At a stop light he looked over at me. “By the way, that was great what you did in there. I appreciate it.”
“What’s that?”
“The way you deferred to me. I mean, you’re familiar enough with the issue to comment, otherwise I wouldn’t have brought you along at all, but…well, thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
I’d been a little worried that he knew the real reason I had deferred to him. Max had sure picked up on it. But Kevin thought I was just being a good assistant and letting the boss handle the matter. Good enough.
The rest of the day went well, though much of it was consumed with thoughts about Max Dalton. I was sure I’d never before seen such a perfect example of what people mean when they say a man can be beautiful.
I’d always thought it a feminine adjective, and I suppose there were famous men I’d seen who would have been worthy of it, but it had never occurred to me before I saw Max. I couldn’t help but think he should have been in the movies rather than the behind-the-scenes guy. Why was that? Had he pursued acting and not liked it? Failed?
Toward the end of the day I used my phone to Google his name. I felt a little paranoid about getting caught doing some research on him after the meeting—something I should have done well before.
The first result that came up was his IMDb listing. There was one picture of him, taken at a red carpet event. It wasn’t a close-up and didn’t do him justice at all. I scrolled down to the section that listed his credits: three as a writer, nine as producer. No acting or directing credits.
I would have been in even greater awe of him during the meeting had I known then that he had written one of my favorite movies. He’d even been nominated for an Oscar.
Whoa. This guy was a bigger deal than I realized, and I suddenly felt like a fool for not knowing. Although, Kevin hadn’t made a point of it. All he had told me was that this was one of the most important meetings he’d probably have all year. I figured it was just because we were pitching Jaqueline Mathers. Now I knew it was also because we were meeting with a true Hollywood big shot.
I scrolled back up to the top of the page and saw his birth date. He was only twenty-nine. It had to be unusual to reach his level of success at such a young age. He had seemed easy-going, friendly, and not snobbish or hung up on himself. Especially with the light-hearted comment he made to me as I was leaving his office.
By the end of the day I was completely enthralled with Max Dalton, and I had no idea how much pleasure and pain it would bring me in the coming months.
As I left the office my nerves were on edge. Not only because of Max, but because I was so new to my job, new to the entire business of Hollywood, and already I was a major part of what could be a major deal with an up and coming star and a blockbuster movie. The waiting game was on—Kevin had told me we’d probably know something next week.
To ease my anxiety, I put the top down on my new Volkswagen Beetle and let the California air blow through my hair as I drove home. The car was my first big purchase in life. I had pooled all my college graduation money for the down payment. It was a great ride all the way from Ohio to California.
When I got home I opened the door to find Krystal straddling a guy on our couch.
Krystal Sherman was two years older than me, and had been in California for three years now. She was really more my sister Grace’s friend, but when she found out I was headed to southern California she offered to let me stay there as long as I needed.
She was one of the few people who knew the whole truth about why I wanted to get the hell out of Ohio. Most people thought it was just about wanting a fresh start after college. That’s also what most people thought about my breaking up with Chris Cooper after three years of serious dating.
What most people didn’t know was that during our senior year at Ohio State, Chris cheated on me with no less than three girls. That alone was grounds for dumping him, but there was more—things I didn’t even tell my parents. The only people who knew the whole story were my sister Grace, and Krystal.
Krystal had come to Hollywood to pursue an acting career, but like so many others, she was a full-time waitress while she waited to be discovered. To her credit, she hadn’t asked me to do her any favors and try to get Kevin’s agency to rep her. She seemed determined to do it on her own merit.
When she heard the door open, she turned around. “Oh, hey.”
She didn’t move off the guy. They were both clothed, and I felt bad that I had walked in while something was just getting started. Sure, she could have been doing this in her room, but it was her condo, so I couldn’t complain.
“Hey, sorry.” I turned my back to them as I closed the door.
“No worries.”
I turned and started to walk through the den and to my bedroom, but Krystal stopped me.
“This is Marco,” she said, looking from me to him.
I smiled. “Hi.”
He looked back at me through heavily-lidded eyes. “What’s up?”
I looked back at Krystal, who had rested her head on his shoulder, still straddling him. “I’ll just be in my room.”
She slid off him. “No, no, it’s okay. We were just figuring out what to do for dinner.”
I’d had moments of indecision before about where to eat, but had never thought of trying to answer the question by straddling a cute guy. Maybe I was missing out.
“Any ideas?” she said.
“You’re off tonight?”
“Oh, yeah. They had too many servers scheduled and called and asked me if I wanted off.”
That had happened at least five times in the three weeks since I’d arrived in L.A. I wondered how Krystal afforded to take so much time off, but it was none of my business.
Marco wasn’t paying any attention to the conversation. His eyes were on Krystal. More specifically, on her boobs, which were straining against the tight t-shirt she was wearing. I got the feeling he didn’t really care about dinner at the moment.
We finally decided to go to a little sushi place. Unfortunately, Marco joined us. I wanted to tell Krystal all about Max. But I didn’t want to bring it up with Marco there. I didn’t know him. In fact, I’d never heard Krystal talk about him, either.
After dinner, she said she was going back to his place and would probably be home late.
On the way home, I wondered what I’d do with the rest of my night. I could call Grace, but it was too soon to tell my sister about Max. She would only have been negative about it, telling me to be careful around “those Hollywood types,” as she and my parents like to say.