Hollywood Princess

by Dana Aynn Levin

  “I can barely remember that we started today in New York. It’s like a lifetime ago.”

  “And we’ll go to sleep tonight under the stars of Malibu,” Danny added.

  “Inside, I hope.”

  “Chilly?”

  “My own sweatshirt and towel would be nice,” I pointed out.

  Danny grinned. He scampered off the lounge to get both towels and my hoodie.

  Danny wrapped his towel around his waist before sitting down again. Then he helped me into my hoodie. I lay the towel over me like a blanket and Danny took me in his arms.

  “You’re ice cold. Let me warm you up.” Danny rubbed my arms, my back and my shoulders. “Is this helping?”

  “Not really, but it sure feels good,” I laughed.

  Danny lifted me up to my feet. I tied the towel around my waist and zippered the hoodie half-way up to match his.

  “Come sit by the heating lamp. It’s snack time.”

  I obediently followed Danny to the warmth of the lamp-baked table.

  While I sat on the curved two-person bench waiting, Danny brought cold water bottles from the nearby outdoor kitchen. I took a long pull, consuming nearly half of it at once.

  “Stay right here, Eli. I’m going inside to get our snack.” He stood and kissed my forehead. In my drunk-like state, I simply nodded.

  I loved all of Danny’s efforts to make our first night at home special. I considered all he had done. Whatever Danny was fetching from the kitchen, he had to have enlisted Ellen’s assistance. Ellen was the best! I loved her nearly as much as my own mother.

  “Close your eyes,” Danny ordered as he backed out of the house through the sliding glass door. I had no choice and smiled at the mystery he was trying to create.

  Eyes squeezed shut, I sensed Danny approach. I laughed at the absurdity of it.

  “Keep them closed, Eli. I’m almost ready.”

  My lids must have fluttered. I placed my fingers over my eyes. I felt Danny’s movements as the air current wavered. I heard him placing glass? No, maybe china? Could be both, upon the teak table. Had anticipation not been building inside me, I would have taken a deep breath to try sniffing my way out of this mystery. Giddiness prevented me.

  A loud POP broke the spell. My eyes flew open and my body slammed against the bench back in startled response. Danny’s laughter filled my ears.

  I laughed too, for there Danny stood, wearing only a towel and a zip-up hoodie while pouring champagne into fine crystal flutes. How awesome was that!

  Caviar and all its accoutrements were laid out on the table. The caviar was surrounded by ice in a beautiful crystal bowl, accompanied by a mother of pearl spoon. The chopped egg and crème fraiche were in matching bowls with small silver spoons.

  Blini were stacked on the same fine china plates as those Danny had placed before us. Then Danny dramatically opened a napkin of apricot-colored linen monogrammed in brown thread with “J-N” and placed it on my lap, over my towel skirt.

  Danny grinned, pleased with himself and rightfully so. He had pulled off this amazing evening from 3,000 miles away. I was speechless. My heart brimmed with more love than I knew possible. Danny had done all this for me!

  I slid over to make room for Danny to sit beside me. He couldn’t stop smiling and neither could I.

  “How did you do all this?” I was completely in awe.

  “I made a few strategic phone calls,” Danny answered evasively.

  “Ellen?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

  “She helped,” Danny laughed.

  I picked up my champagne flute. “You sent your mother to Geary’s?” I laughed.

  Geary’s is the elegant tabletop emporium in Beverly Hills where the fashionable brides of Los Angeles are listed for their china, crystal, silver and fine dining accessories.

  Danny shrugged, embarrassed that I’d figured it out. He reached for his flute. Now serious, Danny’s gaze met mine. He raised his flute, and I followed his lead.

  My heart beat rapidly in anticipation, but anticipation of what? With Danny’s departure looming on the horizon, did I dare hope that he would finally lay my doubts to rest? Was he about to speak the words I had been waiting for since our first date?

  “I’m not good at this,” Danny began. He took my hand. “E, I think you know how crazy in love I am with you.”

  I nodded and smiled nervously while trying to keep my emotions under control.

  “I’m happier than I ever thought possible. It’s going to be misery without you this summer, Eli.” Danny stopped to kiss my fingers and smile at me. “We have a little over a week. Let’s enjoy our home while we’re together.”

  Danny lifted his flute a little higher. “Forever, Eli. To us and our life together.”

  Danny tapped his flute against mine. His toast was over. That was it? No promises?

  I prayed that for once Danny couldn’t read me. My disappointment because of what he had not said would spoil our perfect evening. One more week; we had one more week. Danny’s words were getting closer.

  CHAPTER 98 - DANIEL

  Bright morning sun flooded the bedroom. Giddy from champagne, neither Elizabeth nor I had remembered to close the blinds last night. Through the open slider, the salty ocean tang filled the air, and crashing waves provided an enjoyable background symphony to our early waking.

  Elizabeth’s eyes fluttered opened. Smiling, she stretched like a kitten and playfully kissed my sleepy lips. Elizabeth had slept well.

  Then Elizabeth rose up against the headboard, remaining covered by the sheet. “Can our forever start today?” she asked, downright perky.

  It must have been earlier than I thought because I had no idea what she meant. I sat straight up. I had the feeling I needed to concentrate.

  “I’m not following you, babe.”

  “Yesterday you said we could live here forever. Can forever start today?”

  I was still confused, so I answered, “Technically, I think forever began yesterday but I’m still not following you.”

  “Ugh! Daniel!” she squealed with frustration. “Let’s transfer to UCLA,” she said with enthusiasm. “Then we could live here and commute.”

  “If I wanted to go to UCLA, I’d already be enrolled there.”

  UCLA was the last school on earth I wanted to attend except for maybe USC. That might be worse. There was a nationwide obsession with their film school. In that pressure cooker I wouldn’t trust anyone.

  “How about Pepperdine?” Eli asked just as brightly.

  Eli had clearly thought this through. She did not wake up with an epiphany. I burst into full-fledged, gut-busting laughter.

  “What’s funny about Pepperdine? It’s so close. We could even come home for lunch,” she added in a flirty voice.

  Eli kissed my cheek for emphasis in case I had missed her less than subtle innuendo.

  “As lovely as that would be,” I stammered, unable to stop laughing, “We would be expelled before mid-terms.”

  “Why?” she snapped. Elizabeth had reached her limits with my impertinent behavior. “We’re both A-students at a much more academically rigorous institution.”

  I loved when my usually brainy girl would lapse into complete airhead naivety. Her innocence was adorable. I had no choice but to hug her. So I did.

  “Eli, Grandma Margie would disown you. It’s a Christian school. Haven’t you noticed the big cross on the front lawn?”

  “They must have some Jewish students. It’s in Malibu.”

  “There’s probably a few,” I admitted.

  “It doesn’t matter. It’s not like we’re religious.” I began laughing again. “So glad I amuse you, Daniel.” Eli was pissed.

  I wrapped my arms around Elizabeth and swept her hair back so I could delicately kiss her shoulder.

  “Baby, you always amuse me. It’s part of your charm.” It amazed me how the obvious had gone over her head. “Eli, Pepperdine’s religious. We’ve probably violated at least several of their
rules in the last twenty-four hours alone, one most enjoyably multiple times.”

  “I wasn’t counting,” she giggled. I hugged Elizabeth and kissed her neck again.

  “Then there was the champagne, and we have at least one case of beer in the house. And I won’t even mention the half-ounce of pot in my suitcase.”

  “There’s a half-ounce of pot in your suitcase?” Eli was surprised.

  “Leftovers, hon.”

  “Well it seemed like a good idea,” Elizabeth said sadly.

  “Donnelly may lack privacy, but at least nobody cares that my roommate’s a girl. And we can do lunch there, too.” I kissed the tip of her nose and winked. Eli giggled.

  “There’s a lot I want to do today,” I said to change the subject. “Let’s get up.”

  “It’s only six-thirty,” Eli laughed.

  “Ugh! Jet-lag!”

  “Let’s go for a run on the beach?”

  “Later for that, babe. Right now I know what I want.”

  Eli reached for my rough cheeks. Her nose rubbed against mine.

  “I love breaking Pepperdine’s rules,” Eli said breathlessly before crushing her lips against mine and pulling me down on top of her.

  In the kitchen after we dressed, Eli learned why I was anxious to start the day. Not only was there no food, the implements for cooking were either ancient or non-existent, a symptom of how seldom my parents had been here recently.

  There was a good set of All-Clad cookware, but the toaster couldn’t hold a bagel and the coffee maker required messy paper filters that we were out of. A trip to Williams-Sonoma would turn this house into a home.

  Elizabeth was a breath of fresh air this morning. There was a bounce in her step and an electric smile that wouldn’t quit. My mood matched hers and I smiled, knowing I was responsible for her glee.

  Breakfast at Coogies was the perfect choice for omelets. Its location in the Malibu Colony Center was exactly where I wanted to be. There was one more errand in Malibu before Eli would truly feel at home.

  Leaving Coogies hand-in-hand, Elizabeth was virtually skipping down the sidewalk. My smile expanded, as did the warmth I felt inside. Eli was as sunny as the cloudless Malibu sky. No June gloom today, either in the weather or in us.

  “I need to fill a prescription,” Eli announced. We were passing the CVS drug store, and I followed her in.

  “Prescription?” Was something the matter?

  Eli saw the concern in my face and giggled. “Birth control, Daniel.” She stopped and quickly kissed me. “No babies for us this summer, young man.”

  I flashed to a magnificent vision of Eli cradling our auburn-haired baby in her arms, and I smiled. “You’re sure?”

  Eli’s eyes opened wide in shock. “Danny! We have three more years of school and I intend on graduating with my stomach as flat as the day I entered.”

  “Baby, you would look beautiful with a bump.”

  Elizabeth flushed. “And you would be a great dad, Danny. But not until after we graduate, and not until there’s a ring on this finger.”

  Elizabeth smiled as she shoved her left ring finger into my face.

  “We don’t have to be married.”

  “I do,” Elizabeth declared as the pharmacist took her prescription slip.

  “I need your address and phone number, please.”

  I leaned over Eli’s shoulder. Much to my delight she wrote the beach address. Then she handed the slip and her health insurance card to the pharmacist.

  “Thank you,” I said to Eli.

  I beamed with pride. Eli could easily have gone to Santa Monica for this. She was using our Malibu address!

  The pharmacist handed Eli back her health insurance card.

  “We’ll be back this afternoon,” I said. “Come on, Eli. Let’s go to the bank.”

  Elizabeth followed me into the Bank of America branch and over to the bank officer’s desk. The heavy-set, middle-aged woman wasn’t busy and gave us her attention.

  “May I help you?” she asked pleasantly.

  Eli and I sat down. I took her hand and responded, “We’d like to open a joint checking account.”

  Eli gasped. If I hadn’t been holding her hand she might have fallen backward off her chair. I grinned, enjoying her speechlessness. A joint account was news to her. This was my way of letting Elizabeth know we were truly making a home together.

  CHAPTER 99 - ELIZABETH

  A joint bank account! Men do not casually give a woman access to their money. As I didn’t need Danny’s money, that made this purely symbolic, and thus even more significant.

  Danny might not have directly told me what I wanted to hear, but his words and actions since we’d left Donnelly were the functional equivalents. Weren’t they? I wanted to think they were. Maybe, just maybe, I could finally relax.

  “Why do we need a bank account?” I asked trying to sound nonchalant.

  “Elizabeth, I want it. It’s important for me to take care of everything while I’m away. You’re my responsibility, baby.”

  Danny’s responsibility? I grinned, turning to gushy-eyed mush.

  The banker began inputting our personal information. I was giggly when I signed Elizabeth J. Jacobs in the line beneath where Daniel M. Newman had signed first. I couldn’t find the words to describe how loved I felt.

  “I have another checking account,” Danny told the banker. “Can you please tell me the balance? I’m going to transfer funds from it.”

  The banker let Danny glance at her computer screen, careful not to let me see. I smirked. Danny and I had no secrets.

  “I have over $257,000?” Danny said to himself in surprise. “Let’s transfer $25,000 to the new account,” he directed the banker.

  “Why do you have over $250,000 in a checking account?” I asked disapprovingly.

  A sum of that magnitude should be in an interest bearing account. I raised an eyebrow, bemused. Danny had an A in Economics and Ellen had once been a banker. This was so elementary; even I knew it was wrong!

  “Pretty stupid,” Danny admitted with a sheepish smile. “I didn’t realize. It’s trust income. The trust department automatically deposits it every month.”

  “I have to wait until I’m twenty-one,” I complained.

  “Sorry, babe. Guess your folks want to protect their innocent little girl from sweet-talking charmers who might take advantage.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I can take care of myself just fine,” I scowled.

  “Hey, I know you can. Baby, you’re nobody’s fool.”

  I smiled. “Thank you for the vote of confidence.”

  How ironic. My parents had been overly protective when they established my trust, and whom did I end up with? A man oblivious of the balance in his checking account who was generously sharing it with me.

  I was over my pout. “It’s nice not to have to worry and neither do you.”

  “Neither do I,” Danny echoed. “You’re right, Eli. I shouldn’t keep this much in a checking account. When we get home I’ll call my trust officer and tell her to reinvest any new income for at least the next six months.”

  “I’ll need your driver’s licenses,” the banker curtly interrupted.

  Danny took his wallet from his rear pants pocket and I opened my purse. We handed the woman our licenses. She glanced at them and then looked directly at Danny.

  “You’re very young. Do your parents approve?”

  “It’s my account. I can do whatever I want,” Danny answered firmly.

  “You are aware, with a joint account you both have equal access to the funds without the permission of the other.”

  The implication was clear. Had the banker inquired regarding my accounts, she would have changed her tune and fast.

  I arrogantly raised my chin. Danny could tell by my narrowed eyes and scornful expression that I was moments from an ugly “do you know who I am” exchange with this woman. How dare she imply that I was some trashy gold-digger.

  Danny met the bank
er’s glance and held it. Firmly, without wavering, he answered her accusation.

  “Yes, I’m fully aware. On second thought, I’ll transfer $50,000.”

  The banker’s jaw dropped, flustered by Danny’s defiance. I knew she was thinking, “Spoiled rich boy. I hope she takes all your money.”

  Instead she gathered the account application and our licenses and said, “I’ll be right back.” She rose and took the materials to the teller’s cage.

  With the banker gone, I relaxed. “You told her,” I laughed.

  “I did, didn’t I?” Danny chuckled.

  “You don’t have to do this.”

  Danny took my hands. He swiveled in the chair to directly face me. Danny’s eyes were twinkling, but his face was filled with complex emotions.

  “E, you don’t need the money, but I like taking care of you. When I’m with you I never let you pay for anything.”

  “You’re very old-fashioned that way. It’s sweet.”

  “Think of this as a very long extension of me. If it’s purchased north of Topanga, use this account. Hell, I don’t care. Use it south of Topanga too. I love you.”

  “I want to take care of you too. How do I do that while you’re away?”

  “Baby, you take care of me every day. You don’t even realize it. When we’re apart, just knowing we’re together, Eli, I’m a better man because of you. That’s how you take care of me.”

  My heart melted. A tear pricked my eye.

  The Williams-Sonoma on Beverly Drive contains everything you need for your kitchen and even things you don’t yet know you need. Entering through the heavy glass doors is as exciting for adults as FAO Schwarz is for children.

  While you salivate at the displays, and inhale deeply what the test kitchen has whipped up, an overwhelming feeling that everything in your own kitchen that hasn’t been purchased in the last six months is antiquated overtakes you. Having a kitchen that actually was antiquated, and armed with Danny’s Platinum Card, we needed massive self-control not to purchase everything.

  I reminded myself that only the basics were necessary. Danny and I would barely be in this house until next summer. Williams-Sonoma would have new goodies by then!