Grace had failed to tell me how different Krystal looked, even though she’d seen her several times since Krystal moved back to Ohio. After all, they were really friends before I moved to LA and stayed with Krystal in her apartment. The two of us had never really forged a serious friendship bond, at least until after all that shit went down and Max basically saved her life.
Krystal picked us up in a car that her parents gave her when they got a new one. She used it to get to her new job as a bakery worker in a grocery store, a job she loved and was proud of, unlike the kind of work she had done in LA.
On the way to the mall she was full of questions about how I was doing in LA, and of course she wanted to know all about Max, so I filled her in on the latest.
“You’re not going to believe what his mother gave me for Christmas,” I said, adding, “Grace, don’t tell mom and dad. I want to tell them at the right time.”
“Okay,” she said. “But what was it?”
I told them, and they were both moved by the story.
“That’s so sweet,” Grace said.
“I think his mom is right,” Krystal added. “You two are so going to get married.”
“It’s never been what I wanted,” I told them, something I always hesitated to share with Grace, who was all about marriage and kids, which is why I hadn’t yet told her what I was about to.
“Right, it’s not what you wanted,” Krystal said. “It wasn’t what I wanted, either. I thought I wanted to live the Hollywood dream and look where that got me. I’m a small-town girl. I forgot who I was.”
I thought about that for a moment, wondering if she was trying to tell me I was the same. I half-expected Grace to chime in with exactly that thought, but she remained quiet.
“But,” Krystal said, “that’s just me. You’re obviously in a much better situation than I was. I mean, God…sometimes I think back on it and it’s like it wasn’t even me, but it was.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Yes, it was.”
“No,” I said, trying to reassure her. “You lost your way, and all that crap was someone on drugs — not you, not the real you.”
“It wasn’t you at all,” Grace said.
Krystal shook her head. “I take responsibility for all of it. I have to. I see what you’re saying and I appreciate it, but owning up to it is the only way I’ll continue to get better. And speaking of better, I don’t think we’re going to find a better parking spot than this.”
She pulled into the first and only open spot we saw, which seemed to be a half-mile from the mall.
We hit two shoe stores, where I found a few pairs that I wanted, and bought Grace a pair that she said she liked but didn’t want to spend the money on. There was a temporary standoff with Grace insisting that I couldn’t buy them for her, and me finally winning the debate with the reasoning that I’d already seen them, so I knew what she wanted and I knew her shoe size, and she couldn’t stop me from buying them.
Krystal didn’t spend any money. She didn’t even try any on. She seemed distracted the whole time we were walking around, and we finally found out why when we passed a Baby Gap store.
Krystal stopped, and then turned to us and said, “Okay, I can’t keep this a secret anymore.”
On a bench in the middle of the mall, with hundreds of people streaming by us, and jolly Christmas music playing over the speakers, Krystal said, “I’m pregnant.”
I couldn’t have been more surprised, and apparently Grace was in the same position because we both simultaneously looked down at Krystal’s belly. She wasn’t showing. Earlier when I had noticed that she’d put on some weight, I thought it was simply because she was off the drugs and her health was improving. Now, hearing the news, there was obviously more to it.
“How far along are you?” Grace asked.
“Five months.”
Grace said, “It figures that your hot body wouldn’t show at all. By this point in my pregnancy I looked like I had a watermelon under my shirt.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “That’s about when you left LA.”
Krystal looked from me to Grace, then back to me again. “I haven’t told you guys this, but do you remember Darryl?”
“Don’t tell me…” Grace’s voice trailed off.
Krystal nodded her head.
“Is that the guy you dated in high school?” I asked. “I thought he moved to Houston to work in an oil field or something.”
“He did,” Krystal said. “But he was back when I got back and I think I was feeling so lonely…it just happened. But please don’t think I’m regretting this.” She smiled. “I’m not. Not at all. I’m totally in love with him again.”
Grace hugged Krystal. “I’m so happy for you.” With her chin on Krystal’s shoulder, Grace was looking directly at me, with an expression that would qualify as an “OMG” one.
Krystal turned to me. “Congratulations,” I said, embracing her, giving Grace the same look she’d just given me.
I’m certain that Grace wasn’t being nasty about Krystal’s news, and I know damn well that I sure wasn’t. For both of us, it was more along the lines of concern. With Krystal’s recent heavy drug use, would the baby be okay?
My cell phone rang. I looked at the screen and saw that it was Jessica, my assistant. “I have to take this. Sorry.”
As Krystal turned back to Grace and they chatted, I took the call from Jessica, who told me our financier, Jim Tames, wanted to speak ASAP.
Tames was a former top guy at Paramount who had started his own production company, then quickly sold it, and was now exclusively a finance guy. He had contacts all over town and when people needed money, they went to him and pitched their movie. He was an arrogant guy, I always hated dealing with him, but he had a lot of respect for Max’s writing and was always willing to listen to us.
“Give me a second or two,” I said. “I’m in the mall and need to get outside.” It was too loud inside to take an important call like this, so I trudged through the mass of people, shopping bags hitting my legs with each step, and finally got outside onto the sidewalk. “Okay, go ahead.”
“I’ll put him through,” she said, and I waited a couple of seconds until she said, “Ms. Rowland?”
“I’m here,” I said.