Taking Chances

by Susan Lewis

  Michael turned and walked away. A few minutes later she followed him into the room and got into bed beside him.

  ‘You’re jealous of a woman you’ve never even met,’ he told her harshly.

  ‘And you’re giving me good cause to be,’ she responded, turning her back.

  Several minutes ticked by.

  ‘And this isn’t about jealousy,’ she said, ‘it’s about professionalism. And you’re just not professional enough to stand up for something you believe in.’

  ‘You mean that you believe in,’ he corrected. ‘And your beliefs are all to cock because you just can’t see past your own obsession with …’

  Ellen swung round. ‘There’s nothing obsessed about me!’ she yelled.

  ‘You can’t accept that I love you and not her,’ he yelled back. ‘But all right, if you want it spelt out, I don’t have a problem with her playing the part. Nor do I think she should stay anywhere but here whenever she comes to LA.’

  Ellen stared at him furiously. ‘I’m giving you fair warning,’ she said, ‘I’m going to do everything I can to persuade Tom Chambers to change his mind, but if I don’t succeed and this movie goes ahead with Michelle in the lead, then I’m out of this house, because there’s just no way I’m going to live under the same roof as you, Robbie and her.’

  Chapter 7

  THE AFTERNOON SUN was blazing its might along the southern California coast as the PAL flight carrying Michelle finally came in to land. It had been a long and uncomfortable journey, with little room to move in a cabin that was packed to capacity, and crowded seats that did their level best to deny any attempts at exit or access. Still, it was behind her now, and the only thing that interested her, as she cleared customs and wheeled her luggage through to the arrivals hall, was that she was going to see her darling, precious little boy for the first time in more than eight months.

  The crowd waiting to greet other passengers was dense and noisy as she came through, and for a while her view was blocked by the tightly packed bodies of a slow-moving family in front. Her shoulder-length blonde hair, which had been newly cut and styled just before she left, caused her to stand out in the mainly Asian crowd, just as her height enabled her to catch an occasional glimpse up ahead. In the end, she and Robbie found each other at the same moment, and as he shrieked ‘Mummy!’ and came bounding towards her, she abandoned her cart and ran towards him.

  ‘Darling!’ she cried, sweeping him up in her arms. ‘Oh my darling. I’ve missed you so much. Let me see you. Oh, Robbie, you’ve grown so handsome and big. Can I kiss you? You’re not too grown-up to be kissed?’ and she laughed through her tears as he grabbed her round the neck and pressed his lips hard against hers. ‘Such passion!’ she spluttered. ‘Oh God, I can’t believe how much I’ve missed you. Is Daddy here?’

  ‘He’s over there. And Tom. We all came to meet you and Daddy said we can go for a McDonald’s on the way home if you’re not too tired. You’re not too tired, are you, Mum?’

  ‘No,’ she laughed, brushing back his hair and gazing adoringly into his face, ‘I’m not too tired.’

  ‘Any of those hugs going spare?’ a voice behind her enquired.

  ‘Tom!’ she cried, turning to greet him and almost tripping over the luggage cart he had rescued. ‘Oh God, look at you! It’s so wonderful to see you.’

  ‘It’s good to see you too,’ he told her, embracing both her and Robbie, while trying to keep hold of the cart.

  ‘Daddy! Daddy!’ Robbie shouted, wriggling from Michelle’s arms as Michael came towards them. ‘Let me have Spot, Daddy. Spot, come here boy. Mummy, this is Spot,’ he declared, scooping the shaggy little black dog up in his arms and turning to show his mother.

  ‘Oh, he’s adorable Robbie,’ Michelle laughed, taking the dog and bringing his cheeky little face up to hers. ‘But where are all his spots?’

  ‘He doesn’t have any,’ Robbie responded indignantly. ‘He doesn’t have to have spots to be called Spot, does he, Dad?’

  ‘No,’ Michael confirmed.

  Michelle’s lovely green eyes were shining with laughter as she looked up at Michael.

  ‘Hi,’ he said, his tone and expression seeming to close them off from the mayhem for a moment. ‘How are you?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ she answered, and tucking Spot under one arm, she walked into his arms.

  ‘Mummy, you’re squashing Spot!’ Robbie objected.

  ‘Yeah, don’t squash the dog,’ Tom joined in.

  ‘Sorry,’ Michelle laughed, handing the dog back to Robbie. ‘He’s gorgeous, darling,’ she said, ‘and I’m really looking forward to getting to know him better.’

  ‘Oh, you will,’ Michael assured her, disentangling the lead and clipping it on Spot.

  ‘No, Daddy, he’s too little to walk,’ Robbie protested. ‘Someone might stand on him and kill him.’

  ‘And that would never do,’ Michael said, scooping up both Robbie and Spot. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here, we’re causing a pile-up.’

  Robbie looked at Michelle. Grinning, she held out her arms for him to come.

  ‘You can carry Spot, Dad,’ Robbie said, by way of compensation, and dumping his cherished pet he all but leapt into his mother’s arms.

  ‘I guess I get the luggage,’ Tom remarked, as they began heading for the door.

  ‘You can have a Big Mac,’ Robbie informed him. ‘Mummy said she’s not tired, so we can go for a McDonald’s. Mummy, you’re sleeping in the next bedroom to me and Spot and we helped make the bed for you this morning. And do you know what, I helped Ellen choose some nice soap for you and it’s in the bathroom next to my soap. I don’t mind if you share my bathroom.’

  ‘You mean you’ve got a bathroom all to yourself?’ Michelle gasped.

  ‘Yes. And a bedroom. And a playroom. And we’ve got a swimming-pool too, haven’t we Daddy? Daddy won’t let me go in unless he’s there too, or unless Ellen’s there, but I can swim. I’m a good swimmer, aren’t I Daddy?’

  ‘I know you can swim, honey,’ she told him. ‘You were swimming in Rio. Remember?’

  He frowned, then laughed. ‘Oh yes,’ he said. ‘Can I press the button, please,’ he asked as they came to the crosswalk. After pushing the button he looked at his mother, and with a sudden burst of euphoria he threw his arms around her neck and squeezed her hard.

  ‘Oh no, Daddy’s on the phone again,’ he complained, rolling his eyes as Michael took out his cellphone and started to dial.

  Michelle and Chambers laughed as Michael tweaked Robbie’s nose and waited to make the connection. ‘Line’s busy,’ he said.

  ‘Where’s Ellen?’ Michelle asked, as they began crossing over to the parking lot. ‘I’m really looking forward to meeting her. But I guess she’s got a lot to do …’

  ‘She didn’t want to come,’ Robbie stated.

  ‘Hey, that’s not true,’ Michael responded. ‘She was afraid she might be in the way, which I told her was nonsense, but she had a meeting to go to anyway. She’ll be there when we get home. Now, what news on my reprobate brother?’

  ‘Oh, he sends everyone his love, especially you,’ she added, squeezing Robbie hard.

  Michael smiled, then his eyes met Michelle’s in a way that left her wondering what he really thought of her relationship with his younger brother. She didn’t imagine he was jealous, but was surprised to find herself wondering if she wanted him to be. ‘He would have loved to come,’ she said, ‘but there’s so much to do in those refugee camps, and as we’re going to be back here for the wedding in a couple of months …’ Michael was walking slightly ahead by now, so, not sure whether he’d heard her, she glanced up at Tom and smiled as he winked.

  ‘Are you sure it’s OK, me staying at the house?’ she said, as Michael came to a stop at the car. ‘I don’t want to be a nuisance.’

  ‘It’s perfectly OK,’ Michael assured her. ‘I just need to let Ellen know that we’re stopping off at McDonald’s.’

  A few minutes later, with
the luggage stowed in the trunk, Michelle, Spot and Robbie behind and Tom next to him, Michael drove them out of the car park and tried calling the house. Ellen picked up almost right away.

  ‘Hello darling,’ he said. ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘Fine,’ she answered. ‘Did Michelle arrive yet?’

  ‘Yes, she’s right here. We’re in the car.’

  ‘So you should be home in what, forty minutes?’

  ‘Actually, we’re going to be a bit longer than that,’ he said, glancing quickly over his shoulder as he changed lanes to join Century. ‘Robbie wants to go for McDonald’s, so as a treat…’

  ‘Sounds like a good idea,’ Ellen replied.

  The flatness of her tone caused Michael’s heart to sink. ‘Why don’t you come and join us?’ he suggested.

  ‘No. I don’t much want my first meeting with Michelle to be at a McDonald’s,’ she answered. ‘I’ll see you when you get here,’ and the line went dead.

  Michael clicked off his end, and as he passed the phone to Chambers his and Michelle’s eyes met in the rearview mirror. Though she said nothing, Michael knew she had guessed more about that call than he wanted her to.

  After speaking to Michael Ellen walked back to the kitchen and began packing away the groceries she had picked up on her way home. It hadn’t been easy, clearing her calendar to allow time for shopping and cooking, but, knowing how much it would mean to Michael, she had gone to great lengths to manage it. She hadn’t been planning anything fancy, just a spaghetti bolognaise, because it was one of Robbie’s favourites, and some fresh fruits and ice-cream for dessert, because coming from one of the more deprived areas of the world she’d thought Michelle might appreciate something wholesome and healthy. Still, it could wait, and so too could their dreaded first meeting, for there was no way in the world she was just sitting around here waiting, when she had a ton of work to get through at the office and when there was every chance she’d work herself into a royal rage if she did.

  ‘It’s not that I mind having my surprise totalled,’ she complained to Matty half an hour later, ‘though I’ve got to admit it did piss me off. I’d even bought French champagne which I thought was a pretty generous gesture, considering. No, what I really mind about is how hard I’m trying to be adult and in-perspective about this and how pathetically I’m failing. I mean, look at me now. What purpose is this going to serve, me coming here to you after storming out of an empty house because they’re cosying up like a happy little family down at McDonald’s, feeding French fries to Spot and talking over old times and kidnaps with Tom? If I was going to go anywhere, I could at least have gone to the office. God knows, there’s more than enough for me to do there. In fact there’s so much I’m almost glad Michelle’s here so she can help out with Robbie and give me a chance to get back on top. Except what’s needing the most work right now is me and Michael, and just how the hell am I supposed to get that back on track when the very reason it went off in the first place is about to take up residence under the same roof?’

  ‘Here, drink this and calm down,’ Matty commanded, handing her a generous glass of chilled white wine and steering her out onto the veranda of her luxurious Beverly Hills apartment. The night lamps were glowing in the scented semi-darkness and Matty’s damp swimsuit and a couple of towels were draped over the backs of the expensive white-cane and blue-padded chairs.

  ‘Tell me, how are things going with Tom?’ Matty said, sinking into one of the sumptuous armchairs and putting her feet on the coffee-table. ‘Weren’t you having a session on the script with him yesterday?’

  Ellen nodded as she swallowed a much-needed mouthful of wine, then, letting her head fall back, she gazed up at the luminous red sky and opaque crescent of moon. ‘And again this morning,’ she said, picturing him with Michael, Michelle and Robbie now and feeling a pang of jealousy about that too. ‘You know, so far working with him on this script is a dream. He’s so receptive and quick-thinking and … Oh, I don’t know, I just wish all writers were like him. He’s so professional and …’ she laughed, ‘I guess, funny. Honestly, you’d never know it was his personal life we were discussing, he’s so objective about it, yet at the same time I can’t help thinking how difficult it must be for him reliving it all like this. You know, he believes it was Rachel who saved him from being murdered just before he left Colombia? It was all to do with a young prostitute and some flowers. Sure, it sounds crazy, but to hear him tell it, well, believe me, it sounds more than plausible, it sounds perfectly credible. He obviously loved her a hell of a lot, and still feels the bond with her now, despite her death. Don’t you think that’s romantic?’

  Matty nodded. ‘Mmm,’ she said, ‘and enviable, even though she’s dead. I mean, how many of us ever get to love like that?’

  Ellen smiled ruefully. ‘A month ago I’d have said I did,’ she answered. ‘Now, I’m not so sure.’

  Matty turned to look at her. ‘You don’t mean that,’ she said. ‘You’re just mad at him, right?’

  Ellen inhaled deeply. ‘Yeah, I’m mad at him,’ she replied, ‘and I don’t guess I do mean it, but I sure wish I knew how to deal with what’s happening now. All we’ve done these past two weeks is fight or avoid each other. It’s terrible, but I can’t make up with him and go on like everything’s OK when the truth is neither of us is backing down over Michelle.’

  ‘Are we talking about Michelle as mother, ex-girlfriend or Rachel Carmedi?’ Matty asked, her fine, dark features looking softer and more appealing than ever in the gently flickering candlelight.

  ‘I guess all three,’ Ellen sighed. ‘But tell me, you’ve seen the pictures of her, you’ve seen the videos … Forget for a moment that we want you to play the part, and just answer me this, is Michelle wrong for it or is it just that I want her to be wrong?’

  Matty took some time to consider the question before saying, ‘I think it’s a bit of both. She’s a good actress and with some work on the accent she could probably play the part well.’

  ‘But so could you, better even than she could and you’re already a lot closer to the accent than she is. God, you even look like Rachel. I’ve got to introduce you to Tom. It’s the only way I’m going to get through to him on this.’

  ‘Have you talked to him about it all?’ Matty asked.

  Ellen shook her head. ‘Not really. He knows I’m not happy about Michelle playing the part, but he probably thinks it’s because I don’t want her around Michael and Robbie for so long. Which he’s not wrong about, because believe you me, the prospect of her being here for the next ten days is bad enough, three months or more …’ She shuddered and took another sip of wine.

  ‘I was thinking,’ Matty said, ‘if I really do look like Rachel, it could be a tough call for Tom, you know, having to see someone who looks like her stepping into her shoes and bringing it all back to life.’

  Ellen stared at her with wide, disbelieving eyes. ‘Matty, don’t do this to me,’ she said. ‘For God’s sake I need someone to back me on this, and if I can’t depend on you, then who the hell can I?’

  ‘It was just a thought,’ Matty said. ‘But I think it’s one you should consider.’

  ‘What is it, do you suddenly not want the part?’ Ellen demanded.

  ‘Sure I want the part. Under any other circumstances I’d kill for it, but we’ve got to see things from Tom’s perspective too, and after all, he’s the one who owns the rights to it. It’s his story every bit as much as it’s Rachel’s. I just think that if we’re really going to sell him on me, then a better way to play it would be to let him come up with the idea on his own. Not force it down his throat.’

  ‘And how are we going to do that now that Michelle’s here and ready to sign a contract the minute it’s drawn up?’

  ‘Is it drawn up?’ Matty asked.

  Ellen’s heart tightened. ‘Not that I know of,’ she answered. ‘But no, Michael wouldn’t do that to me. Just no way would he go behind my back and sign her up without telling me first. Not
e I say telling, not discussing, because we’re a long way past the stage of debating anything where Michelle is concerned now. He tells me and I either like it or I lump it.’

  ‘Why don’t we take this gently?’ Matty suggested. ‘I mean, we don’t want to frighten Tom off by introducing me like I was some kind of ghost of kidnaps past, do we? So we just bring me in as your cousin, who also happens to be an actress.’

  Ellen laughed. ‘Michael will see straight through it,’ she said. ‘But what the hell? You’re right. I should at least get you two to meet, and what better time than the present? What are you doing tonight? Which reminds me, what happened to the camera operator you met in Denver? I thought he was staying here?’

  ‘He went back to Denver on Tuesday for a couple of days reshoot. It didn’t include me, but it’s over anyway. You know how these things always seem like a good idea on location and turn out to be about as appealing as gout when you get home.’

  Ellen smiled in sympathy. ‘So you’re free tonight?’ she said. ‘Can you come up to the house with me? Be there when they all get back?’ She looked at her watch. ‘They’ll probably beat us to it now, but who cares? Why shouldn’t I have someone from my camp around, God knows he’s got enough in his.’

  ‘You’re making this sound like a war,’ Matty remarked.

  Ellen looked at her, slightly shaken by that, then picking up her keys she said, ‘If it is, then it’s of his making.’

  Michael’s car was outside the garage and the lights were on in the house as Ellen drove through the gates and came to a stop next to the Cruiser. ‘I’m doing this all wrong,’ she declared to Matty. ‘I shouldn’t have walked out. I should have just called you and got you to come over.’

  ‘But you didn’t,’ Matty stated, ‘so quit trying to deal with what’s already done, and figure out how you’re going to make this work to your advantage.’

  Ellen glanced at her sharply. ‘I’ve got about thirty seconds in which to do that,’ she remarked, ‘so unless you’ve got any suggestions …’