“Why do you carry a stick around?” Flo teased me.
“David fancies himself a martial artist,” Fritz said.
They all looked at me, and I could tell they weren’t buying it. I just gave them a tight smile.
“I take it you plan to run with me. Is it okay if I set the pace?” I asked.
“By all means; we’ll try to keep up,” Jane said.
We began to run through the neighborhood. I was amazed they packed these luxury homes so close together. My mom always told me that real estate was all about location, location, location, and only so much land had views like this. Each home had been custom-built to take advantage of the cityscape. The homes varied in age and style. Rita’s house was more of a classic Hollywood mansion. As I ran, I saw several similar homes, then I came across more modern ones that were all glass and steel.
I’d asked Fritz to direct me so I didn’t get lost. He had us slowly going down the hill. I suspected he planned to let the terrain give him and his team an advantage. After we had gone the first mile, according to my smartwatch running app, I began to hit my full stride. Being six-four meant I had long legs, and they could cover a lot of ground in a hurry. I noticed that Jane looked worried as she glanced over at Paul. Then I started to do my Bo staff exercises.
When I hit the two-and-a-half-mile mark, I turned around, and we ran back up the hill. I used my speed-work technique of increasing my pace by ten percent and then easing back to my regular cadence, only to repeat. Combine that with now running uphill, and I could start to feel the burn in my thighs and butt.
I will give Fritz’s team credit; they all made it back. I had to cut my warm-down stretching short when Paul puked, or I might have joined him. Fritz was grinning because the old man of the group had bested his charges, with my help.
I took my shower and came downstairs to find Rosy had made me an enormous vegetable omelet with a poached chicken breast on the side. There were also bowls of yogurt and fruit salad in the middle of the table. Caryn, Halle, and Rita all joined me.
“You missed our run,” I told Caryn.
“Are you kidding me? They planned to kill you this morning. I used the gym instead.”
“Who planned to kill David?” Rita asked.
“I guess Fritz wanted to show his people that they weren’t in as good shape as they thought they were. When I left them, they looked a little worn out,” I offered.
“Go easy on them,” Rita commented, and then left with a bowl of yogurt and fruit.
I frowned at Halle, which caused her to be confused.
“What?”
“You have a golden opportunity here,” I said.
Caryn now looked confused.
“David has a ‘friend,’” Halle said with the added air quotes, “who told him I would, ahem …”
“Wake me up with oral sex,” I said.
I raised my eyebrows when Halle gave me ‘the look.’
“I wasn’t the one who suggested it,” I said with my hands held up.
“But you were hoping,” Caryn supplied.
I just smiled. From the look Halle gave me, I could probably forget about that kind of wake-up call.
◊◊◊
Caryn and I rode to the studio alone because we had to meet Saul and Frank for lunch. Fritz drove us through the gate and seemed to know where we were going. There was a banner for our movie on the side of a large building. Nine trailers were parked by the front door in a three-by-three square. On the other side of the entrance was a fleet of golf carts.
Fritz took us to a trailer in the back row, and I was surprised to see my name on it. When I entered, I found Rita seated with Jessup Fields. He’d directed Star Academy.
“Hey. What are you doing here?” I asked Jessup.
“Rita asked me to direct this movie.”
“That’s great, but I didn’t know you were going to. What happened to the other guy?” I asked.
I was embarrassed I couldn’t remember his name. Of course, I’d never met him.
“When Josh walked, so did the director. I showed Jessup your video, and he wants you to play Adam,” Rita said.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“You’ve every right to be concerned. This is the first movie I’m producing, and my male lead walks off the movie the day before shooting. When the director finds out, he also walks. If I were just acting in this movie, I’d be asking a lot of questions.
“I’m hoping you’re on board. You’ve worked with Jessup before, and he has only good things to say about you. I need you to step up and help me out,” Rita said.
“This sounds like a much more important role and a greater time commitment,” Caryn said.
“I expect we can work that out. What I need to know is if you’ll help us and do it. We need to get started today,” Rita said.
“I’m in. Just tell me what to do.”
Rita and Jessup seemed to relax.
“Let’s get started,” Jessup said.
◊◊◊
We met Saul and Frank at The Ivy for a late lunch. We were delayed because Jessup wanted to make up for lost time, first thing. He’d addressed everyone to explain that everything would be on schedule and any rumors of problems were overstated.
When we arrived, I was surprised to find paparazzi waiting outside the restaurant. Fritz made a show of checking for any threats and then let Caryn and me out of the car so we could go in. Caryn quickly went in, but I paused and let them take my picture. I ignored their questions and stepped inside.
The Ivy looked like an old French house from the outside. It’s one of the places people in the business have been coming to for the last thirty years. I thought we were done with the paparazzi, but I soon found out that Saul had reserved a table in the garden. It was an area in front of the restaurant with an old picket fence. Saul had Caryn and me sit on a wicker couch that had gaudy French-design pillows.
“Quentin Tarantino sits here,” Saul bragged. “Rumor has it that your role in your movie has changed.”
“How did you hear that?” I asked.
“I hear everything,” Saul said as he checked out Caryn.
Exasperated, I snapped my fingers to get his attention, while Frank looked intently at his menu. Caryn was used to men checking her out, but I could tell she didn’t like Saul. Fortunately, our server was a man.
“I brought more scripts for you to read. I’m told these would be perfect for you,” Saul said.
“Screw you, Saul,” Frank said, surprising me. “Have you even read them?”
“I read the first few pages,” he defended himself.
Frank grabbed the stack and flipped through them.
“Okay, this one would have David in a period piece that would only appeal to old women,” Frank said.
“It could be the next Pride and Prejudice,” Saul shot back.
“It’s an independent film with an unknown director. They’ll have to go through Sundance and win a bunch of awards before it’ll even be put out on limited release. They’ll be lucky if it doesn’t go straight to DVD,” Frank complained.
“That may be the case, but they’ve guaranteed one-point-five million if David will do it. It’ll also be filmed in Italy,” Saul said.
“When will it start?” Caryn asked.
“April, and will film for eight months,” Saul said as if that was somehow a positive.
“There’s no way I’ll give up both baseball and football season for any amount of money. My mom would kill me if I worked eight months in Italy and missed school,” I said.
I was glad Frank was there because he knew almost as much as Saul did about what was going on in this town. It turned out that a couple of the scripts were favors Saul owed to someone. We finally found a few that sounded plausible. I’d kept quiet through most of this as Saul battled with Frank and Caryn. Saul wasn’t happy that Caryn stood up to him, and in a profanity-laced tirade, he made that abundantly clear. I guess he was surprised when she wasn’t a shrinking violet and told him to shove it.