Design for Loving

by Doug Sanford

  “Marc,” said Bart rather loudly, “this is Dorie Johnson from the studio. You’ve heard me talk about her and how helpful she’s been to me with all the interviews.”

  Shifting Zach to my left arm, I shook her hand.

  “And this is Lynette Robinson from Soap Opera Digest, Ellis, the photographer, and his assistant Eddie—I’m sorry I didn’t get your last names. This is my manager and friend, Marc Gruber.” Handshaking all around.

  Lynette was an older woman, an almost grandmotherly type, who looked more like a stereotypical soap opera viewer than a reporter. Well, she was covering a baby shoot, so maybe that fit. I couldn’t have known how wrong I was although her first comment to me should have put me on my guard.

  “So this is the mysterious Marc,” said Lynette.

  “Mysterious?” I repeated. “I don’t think anyone’s ever described me as that.”

  “No, Marc is one of the least mysterious people I know,” said Bart. “Of course we’ve known each other a long time.”

  “Ever since you were in college, I heard. That’s about ten years now, isn’t it?” said Lynette who had obviously been thorough in her background research on Bart.

  “I guess so.” said Bart, glancing at me with a question in his eyes.

  “Marc,” Lynette asked, “if you don’t mind the question, how did you and Bart meet?”

  That was an easy one for which we were both well-prepared. We’d been asked the same thing many times over the years, and we’d developed a sanitized version of our meeting which didn’t begin with my asking him if he was horny.

  “A friend of mine taught Bart’s English lit class in college. Bart had asked him some questions about possibly teaching high-school English, and he suggested that Bart call me to get the scoop on what it was really like since I’d done that before I became a real estate agent. We spent something like two hours talking on the phone and found that, despite our age difference, we had lots in common, so eventually we met. I started out kind of as his mentor, and over time we became friends as well.”

  A little fact, a little fiction, but it seemed to satisfy most people, even—we thought—Lynette. We both underestimated her.

  At that moment, Zach began to whimper a bit, and Leslie said, “Marc, give him to me. He’s probably hungry, and I don’t think you’ll be of any help there.”

  “Ellis, do you have things nearly ready here?” asked Dorie, obviously trying to create a diversion.

  “Just a few more minutes, Dorie,” he replied.

  “Well, I’d better go get my stuff,” I said, and began to walk to the other staircase.

  “So you live here?” asked Lynette.

  Bart and Dorie closed in.

  “Marc’s my best friend,” said Bart, in a casual voice, “and for some personal reasons, he’s living here now.” He chose his words carefully, and Dorie nodded in approval.

  “I’m sorry,” said Lynette quickly, “if I seem to be prying. I guess it’s just my reporter’s habit of asking questions. I apologize.”

  “No offense taken,” I said, as I moved quickly and determinedly to the staircase, took the steps two at a time, and got the hell out of there.

  I retrieved what I needed and thought seriously about taking the elevator down, exiting through the kitchen, and walking around to my car which was parked in the front driveway. But I was afraid that would look much too suspicious and cause even more problems. So back down I went with my tux on a hanger and everything else in a small overnight bag.

  “See you later, guys,” I called as I moved quickly toward and out the front door.

  After I left, everything went well from what they told me. When we saw the shots, we were all delighted. Zach mugged for the camera like a professional, and his parents were both gorgeous, so what was not to like?

  Our delight diminished about three weeks later, when a couple of days before Leslie’s birthday, the other shoe dropped.

  Chapter 42

  It was Wednesday, the twelfth, when, as Bart told us, Jay sought him out on the set, took him aside, and said, “Bart, Lynette’s up to something. Dorie says she’s asked for a follow-up interview with you and also with Marc to talk about some things.”

  “With Marc? What things? What does Marc have to do with the baby pictures?”

  “She wouldn’t say, according to Dorie, but wanting to include Marc doesn’t look good. I want to be prepared and don’t want to take any chances. I’ve stalled her until Monday. Is there any chance that you, Marc, Norm, and Leslie could meet with Dorie and me tomorrow or Friday? Obviously, I’ve no way to force Marc and Leslie to attend, but I think it would be best if we were all there to figure out some strategy for whatever Lynette may have. I’m willing to make myself available at any time that would work for all of you.”

  “You know it’s serious,” said Norm that evening, “if Jay Tarsen is willing to hold a meeting around our schedules and gave you his home phone number to get back to him.”

  Bart had called Norm right after he talked to Jay, explained what he’d been told, and invited him for dinner that night. A smart idea, but Bart forgot Jeanine’s Rule. When he called her directly after inviting Norm to let her know there would be one more for dinner, her reply, predictably, was, “Did you tell Ms. Leslie?”

  “No, Jeanine. I’ve got to get back to the set now and don’t have time. Can you call her and let her know?”

  “That’s not the way things are supposed to work, Mr. Bart.”

  “I know, Jeanine, but believe me, this is an emergency. Can you help me out here?”

  “Well, just this one time, Mr. Bart.”

  And that explained why Bart arrived home that evening with a small bouquet of flowers and a bag of Pepperidge Farm Bordeaux cookies, Jeanine’s favorite.

  “Lynette Robinson,” continued Norm that evening, “is really good, and she’s always been more than fair to the show. She got into some kind of dispute a few years ago over at ABC and has always hoped that Mt. Sinai Heights would take the crown away from General Hospital.”

  “I knew she was up to something that day at the photo shoot,” I said. “She asked all kinds of nosy questions.”

  “Marc, remember, that’s her job,” replied Leslie. “It’s what she does.”

  “I wouldn’t want that job. Fuck, if only I hadn’t come home that morning.”

  “It probably wasn’t that. Remember her comment about the mysterious Marc? I bet she’d been looking into things even before meeting you.”

  “You might be right. To be honest, I’ve often wondered why, as Bart became more and more popular, no one else had ever dug around our past.”

  “Bart,” said Leslie, “You’re unusually quiet. No thoughts?”

  Bart said nothing.

  “He’s quiet because I suspect he’s actually pretty happy about all this. Right, kid? He’s been wanting it to come out for a long time.”

  “Yep,” he said. “You know how I hate hiding who we all are. I’ve been thinking about it since this morning, and if I lose the show, I lose the show. At least I won’t have to lie all the time. But I guess you don’t feel quite the same way, Norm.”

  “Bart, you’re too valuable to the show. I don’t think they’d dump you over this unless there’s something in your past—yours or Marc’s—that I don’t already know about. But hell, even if they do, with what you’ve done for their ratings, I’m pretty confident we’ll find something else for you pretty fast.”

  “Les, Marc. What do you think?” Bart asked. “What if the shit hits the fan? “

  “I can’t see that it would have much effect on my work,” said Leslie. They can’t fire me because my husband is also sleeping with another man. There will be talk of course, and the more radical feminists on campus may think it’s some kind of abdication of my womanhood, but I’m not sure I’d care very much. And the women I know who have been so jealous of my having married a TV celebrity would be happy to hear it because they’d see it as humiliating me. But,
again, it makes no difference to me what they think.”

  “As far as I’m concerned,” I said, “everybody in the business already knows I’m gay, so that won’t change anything. Half of them thought the two of us were sleeping together before you and Leslie got married. Robin and I are getting really close to opening Romarc, and I’ll be my own boss—not that anyone at the agency now would have a problem with it.”

  “So we’re all willing to let this come out?” asked Bart. “Even if there’s a lot of ugly publicity over it in the press? And I’m sure there will be.”

  We all agreed. Bart called Jay, and the meeting was set up for the next afternoon in his office at four-thirty, a time that wouldn’t interfere with shooting and that Leslie and I could both make.

  Chapter 43

  “Leslie, Marc,” said Jay the next day, “thanks for coming. I understand it’s your birthday, Leslie. I’m especially happy that you were willing to give us some time today. Happy birthday.”

  Leslie smiled. That surprised me. Either Bart said something to him or Jay Tarsen was even sharper than Norm said his reputation was.

  “I’m sure you agree,” he continued, “that we’ve got to have a coordinated approach to whatever Lynette has dug up. First thing I wanted to do was to make sure you all know who we’re dealing with. Except for meeting her at the photo shoot, Marc and Leslie, you probably don’t know much about Lynette.”

  “She seemed perfectly nice, if a bit nosy,” I volunteered. Sometimes I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.

  “Nice?” said Jay. “Nice is a persona she’s created, and it serves her very well. It puts people at their ease—a sort of fuzzy old lady façade like Miss Marple in the Agatha Christie mysteries. But like Miss Marple she’s a lot smarter than people think, and she pretty much always gets whatever information she wants.

  “Lynette got a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern in 1962, I think it was, and her thesis was on the relationship between early radio soap operas and the depression of the 1930s. She’s been writing about soaps, both radio and TV, since she graduated, and there’s not much about the subject or the people in the business she doesn’t know.

  “She’s also relentless—some would say ruthless, although I’ve had no problems with her—in her pursuit of information. Once she has the scent of a story, she keeps at it like a dog after a bone.

  “And finally there’s an unconfirmed—because she’s so private about her own life—rumor that she’s a lesbian. Whether that’s in any way related to this situation, I don’t know.”

  “Now that you have a better idea of who we’re up against, let’s get down to talking about what she might have and what we do about it.”

  “Jay,” said Bart, “could I interrupt and maybe save us some time here?”

  “Go.”

  “We all talked about this last night, and we’ve agreed that no matter what she has, it’s time to put everything out on the table. The whole truth. Nothing held back. Les and Marc are with me on this, and if doing this in any way harms the show, then you can write me out, and I’ll agree to whatever terms you decide on.

  “You’re telling me that you want the truth about your relationship to come out—enough so that you’re willing to leave?” asked Jay.

  “I don’t want to leave, but, yes,” said Bart. “Even if Lynette doesn’t have the evidence we thinks she has, I want it out and in the open. I can’t take this crap of having to be so evasive every time I talk to reporters.”

  “That sounds good, Bart,” said Jay, “but are you sure the world is ready to hear all about the three of you?”

  “I guess I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t care,” replied Bart. “And Les and Marc will back me up.”

  “Dorie,” said Jay, “in terms of the publicity, what do you think?”

  “All the surveys we’ve done show that the reaction to the storyline and the change in Shaun’s character have been even more positively received than we thought they would be. Of course, Shaun was popular before the gay storyline began, so maybe the good will people felt toward him in the past made the transition easier. They say people are always willing to accept gay people if they know someone personally, and they have definitely gotten to know Shaun.”

  “But Shaun’s a character in a soap,” replied Jay. We’re talking about how they’ll react to what some might think of as Bart’s double life—no offense meant, Bart. That’s a real situation.”

  “Well,” said Dorie, “looked at strictly in terms of public relations, it certainly will cause a lot of discussion, and the ratings for the show will probably go up—at least in the short run.”

  “It’s certainly comforting to know that my marriage to Bart and Bart’s relationship with Marc will provide such benefits to your show. Perhaps you can raise advertising rates during that short run you mentioned,” said Leslie acidly.

  “Les,” said Bart, “it’s cool. These are things they have to be concerned about. Whatever the reaction is, it’s not going to affect the three of us. But it could cause big problems for the show.”

  “It just seems so calculating,” said Leslie.

  “It is,” said Jay. “It is calculating, but that’s the nature of our business. You know that has nothing to do with how we’ve treated you and Bart and Marc.”

  “You’re right there, of course,” she replied, softening somewhat. “And I do appreciate that.”

  “This is something I hadn’t considered. Let me think about it a minute,” Jay said.

  And it didn’t take him much more than a minute to decide. “Okay, if you’re sure this is what you all want, maybe we should beat Lynette to the punch,” suggested Jay. “Call a press conference and have it all out there.”

  “Not quite the way I’d suggest handling it, Jay, if you’ll pardon me,” said Dorie. “I don’t think we want to cross Lynette. If we let her have the whole story as an exclusive, we’ll build up a supply of good will from her for the future, and it won’t change anything for us.”

  She turned to Leslie. “And yes, I know that sounds calculating,” she said sympathetically.

  Leslie just smiled.

  “Marc?” Bart turned to me. “You’ve been pretty quiet this morning. What do you think?”

  “Kid, you pretty much always know what I think.”

  He smiled. “Yeah, I do. You’re gonna leave this one up to me. Coward.”

  “You got it,” I said with a grin.

  Turning to Jay, he said, “So we’re all in agreement—even you Norm, right?”

  “I’m with you,” he replied.

  “Okay,” said Jay. “We’re going to have to let her know that we’ll all be there for the interview. We don’t want to take her by surprise, even if we are going to be giving her a huge story. Dorie, can you try to set this up with her for Saturday? Will that work Marc, Leslie?”

  “Go for it,” I replied.

  “That will work,” said Leslie.

  Chapter 44

  The meeting was set for 11:30 A.M. The three of us got there a bit early, but Jay and Norm were already in the conference room. Dorie waited at the front door to meet Lynette.

  “Lynette,” said Jay, as Dorie brought her in, “It’s good to see you again. I think you know Bart, Marc, and Leslie. Norm, here, is Bart’s agent.”

  Handshakes and small talk all around.

  “Let’s sit down, shall we?” said Dorie who put Lynette at the head of the table with Bart on one side of her and Dorie herself on the other. I sat next to Dorie. Jay, Leslie, and Norm took chairs behind Bart along the wall.

  “I realize I’ve made an unusual request in asking to meet with the two of you since Marc is in no way associated with the show,” said Lynette, “but I felt this was an unusual circumstance, and Marc also acts as your personal manager, Bart. Correct?”

  “Yes, he does,” Bart replied to what was obviously a rhetorical question.

  “I know I was just supposed to write a puff piece about you and Lesl
ie and the baby, Bart, but it seemed to me there was a bigger story that a lot of reporters were ignoring.”

  “What story, Lynette?” asked Dorie, a bit nervously.

  Lynette continued talking to Bart.

  “I was glad to see Mt. Sinai Heights take on the subject of homosexuality, a topic that’s been mostly ignored by other soaps—”

  “You mean daytime dramas, don’t you, Lynette?” interrupted Dorie.

  “Horse pucky. I mean soaps,” said Lynette emphatically, revealing her non-Marple side. “That’s what they’ve always been, and that’s what I’ll call them despite your attempt to euphemize them into something else.”

  Dorie said nothing.

  “As I was saying, homosexuality is a topic that’s mostly been ignored by soaps and is only just beginning to become visible in other areas of the popular media. If the change that Shaun seems to undergo might appear to some to be a bit forced, I was willing to overlook that for the good that was done by introducing the topic into the show.

  “Soaps have frequently led the way over the years by bringing up controversial social issues, and I was happy to see that Mt. Sinai Heights was going to be the one to continue that tradition.”

  She’s beginning to sound like a classroom teacher, I thought.

  “I’m sure,” Bart replied, “you know that making the change wasn’t my decision and I deserve no credit for it although I do agree with you that it’s time homosexuality began to come out of the closet—pardon the pun.” He smiled.

  “Certainly—although my sources tell me that you’ve been much more involved in the discussions about the way the changes would take place than actors are usually allowed to be in the development and writing phases.”

  Bart smiled and nodded his head.

  Man, I thought, she doesn’t miss a thing.

  “That’s actually related to what I wanted to talk about this morning,” she continued. “Since Shaun came out on Mt. Sinai Heights, Bart, you’ve been giving a number of interviews. You’ve had to deal with some of the same issues Tom Hanks had when Philadelphia was released: ignorant reporters asking questions such as how can a straight actor play a gay character and why is a straight actor playing the part when there are so many gay actors around looking for work?