“They do follow it,” he said, “but they’re just trying to kiss ass to get an exclusive.”
I noticed that Max was keenly aware of this, and once, when a few true fans of one of his early actions movies spotted him and asked for autographs, Max signed them and spoke to the fans, completely ignoring the questions from the reporter. Who, by the way, was talking over the fans’ questions, and Max got him to quiet down and back off. He knew who to give his attention to.
At Dan Tana’s that night, Max let it slip that I was pregnant.
I got looks of shock all around the table.
“Nice going.” I rolled my eyes.
We were several weeks in at that point, and everything was looking good so far from a medical perspective. So we were getting close to the point where we would start telling people anyway. I just hadn’t planned on it at that time.
Our table got a little loud for a few minutes after Max’s premature revelation — the guys congratulating Max, the girls smiling and tearing up along with me, glasses were raised, hugs and handshakes all around.
“I wondered why you were drinking sparkling water,” Loralei said to me.
“Yeah, I kind of thought that would give it away.”
Monica said, “Okay, so we need to start planning the first shower, like now. Oh, I can’t wait. You and Max are going to have the most beautiful baby.”
“Don’t let our kids hear that,” Anthony said. “They’d be crushed.”
“If they took out their earbuds long enough to hear us,” Monica said.
“It’s not that bad, is it?” Carl asked.
Monica rolled her eyes. “Not quite, but almost.”
“There’s an idea for a reality TV show,” Anthony said. “Put a bunch of kids in a house — sort of like Big Brother — and the one who can hold out the longest without using their phone or tablet gets a million bucks.” His mind was always working, like Max’s, looking for new ideas, so while we all laughed we also all knew he was only half-joking.
“Why kids?” Max said. “We’re all addicted to those things.”
“Not me,” Loralei said.
Carl huffed. “Right. Your hands are on your iPhone more than they’re on me.” He looked around at all of us. “Why do you think we don’t have kids?”
We all laughed.
Loralei was smiling, but she said, “Don’t expect any action tonight.”
Max and Anthony both groaned.
Max ordered everyone another round of drinks, and a soda for me. Not diet, either. I wasn’t denying myself those simple pleasures. In fact, as the night progressed, my focus gradually shifted from the company of friends to the enticing dessert menu, and when the waiter asked if we wanted dessert, I ordered a chocolate and vanilla parfait topped off with strawberries. For two. And I ate the whole thing. Screw it.
Later, just before we left, Steven Spielberg and his wife approached our table to say hello to Max. Minutes after that, Max introduced me to Russell Crowe, who said he and Max needed to get together and talk about a project.
I’d long since ceased becoming star-struck. Not that it wasn’t a thrill to mix and mingle with the biggest names in Hollywood. But rather I was starting to feel like I really belonged.
FOURTEEN
I was running on the beach one morning when the music stopped pumping through my earbuds because I was getting a call. It was Grace.
“Krystal had a girl.”
“That’s great.”
“Why are you out of breath?”
“I was running,” I said. “How’s Krystal’s baby?”
“She’s fine. No sign of any trouble.”
It went unspoken, but we were referring to the possibility of Krystal’s baby having problems related to Krystal’s drug use. The timing told us everything would probably be okay, but you never know.
I had slowed down to a walk and when I got back to the steps that lead from the beach up to our house, I sat down on the first one and stretched. “So what’s the name?”
“Ginger. I’ll send you a picture of her. Wait until you see this red hair.”
Off in the distance, a guy worked a kite in the wind. A few people were surfing, but having little luck due to the unusually calm waves. Gulls skittered where the waves broke, looking for lunch, and oddly reminding me I needed to do the same.
As I sat on the wooden steps leading up from the beach to our house, there was a heaviness in my gut that had nothing to do with being pregnant. It was guilt. I was keeping some of the biggest developments in my life from Grace, probably the one person on the planet — other than Max, of course — who I wanted to know about this. But I had good reason to keep it to myself as long as I could. It was the same situation as the marriage — I knew what I wanted in life and I knew I was strong enough to have it; but there were a few unfortunate but temporary casualties along the way.
We exchanged some small talk for a few minutes before I told her I needed to get ready, grab something to eat, and get to the office.
Later, I showed the picture of Krystal’s baby to Max.
“Beautiful,” he said.
“She really is. She looks just like Krystal.”
We were at the offices of OliviMax, watching dailies from the shoot. It was a part of the movie industry that I found fascinating, mostly because of how raw the footage was. I looked forward to watching it go from that to a highly-produced and stylized final version, complete with different angles edited in the shot and whatever background music we selected for the various scenes.
“Do you want a girl or a boy?” I asked him.
He looked at me with a straight face. “Why? Can you control that?”
“Yes, actually I can,” I joked back.
He took my hand, lifted it to his face, kissed it and said, “Surprise me.”
. . . . .
Max and I met Carl, Loralei, Anthony and Monica for dinner at Dan Tana’s restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. I had been there a few times and really loved the food, but not so much the gaggle of paparazzi hanging out on the sidewalks. This was one of several celebrity hot spots, so the photogs were drawn to it like sharks to chum.
The good thing — as always — was that those who recognized and wanted to shoot Max were always immediately drawn away from him the second an on-screen Hollywood star showed up.
I once mentioned to Max when we were going in that a couple of them seemed truly interested in his work, asking about his next project and really sounding like they followed his career.