She Sins at Midnight

by Whitney Dineen

  Jilly and Jessica stared at her with what could only be construed as pride and perhaps a bit of envy. Jilly spoke first, “My god, Li, I always thought you had the perfect life before, but now? Holy cow, I really want to be you!”

  Jessica declared, “Lila Montgomery, I’m impressed. Maybe you’re not the goody-goody I took you for. In fact, when I’m done reading this fabulous book, I’m giving it to you.” Then added, “What I wouldn’t do for some stud to climb through my window at night.”

  Jilly agreed, “You know, Li, that might just be the ticket.” She pulled the book out of Jessica’s hands and declared, “In fact, this guy on the cover looks a lot like Creigh, doesn’t he?”

  Jessica vowed to keep her part in Creigh’s plan a secret. Therefore she didn’t want her friends to know that she knew exactly what Creigh looked like. So she pretended to think about her answer before answering, “I guess so. But I haven’t seen him in so many years I couldn’t really say.”

  Nervously, Lila lied, “Really? I don’t see the resemblance.”

  After ordering lunch, Jilly asked Jessica, “So what’s going on with your love life? Any plans to leave Charles?”

  Jessica answered, “I’m filing for divorce next week.’

  Lila said, “I bet it’ll be nice to find someone worthy of you after years with that loser.”

  Jessica replied, “You know, if you asked me two days ago, I would have said that I didn’t want to date anytime soon.” Her friends looked at her expectantly and she laughed, “But now… well, now I think there may actually be a man that I’m interested in.”

  Lila sensed a problem, “But?”

  With a sigh Jessica declared, “He’s taken.”

  Jilly gasped, “You mean he’s married?”

  Jessica answered, “No, but he’s almost engaged.”

  Lila laughed, “Jessica, if he’s not married and not even engaged, I think it’s fair to say he’s not really taken. Does he feel the same way about you?”

  Jessica answered, “I think so.”

  Jilly wondered, “Have you kissed him yet? That’s the way to know for sure if you have a future with him.” She recounted, “I knew the minute Bill kissed me that I was done for.”

  Jessica answered, “No, but if I kissed him, I’d be sending signals I couldn’t take back.”

  Lila said, “But it’s the only way to find out. And face it, the kiss might be horrible.”

  Panicked, Jessica asked, “But what if it isn’t? What if it’s amazing?”

  Jilly laughed, “Then you’d enjoy yourself, silly.”

  Jessica asked, “But what about the other woman?”

  Jilly answered, “Believe me Jessica, you’d be doing her a favor. If he wasn’t meant to be with her, it’s best he finds out before the wedding. Don’t you agree?”

  Remembering her own shambles of a wedding, Jessica nodded, “I guess your right. I would much rather have known that Charles wasn’t the one before we said our vows.”

  Lila smiled, “Looks like I’m not the only one who is going to be getting lucky.”

  Jilly grumbled, “I have got to drop the kids off with my mom for an overnight. It’s the only way I’m going to see any action again.” She looked at both of her friends and shared, “Do you know that I thought we were on the verge of a little something last night, but Jack walked in and proceeded to vomit all over my bed. Tell me that doesn’t ruin the mood?”

  Lila and Jessica laughed at their friend’s dramatic tale and Lila said, “We’d both kill to be in your shoes, so nice try. Neither one of us feels the least bit sorry for you with your wonderful husband and perfect little angels.”

  Jilly shook her head and picked up She Sins at Midnight, “All I can say is that I hope Jasmine Sheath has another book coming out soon. With those three little angels you speak of, I’m going to need it.”

  Chapter 26

  Oscar and Creigh left for the country club to play a round of golf and Melinda was bored silly. She decided to lay out by Creigh’s pool and read more of her book. Although she was getting a little irritated about how things were working out between Julius and Vivian, she knew the Countess was the one for Julius. Now all he had to do was come to his senses and see that.

  Isabelle, Countess of Trent was outraged that she didn’t receive an invitation to Julius’s house party. Even though his mother was the hostess, he should have informed her that she was to be invited. After all, he was a Viscount; he could ask whomever he wanted into his own home.

  Isabelle knew it was more urgent than ever that she get him to the altar. The ladies of the ton had become less welcoming as the season progressed. Of course the reason for this was that she had recently been discovered naked on the Marquis of Ferth’s desk, by his wife. The pinched old biddy had been making it her goal to bad mouth Isabelle to anyone who would listen. And being that she was a Marquisette, everyone listened.

  Isabelle tried twice to see Julius since their failed tryst in the garden at the Willoughby’s ball, but both times he wasn’t home. She searched for him in vain at other fetes, to no avail. Of course his absence didn’t keep her from enjoying dalliances with other men of her acquaintance. But it really was time to trap her quarry and say her vows before she was no longer welcome in society. She sensed that before much longer, she wouldn’t be on any of the guest lists despite the wishes of the husbands.

  The truth was that the wives already referred to her as “that actress” and in the eyes of the haute monde, the words whore and actress were one and the same.

  Still contemplating her dilemma, Isabelle rolled over and straddled the man lying beside her in bed. While he was nothing more than a commoner, he was quite a handful between the sheets and she was in desperate need of a worthy diversion.

  Melinda realized that reading about the Countess was like reading about her own life. She was in desperate need of a diversion too, but she could never seem to get Creigh alone. She briefly wondered if she should set her sights on marrying Creigh. But in the eyes of Hollywood, Oscar Solomon is the one who would bring her the greatest career cache. The problem was that Oscar hadn’t proposed yet and she was getting more and more nervous he wouldn’t get around to it.

  Having no idea how to fix her own life, Melinda dozed off, rewriting the ending of She Sins at Midnight. In her dreams, she foresaw a terrible riding accident for Vivian, where both legs get broken. Sadly for her she isn’t able to attend any more balls during the season and has to convalesce at her family’s estate nearly fifty miles away. Enter the Countess, who dances every waltz in Julius’s arms. He falls passionately in love with her, marries her and breaks the Lady Vivian’s heart. Melinda fell asleep with a big smile on her face.

  She didn’t know how long she napped, but when she woke she found Cynthia Flynn sunning herself on a chaise next to hers. Melinda smiled and said, “Hello. So you’ve been abandoned by the men too.”

  Cynthia replied, “I don’t feel the least abandoned. In fact, I’m just enjoying being away from the office for a few days and laying out here by the pool is better than anything else I could imagine.”

  Prying for information, Cynthia asked, “Did you and Creigh meet here in Chicago?”

  “No, we met in L.A. at an industry party.” Then she added, “But we really are just friends.”

  Believing her, Melinda asked, “So you live in L.A.? What do you do?”

  Cyn rolled her eyes, “What does everyone do who isn’t an actor?”

  “You’re a producer?”

  “Worse.”

  Melinda asked, “You’re an agent?”

  “You got it. I’m with Quest.”

  Melinda was immediately interested, “No way! They’re the hottest new agency in town.” She leaned in excitedly and said, “I hear they just signed Mila. Have you been there long?”

  Cyn answered, “No actually, I just started. I’m making calls while I’m here to get my top people to come over with me. I was with Amalgamated before.”

  Cu
riously, Melinda gasped, “No way, I’m with Amalgamated! Which actors have gone with you so far?”

  Cyn answered, “Katie Smith and Lillith Tanner.”

  Melinda was impressed, “They’re huge. I hear that Katie just got the lead in the next Bond film. Did you do that deal?”

  Smiling, Cyn answered, “That was me. Ten mill up front, then points on the back end. She’s going to make a fortune on the points because they got Jon Shank to play the villain.”

  Excitedly, Melinda asked, “What kind of percentage do you take from your stars?”

  Melinda was very interested and Cyn realized that she had performed beautifully. Maybe she’d become an actress herself and give the star a run for her money. Cyn already knew the deal Melinda had with Josh, which was 8 % on parts up to 5 million and 7% on jobs that exceeded that. She answered, “I really shouldn’t be talking about other actor’s deals with someone who isn’t looking for a new agent. It’s just not good business, you know?”

  Melinda sat up and gave Cynthia her full attention, “Who says I’m not looking? I’m with that pig Josh Furber, and to tell you the truth, I’m not sure he’s the right fit for me.”

  Cyn smiled and leaned in, “Okay, here’s the skinny. I’m offering my people 5% up to the first five and 4% after that regardless of the ceiling. So, on a fiver, that’s an extra hundred grand in your pocket, not mine. Although I’m sure Josh must be getting you six or seven by now, right?”

  Melinda had never gotten over four million and she hated Josh when she realized that Cynthia was right. She should be getting six or seven by now, especially since she received an Oscar nomination. She thought for a moment and asked, “How long a period is the initial contract for, one year or two?”

  Cyn answered, “Quest doesn’t do contracts so you could leave at any time you want. Our policy is that you should be happy with your agency. And by not doing contracts, we’re very motivated to keep you happy.”

  Astounded, Melinda asked, “You’re kidding, I could leave whenever I wanted to?”

  “Yup. But we do require you to sign a parting release with your current agent. I don’t want to get you a juicy deal and then have them claim they started the leg work on it months ago.”

  Melinda was positively bouncing off her seat, “What if I offered to leave Amalgamated for you?”

  Cynthia grinned, “I’d work my ass off for you. As a matter of fact, I wish I had you when they were casting that super hero movie. You would have been perfect for Plastic Girl. I know I could have gotten you seven on that, too.”

  Melinda could barely breathe she was so excited. She stood up and declared, “I’m going to go into the house to call Josh and have him FAX me the release.”

  “Actually, he needs to FAX it to my assistant at Quest. We’ll make sure it’s all legal and signed by Josh and then we’ll have you sign it.” Cyn asked, “But don’t you want to talk to Oscar about this first?”

  Melinda waved her hand dismissively, “No, no, Oscar wants whatever will make me happy. I don’t need to bother him with this.”

  Cynthia hoped her smile didn’t look as devious as it felt, “Excellent! Tell Josh to call my assistant and she’ll give him my FAX number.”

  Melinda bounced into Creigh’s house like she was in an anti-gravity chamber. She couldn’t wait to get rid of Josh once and for all. She was sick and tired of all the excuses he made for them to meet. He wasn’t doing much for her career, but his pecker always seemed to be in her mouth. What was wrong with that picture? Melinda still planned to sue the daylights out of Lila Montgomery, but only because that had become personal.

  As soon as Melinda left, Cyn picked up her cell phone and called Charlotte. “Hey Charlotte, it’s me. Anything new?”

  Her assistant replied, “I’ve messengered over contracts to all of your people and so far we’ve gotten ten of them back.”

  “Anyone giving you a hard time about my whereabouts?”

  Charlotte answered, “Who would? You’ve brought so much earning power over here that they’d probably give you a month off.”

  Cyn thought she was right. “Listen, I hate to do this to you, but Josh Furber is going to be calling for our FAX number. He’ll probably just have his assistant do it, but I wanted to give you a heads up, just in case.”

  Surprised, Charlotte asked, “Why would he be calling here”

  “Because he’s going to be under the impression that Melinda Forrester is leaving him for me. He’s going to be sending over a parting release.”

  Alarmed, Charlotte asked, “Why would Melinda sign one of those? They’re death!”

  Cyn laughed to herself. Melinda had already fulfilled her two year commitment to Amalgamated which meant that she was working with them on a project-to-project basis. Either party could leave at any time, so for her to ask them to sign a release was an unnecessary step they would take very personally. She was effectively insuring they would never work together again. Cyn answered, “She’s signing it because I asked her to.”

  Confused, her assistant inquired, “Is Melinda coming over to Quest, then?”

  “She thinks she is.”

  “But is she?”

  “Don’t know yet, Char. The drama hasn’t played out yet. But let’s just say that I wouldn’t count on it.”

  * * * * *

  As Oscar and Creigh walked up to the club house, Oscar let out a low whistle, “This is some place. You folks in Illinois live a lot better than I ever imagined.”

  The North Hills Country Club was very beautiful. The actual club house used to be the home of a department store heir and looked like the Gatsby’s country manor. The first floor was large enough to house two restaurants, a ballroom, a tearoom and six guest suites available for rental by the members.

  The men walked around back and checked in five minutes before their tee time. They opted to go without a caddy so they would have more freedom to discuss the case.

  The course was a beautiful rolling eighteen holes and Creigh was really looking forward to being out on the green again. He didn’t belong to a club in L.A. for the sole reason that he worked so many hours that he’d never have time to enjoy it. For a moment he thought it was too bad he and Oscar weren’t just two friends out enjoying the afternoon. But until Oscar and Melinda dropped the lawsuit against Lila, he had to view his client with a good amount of skepticism.

  Oscar felt a little out of place in this waspy environment and after they took their first swing, he asked, “So Creigh, tell me, do you have any blacks or Jews as members here?”

  A bit taken aback by the question, Creigh answered, “As you know Oscar, I haven’t spent a great deal of time here in the last fifteen years, so I couldn’t give you the exact statistics. But off the top of my head, I know of six African American families and at least eight Jewish families. Why do you ask?”

  Looking a little uncomfortable, Oscar answered, “Just making sure you’re not a bunch of bigoted anti-Semites I guess.”

  Offended, Creigh inquired, “Have I ever struck you that way before, Oscar?”

  “No Creigh, you sure haven’t.” He continued, “I’m sorry if I’ve offended you, I’m just not really in my element here, you know?”

  Not understanding, Creigh answered, “Well, no Oscar, not really. After all, you belong to the club in The Palisades which is one of the most exclusive in the world. I would think that you’d be totally in your element here.”

  Then Oscar broke down and told Creigh all about the love of his life. She was a girl that he met in college and her parents didn’t approve of him because he was Jewish. They did everything in their power to break them up. When nothing seemed to work, they invited him to their family home for a few days. Oscar and his girlfriend both thought her family had finally relented and decided to give them their blessing. That notion couldn’t have been farther from the truth. It turned out they were hell-bent on showing their daughter how “not of their world” Oscar was.

  Oscar added, “Her father ev
en had the nerve to quote Tevya from ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ if you can believe it. He said, ‘Oscar, my boy, birds don’t marry fish. Where would they live?’ As though we weren’t even from the same species.”

  Creigh asked, “What happened to her?”

  Oscar shook his head sadly and answered, “She really did love me, you know? But her family made it clear that if she married me, they would never welcome her back into their home.” Getting choked up, he continued, “What could she do? They had been her family for twenty years; I had only been her boyfriend for eleven months. I don’t fault her to this day. But I blame her parents and when I see people who remind me of them, I feel like I’m twenty all over again.”

  After a moment Creigh offered, “Don’t make the same mistake you’re girlfriend’s father made, Oscar. People should be judged individually, not based on what religion, club, or profession they belong to. You’d miss out on a lot of good folks that way.”

  They continued to play golf for the next few hours and Creigh realized he would have to be more careful with Oscar than ever. He also realized what a truly remarkable man he was. For Oscar’s sake, as well as his own, he hoped that Melinda became a thing of the past very soon.

  Chapter 27

  Lila dug through her old costume trunk from college and put together an outfit that looked like something a romance writer would wear. She settled on a long haired red wig with a scarf tied around the top. Then she put on an over-the-shoulder white gauzy blouse and paired it with a full, hot pink skirt. With big hoop earrings and huge pink sunglasses, she deemed the outfit finished. The end product looked like a cross between Blanche Dubois and one of the pink ladies from Grease. In other words, it was perfect. It was so over the top no one would ever guess it was really her.

  Lila packed her disguise carefully into one of her carry on bags and then informed her parents she was going to spend the afternoon at the club with Jilly and the kids. She didn’t know how in the world she was going to get through the day. She just hoped against hope that when she crawled into bed that night her secret would still be safe.