It was a blow that struck home. “You know about that?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “I do. Got it straight from the horse’s mouth.”
“Greg told you about it?” Jake asked, astounded.
“No, the makeup girl in question,” Mindy said. “She worked with me on my last project before Us and Then. We got to be ... oh ... close, I guess you would say. She told me the whole story. She’s such a dear. She actually blames herself for what happened. Can you believe that?”
“So ... you knew about this when you asked to be the costar with Greg?” he asked.
“I did,” she said. “Not that that has anything to do with anything. I wanted to work with Greg because he’s a great actor and I’ve always admired him. I thought we would do good work together and I was right. His little dalliance with the makeup girl is just an interesting side note that I brought up because you seemed to be holding him up as some kind of saint or something. Trust me on this, Jake. There are no saints in Hollywood.”
“Don’t I know it,” Jake agreed.
“Anyway, there is no game here. Greg and I became friends during the project, we shared a wonderful chemistry with each other, and now we’re going to promote our film together. After that, I don’t believe we’ll be seeing much of each other. I have a tendency to make men’s wives a little nervous. Have you noticed that?”
“Maybe once or twice,” Jake said.
“You can choose to believe me or not,” Mindy said. “It’s up to you. It doesn’t really matter to me, not when you come down to it. But I sincerely wanted to tell you that I am sorry for the way I treated you in the past. You can take it for what you will.”
Jake looked at her face as she spoke, seeing nothing but sincerity there. Could it possibly be true? “Okay,” he said at last. “Apology accepted.”
“Thanks, Jake,” she said, touching his shoulder affectionately and then taking her hand away. “That means a lot to me.”
She left him at the bar and resumed mingling. A few minutes later, Obie came over and asked if this was maybe a good time to start heading for the exit.
“Yeah,” Jake said. “A perfect time. You start gathering everyone, I’ll work on getting our limo here.”
Jake and Laura slept in the Granada Hills house that night. The next morning, Laura drove to the KVA studios to meet with Celia and help with the auditions of the violin players. Jake was already gone when she left the house. He had gotten up at seven o’clock and was picked up by a limousine at 7:30. The limo took him to LAX, where he caught a first-class flight to Minneapolis. He was going to play at Bigg G’s concert tonight and then travel with the group for the next ten dates.
Later that same day, at the same airport, Mindy, Greg, and several dozen members of the cast and crew climbed aboard a chartered A-320 for their own flight to Chicago.
Chapter 17: A Momentary Lapse of Reason
Chicago, Illinois
October 20, 1995
Greg Oldfellow was well on his way to intoxication when the plane touched down at Chicago Midway at 4:33 PM, Central Time. Ordinarily he did not drink so much on airplane flights, particularly not when he had a film premier to attend later in the evening, even more particularly not when the premier in question was a film in which he was the star and all of the attention would be on him. But Mindy Snow had sat next to him on the chartered aircraft for this particular flight and Mindy had been in the mood to drink. Greg couldn’t really let her drink alone, could he? That would be uncouth.
It started with bloody Marys shortly after takeoff and then progressed to scotch on the rocks by the time they were cruising over the four corners region. No one expressed any sort of disapproval at the antics of the two stars. Neither Johnny nor Georgette, Greg and Mindy’s respective agents, were on the flight, and the director, the producer, and most of the supporting actors along for the ride were enjoying the festive atmosphere as well. Why not? The film had received solid reviews across the board so far and was already being discussed as a sure Oscar winner. And, though the official release of the project in theaters was not until the following Friday, it was projected to be a blockbuster, perhaps in line to break the highest grossing opening weekend of all time.
For the flight, Mindy had dressed in a pair of tan slacks and a burgundy sweater that showed the shape and outline of her magnificent breasts quite well. Greg was distracted by the sight of them bouncing about as Mindy moved back and forth in her seat, or as the airplane bumped a little in the moderately frequent turbulence. And Mindy was being more than a little flirtatious as well. Nothing gauche or risqué, but she did make a point to touch his hand or his arm whenever the opportunity presented itself, to laugh and smile at his words whenever it could be justified. It was a subtle flirtation, very much like what she had employed during the days and nights when they filmed the sex scenes for the project. It made Greg a little nervous at first, but after the second scotch on the rocks, the wariness was effectively buried, leaving only the sense of feeling flattered by her attention.
Limousines took everyone to the same hotel they had stayed in during the filming. Greg and Mindy each had their own suites on the top floor, right next to each other. It was well past five o’clock by the time they were checked in and they needed to be downstairs for limo pickup at 6:30 so they could make it to the Roughhouse Theatre in old Chicago by 7:00 to make their entrance. This did not leave them all that much time to get ready. Locally hired hairstylists were already waiting for them in their suites when they arrived.
Greg quickly showered and then put on a hotel robe over his underwear and socks. He then sat in the chair in front of the mirror while a flamboyantly gay stylist named Rory teased and combed his hair and then sprayed it with a half a can of hairspray to keep it in place, all the while talking about how fabulous he thought Greg was.
Greg tipped him a hundred dollars and then shooed him out the door. He then put on his freshly cleaned and pressed tuxedo, making sure everything was just so on it. By the time he was done with this, it was only 6:10. His buzz was fading, and he knew if he did not refresh it, he would begin to feel sleepy. So, he mixed himself a potent scotch and soda at the minibar and began to sip at it.
At 6:25 there was a knock on his door. He opened it and there was Mindy. Greg’s eyes widened as he took a good look at her. Her dress was a light shade of pink, falling well below her knees and covering her arms and shoulders to protect her from the chilly Chicago night air. But it was hardly a conservative frock. It was form fitting, hugging her body tightly and outlining her feminine curves very nicely. And it had a huge V-neck that dipped down nearly to her navel, allowing her breasts to practically spill out of it. Greg thought that if she moved in the right manner, one or the other of her areola, if not her actual nipples, would become momentarily visible.
“What do you think?” she asked him, giving a little pirouette.
“Wow,” he said, looking her up and down. “It’s very uh ... you know...”
“Sexy?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “Very sexy.”
“You think I’ll turn a few heads then?”
“I don’t think anyone is going to be paying attention to the film once they see you in that,” he suggested.
She giggled and then entered his room, uninvited. She looked at the drink in his hand. “Oh good,” she said. “You’re keeping up with me. I had a whiskey sour while I was getting my makeup done. Still feeling good.”
“It seemed the appropriate thing to do,” Greg said.
“We still got five minutes,” she said. “Let’s do a shot.”
“A shot?” he asked, not quite sure what she was referring to. The first thing that came to mind was some sort of illicit drug use that involved a needle; the sort of thing that Jake’s previous bass player, Darren had been into.