by Denise Dietz
Lucky I didn’t burn to death in the studio fire, Delly thought, since Sami will burn better.
She waited until Sami’s song ended. “What’s inside the envelope, Jonny?”
“Photographs. I had a long talk with your mom. After she flew back to Chicago, she sent these. They were taken by your father.” Jon opened the envelope and retrieved an enlargement.
Delly stared at the portrait of a little girl. Her chin rested on one hand while she gazed dreamily through a window. Reflected in the pane of glass, Sami’s angry face looked distorted. “Is that really me? I don’t remember Daddy taking it. Can . . . may I see the others?”
Jon handed her a second picture. It showed Delly, eight or nine years old, on her way down a slide, her face about to explode with laughter. At the bottom of the slide stood Sami, glaring at her sister.
“William titled this ‘A Day at the Playground,’ ” Jon said.
Delly shivered as she recalled another Playground with rooms called Seesaw and Merry-Go-Round. Accepting the next enlargement from Jon’s outstretched hand, she stared at herself again, tiny, wide-eyed, holding an earnest conversation with a giant panda, offering him “tea” from a miniature cup and saucer. In the background, Sami appeared both furious and miserable.
“I don’t remember these pictures, Jonny. Mom had a bunch in frames with Sami and me posing together . . .” She paused. “What’s your point?”
“Look at Sami’s face. I’ve never seen anyone so jealous, so envious.”
“Of me?”
“Yes. She’s been in competition with you her whole life.”
“No, Jonny, it was the other way around. Sami was always Daddy’s favorite, his Gold star.”
“Not true. Look at these pictures.”
“But we were small children. I grew up a teenage mess while Sami was Princess Pretty.”
“Sami worked at cultivating her beauty because you were naturally smart, talented and lovely.”
“Bullshit! I was fat and had a crooked overbite.”
Jon grinned. “Let’s just say that you weren’t as flashy as Samantha. She used her early physical maturity to get the parts you wanted in school plays and to mess around with popular boys, especially the boys you admired. Then you started to catch up. She married your prom date, had kids, worked on her singing, all things you hadn’t done. But it wasn’t enough. She wanted what you had, too. California, Morning Star—”
“And you.”
“And me.” Jon pulled Delly into his lap and settled her injured leg on top of a pillow. “Will you marry me? Now that your sister’s divorced from Jules and Garrison, will you at least think about it?”
“Sami’s with Rattlesnake again, hinting to the gossip columnists about pending matrimony. Remember our Chinese Zodiac signs?”
“Is that a yes or no?”
Delly leaned back in Jon’s arms. Should she say yes?
Her mind raced. Morning Star’s ratings had gone downhill—like an avalanche. They needed a new story line, a fresh plot treatment. Although Charl had been written out of the show, another actor played Cal. How about a relationship between Cal and Pandora? Wouldn’t that be a ratings boost?
There was a new producer and a new head writer. Maybe Delly could convince them to try Pandora in a recurring role and evaluate viewer reaction. The public adored Panda.
No. The public felt sorry for Panda. Poor, poor Pandora Poe, maddest kid on the whole damn show. If Delly played Pandora, she’d be right back where she started. It took talent to act crazy, but it took even more talent to act sane.
What about Charl? They could resurrect Charl, couldn’t they? Charl was pretty. And smart. And sane.
She could grow out her bangs and bleach her hair the same color as Anissa’s.
Forget Judith Pendergraft! If Delly couldn’t make it on her own, she didn’t deserve success, and success would taste so much sweeter if she made it on her own.
Once she had baked a soufflé. It hadn’t fallen, and it was the best meal she’d ever eaten in her whole life.
Because she’d made it all by herself.
Suddenly, she felt puffed-up, just like her perfect soufflé. She had Jon. And she had friends. Anissa. Maryl. Drew. Jonah. Joe Weiss. Kathy Wong-Weiss . . .
Love gave her strength, and friends gave her love.
Samantha’s voice hummed around the corner. It was “Play It Again Sam Day” on the radio.
Delly stared into Jon’s eyes. “I want . . .”
“What, honey?”
“I wish—no! Forget wishes, forget Morning Star, forget Pandora, forget Charl. I’ll pull myself up from the ashes, hitch a ride to the ball, and organize my own cleaning service. For starters, I’ll hire myself a chimney sweep.”
“Chimney sweep?”
“A new agent, someone who believes in Delly Diamond. I just realized that if one is an ugly duckling on the inside, she’s an ugly duckling on the outside. Hollywood loves to dine on duck, Jonny, especially sweet and sour duck, but they don’t eat swans. Have you ever seen swan on a menu?”
“I think cygne de coquilles was our dinner special the night I met you, the night I fell in love with you.”
“The night I fell in love with you,” Delly amended.
Three, two, one.
About the Author
When Denise Dietz was in the third grade, she wrote her first story, THE PENCIL WHO GREW UP TO BE A STUB. Years later, after Denise had enjoyed a short-lived singing career and acting career, she wrote her first culinary mystery, THROW DARTS AT A CHEESECAKE, where diet club members are getting killed off at goal weight and eating as if their very lives depended on it. The next book in the series, BEAT UP A COOKIE, revolves around a group of M*A*S*H* addicts and is dedicated to Alan Alda. Books three and four are CHAIN A LAMB CHOP TO THE BED and STRANGLE A LOAF OF ITALIAN BREAD (nominated for a Lefty Award for most humorous mystery of 2009). The mysteries star diet club leader Ellie Bernstein and homicide detective Peter Miller.
Denise hit the bestseller list with FOOTPRINTS IN THE BUTTER - an Ingrid Beaumont Mystery co-starring Hitchcock the Dog. She followed that success with her horror-mystery novel, FIFTY CENTS FOR YOUR SOUL, her "reluctant witch mystery," EYE OF NEWT, and her erotic novella, JAMES DEAN AND THE MOONLIGHT MADNESS SALE.
Cloning herself into historical romance author Mary Ellen Dennis, Denise wrote THE LANDLORD'S BLACK EYED DAUGHTER, STARS OF FIRE, and HEAVEN'S THUNDER: A COLORADO SAGA.
Denise is married to author Gordon Aalborg (a.k.a. Victoria Gordon), and is owned by a chocolate Labrador retriever named Magic.
Denise likes to hear from readers. You can contact her via her website: http://www.denisedietz.com
