Chapter 15
“What are they doing?” Lorna asked, walking downstairs a little later in the morning.
“Putting a hard cover over the pool. It extends and retracts with a push of a remote, one that I will be keeping locked away so that no one has access to it but adults.”
“Very smart. I half expected to see a backhoe out there shoveling dirt into the hole,” she replied.
“I thought about it.”
“I’m sure you did. Where is C.J.?”
“Melanie took her to the doctor’s office to make sure there was nothing to worry about. Just a precaution, but she insisted. She had wanted to take her yesterday, but he wasn’t available.”
“I’m guessing she didn’t get much argument from you.”
“You guessed correctly.”
“I’m sure she is fine.”
“And you? How are you doing this morning?”
“I’m a little tender after a certain sexual encounter last night,” she told him.
“It was hot, wasn’t it?” he said, leaning over to whisper in her ear.
“It was okay,” she shrugged.
He gave her a mock wounded look and she laughed, kissing him on the cheek before returning to the house to find something to snack on. As the baby grew, she was finding that she was ravenous most of the time.
In the end, C.J. turned out to be fine after her little incident. Summer turned to fall and fall became winter, each month showing Lorna’s increasing size. Soon, it was Christmas and then New Year’s Day. It all seem to be on fast forward to Lorna as the time for the baby to be born loomed large in the headlights. She was incredibly nervous about the birth, but excited as well.
“I thought we would have a little weekend adventure for Valentine’s Day,” Buck told her as January ended.
“I would love that but look at me! I’m going to be due any day by then. Should we really stray so far from the house?”
“Probably not, but it falls on a Sunday this year, so the house staff will all be gone. I thought I might go ahead and give them Saturday off as well. We can go into Los Angeles and leave C.J. with her grandparents then check into the Four Seasons and just be lazy, order room service, watch some old flicks. Relax.”
“That sounds amazing,” she replied.
“Consider it done then,” he told her.
Lorna kissed him and leaned her head on his chest, her massive belly pressed between them. She felt like she was the size of a blimp, but he didn’t seem to notice. He made all the arrangements for Los Angeles, ending up letting everyone off on Friday afternoon so they could make a longer weekend of it. She couldn’t wait to be back in the city for a bit. As much as she loved it out here in the open, she did miss it there too. By Friday afternoon, they were saying their goodbyes to C.J. for a couple of days and headed to the hotel.
“I have another little surprise for you as well,” he told her once they were all settled into their room.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“We have a meeting,” he replied.
“Yeah? With who?” she asked.
“Some people interested in our screenplay.”
“You’re kidding me? Who?”
“Let’s just say you’ll recognize him immediately.”
“Exciting,” she said, smiling.
“Get dressed for a nice dinner downstairs,” he told her.
Lorna was nervous as she dressed for their meal with whoever he was taking her to meet. Once she was ready, they walked arm in arm to the elevators and rode down to the hotel restaurant. They had only been sitting at their table a short time when they were joined by a familiar face.
“Hello, Mr. Wilson. Ms. Dunne. I’m Thompson Connors.”
“Oh, wow. It’s so nice to meet you, Mr. Connors. I’m a huge fan.”
“I’m flattered, but please call me Tom. Most people do,” he replied.
“Tom, sit down, man. It’s been way too long,” Buck replied.
“It has been. Where have you been hiding out?”
“Ah, you know. Just laying low. I’ve been keeping busy,” he said.
“So, I see,” Connors laughed, nodding toward Lorna’s belly, he said, chuckling a bit before continuing, “and this script. Wow, man. It’s fantastic. You sure you want a hack like me touching it?”
“Absolutely, I do. You think you can get it funded?”
“Are you kidding me? In a heartbeat. I can get the money for this tomorrow out of Dallas Dalton.”
Lorna bristled at the mention of Dalton’s name. She hadn’t thought about him and what he had done to her for months. Now, here she was stuck in something else that he could blackball her over. She felt sick at her stomach.
“Nope. No Dallas Dalton,” Buck replied.
“What do you mean? He’s the go to guy these days. I know you’ve been out of the loop for a while, but if you need production cast, then he’s your man.”
“What he is, Tom, is a piece of shit. He molests actresses and then ruins their careers if they dare turn him down. It’s sickening. He’s sickening. I won’t have him on my film and no one else should either. If anything, he ought to be hung from the Hollywood sign by his balls.”
“Wow, that’s quite an accusation. You have any evidence to back it up?”
“I certainly do.”
“Alright. Good enough for me. He’s out. Who do you want me to go to?”
“Go to Manny Stubbins. He’s been looking to invest for a while and just hasn’t found anything he wants to put his name on. I’ve already sent him the script to read and I think he’s going to really want it in his back pocket.”
“Done. What else do you need?”
“The usual staff. You’re the best director in town these days.”
“Not now that you are here.”
“I’m not here. I’m still off the reservation. I can co-direct, but I just am not ready to dive back into the business again, especially not with a new baby due any day.”
“Fine. Fine. We’ll work it out then.”
“Great. Do some digging around, see what you can put together and give me a call. In the meantime, how about we eat?”
“I can get behind that.”
Dinner was filled with lively conversation as Tom told them about some of the latest gossip and up and comings around town. He tried to broach the subject of Dalton again, curious as to what information Buck had on him, but Buck waved him off.
“You’ll just have to take my word for it. He’s in a downward spiral.”
They switched the conversation to telling old tales of their on-set adventures, laughing hardily at themselves. Lorna got a kick out of seeing this side of Buck. She could imagine that his life had once been full of a lot more joy than it was when they had met. It saddened her that he no longer seemed to be that happy person.
After dinner, they said their goodbyes and returned to their room, laying in the darkness holding hands. She wanted to say something about dinner, but wasn’t sure if she dared. Instead, it was him that brought it up.
“I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable,” he said.
“Uncomfortable?”
“At dinner. Talking about Dalton.”
“It wasn’t you that brought him up.”
“No, but still. I know it’s a sore spot.”
“He’s going to be furious when he finds out you cut him out of a deal that he might have wanted.”
“There is nothing Dalton can do to me. I wouldn’t worry about that.”
“I’m more concerned with you.”
“Me? Why?”
“The way you were with Tom. I’ve never seen that side of you. You were so relaxed, so happy.”
“You think I’m not happy at other times?”
“You don’t seem to be, not like that.”
“That was just boys reliving their glory days. We get like children sometimes, but I am happy. I’m happy every day now. I wasn’t for a very long time, but you’ve brought back so much joy to my life and to C.J.s. She’s like a new child. No more of that shy business, like she was scared of her own shadow. She’s really opened up around you. I have too, at least I think I have.”
“To an extent. I just feel like you’re reserved somehow, more than you were tonight.”
“Perhaps I am. I think that somewhere in the back of my mind, I don’t think I should be happy, but I’m getting a grip on it. I’m certainly not going to walk away from it just because it feels different than the void I’ve lived in for the last few years.”
“I certainly hope not.”
“Lorna, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. I am in love with you. I think I’ve been in love with you since the day I laid eyes on you, even when I was too scared to admit it to myself or you. You are everything to me.”
“I love you too. I guess I’m just a little scared too. We’re almost at the end of my contract. What happens then.”
“We have a baby and we raise it together, along with C.J.”
“Are you sure that is what you want?”
“Lorna! Where is this all coming from?” he asked, reaching over and flipping on a lamp to look at her.
“I don’t know. I guess I just saw you down there at dinner and it’s like I don’t make you that happy. You were all smiles and laughter.”
“I’m the happiest man on the planet, honey. I have a beautiful woman in my life and we are expecting our first child together. We’re in love and she loves my daughter too. What more could I have that would make me happy?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted.
“Nothing. That’s what. Nothing at all.”
“Okay. I’m sorry. Just pregnancy hormones making me act up, I guess.”
“What if I called room service and ordered you up a giant chocolate and caramel sundae? Would that help your hormones?”
“With whipped cream and sprinkles?”
“Sure.”
“Yes. That would definitely do it. That, and a kiss.”
“Done,” he said, leaning over to kiss her before hopping up to call for room service.