Chapter 9
“Do you want to go into Los Angeles with me tomorrow?” Buck asked several days later at dinner.
“I’d love to. How long will you be there?” Lorna replied.
“Not long, just for the day. I have to take C.J. to her grandparents’ house in Beverly Hills. They usually take her for the summer and it’s that time.”
“The whole summer?” Lorna frowned, glancing at C.J. who was too involved with picking the marshmallows out of her Lucky Charms and eating them first to pay any attention to what they were saying.
“Well, two months.”
“Oh. I didn’t know she would be leaving,” Lorna said.
“I’d think you would be grateful for the break in playing four hundred million questions,” he said, laughing as he looked at her woeful face.
“I’ve gotten used to it,” she said, trying to minimize her affections for the little girl. She realized it did no one any good for her to get too attached and really hadn’t realized that she was until just now.
“Well, don’t worry. I’ve got an idea that might help pass the time, unless you’d like to continue playing Barbies alone until she gets back.”
“You mean you won’t play with me?” she asked in a serious tone.
“Not Barbies,” he replied coyly, catching her off guard and causing her to stumble over her words as she replied.
“I . . .uh, what was your idea?”
“A screenplay.”
“A screenplay? I don’t follow.”
“I thought we could work on a screenplay together.”
“I’m not a writer.”
“You don’t have to be. I’ll do the writing, but I realized from our talks since you’ve been here, that we have very similar interests in movies and television. I think that, together, we can come up with something worthwhile.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I just don’t think I’m nearly qualified to take on something like that.”
“You never know until you try. Come on. Be adventurous. Why sit around here for another eight months or so just waiting to have a baby, when you can be doing something worthwhile with your time. If it sells, we’ll split everything fifty/fifty. You don’t have to answer right this moment. Just think about it.”
“I’ll do that.”
In fact, it was all she did think about the rest of the day. She had never considered writing a movie rather than just being in one. She wasn’t a writer by trade, but working with someone who knew how to put her ideas and thoughts into words might work and even if nothing ever came from the endeavor, it would be fun and good experience to have. Of course, she doubted that merely switching from being an actress to a writer would overcome her Dallas Dalton problems. Then again, perhaps she could change her name and he’d not realize it was her until she had gotten somewhere with it.
In the end, she decided that it didn’t matter if it sold. It didn’t matter if she could use the experience to write again. She came to realize that she was more excited than anything about just the prospect of working one on one with Buck to achieve it. After finding out that he directed under a different name, she had known quite a bit of his work, but had looked up all of it. He had been very well-known in the industry and highly regarded, with a lot of successes on his plate.
The following morning found them up early and on their way to Los Angeles with C.J. in the backseat. She was intent on playing “I Spy” all the way and some of her sightings, when all guesses were used and her answer revealed were something she had seen twenty miles back or in her room at home. Buck tried to explain to her that wasn’t really how you played the game, as no one could guess something they could no longer see or maybe hadn’t seen at all, but that made no difference. Still, it passed the time.
“Are you coming in?” Buck asked when they stopped at his former in-laws’ house.
Lorna looked from him to the massive estate that loomed on her right and shook her head from side to side. “It’s no place for me. I’ll wait here.”
“Come on. They’ll love to meet you. They don’t bite. Besides, we might be a little while and it’s getting warm out here, too warm for you to be locked away in the car.”
“You could leave it running,” she suggested, but he wasn’t having it.
“Get out of the car, Lorna,” he said, walking around to open her door with a huge smile.
“I feel like this is going to be awkward.”
“Why?”
“Oh, you know. Wife’s parents, this is my baby mama, Lorna. That sort of thing.”
“Baby mama, huh? That’s very retro modern of you.”
“Retro modern? Is that even a thing? I mean, isn’t it contradictory in itself?”
“Get out of the car, stubborn,” he said, now laughing.
“Come with us, Lorna. I want to show you to Nanna and Paps,” C.J. chimed in.
“Good grief, C.J. She’s not a pet monkey!”
“I wish I had a pet monkey,” C.J. grumbled.
“I wish I had a daughter who didn’t want everything she hears mentioned in passing,” he replied.
“Fine. I’ll go. You two stop squabbling,” Lorna said, chuckling to herself as she got out of the car.
“Good monkey,” Buck replied.
Lorna rolled her eyes at him, causing him to smile broadly, his large toothy grin lighting up his tanned face. The three of them walked hand in hand toward the door, C.J. in the middle to keep them joined, but apart. Lorna found herself wondering what in the world his wife’s parents were going to make of her. She debated to herself whether it was wife, former wife, or maybe ex-wife if the person was deceased rather than divorced. She was saved from her ridiculous contemplations by someone greeting them at the door.
“Tabitha, this is Lorna, my surrogate,” Buck told the regal looking woman at the door, without further explanation. Lorna could only assume that meant they were already well aware of her and of what he was doing.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the woman said politely, come in.
“Unusual for you to answer your own door,” Buck commented as they made their way inside.
“It’s Sunday. All of the help is off today.”
“Right. I lose track of the days sometimes.”
“I’ll get Harvey.”
The woman disappeared down a nearby hallway and Lorna looked around a bit. The house was immaculately decorated and spotlessly clean. It was a beautiful place, but she couldn’t imagine how C.J. could ever be comfortable in this cold place where she would, no doubt, be chastised for anything being put out of order.
A moment later, Tabitha returned with a tall, handsome man. He was muscular and looked to be quite a bit younger than her. Was Tabitha a cougar? The thought of such a regal, proper looking lady being a bit on the naughty side with a younger man amused Tabitha, though she tried to put it aside.
“Lorna, this is my husband, Harvey. Harvey, this is Buck’s surrogate,” the woman said.
Lorna thought she could detect a hint of distaste in her voice, but her husband didn’t seem to possess any such inflection.
“Oh, she’s lovely. It’s going to be a gorgeous baby! Just like our little C.J.”
C.J. had already latched herself to his leg and was hugging him tightly, obviously happy to be here with them. She was all smiles as she looked up at her grandfather.
“Lorna, you want to see my mother?” she squealed excitedly, suddenly letting go of her grandfather’s leg and grabbing Lorna by the hand to drag her over to a wall.
“C.J.!” her father barked, but she was already on her way and not listening.
Lorna pulled up short of the wall she was pointing out, looking at the family photos. Her eyes fell on the one of her and Buck, obviously their wedding day. They were both smiling into the camera, looking very happy. She had been beautiful with her long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Christina June looked much like her. Glancing at an adjoining photo only confirmed this. It was obviously too old to be C.J., so it had to be her mom at her age, but they could have been twins.
“Isn’t she pretty?” C.J. cooed.
“Yes, C.J. She is beautiful, just like you.”
“C.J., let’s get your stuff in,” Buck told her.
Lorna looked up to find him shrugging apologetically in her direction, but she waved him off, continuing to look at the family photos for a moment before walking away. She stood awkwardly by the grandmother while the men brought in C.J.’s bags.
“Will you be staying for lunch?” she asked him as they brought things in.
“No. I have to take care of some things in Los Angeles, so I’m going to say my goodbyes and let you two get on with the spoiling,” he said.
“That’s too bad, son,” Harvey added, sitting a bag down inside the door.
“Maybe next time,” Buck replied, pulling C.J. up into his arms. “Are you going to be a good girl for your Nanna and Paps?”
“Yes. When are you coming back?”
“I’ll be back in a week to check on you and give you a big hug, but you can call me anytime if you need me. Okay?”
“Okay, Daddy. I love you.”
“I love you too,” he replied.
He sat C.J. down on the floor and turned to go but found her running past him and grabbing Lorna’s legs. Lorna leaned down to pick her up, giving her a little hug of her own.
“I love you, Lorna!” she said quietly.
Everyone in the room froze, including Lorna. She looked up at Buck, a bit bewildered. Surely, she was just a child and it was just something kids say to adults who have been kind and played Barbies with them in the foyer.
“I love you too,” she said, not sure what was proper here. Putting C.J. back down on the floor, she found herself looking at two smiling men and one scowling woman.
“Well, I guess that’s us done here then. See you next week, honey,” he told C.J., who had already resumed her place by her grandfather’s side, holding his hand.
They made a hasty exist to the car, pulling away from the estate in complete silence. Not one word was uttered about the exchange between herself and C.J. as they sat down in a rather posh restaurant for lunch and drinks. Several people stopped by to say their hellos to Buck and eyed her questioningly, but he didn’t bother to tell them anything about her other than her name and that they were collaborating on a screenplay. Some of them seemed quite surprised and at least one squinted his eyes at her in recognition. Yep, Dalton was still a big ugly blockade in her life.