by Gina Hummer
“Good morning to you, love. I’d ask how you slept, but I know you didn’t get much.”
Charlotte stuck her tongue out at him and took the stool next to him. “You know, I wanted to tell you that while I admire your efforts to hide how sexy you are ----” she took a sip of coffee. “You’re not fooling anybody.”
“No? Not even a little?”
“Hardly. Like trying to make Halle Berry look like a hag.” Charlotte sipped her coffee. “I would ask what the big surprise is, but I get the feeling you’re not going to tell me.”
“Finally! She understands the method to my madness.” David put his coffee mug down on the counter. “It took you long enough.”
“I’m a slow learner.”
“Indeed.”
“Can I get a little hint at least?”
David drained his coffee. “Okay. Um… We’ll be in motion.”
“I thought you said we were going out?”
“Oh, we’ll be upright, love.”
“Alright, I give up.”
“We’re going bike riding.”
“Bike riding? Wow… I haven’t been on a bike in who knows how long. Not to mention, I don’t have a bike.” She looked at him. “How’s this going to work exactly?”
David gave her a mischievous grin. “Don’t you know by now I have my ways? Now come on, drink up so we can get going.”
“Aye aye, captain,” Charlotte hurried to finish her coffee. She grabbed her sunglasses before David dragged her outside. Parked in the driveway was a shiny black motorcycle with two gleaming helmets dangling from the handlebars.
“Like I said, a bike ride,” David beamed, obviously pleased with himself. “Where’d this come from?”
“Buddy of mine who owns a bike shop has been holding it for me. I had him drop it off at the gas station around the corner.”
Charlotte gulped. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’ve never been on a motorcycle before, and I don’t feel like changing that status.”
David picked up a helmet and crooked it under his arm. “Oh, come on now. It’ll be fun.”
“Do you even know how to ride one of these things?”
“Of course!” David laughed. “It wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. I had to learn how to ride one for this TV show I did about a million years ago, and after that I was hooked. Been riding ever since.”
“Funny… You never mentioned that.”
“Sweetheart, you have nothing to worry about. You’ll be completely safe with me. Besides, I know I’ve got precious cargo.”
Charlotte wasn’t convinced. “I don’t know. They scare me quite a bit. When you said bike ride, I thought you meant a bicycle built for two.”
“You won’t try it?
Charlotte sighed, stuck by the note of disappointment in David’s voice. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “What’d you have in mind?”
David looked around. “Well, it’s shaping up to be such a beautiful day; I thought a ride along the coast would be fun. Maybe grab a bite to eat.”
Charlotte twisted her lips around in deep thought, her sense of adventure and curiosity tweaked.
“Okay,” Charlotte couldn’t help but laugh as David perked up. “You’re right---- that does sound fun.”
A giddy David handed Charlotte the extra helmet and went over a few basics with her. He climbed aboard the bike, and Charlotte slid in the seat behind him, her arms velcroed around his waist. David gave her a thumbs-up while Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself. The engine roared to life, and Charlotte yelped beneath her helmet. David revved the engine a few times before he backed out of the driveway. He gave Charlotte another thumbs-up before he peeled off down the street.
The tiny window of her helmet misted over with the breath of her squeels as they zoomed out of her neighborhood toward Pacific Coast Highway. They headed south out of Los Angeles to Orange County, and after a few minutes of deathly terror Charlotte began to enjoy the ride. David maneuvered in and out of traffic with the skill of an expert, and Charlotte enjoyed having her arms around him as the scenery of Southern California whooshed past them. She decided it was much more fun to deal with PCH on a motorcycle than in a car. Not that she ever wanted to be the one in control of the handlebars.
They rode past countless beaches before arriving in Newport Beach. David slowed and coasted to a stop near one of the city’s less-populated beaches. Charlotte’s ears were ringing as she removed her helmet, and it felt as though her body were still racing down the highway. David whipped his helmet off and looked over his shoulder at Charlotte.
“Well? What’d you think?”
Charlotte laughed, once again caught up in his glee. “I hate to admit it, but I loved it.”
David slapped his hands together. “Ha! I knew it. I knew once I got you on the bike you’d understand why I love it so much.”
David helped Charlotte off the bike, and she adjusted her jeans and shirt. “I have to say it’s a pretty incredible feeling. It’s like you and the open road. It’s awesome.”
David nodded, his eyes shining. “Exactly! It’s just this amazing sense of freedom, a rush like no other.” David grunted a little. “I love it!” He locked the bike and grabbed Charlotte’s hand as they made their way down the beach. Even though it was a little before noon, there weren’t many people on the beach: a few scattered surfers in search of better waves than the Pacific was offering and a few random sun-tanners sprawled out on the sand. Charlotte’s stomach grumbled and she pointed out a small pizza stand with a walk-up window tucked back away from the surf.
“I wonder if anyone will recognize you,” Charlotte muttered as they walked over to order a few slices.
David pulled his baseball cap from the back pocket of his jeans, pushed it down on his head, and adjusted his sunglasses. “Here’s hoping.”
A thin, wiry woman with dark, wavy hair and a white “I ♥ NY” tee-shirt with old pizza sauce stains around the collar smiled at them.
“Can I take your order?” she asked in a raspy New York accent as David got Charlotte’s order.
“Two slices of pepperoni, please,” David said in his cleanest American dialect.
The woman went to write the order down, when she looked up and peered at David. “Hey, wait a minute… you’re that guy---- David King!”
David smiled and shook his head. “Sorry. I get confused with him all the time.”
The woman shook her head and laughed, not letting David get out so easy. “Oh, no. I’d know you anywhere. I just saw you on ‘Entertainment Tonight’ last night. They were talking about your new movie, what is it To Have and To Hold. It’s you!”
David grinned and slipped back into his regular voice. “Guilty.”
The woman pounded the counter in triumph. “Ha! I knew it. You’re David King! I’m Paula.” She snapped her fingers. “Oh hey, do you mind if I take a picture with you? The Bunco girls will die.”
“Sure, okay.”
The woman squealed and implored Charlotte and David to sit tight while she grabbed her camera. She came running out seconds later, brandishing her phone, which she waved at Charlotte.
“Do you mind? Taking our picture, I mean.”
Charlotte took the camera while the woman went to put her arm around David and to pose in front of the window. “Um, how about we get the beach in the background instead?”
The woman thumped the side of her head. “Even better.” David and Charlotte gave each other amused looks as Paula got into position. Charlotte snapped a few pictures from a couple of different angles to Paula’s delight.
“Oh my, God. The girls will absolutely one-hundred-percent die,” she gushed as she scrolled through the pictures. She snapped her fingers again. “Oh, hey… could I get your autograph?”
“On one condition.”
“Oh, anything. Anything at all.”
David glanced around and leaned toward Paula, his voice a conspiratorial whisper. “Don’t tell anyone we�
�re here. Not until after we leave, that is.”
Paula patted David’s shoulder, thrilled to be in on the secret. “Oh, hon… it’s between you and me. Swear.”
David smiled. “Do you have a pen?”
“Do I have a pen?” Paula chuckled as she plucked one from behind her ear like a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat. She reached into the pizza window and grabbed a napkin. He signed it, “To Paula, love, David,” with flourish. Paula let out a howl and impulsively hugged David and Charlotte, and then she insisted on giving them their slices and Cokes on the house. She thanked them profusely as they made their way down the pier with their food.
They parked themselves against some boulders to watch the now-robust waves crash against the shore as they munched on their pizza and guzzled their Cokes.
“So how would you compare this date to dinner and dancing in a revolving restaurant?”
Charlotte licked a drip of grease that was starting to wiggle its way down her hand. “Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me where we are.” Charlotte sipped her Coke. “Red carpet… Lake Arrowhead... Newport Beach chomping on pizza… I’m just happy we’re together.”
David picked a piece of pepperoni off his pizza. “You know, if you wanted me too, I would give it all up for you. Today if you wanted.”
Charlotte frowned. “Where’d that come from?”
“I understand that I’m asking a lot from you, I mean with this crazy lifestyle I lead. Dashing through airports, ducking and running and hiding. You never asked for any of this.”
“So…you’d give it all up for me. Tomorrow?”
“Today.”
Charlotte mulled this over.
“I see, and what would you do?”
“Farmer.”
Charlotte contained her giggles. “Farmer. Really? And do you actually know anything about farming?”
“Nope, but I’m a quick study.”
Charlotte laughed. “Thanks but no thanks. I’m not interested in being the Yoko to your movie career.”
“Charlotte, I get paid a lot of money for what I do, and I don’t spend a dime. We could really just disappear.”
Charlotte put the last bit of pizza crust in her mouth and chewed while she contemplated her words. “David, I love you for making this offer, but… I know how much you love what you do. I could see it in Vancouver. I could even see it in New York, on the red carpet with everyone screaming your name and the cameras flashing away. You were made to do this.”
David looked down, sheepishly. “I just want to make you happy.”
“Babe, you being happy is what makes me happy. Don’t ever forget that.”
David smiled. “Well then, I guess that’s all I can ask for, huh?”
Charlotte took David’s chin between her thumb and forefinger. “I guess so,” she leaned in for a kiss.
David laughed. “You taste like pepperoni.”
“What do you think you taste like?”
“Um…strawberries?”
Charlotte swatted David’s leg and took another sip of her Coke.
“I hope you’re feeling better,” David said rattling the ice in his styrofoam cup.
“What?”
“After last night. Your fight with Karen.”
“Oh. That. It wasn’t really a fight. More like a difference of opinion.”
“Still, she’s your best friend. Can’t be easy to be at cross-purposes with each other.”
Charlotte traced a pattern in the sand with the toe of her tennis shoe. “No, it’s not.” She looked up. “Is that what today was? To take my mind off Karen?”
David looked out at the water. “Did it work?”
“Wonders.”
They turned their attention to the surfers and boogie boarders bobbing in the crystalline blue water. The beach started to fill up with more people, which made David nervous. Charlotte squeezed his knee.
“Do you want to leave?”
David rubbed his hands together and looked around. Charlotte could see him getting more and more agitated.
“We’d better. We might have a full-scale war on our hands otherwise.”
They jumped up and made their way to the bike. A couple of girls whom Charlotte pegged to be in college noticed David and couldn’t contain their giggles as they asked for pictures. Once again, Charlotte played photographer and snapped several shots for the girls to have in their gallery. As soon as they were done posing, they jumped on their phones to text everyone under the sun about their encounter with the David King.
“You don’t always have to take the pictures, Charlotte,” David said as he handed her a helmet.
“Ah, but the more pictures I take, the less I’m in!” she sang. “Besides ---- people don’t want to see me ----they want to see you. Plus, they seemed like nice girls, and you obviously just made their day.”
David got on the motorcycle. “Well how about we head home so I can keep making your day?”
Without a word, Charlotte leaped onto the bike, but instead of getting behind him, she got on in front, facing him, which sent them both into fits of laughter.
“What are you doing?” He gasped in between laughs.
“I want to ride home like this with me facing you, kissing you the entire time.”
“The whole idea is to make it home in one piece, you know.”
Charlotte hopped off and picked up her helmet. “Okay, okay…. Next time.”
David blew her a kiss, and Charlotte assumed her position on the back of the bike. As she went to pull her helmet on, she noticed a few people across the street snapping pictures of them with their phones.
David sighed. “We’d better take off.” He shook his head. “You know, it’s not too late to take me up on my offer to give it all up. I could even get plastic surgery.”
“Ach! Don’t you dare touch that gorgeous face!” Charlotte hugged his waist. “And stop apologizing. Nothing and no one can ruin this day.”
David winked at Charlotte before he flipped his visor down. She followed suit before he took off in the direction of home.
#
“How do you feel about going to a movie this afternoon?”
Charlotte slapped the top of the metro section down to peer at David. “What’d you have in mind?”
“Well, it says here that Breakfast at Tiffany’s is playing at the art cinema downtown. I haven’t seen it in ages.”
“Would you believe I’ve never seen it?”
“And you call yourself a romance writer.”
“I know, I know. I always wanted to see it but never got around to it.”
“Show starts at two p.m., so now’s your chance.”
“You know we’ve never seen a movie together?”
“Well, we’ll have to do this right then. Jumbo bucket of salty, buttery popcorn, dump a box of Raisinets in there, a kidney buster of Coke.” David grinned. “My mouth’s watering just thinking about it.”
“Raisinets in the popcorn? You’re kidding. That is my absolute favorite way to eat popcorn.”
“And yet another reason I adore you.”
They smiled at each other for a moment before going back to reading their respective sections of the paper. It was Saturday morning, and Charlotte and David were perched in what had become their favorite spot in the bedroom other than the bed ---- the reading nook by the window populated with two periwinkle blue overstuffed chairs with a little white shabby chic occasional table between them. They often read the paper together, or Charlotte read books or magazines while David pored over new scripts.
The weeks had passed in a dizzy, happy daze as David and Charlotte settled into an easy domesticity. During the day Charlotte wrote while David went on with the business of being a movie star. It was much more involved than Charlotte ever realized. There were production meetings, photo shoots, media interviews, looping work. David treated being an actor like a business; he said it was because he didn’t want to work forever.
Every night David came home and c
ooked one delicious meal after the next for Charlotte: steaks, chicken, pasta, seafood, salads that went beyond shreds of iceberg lettuce drenched in thousand island dressing that Charlotte had eaten before David came into her life. She joked that he was making her as fat as a house, and he shooed her away, saying that cooking for her made him happy.
During the weekends they escaped the city on David’s motorcycle, browsed farmer’s markets and book stores in deep disguise, or met William and his latest conquest for quiet dinners in out-of-the-way locales. They made love every night, their passion for each other still as ferocious as it had been during those heady times in Lake Arrowhead.
“So you’re in?”
“Won’t it be hard? I mean, trying to go to a movie. Won’t you get mobbed?”
David shrugged. “It’s the middle of the day at an arthouse cinema in L.A. I think we’ll be okay.”
Charlotte was quiet for a moment. “You’re right.” She resumed reading the paper. “It’ll be a great day.”
#
Charlotte always loved the smell of movie theaters; the aroma of fresh-popped popcorn filling every crevice, the sweet, syrupy scent of Coca Cola. Even the hot dogs and nachos with fake cheese smelled good. There was a hush over the theater as David ducked inside while Charlotte took on the task of loading up on goodies for the show.
Charlotte found David seated in the middle of the middle row; they were the only ones in the theater. She handed him the popcorn and drinks as she ripped into the Raisinets and poured a few into her hand.
“Hey! That’s for the popcorn!” David protested as he went to grab the box from Charlotte.
“Sorry… couldn’t resist.”
David twisted around. “It’s a shame more people aren’t here.”
Charlotte scoffed as she dove into the popcorn. “You actually want more people around you?”
“No, it’s just, this is such a great movie. I would have thought a few more people would have been here.”
Charlotte shrugged as the lights lowered and music blared out of the speakers indicating the movie was starting. David draped his arm across Charlotte’s shoulder as they took turns rooting around in the popcorn and making sure they were mixing salty and sweet with each bite.