by Alison Bond
‘How did you find me?’ she said.
‘Your sister – Amanda, is it? Cute.’
‘I’ll tell her you said so.’
‘Have you had dinner?’ he said.
‘Not really.’
‘Great, I’m starving.’
Over dinner they talked.
‘I was shocked. I know it sounds unlikely but this has never happened to me before. I started thinking maybe it had and the women were just too scared to tell me. Some of them might have had quiet abortions and never said a word. Then that got me thinking that maybe I do have a kid out there someplace and that made me kind of sad.’ He ran his fingers through his jet-black hair and paused for breath. The words sounded foreign in his mouth as he said them. Emotional honesty had never come easy. He looked at Melanie. She had accepted his presence without ceremony. He hadn’t known what to expect but it wasn’t this composed, almost warm response. She was so poised and calm, while his mind was racing. She even ate like a lady.
‘I know my reputation precedes me and it’s true, every word, I do like women, I can’t be faithful. It’s in my genes.’ He allowed himself a smile. ‘But I would like to be a father, that’s the one commitment I know I would enjoy I know you’d probably rather I just kept out of it. But I don’t want to. You seem like a nice girl, you really do and I bet you’re going to make one hell of a mother. I just want to be there too in some way.’
Melanie tried to mentally share the baby she already thought of as hers alone. She wasn’t expecting this.
‘Wanna get married?’ he said.
Melanie dropped her glass and it fell in shards across the flagstone floor. ‘You’re not serious?’ she asked.
‘Honestly? No. Not a bit. But I’m trying to do the right thing here.’
‘I don’t want to marry you, Fabien.’
‘That’s a relief. No offence. So how do we proceed?’
‘I don’t know. I have to tell Max and see if they try to break the Justice contract, but I hope they’ll just write it into the show.’
‘So you’re coming back to the States?’
‘I suppose so. I don’t know.’ She realized she hadn’t planned a thing beyond the point of telling Fabien. She hoped that he couldn’t see how nervous she was and how helpless she felt. ‘I have to work. So, yes, if Justice goes ahead it’s a Californian baby.’ Her head flooded with images of a baby, her baby, spending his or her first year or so in the sunshine and her heart gave an unexpected leap of joy.
‘That’s perfect. Move in with me. Purely platonic,’ he said, seeing Melanie’s look of disbelief. ‘Come on, the house has loads of room, you can have a whole wing. I’ll make sure you stay healthy and then when the baby’s born we’ll both be there.’
‘I don’t think so.’ The idea was preposterous. She didn’t believe Fabien could provide a stable life for himself, let alone a new mother and an infant.
‘Why not? It’s no big deal. Like I said, you’ll have all the privacy you want and if it doesn’t work then you can move on. You can get all the help you need, a nanny or whatever.’
This plan had been on his mind since he left Los Angeles that morning. He genuinely liked Melanie. He trusted her when she said that the baby was his and he wanted to help. The idea of giving money anonymously or even being some kind of weekend father didn’t appeal in the slightest. In his eyes, sharing a roof was the perfect solution. It would be a real kick to have a kid around, his kid.
‘You’re not really going to go back to a motel room now, are you?’ he said. ‘I’ve always had an open-house policy with my friends, you know that. We’re friends, right?’
‘What will people say?’
‘Who gives a shit? You can do what you want. If you don’t want to move into the house then we’ll get you an apartment somewhere, but be sure that’s just because you don’t want to, not that you think you shouldn’t. It’s your life, both your lives, and you’re in charge.’
She couldn’t argue with that.
The only thing left to do was to tell the producers of Justice and hope that she wasn’t about to become a trendy, unemployed, single mum.
‘Your contracts are done,’ said Lynsey when Melanie called for an update. ‘You’ve got two weeks to get back.’
‘Do me a favour?’ said Melanie. ‘Check the termination clauses, I mean really check them, do you know what I mean?’
‘I think so,’ said Lynsey. ‘Are you sure you don’t want to talk to Max?’
‘Not yet. I will. But just check them.’
‘Congratulations,’ said Lynsey.
Melanie winced. There was no going back.
‘I mean the contract,’ said Lynsey, hastily. ‘It’s a really good deal.’
The first episode of Justice aired coast to coast the very next day and was announced by the majority of those who make such rules as the hit show of the summer.
21
A few days later Lynsey had a chance to tell Max about Serena.
‘Melanie Chaplin is pregnant,’ said Max. ‘Did you know?’
‘No,’ she said.
‘I think you’re lying, but it doesn’t matter. Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. No secrets. Now, is there anything you want to tell me?’
I’ve got a secret client who I think is about to become a major star.
But she didn’t say anything. After everyone had left, she called Serena.
‘You got it,’ she said.
Serena, who had been holding her breath since the first ring of the phone, exhaled in a sigh of relief and pleasure so deep that her breath fluttered the top page of the script she had been reading and rereading, a script that contained a character that she desperately wanted to play. And now she would.
‘Really?’ she said. ‘I really got it?’
‘Really,’ said Lynsey. She could tell that Serena was delighted and she was happy for her. Proud of her. Proud of herself as well for finding the script. She had been reading it for Max’s client, a television director, but the true story of a sexy young mother falsely accused of a terrible crime was perfect for Serena. She had persuaded the casting director to meet with her and the buzz of taking the call a few minutes earlier offering Serena the part had been intoxicating.
‘They want to turn it around quickly. Get it out before everyone forgets the story.’
‘Fine by me,’ said Serena. ‘The quicker the better.’
‘But here’s the thing,’ said Lynsey. ‘I can’t do this deal. Let me tell Sheridan or someone. This is a great part and if you pull it off you can get any agent you want. Max, even.’
‘I want you.’
‘No, you don’t. Serena, don’t be stupid. I’m not even an agent. I have to say that I’m calling from some fake company that no one’s ever heard of. Half the time they won’t even take my calls.’
‘Don’t call me stupid,’ said Serena.
‘But this is mad! I can’t do it any more. You need to get a proper agent.’
‘Look, I will, okay? I promise. I just want to get this film done and everything. Then I’m a star, right? Up there, untouchable. Safe.’
‘Safe from what?’
‘I don’t like questions, okay? That’s exactly why I wanna keep things simple. Just you and me. If you won’t do this contract then I’ll do it myself, but I’m not signing up with some big official company until I’m there. Until I’m so there that I can’t ever go back. So will you help me? Ten per cent.’
Lynsey made a few calculations in her head. This wasn’t going to be a few hundred dollars. This was going to be thousands. Certainly enough to go home for Christmas.
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘I suppose.’
Lynsey worked on the contract in her room at Flamingo Park. Stumbling over the unfamiliar American terms, the books on loan from CMG open for constant reference. It would possibly be a very bad deal but Serena said that as long as she got paid and she got her name on everything she could, then nothing else mattered.
‘W
hat if there’s a sequel?’ asked Lynsey. ‘Do you want to be in it?’
‘I die at the end.’
‘So? A prequel, then.’
‘I don’t care. I just want to be on television!’
‘You will be. Calm down.’
Serena started shooting in Vancouver in three days’ time and Lynsey had never seen anyone so excited. Serena had been very clever. Lynsey knew that turning down all the soap operas and sitcoms had been the right choice. ‘What about MTV?’ said Lynsey. ‘You were on television then.’
‘Fluff,’ said Serena, dismissively. ‘Rent. Wait until you see what I can really do.’
The night before she left for Vancouver Serena made a phone call.
The number rang out for a long time. It would be late afternoon back east and Bobby should be home from school.
Just as she was about to give up, he answered.
‘Bobby,’ she said. ‘What is it? You sound breathless.’
‘Serena?’ he said. ‘Is that you? I ran for the phone.’
‘Hey, baby!’
‘Where are you? Are you in New York?’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘That’s where he thinks you are. He’s looking.’ Bobby paused and Serena imagined his little forehead creasing with worry. ‘Reeny, he says you stole a thousand dollars.’
‘When did our father ever have a thousand dollars?’
‘But he’s called the police. They’re looking for you.’
‘Don’t worry. The next time you see me, you’ll understand.’
Because the next time you see me I’ll be on the little box in the corner of the room, coast to coast, and he won’t be able to do a thing about it.
‘Are you okay?’ she said.
‘Sure,’ said Bobby. ‘He… he knocked me around a bit, when you went, but I said I didn’t know where you were. Where are you?’
‘I’m in Hollywood, Bobby. Where the stars are.’
‘Really?’
‘Yep.’
‘Are you gonna be famous?’
‘You know what? I think I am.’
That night Lynsey went to dinner with Riley Daniels. They were friends, sort of. She still couldn’t work out if he genuinely liked her or just wanted her contacts. He was always after a story and took gossip to a whole new level. Sheridan said he was the devil but Lynsey wouldn’t go that far. She liked the way he always knew the best places to go for celebrity sightings and she liked that he called her Disco.
They were at the bar of a hotel which didn’t seem to have a name. She’d asked him what the place was called and he’d just shrugged. It made the smoothest martini that had ever touched her lips.
‘So,’ said Riley, as he always did pretty early on in the evening. ‘Whaddaya know? When’s Melanie coming back? Did they renew her contract?’
Lynsey took another sip of her martini. Mmmmm, heaven. ‘Tell me something, Riley. Do you have any non-showbiz friends, just ordinary people?’
‘I live in Hollywood. Where would I meet these people?’
‘From before, when you lived in New York.’
‘Disco, New York is just LA with a Yale degree. Hollywood didn’t even finish high school.’
‘You’re saying we’re all stupid? What does that say about you?’
‘Not stupid, just uneducated. Think about it,’ he said as she started to protest. ‘It’s just story time all over again, like being back in kindergarten.’
‘What about serious films?’
‘Serious films?’ he said, mocking her. She smiled. ‘Name one serious film that made the amount of money any of the big kids’ movies did last summer. Serious films don’t make serious money, that’s why we have academy awards.’
‘What?’
‘To give arthouse a reason to live. Otherwise intelligent cinema would shrivel up and die and then we’d really be in trouble.’
‘Or in New York.’
‘Exactly.’
Lynsey cased the room. Riley had promised a smattering of stars but it was still early. Suddenly she spotted a familiar face in the crowd. ‘Shit.’
She shrank down in her seat but it was too late. He was walking over. She braced herself.
But Riley jumped up. ‘Toby!’ he said. ‘Hey, Disco, this is my good friend Toby. Toby, Disco Dixon.’
‘Disco?’ said Toby, his eyebrow raised. ‘I thought it was Lynsey, maybe that’s why you didn’t get my messages.’
He’d called twice. She’d screwed up the yellow slips with his number on and tried not to think about them.
‘You see, Toby’s not in showbiz,’ said Riley.
‘Yeah?’ said Lynsey. ‘So what’s your angle on him? Because I know there must be one.’
‘I tell Riley when the stars move house,’ said Toby.
‘Shut up, man. I’m trying to make Disco see I’m not as shallow as she thinks I am.’
‘Why?’ said Toby. ‘Does she have a problem with shallow people?’
Riley sensed an atmosphere and chose that moment to see if he could get a guestlist out of the doorman. After he left Toby ordered a drink and Lynsey noticed that he didn’t ask her if she wanted a refill.
‘I’m really sorry that I didn’t return your call,’ she said.
‘No you’re not. You’re just sorry you ran into me. It’s cool, you’re not interested, I get it.’
She tried to explain. ‘You seem like a really nice guy –’
‘Save it. We’ve been here before.’
‘I don’t have time for romance,’ she said.
‘Then I’m sorry for you.’
‘Don’t be,’ she said. ‘I’m very happy.’
‘No,’ he said. ‘I am. You’re missing out.’
This was awkward. Lynsey sipped her martini, which tasted bitter for a second, and watched Toby as he watched the bar. So she was cold-hearted, so what? Didn’t that mean she would fit right in over here? A hundred arguments rose in her throat but she kept quiet. Toby obviously already had a terrible impression of her, getting into an argument would only make him think even less.
Her brand-new cellular phone rang out. ‘Excuse me,’ she said, as she answered, but he was ignoring her. It was Melanie.
‘I told Max,’ she said.
‘I know.’
‘He said they might fire me and pay me off.’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Lynsey.
But she was worried herself. If Melanie was kicked off Justice, where did that leave her?
She finished the call and downed the last of her martini in a rush. She looked around for a waitress. If her Los Angeles experience was coming to an end she wanted to enjoy the time she had left and she’d be damned if she was going to sit next to a man who was giving her attitude without defending herself.
‘Hey,’ she said, ‘I’ve said I’m sorry. Now if you’re going to blank me all night I’d just as soon know so that I can find another table. I didn’t call you back; I’m sorry, but it happens. What? You’ve never done it?’
Toby shook his head.
‘You call every single girl who gives you her number?’
He nodded.
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘Maybe I’m just not as, you know, promiscuous as you are.’
‘Promiscuous? Look, it’s none of your business, but that wasn’t just an average Wednesday night for me. I mean, I don’t make a habit of shagging blokes in toilets.’
‘So I was special?’
‘Yeah.’
‘So why didn’t you call me back?’
‘Because it was just physical, I hardly know you.’
‘You could get to know me. But maybe that would mean you had to get close to someone. That’s not your style, is it?’
Lynsey stood up. She didn’t have to sit here and be psychoanalysed by some estate agent with a grievance. It didn’t matter how close to the truth he was. ‘I’m going. Tell Riley I said goodnight.’
‘Lynsey, wait,’ said Toby. ‘Forget it. I jus
t like you, that’s all.’
‘I’ll see you around,’ she said.
She bumped into Riley at the door.
He grabbed her arm. ‘I want to talk to you,’ he said. ‘Kerry just called and told me Melanie Chaplin’s pregnant? Is she?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said.
‘Don’t hold out on me, is she?’
‘Riley,’ she said, removing his hand from her arm. ‘Leave me alone.’
‘She is, isn’t she? Tell me or I’ll call her at home and tell her you gave me her number.’
‘I never gave you her number.’
‘Yeah, but you left your cellphone on the table when you went to the bathroom. First rule of Hollywood: protect your numbers.’
Lynsey was stunned. ‘You stole my numbers? That’s just wrong.’
‘Only the good ones. Oh, lighten up, Disco, everyone does it.’
She was furious. ‘So that makes it okay?’
Riley shrugged. A little boy shrug that had got him out of deeper trouble than this.
‘Show me yours,’ said Lynsey.
‘You have to be kidding.’
‘I get one of your numbers, come on, fair trade. You’ve seen mine, now show me yours.’
Riley was actually very proud of his numbers and couldn’t resist this chance to show off. He handed over his phone.
Lynsey took it and started scrolling through the numbers, playing along, until she reached Melanie Chaplin. She tried not to be distracted by the other names, although many of them made her want to ask questions. Melanie Chaplin, London. She pressed erase. Are you sure? Yes.
‘There you go,’ she said and handed the phone back to him. ‘I’ve seen enough.’
She walked away and when she looked back Riley was scrolling down his names and realizing what she’d done. It made her smile.
Later that night she called home.
‘Mum,’ she said, ‘do you think I have a problem getting close to people?’
‘Well, yes, dear, but that’s just your way.’