure your friends set you up on an involuntary blind date!"
"Oh, so that's all it takes?"
"Apparently so."
"What did you know about Jason before you met him?"
"Absolutely nothing. All I knew was that Drew and I were sitting in the nail salon and all of a sudden she says we're going out and she got us dates. And I was trapped."
"You couldn't just tell her you didn't want to go out?"
"Um, I wasn't exactly in a position to say no, given the nature of--"
"We were going out with her ex and his wife. And his brothers and their wives," Jason interjected.
Melody's head whipped over to look at him. "Jason," she whispered. "I don't think so much detail is necessary."
"But it's the truth," Isolde pressed.
"Yes," Melody said, defeated. "It's the truth."
"It all makes sense now," Isolde said.
"Oh, Jason didn't go home that night," Melody said suddenly. "Let's not misunderstand here."
Instantly, Isolde found herself blushing and Jason smiled, the blood rising to his cheeks, as well. "She's an honest one," he muttered.
"Well I'm not gonna lie," Melody said to him quietly.
Once Isolde got over the shock, she asked, "He says you hid from him. Why was that?"
Melody smiled. "Look at him. Well, his hair was longer then." She looked up at Jason. "I do miss that hair, by the way."
"You're gonna keep on missing it, gorgeous, cause they're not gonna let me grow it out any time soon," he smiled, running his hand through his hair.
Melody rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I didn't expect to see--him. I didn't expect this tall, dark, sexy man standing in my living room. I thought he was Drew's date. I had to ask! But, yeah, in that split second that I rounded the corner, my eyes met his and it was like--I couldn't breathe. It hit me that hard and for a second I couldn't handle it and so I ran--ironically."
"You knew."
"I did."
"Right then and there, you knew."
"It took half a second."
"And then..."
Melody sighed. "And then it was one of the most magical nights of my life. In less than twelve hours, Jason changed my life so drastically it was almost the closest thing to a spiritual encounter I'd ever had." She started to tear up and one of the producers reached out and handed her a tissue. "Thank you," she said to him.
Jason looked down at her and reached his arm around her shoulder to brush her hair off her face. "Baby, don't cry," he whispered.
She smiled up at him and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said in an attempt to dry her tears before they flowed. "I'm okay, I just--I get emotional when I think of that night. And our conversation the next morning. I hung on to every word he said and he made everything sound so simple and so easy. And it should have been. And then, within hours, he was gone off to Hawaii."
"Did you think you'd ever see him again?"
Melody shook her head. "No."
"Really?" Jason asked, suddenly.
"Yeah. I thought--I thought that night was it for us. That you were going to swoop in, make everything better, and then disappear. Which almost happened--until I caved and called you."
"So you contacted him," Isolde smiled.
"I couldn't stay away."
"But you did stay away. You claimed you fell in love with Jason but yet you entered into a relationship with your ex and eventually was engaged to marry him. How does something like that happen?"
Isolde watched Melody tense up all of a sudden. The look in her eyes grew colder and she glanced around the room at the producers and Isolde. Sensing the tension, she attempted to relieve some of it. "I know these are difficult questions, Melody. But you have to understand what it looks like from the outside."
"I know what it looks like on the outside," Melody retorted. "And to quote my fiancée, 'the ones who know the truth are the only ones that matter.'"
"Um, babe--" Jason muttered quietly.
"Don't you think that statement is just a little unfair? Don't you think people deserve to know your side of the story? Don't you want to stave off a lot of the unfair speculation?"
"Do I really want to live my life worrying about someone's speculations?"
"Look, can we cut this for a minute?" Jason asked suddenly. "Can we stop the cameras so I can have a moment alone with my fiancée? Please?"
----------------------
The director called cut and Jason proceeded to remove his own microphone and then Melody's. Helping her off the loveseat, he led her into a corner of the lobby. Isolde supposed he thought they were out of earshot, but she heard it all.
"What the hell is going on over there?" Melody asked him.
"Mel, I know--"
"Do you? Do you hear what she's doing to me over there? You didn't tell me you were fucking feeding me to the wolves! I thought this was about us, you and me? I didn't know were going to be reliving the all the shit we finally overcame! I don't even think anyone bothered to get the authorization to even say Tay's name and now we're gonna sit there and rake him over the coals, too?"
"No," he said to her firmly. "She never even said his name and she won't."
"I don't want to relive that bullshit, Jason. I'm happy NOW. With you. Why can't we just keep it that way? I'm not answering anymore questions like that."
"Yes, you are."
"What? You are the last person I would EVER expect to be okay with broadcasting our personal business on national television! What we have is ours! It's nobody's business! And, frankly, I think it's trashy and disrespectful to even have to sit there and discuss it. Didn't you hear her? There's plenty of speculation out there to appease anyone and even YOU are the one who said, 'Fuck 'em. Who cares what anyone thinks?' And yet here we sit. How am I supposed to feel about that, Jason?"
"I really think you're making a bigger deal of this than it is."
She looked up at him for a moment, speechless. Finally, she asks, "Who are you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I don't understand what's going on here."
He inched closer to her and lowered his face closer to hers in an attempt to be even more quiet, with no success. "What's going on here is that this is excellent exposure for me and I really need your support right now. This is Isolde Wilson. It's an honor to even get asked to be interviewed by her. You know that."
"So you want me to sit there and help you sell out?"
"It's not selling out, Melody! You think I didn't get raked over the coals, too? Where the hell were you for my first half? I had to talk about my goddamn heart attack, I had to talk about how you ended our friendship--how you were engaged to Taylor and I couldn't have you. How the fuck do you think *I* feel? It hasn't been a picnic for me, either, princess."
She looked as if his words stung her as she took a step backward from him. "Is that what you think of me?" she asked quietly. "You think I'm spoiled? And selfish? You've never called me princess before. It sounded so hateful."
Jason sighed, the pain in his eyes unmistakable. "No," he said. "I didn't mean to say that, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I'm just--I just want you to understand what this interview means to me. Why wouldn't you want people to know what really happened?"
"Why would you want to tell everyone our personal business?"
He took her face in his hands and stepped close to her. "I have wanted nothing more, since day one, to shout how I feel about you from the rooftops. I am so proud of you and I love you so much, you have to understand. This is--this is me, shouting my love for you from the rooftops. Okay? And I need you right now. I need you to stand by me and support me and be my woman. I need you to love me."
She looked up at him in silence for a moment before she said, nearly inaudibly, "I bet I can shout louder than you."
Smiling a giddy smile, he laughed quietly. "You think so?"
"I know so." And then, without warning, she pulled out of Jason's grip as his hands fell to her shoulders and she threw her head back. "I LOVE YOU!" She shouted in the middle of the hotel lobby at the top of her lungs amidst her giggling.
Jason threw his head back and roared in laughter.
"I LOVE YOU, JASON KAMEALOHA!!"
He continued to laugh as he pulled her close and kissed her passionately, her arms wrapping around his neck. Makeup was there in an instant and Jason broke their kiss just long enough to be aggravated and said, "Would you please, just give it a second?" And then he kissed his fiancée again as the makeup girl walked away.
--------------------
Moments later, once everything was in order again, Jason, Melody, and Isolde all sat across from each other again, this time all three were smiling. "Well, then" Isolde started. "That sounded like quite the happy ending."
Melody glanced up at Jason and smiled at him. "We, uh, have our moments."
Isolde leaned over and placed her hand on Melody's knee. "Melody, I just want you to know, I'm not here to smear your name or dig into your business. Okay? If anything makes you uncomfortable, it won't hurt my feelings if you don't want to answer. I don't ever want you to say or do anything you don't want to. I don't run my interviews that way."
Melody smiled and nodded. "Thank you. I think I'm okay, though. I think--"
"I think maybe next time we do something like this, I should probably think through how I present it beforehand a little better," Jason chuckled.
"See?" Melody smiled. "Just blame it on the man."
"What else is new?" He joked. She elbowed him in the ribs.
"So before we were talking about your previous engagement," Isolde said. "How did something like that happen, despite how you felt about Jason?"
Melody took a deep breath before she answered. "Jason came into the picture in the right place at exactly the wrong time. My head and my heart were already elsewhere. And when Jason showed up, I turned the way I felt about him into something else. Struggled to keep it platonic. And his telling me he couldn't commit due to work helped a little."
"That line was a crock, I hope you know that," Jason said all of a sudden.
Melody looked shocked. Offended. Surprised. "Excuse me? You told me you would never lie to me. That you never said anything you didn't mean."
"I said I would never maliciously deceive you. I never said I wouldn't help you with whatever journey you were on."
"But--but you--"
"It wasn't because of work that I couldn't commit. I couldn't commit because of him. I was hoping you'd put two and two together when I finally spelled it out in Cabo."
Melody was silent as she glanced down at her hands. "We had a future that day..."
"We always had a future."
"But you told me--"
"You needed to do what you needed to do. And I needed to let you. Mel, I was in love with you before the sun even rose the next morning. Everything I do is for you."
"I put you through hell."
"And like I told Isolde earlier, I'd do it again. Because everything we went through put us here. I told you if I couldn't have all of your heart, I couldn't have you at all. And I meant it. I had to let you see it through with him, no matter how far it went."
The room was silent for a moment before Isolde finally spoke. "Wow," she whispered in awe. "That almost has me in tears."
Meanwhile, the producer was handing Melody another tissue.
Finally, Melody spoke. "I'm so sorry."
Jason pulled her tight against him and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "You have nothing to apologize for."
"I thought I was doing the right thing at the time," Melody said. "And in a way, I guess maybe I was. My ex and I did love each other but I don't think it was in the way that we thought. We've known each other since we were very small children and we were old flames as teenagers. We had a bad breakup and it left a lot of things unsaid and I think that those things that were left unsaid is what we believed love was--except that our relationship was a ticking time bomb. It took a minor catastrophe to open both our eyes but I like to think we parted ways amicably. It was his idea that I call Jason while I was in New York over the summer."
"Really?" Jason said suddenly.
Melody nodded. "Yeah. He said he knew. He said he knew all along."
"So...you're old friends, old flames, trying to make something work that wasn't there. Making excuses and masking emotions. When all along you were in love with another man."
"And I was the only one who couldn't see it. Denial is a very strong, powerful emotion. Very dangerous."
"When did it click with you?" Isolde asked.
"When Jason had his heart attack and I went to Chicago. When I thought I could lose him forever and I couldn't bear the thought. It hit me then. Hard. Like fifty tons of bricks."
Isolde smiled. "Not just a ton, huh?"
Melody shook her head. "No. Fifty good tons. At least."
"But you let him go."
"I let him go because I couldn't bear for him to be there while I got married anyway--regardless of the way I felt about him. It wasn't fair. My ex and I were going to premarital counseling at the time and I thought that would fix us. When it didn't, and our relationship went from bad to worse, I knew that my personal feelings and emotions had a lot to do with it. I was stubborn. Very hard-headed and stubborn."
"And now that you've accepted the reality?"
Melody smiled, an almost euphoric expression on her face. "I feel so free. Everything is clear, everything is fresh. I've never been this happy in my entire life. It's such a surreal feeling."
"Is there ever that fear that you might fall into the old Hollywood couple stereotype, the ones who never can seem to stay together?"
Melody glanced up at Jason and they both shook their heads. "No," they said simultaneously. The three of them chuckled. "No," Melody continued. "I think in order for that stereotype to work, you both have to be famous. And I'm not famous."
"But you are by proxy."
"Not famous enough! Besides, third time's the charm, right? And there's more than enough charm to go around in this guy," Melody smiled as she patted her fiancée's knee.
Smiling, Isolde changed the subject. "So I hear you recently bought a home here in Hawaii. Congratulations."
They both smiled. "Thank you," Melody said.
"So what's it like to live with--well what used to be--Hollywood's most eligible bachelor?"
Melody giggled. "It's been an experience. We're still getting used to it."
"How so?"
"In the beginning, it was, um..."
"Oh my god," Jason threw his head back in mock exasperation.
"It wasn't THAT bad," Melody teased him.
"I kid you not, she had spent one night in my house--"
"Our house," she corrected.
"--our house, excuse me, honey. She had spent one night in OUR house in Malibu and the very next day she had already had concrete lain in the back yard and by day three she had traded in her car and fired my housekeeper."
"You fired the housekeeper?"
"I believe my exact words to him were, 'I refuse to live the typical Hollywood housewife lifestyle.' And I'm a clean freak anyway, so who needed a housekeeper, right?"
"Except that she can't cook," Jason interjected. "Well, I mean, she can NOW, but you know, then..."
Isolde gaped at the two of them. "Melody! How do you feel about him saying that?"
"It's the truth. I spent most of my adult life in New York City. Nobody cooks there. Anyway, so we hired her back to cook at least twice per week. I'm currently taking lessons from her."
Isolde laughed. "How is that going?"
"I've only set two fires, so I think pretty well."
The three of them laughed. "Which reminds me, I understand the police were called out to your Malibu home not too long ago. Care to explain what happened there?"
"I'm surprised the police were called at all," Jason muttered.
"It was self-defense," Melody said confidently. "This new trainer of Jason's was stopping by to go over a new workout schedule with him and he beat Jason there because he was stuck in traffic on his way home from a meeting. So I played hostess and we sat in the kitchen and we chatted for a little bit and I offered him something to drink. I go to the refrigerator to get it and as I'm closing the door I back up right into the guy. Red flags immediately started to go off and I even said, 'Excuse me' and he refused to move. The moment I felt his hand on my waist, that was all she wrote. I'm specially trained in a few skills that aren't cooking, so I reached back and elbowed him in the face enough to back him up and then I turned around and kneed him in the ba--in the, uh, groin area, and then I applied a pressure point to knock him out until Jason got there. Except I didn't count on him hitting his head on the way down and I think that's where it got a little problematic."
Isolde's mouth gaped open until Melody suddenly shook her head. "He's alive! Don't worry, he's alive!"
Isolde released a breath and laughed.
"When I walked in the house and saw the scene, I thought she'd killed him," Jason said. "Honestly. I thought, 'Crap, I finally get her to myself and now she's off to prison!'"
"So he called the police on you."
"When he came to, yeah. Except that it turned out that he has a history of female assault, so. He could have just not called the cops, but that was on him."
Changing the subject again, Isolde smiled. "So let's go ahead and talk about the white elephant in the room. I've been looking at that ring this entire time and I think it's just exquisite. But I have to ask--why no diamond?"
"There are diamonds in it," Jason said defensively.
"Does it disappoint you that it's not a...a typical engagement ring, for lack of a better term?" Isolde asked Melody.
Melody shook her head as she looked at her own ring in awe. "Not at all. I, uh, I don't really think you can put a concrete definition on what's an engagement ring--or even a wedding ring, for that matter. I love this ring. I think it's beautiful. It's exactly who we are. Simple, unique, intricate."
"I find it interesting that you describe your relationship as simple."
"Because it is. We don't require much. Just each other."
"No white picket fences, college funds, or retirement plans?"
"Nope. We live day by day. I would live in a bamboo hut with him on a deserted island because I know he'd keep me safe and make it a home."
Jason pulled her tight against him. "Just keep giving me ideas, darlin.' Keep 'em coming."
The three of them laughed.
"So how did he do it?" Isolde asked.
Melody smiled at the memory. "It was just recent. I imagine by the time this airs, the announcement will be out. I don't know. Anyway, I never saw it coming. Not in a million years. But I was sitting on the beach, just taking a couple minutes to myself, when he comes out and sits with me. We talk for a couple of minutes and then he's like, 'So I saw something somewhere that made me think of you.' And then he holds up his pinkie finger and my ring is sitting on it."
"On it," Isolde emphasized.
"His hands are huge, it barely fit below his nail! Anyway, of course it doesn't look like a typical engagement ring so I was like, 'Oh that's beautiful, I love it' and then all of a sudden he's like, 'Well let's see how it fits on this finger.' And he puts it on my left ring finger and for a second I don't think anything of it until he says to me, 'Would you wear that on that finger forever?' And that's when I figured out what was going on and I said yes and then we were engaged. Simple and sweet. Perfect."
"So no...no getting down on one knee, no grand gestures, sky writers, flowers, mariachi band..."
Melody giggled and shook her head. "No, none of that. Wasn't necessary."
Isolde smiled, her hand covering her heart. "Oh, Jason. Do you have any idea how many hearts are breaking right now in this very moment?"
Melody smiled and Jason smiled and shrugged coyly. "Guess that means the men should be watching too."
"So when's the big day?"
Melody glanced up at Jason as he stretched his arms over his head and rested his arm back on the loveseat behind her, crossing his ankle over his knee. Looking down at her, he asked her, "I don't know, babe. Did we set a date yet?"
Melody smiled and shook her head. "No. No date yet. We'll get married when we get married."
"As in, if you just wake up one morning and decide, 'Hey, let's get married today?'"
Melody shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
"Jason, how do you feel about that?"
"I'm game," he smiled, amused. "I'll follow this little woman wherever she wants to lead me. Whatever her decision is, I'm good with it."
As the three of them laughed, Isolde wrapped up the interview by saying, "Well I am so pleased that the two of you took the time to sit with me on this beautiful Hawaiian day. You are a truly beautiful couple, inside and out, and I wish you both all the best in your endeavors, both personally and in love. Thank you so much."
They sat across from each other in the lobby of a hotel on a sunny Hawaiian afternoon, on comfortable, white leather upholstery. Jason Kamealoha had picked this location because he liked the way the light came in through the windows at that particular time of the day. He knew the natural light wouldn't interfere with the cameras or the set lights. He knew the inner workings of how to set a scene and even threw a few helpful suggestions to the crew, who happily took him at his word. After all, this was his home. He knew what was best.
He dressed simply in a snug, white t-shirt and jeans with a small tear in the knee. On the red carpet, he was the picture of GQ magazine. In his normal life, he says, he's a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy. Unless his lady love prefers to dress for an occasion--and boy, does she like to dress for an occasion. "But I'm home," he says. "This is where I'm comfortable. My hair's neat and my beard's trim and I don't look like a bum. She won't let me."
Isolde Wilson smiled across at Jason, amused by his comment. As they waited on the producers and the director to start the interview, she observed him. The first and only time she had ever interviewed him was back when he first broke big into the industry several years ago. He had been quiet, a little on edge, and slightly tongue-tied. It was merely a two-minute segment, but he sweated it like it was a police interrogation. Talking about his love life, or lack thereof, wasn't even an option. Now, Isolde got the opportunity to interview both him and his new fiancée.
Over his shoulder, behind the loveseat he sat on, he was constantly turning his body around to see what was going on. Across the lobby, out of the way of the set and the cameras, his fiancée sat in a chair while hair and makeup worked on her, preparing her to join him for the second half of the interview. Suddenly, he called out, "Hey! Wipe that shit off her face, she doesn't need that much makeup. She doesn't even wear that much makeup to dinner."
His fiancée turned her head and made a face at him, waving him away with her hand. He turned around and smiled at Isolde sheepishly. "She really doesn't need that much makeup. I picked this place so the natural light would come in on her enough so that they don't have to cake that shit on. It's not natural."
Isolde smiled. "You prefer her natural," she observed.
"I prefer that she looks like herself."
"So you picked this location for her, not for yourself. Interesting."
"Everything I do is for her."
Isolde's smile widened.
Moments later, after makeup had swept brushes over Jason's and Isolde's faces one last time, the director called "action" and the interview began.
Isolde smiled at Jason. "Jason Kamealoha."
Jason beamed at her. "Isolde Wilson."
Isolde had to giggle lightly. She could already tell that this would be an enjoyable interview. "How do you feel about being this year's Most Fascinating Person?"
"Fascinated," he answered. The two of them laughed. He scratched his nose as he continued, an obvious nervous reflex. "It fascinates me that people think I'm fascinating. I don't really do anything. I go to the gym and I go to work. Not really sure what's so fascinating about that."
"Well, you've had quite a year."
Jason looked around in thought for a second and then he nodded. "Yeah. I guess you could say that."
"You had two movies premier earlier this year that both did exceptionally well. One of them is even getting a sequel. And another one that wrapped filming not too long ago that's already creating...possible Oscar buzz? Congratulations on that."
Jason smiled graciously. A smile hardly ever left his face. "Thank you," he nods. "Gonna be a busy year next year. That starts filming...well, I'm heading out to Europe for that in a couple weeks actually. And then I just signed onto a much larger project that starts filming immediately after this one I'm about to start, so. I'm home now taking a break before my family thinks I've vanished into thin air again."
The two of them laugh lightly. Lots of laughing. Lots of smiling. Both of them at ease in this atmosphere. "What do you think of everyone talking Oscar with the one you just wrapped?"
"Uh, it's crazy," he says, humbly. "I mean, of course, as an actor, that Oscar is, like, the be-all end-all of your career." He paused to chuckle. "But, yeah, I'd love to win an Oscar--or be in an Oscar-nominated film. It'd be an honor. But if it doesn't play out that way, at least it's still a great film. Plenty of great films manage to slide under the Oscar radar, so. Winning would be nice, but I'm not gonna set my heart on it."
This was easier than Isolde thought it would be. Jason basically just opened the door right up for the next gauntlet she planned to deliver. "Speaking of your heart. You had a heart attack over the summer. What was that like?"
Jason's expression grew a little more serious and he shifted in his seat, glancing over his shoulder and then catching himself, obviously remembering that the cameras were rolling. He knew the questions would be personal, and maybe a little difficult, as Isolde had told him earlier. But it was obvious that there were times that he needed his fiancée by his side and this was apparently one of them. Jason Kamealoha was a strong, prideful man who didn't seem to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but an ever-observant Isolde Wilson found it painfully obvious that he wasn't quite as strong as he made out to be. The observation made her smile a little as she waited on his response.
"Uh, I don't really like to think of it as a heart attack," he finally said, fingering the tip of his nose nervously.
"But that's what it was."
"If you wanna get technical, sure, I had a small, mild heart issue. But it's not like I had a bypass or anything. They kept me under observation overnight and wrote me out of work for a few days. The after was more hell than the during."
"Was it scary for you, as an action star and playing the types of roles that you play, to have what you call a 'small, mild heart issue?'"
"Hell yeah, it was scary. One minute I'm chasing a stunt double down a sidewalk in downtown Chicago at full speed and the next minute I'm on my knees and they're rushing me to the hospital. The whole thing was a blur, I didn't know what to think. And then they're like, "Uh, Mr. Kamealoha, it appears you've suffered a heart attack..." and I was like, 'Uh, no the hell I did not.' You don't tell a man who doesn't smoke and who exercises and eats healthy that he's had a heart attack. People like that don't have heart attacks."
Isolde laughed lightly as his recount. "You were just gonna diagnose yourself, then."
Jason smiled. "You're damn right I was."
She smiled back at him warmly and her voice softened. "Melody was there, wasn't she?"
He nodded and blushed, glancing down at his hands. "She was. She, uh, flew in all the way from Oklahoma the moment she heard."
"And you weren't together then."
"No. She was my best friend. She still is. That's what friends do, they're there for each other. And she was there for me and, uh, to be honest, I'm not sure--if it weren't for her--well, she kept me sane."
"Reportedly, there was a scene during your hospital discharge."
At that, Jason laughed as he recalled the memory. "Wow. Yeah. Typical Mel in all her glory. She's a spitfire, that one. Uh, yeah, she kicked my director, both the producers, AND my agent out of my room."
Isolde's eyes widened and she scoffed. "All of them!"
"Every last one. I nearly had another heart attack right there. I thought for sure, I was getting fired. But her heart was in the right place and I was grateful. I was ready to get back to work and she was concerned for my health. She's a good woman, that one."
"So what happened after? Lots of reports from the set once you came back to work."
Jason sighed. "Yeah, I'm sure there were."
"Reports that you were difficult to work with, argumentative, verbally combative...late some days. You went from being a joy to work with to a typical Hollywood nightmare, which is extremely out of character for you. It's reported that you were almost recast. What happened, Jason? What caused this sudden change in personality?"
Jason paused again, glancing over his shoulder uneasily. It was apparent that he was starting to feel exposed and that his fiancée was his security. Finally, Isolde called him out on it, curiosity getting the best of her. "Every time I ask you a difficult question, you look over your shoulder. Are you uncomfortable?"
"Uh, no," he attempted to reassure her, shaking his head.
"You're looking for her."
"Um, uh, I mean, you know, just--checking...you know..."
"You don't feel safe without her, do you?"
His spine straightened at Isolde's observation. "My ego took a hit with that heart attack. My self-esteem. My motivation. I had some, uh, personal issues that suddenly piled themselves on top of all the mess and someone like me, who loves their work and is always on the go, you feel invincible, like nothing can touch you--and then you suffer a setback like that and it messes with your head. It was like--I couldn't pull myself out of the funk. I didn't know who I was. I wasn't an invalid with a bad heart, but that's what I felt like and that's how everyone treated me. I was mad. Frustrated. Mostly with myself. It was rough. I would have fired me, too."
"But they didn't."
He shook his head and he smiled. "No. They didn't and I'm grateful for that. Terribly grateful. They had faith in me. That was an excellent crew to work with."
"And then you announced your retirement?"
Jason chuckled uneasily. "That was--that was a temporary moment of insanity, I think. I can't stay away. I can't not act. I'm addicted to it, I love what I do."
"So what made you do it? What made you wake up one day and say, 'I just don't want to act anymore?'"
"Um--I was going through a few personal things. Messed me up a little more than I thought they would. Didn't really feel the motivation to act. Didn't feel inspired. And I thought if I was going to be that difficult to work with like I was then, I might as well just not do it, you know?"
"What happened?"
Jason was suddenly uneasy again. "Um, Mel--Melody and I, she--we--at the time, thought it would be best if our friendship sort of, uh, took a hiatus? Per se?" He let out a light, nervous laugh. "Kinda made me question life and the way I was living it--the way I looked at things. Suddenly, playing a bunch of fake characters didn't feel right anymore. I needed something real. Or, well, that was my mindset at the time."
"Because she was engaged to another man then. Another well-known."
"Uh. Yeah. Yeah, that was part of it, I guess. I mean, that never stopped us from being friends..."
"But you loved her then," Isolde said softly.
Jason was quiet. "It got to be too much."
"On who?"
"Both of us. She was preparing to get married and I couldn't stand in the way anymore. It was--it was right...at the time..."
Isolde then smiled warmly. "But now she's preparing to marry you."
He smiled and nodded. "She is."
"Tell me about the day you met Melody."
A smile spread across Jason's face a mile wide. It was an adorable, infectious smile and Isolde couldn't help but share in his joy. "That's a smile that says it all right there," she observed.
"God," he said, rubbing his face with his hands. "That was the day that changed my entire life."
"Love at first sight?"
"Absolutely. I always thought that was a bunch of bull until she walked into the room and she had me, hook, line, and sinker before she even opened her mouth. As a matter of fact, her first words when we met were 'Sweet Christ.'"
Isolde had to laugh. "Sweet Christ? Interesting first words."
Jason laughed. "She said it real quiet and to this day, she doesn't know that I heard it. Hell, she only said what I was thinking anyway, so."
She continued to smile. "How did you meet?"
"Blind date."
Isolde was amused. "A blind date, huh? Even hot Hollywood actors need help dating sometimes, huh?"
"Well, I wasn't--I wasn't Jason Kamealoha, Action Star then. Then I was just, 'Hey! Where's that Jason guy who's supposed to crash this car?'"
Isolde chuckled. "That is right, you did stunts before you became a star."
"Yeah. She knew me back when. Right before I scored my first lead role."
"So this blind date. How does a man like you end up on a blind date?"
"Not easily," he laughed. "Not easily. I was in New York, I'd stopped in to visit a couple of friends on my way from Canada to Hawaii. I'd only been in town two or three days and one of my buddies was like, 'Hey, I told my friend I'd go on this group thing with her and her friend needs a date.' And I was like, 'Nah, man. No thanks, I don't do blind dates, not gonna happen.' And he kept on and was all, 'Come on, do this for me, she's cute, I've seen her picture.' My buddy is gay, mind you. What the hell does he know about hot women, right?"
"You'd be surprised," Isolde laughed.
"Well, I'll give him this one."
"So your friend twisted your arm."
"I've never had my arm twisted so hard in my life. Finally, though, I caved and I was like what the hell, it's my last night in New York, might as well go out, right? So we end up in this Brownstone in the living room and by this time I'd already met Drew--"
"Andrew Brooks, correct?"
"Yeah. This was before her time, too. Anyway, so I was like, 'Okay, she's cute, surely she has hot friends.'"
"And then Melody happened."
"She hid from me!" He laughed.
Isolde laughed with him. "She hid from you?"
"Yes, literally, she hid from me. She rounded the corner and then she turned right back around. I could hear her and Drew whispering in the hallway, it was funny as hell."
"You made her nervous."
"She was more nervous than I was. I mean, we're talking, a whole other universe of nervous. It was adorable."
"What was your first reaction upon seeing her?"
Jason blushed as his grin widened. "I was a goner. It was all I could do to keep it together. She wore this--this short, silver dress made entirely of, like, those sequin things? It had one sleeve and it was tight and hugged her in all the right places. And the shoes she wore were so tall--I had no idea how short she actually was until later."
Isolde smiled at him with stars at her eyes. She almost found herself swooning. "You remember what she wore all that time ago."
"Well, you couldn't really forget an outfit like that," he joked. "But, yeah, I remember everything she wears."
"What did she wear yesterday?"
"White leggings and a red, silk, Hawaiian print button-down shirt. She looked amazing."
"Wow. You've got quite the memory, don't you? Most men don't remember what their wives wore to work that day."
Jason looked around deviously and smiled, adjusting his own shirt. "We don't really have to tell her that," he said in a loud whisper. "A man's gotta keep some form of dignity, you know."
She chuckled. "I understand. Duly noted." Then she grew serious again. "But it didn't last."
"It didn't even go anywhere. Our connection was instantaneous. Undeniable. But I was too late, she belonged to someone else. And he was married."
"And then he wasn't."
"And then she chose him. And I had to let her go. And I've been through hell and back for her but I'd do it again in a heartbeat, just to get to where I'm sitting today."
"I have a feeling there won't be a dry eye in the house when this episode airs, Jason."
Jason smiled in an attempt to brighten the mood. "Sorry! Didn't mean to depress everyone!"
Isolde smiled and, with that, they called cut on the cameras.
-----------------------
"Isolde, you're killing me," Jason said.
"I warned you," she said. "I'm a toughie."
"Yeah, you weren't kidding."
Getting up to stretch, Jason stood from the loveseat and wasted no time rounding the corner of it and heading straight for the space behind them where the makeup table was set up. His fiancée met him halfway, dressed in a blue, boat-necked dress that hung loosely above her knees and arms with white and green palm tree branches printed on it. A rope belt wrapped around and cork wedge heels completed the ensemble and the hair stylist had curled back her long, dark hair. Her splash of color against his white shirt and Hawaiian skin made them a match made in heaven. Isolde watched from where she stood, ever observant, as he pulled her close to him and said something inaudible to her. She reached up and touched his face and he smiled down at her before he kissed her. She prayed that someone was getting all of this on camera and she was more than thrilled when she glanced off to her side and saw, not only the red light on the video camera, but someone inconspicuously taking stills. No one could hear what was said, as Jason had left his microphone draped on the arm of the loveseat, but it didn't matter. Love was a language all in its own and Isolde had a feeling everyone in the room was learning it that day.
-----------------------
When the break was over, Jason Kamealoha and Melody Banks sat across from Isolde Wilson. Though the loveseat comfortably seated two, Melody's small frame left half a cushion untouched as she sat up straight in the crook of Jason's arm as he rested it across the back behind her. She seemed to click into him like a puzzle piece. It was a sight to smile at and Isolde did. Jason sat more confidently now than he had in his solo interview. He seemed collected and at ease. His other half was here now and he was allowed to feel secure. Isolde had done enough interviews over the years to have seen it all. You couldn't put an emotion, mannerism or act of body language past her. She read people like books.
Glancing down, she observed Melody's left hand, sporting the gold and diamond band on her left ring finger as she white-knuckled Jason's hand against his leg. As the cameras rolled again, Isolde couldn't help but observe, "Are you nervous, Melody?"
Melody nodded. "Uh, a little, yes. I've, um, I've never done anything like--I've never been on TV before, so, yeah, I'm scared to death."
"But you posed scantily clad in Maxim earlier this year. Twice."
Melody blushed. "That was so different. I didn't have to speak or--or even think, really."
"I see," Isolde smiled. "So, Melody. How are you?"
"I'm good. Really good, thank you. How are you?"
Isolde's smile widened. "Well I'm just great, thank you very much. So, Melody. Let's just start, right off the bat, and get the question out of the way that every woman in America is dying to know. How did you manage to land a catch like Jason Kamealoha?"
Melody blushed again as she laughed. "Make sure your friends set you up on an involuntary blind date!"
"Oh, so that's all it takes?"
"Apparently so."
"What did you know about Jason before you met him?"
"Absolutely nothing. All I knew was that Drew and I were sitting in the nail salon and all of a sudden she says we're going out and she got us dates. And I was trapped."
"You couldn't just tell her you didn't want to go out?"
"Um, I wasn't exactly in a position to say no, given the nature of--"
"We were going out with her ex and his wife. And his brothers and their wives," Jason interjected.
Melody's head whipped over to look at him. "Jason," she whispered. "I don't think so much detail is necessary."
"But it's the truth," Isolde pressed.
"Yes," Melody said, defeated. "It's the truth."
"It all makes sense now," Isolde said.
"Oh, Jason didn't go home that night," Melody said suddenly. "Let's not misunderstand here."
Instantly, Isolde found herself blushing and Jason smiled, the blood rising to his cheeks, as well. "She's an honest one," he muttered.
"Well I'm not gonna lie," Melody said to him quietly.
Once Isolde got over the shock, she asked, "He says you hid from him. Why was that?"
Melody smiled. "Look at him. Well, his hair was longer then." She looked up at Jason. "I do miss that hair, by the way."
"You're gonna keep on missing it, gorgeous, cause they're not gonna let me grow it out any time soon," he smiled, running his hand through his hair.
Melody rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I didn't expect to see--him. I didn't expect this tall, dark, sexy man standing in my living room. I thought he was Drew's date. I had to ask! But, yeah, in that split second that I rounded the corner, my eyes met his and it was like--I couldn't breathe. It hit me that hard and for a second I couldn't handle it and so I ran--ironically."
"You knew."
"I did."
"Right then and there, you knew."
"It took half a second."
"And then..."
Melody sighed. "And then it was one of the most magical nights of my life. In less than twelve hours, Jason changed my life so drastically it was almost the closest thing to a spiritual encounter I'd ever had." She started to tear up and one of the producers reached out and handed her a tissue. "Thank you," she said to him.
Jason looked down at her and reached his arm around her shoulder to brush her hair off her face. "Baby, don't cry," he whispered.
She smiled up at him and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said in an attempt to dry her tears before they flowed. "I'm okay, I just--I get emotional when I think of that night. And our conversation the next morning. I hung on to every word he said and he made everything sound so simple and so easy. And it should have been. And then, within hours, he was gone off to Hawaii."
"Did you think you'd ever see him again?"
Melody shook her head. "No."
"Really?" Jason asked, suddenly.
"Yeah. I thought--I thought that night was it for us. That you were going to swoop in, make everything better, and then disappear. Which almost happened--until I caved and called you."
"So you contacted him," Isolde smiled.
"I couldn't stay away."
"But you did stay away. You claimed you fell in love with Jason but yet you entered into a relationship with your ex and eventually was engaged to marry him. How does something like that happen?"
Isolde watched Melody tense up all of a sudden. The look in her eyes grew colder and she glanced around the room at the producers and Isolde. Sensing the tension, she attempted to relieve some of it. "I know these are difficult questions, Melody. But you have to understand what it looks like from the outside."
"I know what it looks like on the outside," Melody retorted. "And to quote my fiancée, 'the ones who know the truth are the only ones that matter.'"
"Um, babe--" Jason muttered quietly.
"Don't you think that statement is just a little unfair? Don't you think people deserve to know your side of the story? Don't you want to stave off a lot of the unfair speculation?"
"Do I really want to live my life worrying about someone's speculations?"
"Look, can we cut this for a minute?" Jason asked suddenly. "Can we stop the cameras so I can have a moment alone with my fiancée? Please?"
----------------------
The director called cut and Jason proceeded to remove his own microphone and then Melody's. Helping her off the loveseat, he led her into a corner of the lobby. Isolde supposed he thought they were out of earshot, but she heard it all.
"What the hell is going on over there?" Melody asked him.
"Mel, I know--"
"Do you? Do you hear what she's doing to me over there? You didn't tell me you were fucking feeding me to the wolves! I thought this was about us, you and me? I didn't know were going to be reliving the all the shit we finally overcame! I don't even think anyone bothered to get the authorization to even say Tay's name and now we're gonna sit there and rake him over the coals, too?"
"No," he said to her firmly. "She never even said his name and she won't."
"I don't want to relive that bullshit, Jason. I'm happy NOW. With you. Why can't we just keep it that way? I'm not answering anymore questions like that."
"Yes, you are."
"What? You are the last person I would EVER expect to be okay with broadcasting our personal business on national television! What we have is ours! It's nobody's business! And, frankly, I think it's trashy and disrespectful to even have to sit there and discuss it. Didn't you hear her? There's plenty of speculation out there to appease anyone and even YOU are the one who said, 'Fuck 'em. Who cares what anyone thinks?' And yet here we sit. How am I supposed to feel about that, Jason?"
"I really think you're making a bigger deal of this than it is."
She looked up at him for a moment, speechless. Finally, she asks, "Who are you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I don't understand what's going on here."
He inched closer to her and lowered his face closer to hers in an attempt to be even more quiet, with no success. "What's going on here is that this is excellent exposure for me and I really need your support right now. This is Isolde Wilson. It's an honor to even get asked to be interviewed by her. You know that."
"So you want me to sit there and help you sell out?"
"It's not selling out, Melody! You think I didn't get raked over the coals, too? Where the hell were you for my first half? I had to talk about my goddamn heart attack, I had to talk about how you ended our friendship--how you were engaged to Taylor and I couldn't have you. How the fuck do you think *I* feel? It hasn't been a picnic for me, either, princess."
She looked as if his words stung her as she took a step backward from him. "Is that what you think of me?" she asked quietly. "You think I'm spoiled? And selfish? You've never called me princess before. It sounded so hateful."
Jason sighed, the pain in his eyes unmistakable. "No," he said. "I didn't mean to say that, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I'm just--I just want you to understand what this interview means to me. Why wouldn't you want people to know what really happened?"
"Why would you want to tell everyone our personal business?"
He took her face in his hands and stepped close to her. "I have wanted nothing more, since day one, to shout how I feel about you from the rooftops. I am so proud of you and I love you so much, you have to understand. This is--this is me, shouting my love for you from the rooftops. Okay? And I need you right now. I need you to stand by me and support me and be my woman. I need you to love me."
She looked up at him in silence for a moment before she said, nearly inaudibly, "I bet I can shout louder than you."
Smiling a giddy smile, he laughed quietly. "You think so?"
"I know so." And then, without warning, she pulled out of Jason's grip as his hands fell to her shoulders and she threw her head back. "I LOVE YOU!" She shouted in the middle of the hotel lobby at the top of her lungs amidst her giggling.
Jason threw his head back and roared in laughter.
"I LOVE YOU, JASON KAMEALOHA!!"
He continued to laugh as he pulled her close and kissed her passionately, her arms wrapping around his neck. Makeup was there in an instant and Jason broke their kiss just long enough to be aggravated and said, "Would you please, just give it a second?" And then he kissed his fiancée again as the makeup girl walked away.
--------------------
Moments later, once everything was in order again, Jason, Melody, and Isolde all sat across from each other again, this time all three were smiling. "Well, then" Isolde started. "That sounded like quite the happy ending."
Melody glanced up at Jason and smiled at him. "We, uh, have our moments."
Isolde leaned over and placed her hand on Melody's knee. "Melody, I just want you to know, I'm not here to smear your name or dig into your business. Okay? If anything makes you uncomfortable, it won't hurt my feelings if you don't want to answer. I don't ever want you to say or do anything you don't want to. I don't run my interviews that way."
Melody smiled and nodded. "Thank you. I think I'm okay, though. I think--"
"I think maybe next time we do something like this, I should probably think through how I present it beforehand a little better," Jason chuckled.
"See?" Melody smiled. "Just blame it on the man."
"What else is new?" He joked. She elbowed him in the ribs.
"So before we were talking about your previous engagement," Isolde said. "How did something like that happen, despite how you felt about Jason?"
Melody took a deep breath before she answered. "Jason came into the picture in the right place at exactly the wrong time. My head and my heart were already elsewhere. And when Jason showed up, I turned the way I felt about him into something else. Struggled to keep it platonic. And his telling me he couldn't commit due to work helped a little."
"That line was a crock, I hope you know that," Jason said all of a sudden.
Melody looked shocked. Offended. Surprised. "Excuse me? You told me you would never lie to me. That you never said anything you didn't mean."
"I said I would never maliciously deceive you. I never said I wouldn't help you with whatever journey you were on."
"But--but you--"
"It wasn't because of work that I couldn't commit. I couldn't commit because of him. I was hoping you'd put two and two together when I finally spelled it out in Cabo."
Melody was silent as she glanced down at her hands. "We had a future that day..."
"We always had a future."
"But you told me--"
"You needed to do what you needed to do. And I needed to let you. Mel, I was in love with you before the sun even rose the next morning. Everything I do is for you."
"I put you through hell."
"And like I told Isolde earlier, I'd do it again. Because everything we went through put us here. I told you if I couldn't have all of your heart, I couldn't have you at all. And I meant it. I had to let you see it through with him, no matter how far it went."
The room was silent for a moment before Isolde finally spoke. "Wow," she whispered in awe. "That almost has me in tears."
Meanwhile, the producer was handing Melody another tissue.
Finally, Melody spoke. "I'm so sorry."
Jason pulled her tight against him and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "You have nothing to apologize for."
"I thought I was doing the right thing at the time," Melody said. "And in a way, I guess maybe I was. My ex and I did love each other but I don't think it was in the way that we thought. We've known each other since we were very small children and we were old flames as teenagers. We had a bad breakup and it left a lot of things unsaid and I think that those things that were left unsaid is what we believed love was--except that our relationship was a ticking time bomb. It took a minor catastrophe to open both our eyes but I like to think we parted ways amicably. It was his idea that I call Jason while I was in New York over the summer."
"Really?" Jason said suddenly.
Melody nodded. "Yeah. He said he knew. He said he knew all along."
"So...you're old friends, old flames, trying to make something work that wasn't there. Making excuses and masking emotions. When all along you were in love with another man."
"And I was the only one who couldn't see it. Denial is a very strong, powerful emotion. Very dangerous."
"When did it click with you?" Isolde asked.
"When Jason had his heart attack and I went to Chicago. When I thought I could lose him forever and I couldn't bear the thought. It hit me then. Hard. Like fifty tons of bricks."
Isolde smiled. "Not just a ton, huh?"
Melody shook her head. "No. Fifty good tons. At least."
"But you let him go."
"I let him go because I couldn't bear for him to be there while I got married anyway--regardless of the way I felt about him. It wasn't fair. My ex and I were going to premarital counseling at the time and I thought that would fix us. When it didn't, and our relationship went from bad to worse, I knew that my personal feelings and emotions had a lot to do with it. I was stubborn. Very hard-headed and stubborn."
"And now that you've accepted the reality?"
Melody smiled, an almost euphoric expression on her face. "I feel so free. Everything is clear, everything is fresh. I've never been this happy in my entire life. It's such a surreal feeling."
"Is there ever that fear that you might fall into the old Hollywood couple stereotype, the ones who never can seem to stay together?"
Melody glanced up at Jason and they both shook their heads. "No," they said simultaneously. The three of them chuckled. "No," Melody continued. "I think in order for that stereotype to work, you both have to be famous. And I'm not famous."
"But you are by proxy."
"Not famous enough! Besides, third time's the charm, right? And there's more than enough charm to go around in this guy," Melody smiled as she patted her fiancée's knee.
Smiling, Isolde changed the subject. "So I hear you recently bought a home here in Hawaii. Congratulations."
They both smiled. "Thank you," Melody said.
"So what's it like to live with--well what used to be--Hollywood's most eligible bachelor?"
Melody giggled. "It's been an experience. We're still getting used to it."
"How so?"
"In the beginning, it was, um..."
"Oh my god," Jason threw his head back in mock exasperation.
"It wasn't THAT bad," Melody teased him.
"I kid you not, she had spent one night in my house--"
"Our house," she corrected.
"--our house, excuse me, honey. She had spent one night in OUR house in Malibu and the very next day she had already had concrete lain in the back yard and by day three she had traded in her car and fired my housekeeper."
"You fired the housekeeper?"
"I believe my exact words to him were, 'I refuse to live the typical Hollywood housewife lifestyle.' And I'm a clean freak anyway, so who needed a housekeeper, right?"
"Except that she can't cook," Jason interjected. "Well, I mean, she can NOW, but you know, then..."
Isolde gaped at the two of them. "Melody! How do you feel about him saying that?"
"It's the truth. I spent most of my adult life in New York City. Nobody cooks there. Anyway, so we hired her back to cook at least twice per week. I'm currently taking lessons from her."
Isolde laughed. "How is that going?"
"I've only set two fires, so I think pretty well."
The three of them laughed. "Which reminds me, I understand the police were called out to your Malibu home not too long ago. Care to explain what happened there?"
"I'm surprised the police were called at all," Jason muttered.
"It was self-defense," Melody said confidently. "This new trainer of Jason's was stopping by to go over a new workout schedule with him and he beat Jason there because he was stuck in traffic on his way home from a meeting. So I played hostess and we sat in the kitchen and we chatted for a little bit and I offered him something to drink. I go to the refrigerator to get it and as I'm closing the door I back up right into the guy. Red flags immediately started to go off and I even said, 'Excuse me' and he refused to move. The moment I felt his hand on my waist, that was all she wrote. I'm specially trained in a few skills that aren't cooking, so I reached back and elbowed him in the face enough to back him up and then I turned around and kneed him in the ba--in the, uh, groin area, and then I applied a pressure point to knock him out until Jason got there. Except I didn't count on him hitting his head on the way down and I think that's where it got a little problematic."
Isolde's mouth gaped open until Melody suddenly shook her head. "He's alive! Don't worry, he's alive!"
Isolde released a breath and laughed.
"When I walked in the house and saw the scene, I thought she'd killed him," Jason said. "Honestly. I thought, 'Crap, I finally get her to myself and now she's off to prison!'"
"So he called the police on you."
"When he came to, yeah. Except that it turned out that he has a history of female assault, so. He could have just not called the cops, but that was on him."
Changing the subject again, Isolde smiled. "So let's go ahead and talk about the white elephant in the room. I've been looking at that ring this entire time and I think it's just exquisite. But I have to ask--why no diamond?"
"There are diamonds in it," Jason said defensively.
"Does it disappoint you that it's not a...a typical engagement ring, for lack of a better term?" Isolde asked Melody.
Melody shook her head as she looked at her own ring in awe. "Not at all. I, uh, I don't really think you can put a concrete definition on what's an engagement ring--or even a wedding ring, for that matter. I love this ring. I think it's beautiful. It's exactly who we are. Simple, unique, intricate."
"I find it interesting that you describe your relationship as simple."
"Because it is. We don't require much. Just each other."
"No white picket fences, college funds, or retirement plans?"
"Nope. We live day by day. I would live in a bamboo hut with him on a deserted island because I know he'd keep me safe and make it a home."
Jason pulled her tight against him. "Just keep giving me ideas, darlin.' Keep 'em coming."
The three of them laughed.
"So how did he do it?" Isolde asked.
Melody smiled at the memory. "It was just recent. I imagine by the time this airs, the announcement will be out. I don't know. Anyway, I never saw it coming. Not in a million years. But I was sitting on the beach, just taking a couple minutes to myself, when he comes out and sits with me. We talk for a couple of minutes and then he's like, 'So I saw something somewhere that made me think of you.' And then he holds up his pinkie finger and my ring is sitting on it."
"On it," Isolde emphasized.
"His hands are huge, it barely fit below his nail! Anyway, of course it doesn't look like a typical engagement ring so I was like, 'Oh that's beautiful, I love it' and then all of a sudden he's like, 'Well let's see how it fits on this finger.' And he puts it on my left ring finger and for a second I don't think anything of it until he says to me, 'Would you wear that on that finger forever?' And that's when I figured out what was going on and I said yes and then we were engaged. Simple and sweet. Perfect."
"So no...no getting down on one knee, no grand gestures, sky writers, flowers, mariachi band..."
Melody giggled and shook her head. "No, none of that. Wasn't necessary."
Isolde smiled, her hand covering her heart. "Oh, Jason. Do you have any idea how many hearts are breaking right now in this very moment?"
Melody smiled and Jason smiled and shrugged coyly. "Guess that means the men should be watching too."
"So when's the big day?"
Melody glanced up at Jason as he stretched his arms over his head and rested his arm back on the loveseat behind her, crossing his ankle over his knee. Looking down at her, he asked her, "I don't know, babe. Did we set a date yet?"
Melody smiled and shook her head. "No. No date yet. We'll get married when we get married."
"As in, if you just wake up one morning and decide, 'Hey, let's get married today?'"
Melody shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
"Jason, how do you feel about that?"
"I'm game," he smiled, amused. "I'll follow this little woman wherever she wants to lead me. Whatever her decision is, I'm good with it."
As the three of them laughed, Isolde wrapped up the interview by saying, "Well I am so pleased that the two of you took the time to sit with me on this beautiful Hawaiian day. You are a truly beautiful couple, inside and out, and I wish you both all the best in your endeavors, both personally and in love. Thank you so much."