“I know him because he dated Mindy Snow,” she said. “I used to be a big fan of hers, from all the way back in the Slow Lane days.” She giggled a little. “I remember liking him a lot better than I liked Jake when she was dating him, but not as much as Scott Adams Winslow.”
“Oh yeah?” Celia asked.
“Well ... you remember what I thought about Jake when we first met each other?”
“That he was a scumbag, girlfriend beating, ass-crack sniffing degenerate?” Celia said.
“Don’t forget Satanist,” Jake offered.
“Oh ... right,” Laura said. “Satanist too. But then I got to know Jake better and realized that I had he and Mindy reversed in my mind from who they actually were.”
“Reversed?” asked Celia.
“Well ... Jake turned out to be the nice guy and Mindy turned out to be ... you know ... the bitch.”
“That term does not even come close to covering her personality,” Jake said.
“Jake told me the stories about his involvement with her,” Laura said. “That was the day we took the flight to get the soprano sax from Portland.” She smiled at her husband. “Later that night we had our first kiss. And then ... well ... some other firsts too.”
“Yes,” said Celia sourly. “We all heard those firsts.”
“The impetus behind Rule 17,” Greg said with a smile.
Laura looked at Jake and pointed her finger at him. “I told you they came up with that rule because of us!” she barked at him. “You kept saying it was because of the Nerdlys and their modem noise!”
“I was trying to protect your delicate sensibilities,” Jake said. “Of course they made that rule for us. You damn near broke a wine glass when you...”
“All right,” she hissed. “I get the picture.” She turned back to Greg. “Anyway, my point is you should be very careful with that woman. She’s nasty. I’ve never even met her before, but I know she’s trouble.”
“I’m aware of what she’s like,” Greg said. “Jake’s relationship with her aside, she is very well known in the inner circles as being a manipulative user, one who will do anything to shape her reputation, or get the role she wants, or get anything else she is after. I even heard that she somehow got Winslow to waive the prenup when she divorced him. How the hell do you pull something like that off?”
Laura and Jake shared a look with each other but said nothing. Nevertheless, just saying this seemed to spark a memory in Greg. “I seem to remember your name being tossed around a little when they were divorcing. Something about a New Year’s Eve party and her going to one of your concerts?”
“Uh ... yeah,” Jake said. “That was just the media spinning stories out of thin air.” This was true enough. The media had not possessed any facts about what had actually happened. He then told a blatant lie. “I had nothing to do with any of it.”
“Well, you can be assured that I will watch my ass around her,” Greg said.
“We’ve talked about this extensively,” Celia said. “Greg promises me that his interaction with Mindy will be professional and nothing more.” She patted her husband’s leg affectionately. “I believe him ... and I trust him.”
“Of course,” Jake said, thinking about the makeup girl in Alaska. The one who Greg had been unable to resist. The one who had undoubtedly been nowhere near as attractive or seductive as Mindy Snow.
“Oh look!” Laura said, pointing across the room. “Sharon and Kelvin are back.”
Everyone looked over to where the new mother, with new child in arms, were making their way into the celebration. Kelvin was no longer crying—at least not audibly.
“Come on,” Celia said to Laura. “She’ll need someone to hold the baby for her while she gets her food. I need a baby fix.”
“Right,” Laura said, standing up. “You two coming?” she asked.
“I’m going to finish my wine,” Greg said. “There will be plenty of time for baby holding later.”
“Me too,” Jake said. “Babies aren’t all that interesting at that age anyway, right?”
That earned him a few scowls of displeasure before the women trotted off, making a beeline for Sharon. Jake and Greg were now alone at the table.
Greg looked around a little bit and then leaned closer to Jake. “Listen,” he said softly. “You’ve dealt with Mindy on a much more ... oh ... intimate scale than I have.”
“Yeah,” Jake agreed. “That is a true statement of fact.”
“Tell me what you think about this then,” he said. “There’s something I didn’t tell C about this whole Mindy being my costar thing.”
“Oh yeah?” Jake asked carefully.
“Yes,” Greg said. “You see, when Us and Them was first accepted as a project for Merrimack and Jerry Lancing agreed to produce it—this was months before my name was suggested as the lead role—the role of Lyndsay, the reporter, was offered to Mindy Snow. She read the script over and gave Lancing a polite ‘no thank you’, telling him that it was not the sort of project she was looking for at this time. She turned down eleven million and video royalties without even coming in for an audition.”
“Interesting,” Jake said, failing to see what this information had to do with anything. “How do you know this?”
“Johnny, my agent, is tight with Frank Graham, who is in charge of production at Merrimack. That was how I ended up being offered the role eventually. Johnny and Frank are drinking buddies.”
“Okay,” Jake said. “So ... Mindy changed her mind at some point, obviously.”
“Yes, she did,” Greg said. “That ‘some point’ was right after I was named as the leading man for the project. The very next day, in fact.”
“Really?” Jake said, raising his eyebrows.
“Johnny tells me that Mindy called up Jerry Lancing that very morning and told him that she’d reconsidered and would love to accept the role of Lyndsay if it was still available. He said that she called him personally to tell him this, did not involve her agent in any way. And that furthermore, she continued to call and lobby herself for the role until they officially offered it to her.”
“That is very interesting indeed,” Jake said slowly. She’s up to something, his mind insisted.
“I know I have a bit of an ego,” Greg said.
“You? An ego?” Jake said with a smile. “Get the hell out of town with that shit, Greg!”
Greg shook his head and smiled. “I suppose I deserve that,” he said. He then turned serious again. “Anyway, even if my ego is taken out of the equation, I cannot help but feel that Mindy suddenly changing her mind about the role has something to do with me being named as the lead. True, I’ve only met her a few times in my life, but still ... this cannot be a coincidence, right?”
“It could be,” Jake said, “but I think you’re correct. It’s not. She’s up to something.”
“What could she possibly be up to?” Greg asked. “We hardly know each other. The times we have met I’ve never sensed any kind of ... you know ... connection between her and I. You know her, Jake. What do you suppose her game is?”
Jake shook his head. “I can’t even begin to imagine,” he said. “But I can assure you, there is a game afoot. Mindy doesn’t fart unless there is an ulterior motive for it.”
Greg blinked. “A rather crude but highly expressive analogy,” he said. “In any case, it doesn’t matter what her game is, I won’t be playing it.”
Jake sighed and took a sip of his wine. “Tell me, Greg ... will there be any ... you know ... sex scenes in this flick you’re going to be doing with her?”
“In this film,” Greg said, emphasizing the word, “there are several nude scenes and two sex scenes between my character and the Lyndsay character scripted, one of them quite provocative.”
“I see,” Jake said.
“A sex scene is nothing,” Greg scoffed. “True, it can be a bit awkward, particularly when full nudity is involved, but it’s far from a romantic or even alluring situation. There is a complete film crew surrounding you, for one thing. There’s a director shouting instructions and judging your acting. There are lights shining down on you. And every move that is made between the two actors is carefully choreographed.”