by Toby Neal
Brandon
Mom comes through the surgery well, according to her doctor, a prematurely balding man wearing round, plastic-rimmed glasses he should have ditched in the eighties. “The cancer site was localized. We were able to check all the margins and make sure it hadn’t spread. She’s missing a significant amount of tissue from that breast, but I set it up for reconstruction which shouldn’t be too bad.” Katya and Bittie are hugging each other, ready to jump up and down with happiness, but I’m still worried.
“Does she still need chemo?”
“Yes.” He flips down the pages of her chart. “We’ll schedule the reconstruction after eight rounds of chemo.”
So Mom has a rough road ahead. I’d hoped that she wasn’t going to need the chemo and lose her hair, but it’s not to be.
She’s groggy but peaceful when they get her settled in a room, and after making sure she has everything she needs, including a dozen yellow roses, I leave her with her friends and head to the apartment we keep in the city.
It’s a starkly modern place with two small bedrooms but the kind of view and living room area that are meant for parties and seeing and being seen—an ongoing part of Melissa’s business, and mine too, come to think of it, though I’ve always left that part to her.
I have a ton of paperwork and phone calls to catch up on, but I take a moment to dim the lights. I gaze out over the view of a nearby park, a square of green velvet rendered in black and white. Buildings, studded with lights like square candles in uneven rows, lead the eye down to the arterial red glow of taillights from the traffic moving through the streets.
And I wonder where Jade is. What she’s doing.
She’s before me in my mind’s eye, spread out like a banquet, everything about her delicious…I turn away with a curse and head for the shower.
Chapter 25
Jade
Madalyn picks me up in the morning and the day is no less strenuous than the previous one as we begin filming. We do take after take to get the scenes just right. Mummings is hands-on with everything, directing the shoot and having us redo the scenes.
In a way this kind of dance is easier than having to learn a whole piece, because we shoot segments. In another way it’s harder, because we have to throw ourselves into these short scenes without any warm-up.
I play a country girl in a flowered dress that swirls and whips around my thighs, tiny buttons all down the front. David is my boyfriend, wearing a tiny black wife-beater tank and battered leather jeans, a heavy wallet chain hitting him in the waist all day. Privately, I think David’s too clean-cut for the part, but after they airbrush some tattoos on his neck and arms, he makes it work and there’s no doubt the boy can dance.
We go all day, and at a wrap point I ask to get off early. “My roommate and I need to look for a rental. He’s got some addresses for us to check out.”
“How are you getting around?” Jashon strokes the tiny soul patch on his chin as he narrows his eyes at me.
“Don’t know. Taxis? Maybe the bus?” We don’t have wheels yet. Another major obstacle to find a way over.
“You can use the company car.” He digs a set of keys out of his pocket. “The one Madalyn picked you up in. It’s outside. Bring it back tomorrow morning.”
“Thanks, Jashon!”
He smiles then, a slow hook of the mouth. “Gimme some sugar.” And he taps his lips.
My eyes widen. I glance around but everyone seems busy, not paying attention. “I don’t know…”
“Oh come on, baby girl.” He taps his lips again, smiling. “You scared?”
This is my boss, and he just loaned me the car. So I lean in and give him a peck on the lips—and he lets it go at that, though I see something in his eyes that I realize he’s been hiding the whole time, a certain heat that makes me pull back quickly. I can feel his eyes on my butt as I walk across the studio, waving to David, and out to the car. It’s a big, solid black Buick. I think I can remember the way back to the hotel, and wish I had a map.
As if reading my mind, Madalyn appears and taps on the window of the Buick. I roll down the window and she hands me a book, her mouth pulled into a disapproving pucker. “Jashon told me to loan you this.” It’s a small road atlas of Los Angeles.
“Oh, thank you!” I gush, but she’s already walking away. She definitely doesn’t like me.
Alex is suitably impressed with my wheels, and we spend the remaining daylight hours visiting a series of seedy rentals. We finally settle on a two-bedroom a few blocks over from Sunset Boulevard, choosing it because it has a pool (green with algae) and blinds already in place.
It’s also completely bare of furniture, so after I use cash to secure the place, we make our way to a nearby Walmart and buy blow-up air mattresses and some basics from a thrift store. By the time we finish that up with a trip to the grocery store, I’m anxiously counting my cash.
“I’ll reimburse you my half as soon as I get paid,” Alex says. “We’re gonna be fine.”
“I really do need to read my contract,” I tell him. “But I’m so tired. Tomorrow.”
We blow up the mattresses and sleep the sleep of the truly exhausted on our air mattresses after I get all the secondhand bedding washed. With my germ phobia, there’s no way I can sleep on anything used. Still, I wake up several times during the night, battling the feeling that creepy-crawlies are getting on me. I eventually have to get up and set my bed in the exact middle of the room, the cardboard box holding my sparse clothing in one corner, the backpack in another. On my back, counting the ceiling tiles in the dim streetlights reflecting through the cheap blinds, I think of all the unfinished business I still have to do.
Get a phone line ordered for the apartment.
Get my own pager so people can tag me.
Get ahold of Mom and let her know I’m okay.
Reconcile with Pearl.
Call Brandon and see if he’ll give me another chance.
Chapter 26
Jade
I get up extra early the next morning and call Mom from the pay phone on the corner.
“It’s so great to hear your voice,” I tell Mom. “We’re doing good. Already found our own apartment, and it has a pool.” I like how nice that sounds even if the reality is a scummy hole I’m afraid to dip a toe in for all the germs. “On today’s to-do list is getting a pager and a phone line. I’ll let you know as soon we have those. Hey, listen, I need to get ahold of Pearl. Do you have her number?” I accidentally on purpose lost the slip of paper Brandon gave me with her number on it.
“Of course.” Mom seemed oblivious to the silence between Pearl and I, and I hope she never knows of it. She rattles off Pearl’s number and I write it on my arm with a ballpoint. I scan the empty street—no one around still, though dawn is beginning to bleed up from behind the buildings. It’s going to be several hours later in Boston, where Pearl lives.
Using the last of my quarters, I call my sister. Her voice, answering, is thick with sleep. “Hello?”
“Pearl? It’s Jade. I’m sorry to wake you up.”
“No problem.” I hear the rustle of bedding as she sits up. “I should have been up hours ago, but I’ve been so tired lately.”
“Yeah. About that. I heard your news from Ruby. Congratulations.”
“It was a surprise. But we’re happy about it.” I can hear in her voice that she really is happy about it. “So. Are you calling about that...situation with Brandon?”
“Exactly.” I blow out a breath, winding the metal phone cord around my finger. “I’m sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusion. It wasn’t fair to you. Or him.”
“Well, I’m glad you finally started thinking clearly.” Pearl’s voice strengthens as she gets more indignant. “I’m so over Brandon it’s not even funny. Magnus is my husband. He’s everything to me. I never even did anything but kiss Brandon. And that was four years ago. I can’t believe you think he still has a thing for me when he’s so clearly hooked on you.”
“I don’t know w
hat to say.” I drift into silence. The news that they never did more than kiss settles in and spreads through me slowly, warming me up. “I still think he was really into you.”
“Yeah, he was, but that was a long time ago. Please. Whatever this comparison thing is that you’ve got going on with me—I wish you’d let it go. I love you. You’re my sister. I want us to be friends.”
“Me too, Pearl.” I feel stronger now that I’m standing on my own two feet. Paying rent with my own money. Signing my own contracts with gangsters. Ruining my own relationships. “I really appreciated you and Magnus coming to support me during the show.”
“It was so exciting! A real pleasure. So what are you doing now that it’s over?”
“I’ve signed with a video production company and just today Alex and I rented an apartment.” I sketch out what’s been happening. “So far it’s going great.”
“Well, you have my number. Call me if you need anything.”
“And I’ll let you know when we get our phone put in. Bye, Pearl. Love you.”
I end the call.
Pearl’s my sister and wants to be my friend. She never did anything more than kiss Brandon. Whew. I’m so relieved.
Now I need to get ahold of Brandon, but I have no idea how.
Alex might know.
I trot back across the road to our building, noticing a pair of hunched, dark shapes in a nearby alley lighting up. Yeah, apparently it’s never too early in the day to start using here in LA. Back in our apartment, Alex is just waking up.
“Get up, sleepyhead. I need to call Brandon Forbes.” I prod him with my toe. “It’s past time.”
“Well, I don’t have his digits.” Alex grumbles, rolling to the side and getting up. “But I guess you can call the agency number and leave a message. He’s still in New York, according to Chad.”
“Why did he take off for New York like that? I thought the show would take a few days to wrap.”
“Apparently there’s a family emergency. I couldn’t get any details from Chad, but it’s something involving his mother.”
“The famous Melissa?”
“The very one.”
I go to my room and dress for the day, worried and upset. Not only did I overreact—but Brandon was going through some health emergency with his mom, and I wasn’t there for him. If possible, I feel even worse about the situation.
Alex hands me a business card. “Write the number down somewhere. I need that card back.”
I add the Forbes Talent Agency’s number to the collection on my arm, high up near the elbow where it’s out of danger of being washed off. I hand the card back to Alex. “Need a ride somewhere while I still have wheels?”
“Sure. You can drop me off at the agency building.”
“He has a building already?”
“Forbes already had a business, remember. He just added on the talent agency.”
Using the atlas, we navigate our way to a glossy bronze high-rise not far from the studio area. “Still think you should have signed with Mummings?” Alex grins, gesturing to the upscale building.
I shake my head. “I’m the one driving a company car.”
“Just make sure that’s all you end up driving.”
“Oh, stuff it.” But at the same time I feel a quiver of apprehension, remembering the look in Jashon’s eyes. “I can handle myself.”
Alex slams the door and waves, heading into the sleek building. As I merge back into traffic and take a turn for the worse, I wonder again if I signed with the right outfit.
The day is long, again, but I find time on a lunch break to borrow the car and go to Radio Shack to buy a pager. I’ve never had one before. It feels so exciting to have a way that people can contact me directly. At the checkout, I count my remaining cash. It’s really time to figure out when I get paid next.
Chapter 27
Brandon
I stretch my legs as best I can under the seat ahead of me and wriggle my shoulders back, knocking into the elderly lady beside me, whose cottony coif is just the right height to be crushed by my shoulder.
“Sorry,” I say for the fourth or so time.
She pats my arm. “I like a man with a nice set of shoulders.”
I pat her arm back. “Thank you, ma`am.”
I’m reduced to being flirted with by octogenarians.
We’re finally circling into LA, and there’s some delay in the air. This was one of those ungodly early flights that was supposed to put me in early enough in the day to do some business, but with one thing and another it’s going to be four by the time I get to the office. I tug the sleeve of my jacket down over my Breitling so I don’t see it, lean my head back, and shut my eyes as the plane circles the airport.
Melissa, recovering at home after discharge, seemed to sense the agitation I was trying to hide as I fetched her a glass of water for her pain pill. “What’s bothering you, son?”
Much of the stiffness between us has fallen away through this crisis, and through her opening her hand to give me the talent part of the business. I no longer feel so defensive around her, like I have to keep asserting myself.
I can just love her now, and instead of resisting that, she seems to be enjoying it just as much as I am.
But the thing with Jade is eating at me. I can’t stop thinking about her.
“I met someone,” I find myself saying. Not since Pearl have I said a word to Melissa about who I’m dating. Something told me, after that relationship, that I was better off keeping quiet on the subject—not that there has been anyone but transient company.
“That’s good.” Mom’s gaze on mine is straightforward. “I’ve had time to think, through this whole experience. In hindsight, I’ve not been as supportive of you in that area as I should have been. As I would like to be, in the future.”
I don’t know what she’s referring to, exactly, but I’ll take it. “Thought no one would ever be good enough for you, Mom.” I blunt the edge of the comment with humor.
She shrugs, smiling sadly. “I want you to be happy. And I don’t think you’re happy, alone. At least I had your father for the time I had him.”
“And you should date again, too, Mom.” I’ve been wanting to tell her that for a while.
“You think I haven’t?” She smiles. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, sonny boy, and we’re going to keep it that way. But take this to the bank and cash it: life is short. Don’t miss out on love, if you find you have a chance at it.”
Love? Is that what I feel for Jade?
Not yet. Not now. But given half a chance, I know it could be.
The plane lands at last, and I bid my cute seatmate goodbye, retrieve my bag, and take a cab to the office. As always, walking up to the smooth, modern building lifts my energy and gives me a sense of excitement. And now I’m adding a whole new dimension to my work there.
Kerry meets me outside my office. “Boss, Chad Wicke is inside, waiting for you. Says he needs space to work.”
“I rent three offices on this floor. Why didn’t he just move into one?” The erstwhile photographer and current creative manager of Forbes Talent must be frustrated by me being out of town.
“Where, Boss? Exactly.” We discuss the overcrowding for a moment. I issue a stream of directions and phone calls for her to make. Chad opens the door of my office.
“Finally,” he says. Chad’s decked out in tailored black pants, wingtips, and a lime green button-down. “Thought you’d be here an hour ago.”
“Plane was delayed. We’re trying to get you space to work. Kerry’s on it. Now what else is going on with our brand-new agency?”
“Let me get you up to speed.”
I follow him into the office and flop, with a grunt of relief, into the leather office chair that belonged to my dad. I’ve lugged that chair to every place I’ve worked since Mom gave it to me after college. Chad and I get caught up and then I work around to my hidden agenda. “Got any way to get ahold of Jade Michaels? I’m still h
oping to sign her.”
“I think it’s too late. I hear from her roommate, Alex Rodriguez, that she’s already working more than full-time with Mummings Video Production.”
“Yeah, I know, but I’m hoping to lure her away. The girl’s got potential, and just like her sister, tons of charisma.”
“I agree. I’ve got a pager number for Alex. You want it?”
It’s probably the only way I’ll be able to get ahold of her. “Sure.”
Chad checks a little black address book and rattles it off. I make a note, fold it, tuck it in my pocket. “Well, I think we’ve both worked hard enough today. Kerry’s looking for additional space on this floor for the agency to rent and you’ll be in there. I’m having her look for an assistant for you, too. So let’s reconvene and get right to it tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
Chad leaves, I dismiss Kerry once her phone calls for the new office rental are done, and I dial Alex’s pager number and leave my digits. I’m sure he’ll call me back, because this is the office number Chad Wicke has been using.
I sit back, prop my feet on the desk, interlace my fingers over my belly, and indulge in a daydream about Jade while I wait for Alex to call me back.
I’m just getting to the good part of the daydream, the part where Jade wraps her legs around me and whispers, “Yes,” in my ear, when the phone rings. I drop my feet to the ground with a curse and pick up. “Forbes.”
“Mr. Forbes? I thought this was Chad calling.” Alex sounds surprised.
“No, I called you. I’m looking for a way to contact Jade. Jade Michaels.”
“Oh. Well. We’re roommates. She’s here in the apartment. Asleep.”
I like thinking of Jade, asleep. Maybe even naked, and asleep.
I shake my head—I’m really cranked up. “I’d like a way to contact her. If you have one.”
“I’m not sure she’d want me to give out that info.” Alex’s voice is hesitant. “I’ll give her your number to call you back, okay?”
