“The studio has a yacht. I wondered if you wanted to go out on it Sunday. It would give you a chance to have fun and talk a little business,” Janice suggested.
“So, I would need to have Caryn and Saul there?” I asked.
“Yes, and you and they can invite some people to go with you. I’ll have the studio get hold of Caryn and firm it up,” she said.
My phone chirped. Fritz was here.
“Count me in. I’ve gotta run. I want to thank you for everything you did for the movie and me. It looks great,” I said.
◊◊◊
Halle and Caryn had decided to ride with me this morning. On the way to the studio, I told Caryn about what Janice had said and the push from the studio. Caryn said she would call Saul and let him know. She wondered if she could bring her parents since this was our next-to-last weekend in LA. I asked her to find out how many people we each could invite. I had no idea how big this yacht was.
While we fought LA traffic, I called Brook.
“Hey,” I said as hello.
“I was just about to board my plane,” Brook told me. “I had a lot of fun yesterday. Thanks for inviting me.”
“I was wondering if you could stay the weekend,” I said.
“School starts on Monday, and my mom and I are having a girls’ weekend in Chicago. We’re going shopping.”
I groaned because the last person who needed more clothes was Brook Davis, followed closely by Halle James.
“Shut up,” Brook complained. “You forget that I’ve seen your closet.”
That was a cheap shot. Most of my stuff was free. I had a good idea that Brook spent some serious money on her clothes if the bill for her dresses and accessories for the premiere was any indication.
“Free model clothes,” I shot back.
“Whatever helps you sleep nights. You’re still a serious clothes-hound.”
We talked a bit, and her flight was called. Since we were just sitting in traffic, I decided to call Pam. She was crying.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Cora is considering separating from Devin,” she said.
Holy cow! I’d guessed six months. It had only been eight days.
“Why are you crying?” I asked.
“Dad put our house up for sale, and it was shown today,” she said.
“I thought he had to pay for you to be there,” I said as I started to get mad at Cal again.
“He does, but Mom doesn’t want it. She says he picked our house to show off, and she doesn’t want this much house, now that it’s just the two of us.”
“Does she want to move back to LA?” I asked.
“No, she plans to stay here until I graduate.”
“That’s good, right?” I asked.
“I guess, but then Tracy told me she may have to move. When she got home, her dad told her he planned to leave his law firm. He’s interviewing with several firms in Chicago, St. Louis, and one in Indianapolis. I might end up losing my best friend,” she said.
“Something I know for a fact is that Tom Dole would never remove Tracy from her support system. If it does happen, I’ll help Tracy stay if she wants,” I assured her. “So can you stop crying now?”
“David, I’m a girl. I can cry if I want to.”
“Does that mean I can if I want to?” I asked.
“No, you’re a boy. You’re not allowed.”
“I see. Are there other rules for boys that I don’t know about?” I asked.
She’d stopped crying, and I assumed was thinking about her answer.
“I don’t know. Do you have any for me?” Pam asked.
“Okay, let me think. When I say ‘don’t stop,’ don’t stop. I’m serious. That means good things are happening for me.”
I heard a giggle.
“Oh, here’s another one: tell me what you’re thinking. Seriously, I’m not a mind-reader. Just assume I don’t know, and I expect everything will work out better,” I said.
“‘Stupid Boy.’”
“Take a compliment. Nothing is a bigger turnoff than when we’re starting to have fun, and I tell you how sexy you are, and you tell me that you’re fat.”
“David!”
“Hey, you can’t help it,” I teased.
“David!”
“What? It happens when you get pregnant. Own it. Pregnant women should stop complaining about how big their butts are. There is a small percentage of guys who’re into that,” I suggested.
“You are so dead,” Pam warned.
“Hey, you stopped crying,” I observed.
“You’re a dick sometimes,” she huffed.
“I love you too.”
“Yeah, me too. Hurry up and get home. I miss you.”
“I miss you too,” I said and then had to go.
◊◊◊
You’d think after all the scotch that Jessup drank last night, we might have a short morning. You would think wrong. Apparently, he must have built up a tolerance for the stuff, because he was ready to go this morning. You’d also expect that a guy who was now a star would be able to have his morning tea and oral sex while getting his makeup done. It’s all fun and games until they decide they’re behind on the shooting schedule and you actually have to get film in the can.
The good part about us being behind schedule was that there were fewer takes. I looked at the shooting schedule for today, and I was in every scene. It was almost as if someone figured out I’d be leaving after this week. The only problem with their genius plan was that I’d not been reading my updated scripts while I traveled. I’d noticed some emails but ignored them.
“Shit!” I said, frustrated.
“Cut!” Jessup called. “Come here.”
He pulled me off to the side.
“David, I realize you were busy last week. I want you to just forget about it, and we’ll consider it a lesson learned. What I want you to do is fake it if you don’t know the exact words. I need to get through these scenes. If you mess up too bad, we’ll cut it and reshoot you saying it correctly. Can you do that for me?” Jessup asked.
“I’m really sorry. I’ll do my best for you.”
“Good. Now, let’s get back to it. Time is money,” he said for the millionth time.
We got back to it and used Jessup’s new strategy. It allowed us to power through the morning scenes. I was happy when we finally took a break for lunch. I grabbed food at the buffet and took it to my trailer. Caryn was deep in conversation on her phone and pointed to a stack of papers where I found the script changes for this afternoon’s scenes. It was like the writers felt like they had to justify their existence.
I was reading them as I ate when my phone rang. It was Maria, my wannabe porn star.
“Hey,” I answered.
“What are you doing tonight?” she asked.
“Going out with you.”
“I swear, if you were a girl, you’d be easy.”
“What are we doing? You do plan to feed me before you take advantage of me,” I said.
“I’m having a party. If you come early, I’ll introduce you to my friends, and we can grill something.”
“You need me to bring anything?” I asked.
“Stuff to grill,” she admitted.
“How many are we feeding?” I asked.
“Can I call you back and let you know?”
“No, I’m on set all day. Call Caryn and tell her,” I said and gave her Caryn’s number.
I wrote Caryn a note and suggested that she have Fritz get everything. She only nodded as she talked on the phone.
◊◊◊
The afternoon was a blur. When I was finally done and returned to my trailer, Caryn and Fritz were nowhere to be found. I heard a knock on the door, and it was Flo.
“Fritz has a date tonight,” Flo said.
“Yeah, right. He just didn’t want to go to a teen party with me,” I said.
Flo blushed because I’d caught her.
“He did say that if I let you get into a fight, I’m fired, so please let me punch them if it comes to that,” she said.
“Are you still in trouble for the Pam incident?” I asked.
“Whenever the shit goes sideways, like it did that night, we’re supposed to be on top of it. That’s what we get paid for. I knew you weren’t in danger because I’ve sparred with you. I did what you wanted me to, which was to get Pam out of the situation. Fritz and the rest of the team walked me through it. We all agreed that I should never have left Tracy and you there. First of all, you could have really hurt someone. I should know better. Part of my job is to protect you from lawsuits, and injuring someone in a drunken brawl is at the top of the list of bad things that can happen.