“Not by a long shot.” He stood, went into the house to pick up a tablet computer, then sat on the arm of Charlie’s loveseat. “We…” He looked up and met Meredith’s gaze. “Mostly Meredith, had a fantastic idea. Given how much junk washes up on the island beaches, she thought we could get our movie made while helping with some of the pollution.”
“How…?”
Meredith started to speak, becoming more animated as her words begin to tumble from her lovely mouth. “The island we’re calling Eden is a twenty minute helicopter ride from Honolulu. It’s a lovely little spot, just a few miles long and a mile wide. It has a fantastic beach ringing it, and many acres of largely unspoiled vegetation in the center. It’s uninhabited, and owned by the state. It took us a year of negotiating, but they finally agreed to let us film there—with a list of requirements long enough to cover its length.”
“You’re going to…fly there?” Piper asked. “Every day?”
“We are,” Tim said. “Just a few of us, that is. The crew and most of the cast will live on the island. We’ve been building some top-notch accommodations over the last few months.” He let out a low chuckle. “I had the kids over there last week and they’re begging to be allowed to stay.”
“We’re considering it,” Meredith said. “It’d be nice for them to be out of the glare of the media for a while. But…” She tossed a delicate hand in the air. “There are all kinds of trouble for kids to get into, even in paradise. We haven’t made up our minds.”
“Meredith has to leave for Japan next month,” Tim said, turning to give her a pout. “The shoot she was on was interrupted by some bad storms, which screwed up her schedule.”
She met her husband’s eyes, the look that passed between them seeming to reflect both love and respect. “We plan our schedules down to the day so one of us is always free to be with the kids. The delay on my project couldn’t have come at a worse time.”
The smile Tim flashed made him look just as he had in his first movie, where he played a street hustler with a heart of gold. “Couldn’t be helped, Mer.”
“I know. But we can’t let the kids stay on Eden if I’m not there to watch them. I hate to disappoint them.”
“It’s always something when you’re trying to juggle two careers.” He tilted the tablet toward Charlie, thumbing through photos of the island. “This is going to be the nicest camp anyone’s ever been to,” he said, beaming with pride.
Meredith broke in again. “And when we leave, we’re going to remove every trace of our ever having been there. Along with every shred of plastic and other trash from the beaches. We’ve budgeted $5 million for the plastic cleanup alone.”
“And if it costs more, we’re paying for it ourselves,” Tim added. “That place is going to be pristine when we leave.”
Being the most socially conscious people in Hollywood obviously came with a price. One the Banks-Legrands could easily afford.
Piper wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do, but thought she’d try to act like a manager, if only for the night. “What can Charlie do to get ready? Other than starve herself.”
“What’s your process?” Tim asked. “How do you usually prepare?”
She looked thoughtful for a few moments, with Piper fervently hoping her sister actually had a process.
Charlie closed her eyes for a moment, with both Meredith and Tim leaning forward, expectantly waiting. Then she blinked a few times and said, “I’m not one of those actors who spends a month with the script. What I try to do is get inside the character. Once I understand her, really understand her, I just work on putting myself into her situation. Once I do that, I can make myself vulnerable. That’s all I try to be,” she said, with a dreamy quality to her voice. “I try to be vulnerable.”
“Excellent,” Tim said, clearly pleased. “I’ve been thinking about this character for almost ten years. Let’s schedule some blocks of time while we’re both in LA, and I’ll tell you everything I know.”
“That would be so helpful,” Charlie said. “I’m dying to get my teeth into a real character. I’ve been stuck playing dummies who only exist so the men in the film have someone around to tell them they’re being jerks.”
“You’ve been paying your dues,” Meredith said. “Most young women have to go through that. I lucked out by being cast as a vicious sociopath when I was just eighteen. That really set my career in motion. As this movie will for you,” she said, clearly confident about Charlie’s talent.
“I hope so,” Charlie said. “I can do so much more.”
Piper sat there staring at her. They were as close as sisters could be, but she’d never heard her speak like this. Had no idea Charlie wanted to do more than be famous and make scads of money.
Charlie turned slightly and gave her a smile, one that made her look a little embarrassed, probably at revealing her thoughts about her process. “Piper’s going to help me too,” she said.
Piper hated to undercut her, but she wanted this to be crystal clear. “I don’t think I’m the right person for this job,” she said, watching Charlie’s smile dim. “I have no experience, and not a lot of time, either. I’ve got a full-time job that doesn’t give me much flexibility.”
Tim nodded. “Well, a lot of people don’t have a manager at all. But who keeps things running? You’re going to be inundated, Charlie. Offers are going to come from everywhere.”
“Pip and I will figure it out,” she said, her usual confidence showing clearly.
“Well, even though we don’t have the ability to give you a firm date for the second film, we’re going to get it done,” Tim said. “So, if you can keep next summer open, it’d be a big help.”
“I’m committed,” Charlie said. “Whatever it takes. We’ll just block next summer out. No problem.”
That was definitely a problem, but Piper wasn’t going to argue with her now. You couldn’t keep three months of your time blocked off on a vague promise. A film like this was going to cost a load of money to produce, and getting a second and third load was only going to happen if the first one hit, no matter how confident Tim seemed.
“We chose you because you tested so well with all four quadrants of the audience,” Tim said. “Older men, younger men, older women, and younger women all like you. That’s rare,” he added, nodding with satisfaction.
“I’m not sure how you do it,” Meredith said, with a slightly puzzled expression. “When I was your age, women hated me.”
Charlie just shrugged, clearly not able to name her appeal. In Piper’s eyes, her little sister simply seemed like a nice person who’d be fun to hang out with. Maybe audiences could sense that.
“We’ll have a good idea of our chances by the time we’ve wrapped the production,” Tim said. “Then we’ll be able to get funding to continue. Ideally, we’ll shoot the second and third installments back to back. That will save an awful lot of money, but it’ll require you to be in Hawaii for at least six months. Maybe longer.”
“Six months…a year. Whatever it takes,” Charlie repeated. “And if you want to do a fourth one, you can count on me.”
“There are only three books in the series so far, but you never know,” Tim said. “I’d love to have this be my personal Star Wars franchise. I want my girls to have strong role models, Charlie. That’s the whole reason I was attracted to this project.”
He turned his gaze to Piper. “One thing I’d love is to keep Charlie out of the public eye as much as possible over the next few months. I want her to appear as a breath of fresh air.” He swallowed nervously. “You don’t have a lot of tattoos, do you?”
“None,” she said, looking proud of herself.
“Great. I want you to look young and innocent, Charlie. So if you can stay out of the tabloids, I’d love it.”
“I’m your girl,” she said, showing a dazzling smile.
Piper watched her, suddenly hit with the realization that her little sister really had her shit together. She’d stayed away from tattoos an
d trendy clubs and romances with anyone even vaguely famous. It just now struck Piper that Charlie had done that purposefully, to let herself be transformed into whatever she needed to be. It was just her luck that her good-girl image was the perfect fit for her big break.
Moments later, the kids returned, running and yelling as their bare feet pounded across the sand. “Here comes the horde,” Meredith said, gazing out at them with what looked like true pleasure. Piper had been worried about that. She’d seen more than a few Hollywood kids who appeared to be more like decorations than vital members of a functioning family. But these kids looked not only happy, but gorgeous. Tim and Meredith must have searched every data base in the world to find eggs that would produce kids so attractive. All blond, with surprisingly tanned skin, pale eyes and symmetrical features. The very best parts of Tim and the egg donor.
When the kids reached the deck, they stopped shouting and stood on the steps for a moment, waiting for permission. “Come on up,” Tim said, and they did, in a rush, two kids running to each parent. Tim held two girls, neither one looking old enough to be in school yet, while the boys, around eight and ten, leaned against Meredith, with her placing an arm around each. “Say hello to Charlie, who’s going to be in Daddy’s new movie, and her sister, Piper,” Meredith said. She patted the boy on her left. “This is Beckett.” Then the other kid got his hair ruffled. “And Dylan. Greer and Aspen are Daddy’s girls. Right?”
Both blonde heads nodded, with the smaller girl climbing onto Tim’s lap roughly, making him wince and move the knee that was obviously digging into something sensitive. “Can we go swimming tomorrow?” she asked, her voice filled with such a sincere plea no one would have had the heart to refuse.
“Of course you can. You can swim every day. Promise.” He met Charlie’s eyes. “We’ve been going between Japan for Meredith’s project and Croatia for mine for the past four months. No pool,” he added, his eyes going wide. “Those were not trips any of this bunch will speak of fondly.”
“Too cold,” Greer said, nodding. “And nobody to play with.”
“You guys will love Hawaii,” Charlie said, clearly trying to engage them. “Have you been there before?”
Beckett gave her a funny look. Like he thought she might be pranking him. “We have a house on Kauai.”
“Oh.” She shrugged it off, never bothered much by saying something that would have embarrassed Piper. “Then I guess you’ve been there.”
“They’ve been everywhere,” Meredith said. “Which isn’t ideal. I worry about them being bored as they get older. I still recall how amazed I was the first time I went to Europe. I think I was ten, and I spent the whole spring reading novels about England and France and Italy and Spain to prepare. But this little bunch has been there so often, it’s no more special than going to the grocery store.”
“We never go to the grocery store,” Beckett said, looking at her like she must have gotten them confused with other kids. He slapped at his brother. “Have you ever been to a grocery store?”
“What?” Dylan turned to his mother. “Have I?”
“I don’t think so, honey.” She wrapped them in hugs, rolling her eyes as she met Piper’s gaze. “Giving them a normal childhood is getting harder and harder.”
She nodded, even though she had no real idea of what it must be like. The only kids this bunch could compare to were the children of royalty. They had everything in the world—except normalcy.
***
After effusive thank yous and goodbyes, they were silent until they’d gotten just a few feet from the front gate. Charlie peeked over her shoulder, then wrapped her arm around Piper’s neck and pulled her down to thump her on the back of the head. “What in the fuck were you doing with Meredith? I thought I was gonna have to find a fire extinguisher!”
Wrenching away, Piper whisked her hair from her eyes. “I wasn’t doing anything,” she clarified, “but I’m glad to hear I wasn’t imagining it. She, on the other hand, was flirting her ass off! It was surreal.”
“It was weird, Pip. Super weird.”
“Ya think?” They got into the car and buckled up. “One of the most famous women in the world acts like she wants to bang me—when her husband’s sitting right there! How did Tim not notice?”
“I have no idea, but I’m glad she’s not going to be around when we start filming. The whole time, I was thinking, ‘I know you’re gorgeous, Meredith, but come on! Keep it in your pants when your husband’s watching!’”
“Right? Maybe she just…I don’t know. Maybe she could relate to me because I’m around her age.”
“Yeah,” Charlie replied, her tone dubious. “That’s probably it. She was compiling a playlist of her favorite songs of the aughts by staring at you like she wanted to eat you alive.”
“What else could it be?” So agitated that she was on the verge of hyperventilating, Piper’s heart raced again, just like it had when they’d been on the deck. Things were odd with Meredith then, but they’d gotten even weirder once Tim took the kids up to bed. Meredith had immediately moved to sit next to Piper and stare at her like she wanted to climb into her lap, conversing primarily with her while barely speaking to Charlie. “Maybe she wanted to make me feel comfortable because I’m a Hollywood outsider. Or maybe she’s just…super friendly.”
“That was ‘I wanna go down on you’ friendly,” Charlie said, the whites of her eyes showing in the dim lights. “It was fucked up.” She slid her fingers into her hair and tousled it roughly, her frustration clearly getting the better of her. “Tone it down, Pip. You can’t let her hit on you.”
Piper turned the car on, but sat and stared at her sister for a moment. “Don’t let her hit on me? Don’t let Meredith Legrand hit on me? Listen to yourself! Listen to how absurd that sounds.”
Charlie scoffed. “Absurd or not, I saw what I saw. The woman’s interested. You clearly don’t know how to control your magnetic sex appeal.”
“You’re delusional!”
Piper turned, and as their eyes met Charlie started to laugh. “I must be. Because I definitely thought I saw Meredith Legrand hitting on you, and that could not have happened!”
Piper hit the gas and they sped off in fits of laughter, but behind Piper’s laugh, at least, was a frisson of discomfort. It had been a long time since she’d been hit on quite so obviously…
***
Back at Charlie’s, they changed out of their dressy clothes and sat on the living room floor playing with Delta, his few additional hours at day care not having worn him out in the least.
“Wanna stay over tonight?” Charlie said. “Your apartment’s all ready to go.”
She was smiling so happily Piper wanted to give in. “I’d love to, but my juice is at my house. I’ll have to drink yours.”
Charlie reached over and grabbed her knee. “I can get more juice. It’s time with you that’s getting harder to schedule. Especially now that you’ve got a girlfriend.” She put her hand to her lips and kissed it repeatedly, just like she had when she’d been a little girl making fun of romantic scenes on TV.
“Do you have time to hang out tomorrow?” Piper asked. “I don’t want to stay just to have you take off.”
“All day,” Charlie said. “After we have our delicious juice, I’ll give you your birthday present.”
“Hey! That’s right! Why can’t I have it now?”
“It’s a daytime present,” she said, giggling. “You’ve gotta wait.”
Piper got to her feet, feeling a little light-headed. She grasped the edge of the sofa for a few seconds. “Not eating sucks,” she grumbled.
“You’re eating plenty,” Charlie soothed. “You had nine hundred calories today. That’s all you need.”
“You’ve lost your mind. Every time I think you’re just a simple girl from the Valley, you say something crazy, like nine hundred calories a day is plenty.” She extended a hand to help Charlie up, but she didn’t need it, rising easily on her own. “I’m heading to bed. If
I have the strength.”
After kissing Charlie’s cheek, she started for her apartment, but was followed by her little shadow. “Um, I think Delta’s confused about who his mom is. Do you want to grab him?”
“He can decide for himself. I’d love to be his favorite, but I’m not going to push it. He’s got his own mind.”
Piper rolled her eyes. “He’d follow you if you left.”
“Then don’t leave. I’ve got furniture in the guest rooms now.”
Piper thought for just a moment, then decided she needed space. She was going to talk Haley into spending the night often, and establishing her own space would help in normalizing that—for both Charlie and Delta.
“I want to try out my new apartment.” The whole clan walked her out, then Delta cried and pawed at the stairs as she started to climb them. She gazed at her sister for a moment. “If I take him, he’s staying. I’m not going to run him up and down this spiral death-trap all night.”
Chuckling, Charlie picked up the pup and kissed his head. “I wish you loved me best, Delta, but I don’t blame you for picking Piper. She’s awesome.”
***
Piper lay in bed for hours, with her restless mind going over the entire evening. Despite the strange flirting, which she still hoped she’d blown out of proportion, they’d all had a good time together. Logically, she knew stunningly famous people were essentially the same as everyone else, but it was still odd to sit and chat with people who’d become icons. Was that what it was going to be like for Charlie? Would people she met have to spend a half hour making sure she was a normal person before they could speak freely? Is that truly the life Charlie wanted? To always have to be wary of strangers, knowing most of them wanted something from her?
She wasn’t at all sure that’s what she wanted for her baby sister. But Charlie was ready to dive in, clearly unafraid of giving up the one thing she’d probably never be able to claim again—her privacy.
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