Chapter 7

“It’s creepy how you just pop up on set uninvited,” I said to Griffin as he handed me a cup of coffee. It was the next day and I was feeling a little drowsy. I hadn’t gotten much sleep that night. I’d spent most of the night tossing and turning, wondering if I should tell Griffin about Sadie now I had the opportunity.

Part of me felt guilty for not telling him and then I reminded myself that he never gave me the opportunity. Well, his mother never did. But from what it seemed, we were both keeping secrets... at least I had attempted to tell him mine all those years ago. He hadn’t shown me the same courtesy. So as far as I was concerned, Griffin was still the enemy.

“I’m a friend of the director,” he explained. I doubted that was true.

“Of course you are...”

“You don’t believe me?”

“Sorry if I don’t find you exactly truthful.”

“I’m not sure why. I’ve never lied to you...”

The nerve! It took all my self-control not to scream at him or toss my coffee at him.

“You’ve never lied to me? Seriously?”

He put both his hands up as if warding me off. “Woah. Stop aiming that coffee at me. And what makes you think I lied to you?”

I sat the coffee down, placed my hands on my hips and was ready to tell him exactly what I saw all those years ago when out of nowhere Jerry appeared.

“Hi, Griffin.” He stood between us and kept his back turned to Griffin as he greeted me. “Hey, Nina… I just wanted to double check that we’re still on for this weekend?”

“What?” I was clueless as to what he was talking about. And then I remembered briefly about some sporting event he had asked me to... ultimate frisbee or something. I had at the time thought it would be harmless so I’d agreed. Now I was regretting it. Jerry was nice, but I had other problems, like the one standing behind Jerry who was glaring at both of us.

“I’ll be there,” I chirped, wanting to make Griffin angrier and not caring that it was just a frisbee game...I had no problem letting him think it was something more serious.

“Great!” Jerry said, placing a hand up and I awkwardly high-fived him. I couldn’t help but smile. He was so cute. He was smart enough to not say anything else to Griffin who stood there looking ready to hit him.

“Calm down,” I said, a small smile on my face as Jerry walked away. I was enjoying this.

“So, you can go to dinner with him but not me?”

“Sure looks that way.” I deliberately kept my voice nonchalant.

“What do you see in that kid?” He scoffed. “Is he even old enough to drink?”

“Stop being jealous, it’s not a good look on you.”

He placed his hand on his chin as if pensive and said teasingly, “Maybe I can get Jerry reassigned.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“Yes, I would.”

“How do you even have the authority to do that?”

“I know the casting director... Richard.”

I looked at him inquisitively, “Richard? Richard Hayes is the casting director? I didn’t know. I only met with an assistant each time. He’s the guy who hired me to work at the resort.”

“Yeah, Richard’s my cousin.”

“Small world,” I said, now finally understanding why Richard had known exactly where Griffin would be all those years ago. It also explained why Griffin always spoke about Richard as if he knew him very well. I don’t know why I didn’t figure this out before.

And suddenly another piece of the puzzle fell into place. I bet Mrs. Wallace had insisted on coming to the auditions to ensure Richard only picked women she approved of to be around her sons. I had clearly been a last-minute addition, a wild card.

“I wouldn’t figure Richard would be related to you.”

“Well, he looks a lot different from me, but—”

“No,” I said looking him squarely in the eye. “He’s a decent person, which is more than I can say for you.”

I walked away, not giving him a chance to answer and went to my place on set. He didn’t leave, he just watched me. Any time he tried to approach me during a break I made sure I was busy talking to someone else, especially Jerry. By the end of the day, I was feeling quite accomplished and I was thoroughly enjoying making Griffin jealous.

He finally caught up with me about six hours into production when I was in makeup again.

“Hey,” he said to the makeup artist, giving her a charming smile that brought back memories I’d rather forget. “Do you mind giving us some privacy for a second?”

She looked at me and then up at Griffin and shrugged. “Two minutes. I need to do a few touch-ups.”

I sighed as I sat up in my chair. “Griffin. Don’t you work? Don’t you have a corporation to run? Why are you hanging out here like a sad puppy?”

“I’m not a sad puppy. I’m an alpha wolf. Remember that.”

I spun around in my chair and gave him a long look. “Ever since you overheard my conversation with Jerry, or rather, eavesdropped on my conversation with Jerry, you’ve looked like a sad puppy. A sad Great Dane puppy.”

He perked up. “At least Great Danes are feared and respected dogs.”

“I was thinking more along the lines of Scooby-Doo.”

“Ouch, now that was low.”

“I shouldn’t have insulted Scooby like that. After all, Scooby doesn’t have an issue with his moral compass.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He narrowed his eyes at me.

I looked down at his hand meaningfully, not seeing a ring there.

“How’s the missus doing? How’s your kid?” My tone was even, light even as if what I found out all those years ago didn’t matter, as if I hadn’t been unforgivably hurt by him.

He gave me a puzzled look and was about to say something when the makeup artist reappeared. “Time’s up,” she said, unceremoniously pushing me back into the chair.

“What makes you think I’m married?” he asked, standing on the opposite side of the makeup artist.

I was shocked that he wanted to have that conversation right here and now within listening distance of a complete stranger.

“Lower your voice,” I hissed. “I’m working, in case you haven’t noticed.”

The makeup artist sighed as if she wanted to be anywhere else but around us and I instantly felt bad.

“Sorry,” I said to her.

She shrugged. “This isn’t the worst I’ve heard by far. People think bartenders and stylists have to hear more than they want. Ha! They should try being a makeup artist. It really sheds light on how much people suck!” And with that she walked away, leaving me alone with Griffin again.

“Explain.”

“I don’t have to explain anything to you, Griffin. Quit acting dumb,” I said and my Southern accent deepened as I became upset.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about... I’m not married.”

“Maybe you aren’t married now but all the evidence supports that you were married then.”

“What evidence?” he said crossing his arms over his chest. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and jeans and jeez he looked good. I tried not to notice that as I responded.

“Let’s see... you sleep with me and then randomly leave the island and when I do try to contact you again, I’m escorted out by security.”

“That was all a misunderstanding.”

“Really? Your mother didn’t seem to think so.”

“My mother? You’ve met my mother?”

“Unfortunately, I’ve had several run-ins with your mother!”

“What?”

I shook my head. He really had no clue about what was going on outside his own little world. That realization just served to piss me off even more.

“Listen, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I need some answers. And I don’t know how my mom’s involved in all this, or why she’s involved in all this.” He placed his hands on his hips and stared past me in deep thought. “I need to get some answers.” He turned away from me and walked away, leaving me staring after him.

“Miss Charles! We’re ready for you!” called the production assistant and I hurriedly made my way to set wondering what answers Griffin might find.

* * *

To my surprise, there was no sign of Griffin for a few days after our confrontation. I didn’t know what to think about that. My feelings, whenever Griffin was concerned, were always conflicted. I thought about him as I sat on the couch eating fancy cupcakes with Kenny on the edge of the couch watching me.

“Girl, like really, girl... you haven’t stopped eating since you got here. Can you slow down? You do want to fit on the plane when you head back to Georgia, right?”

I punched him in his thigh. He was wearing really short shorts so my punch actually hit skin.

“Ouch,” he said giving me a hurt look. He was lanky and wasn’t very muscular, so maybe my half-hearted punch had hurt a little. “I’m just worried about your blood sugar level,” he complained. “You’ve eaten two pints of ice cream and four cupcakes and it’s only been one hour.”

“I’m depressed.”

He sighed. “Honey, you shouldn’t eat your emotions. You beat them up instead. Come on. I have to sub a kickboxing class. You’ll love it. You can beat your emotions away or pretend to be beating up a certain someone who shall remain nameless.”

He knew all about Griffin and had volunteered to have his car booted. Kenny liked to think he knew people in high places.

I felt like throwing up suddenly. I’d had one cupcake too many. He was right. I put the cupcake down and said, “Alright, let’s do this.”

We rode in Kenny’s car and on the way there I filled him in on my most recent encounters with Griffin.

“Oh, my God, so he’s just playing stupid. You can’t trust them. You just can’t trust men, Nina!” He said hitting the steering wheel really hard.

I gave him a long look. “Having trouble with Cyril?” I hadn’t seen Cyril since I’d arrived, but I’d been so wrapped up in my own problems, I hadn’t asked Kenny about what was going on.

“Trouble... girl, you don’t know trouble,” he growled.

“Alright tell me everything. What’s going on?”

“He wants to move. He wants to leave L.A. and go live somewhere in nowhere Texas and own a winery.”

“What? There are wineries in Texas?”

“Exactly! That’s what I said!”

“Why would he want to do that?”

“Nina, I don’t know. Apparently, he’s lost his mind. He doesn’t even drink wine! How can he own a winery?”

“So, is that why he’s not around?”

“Yeah, he’s looking at property.”

He pulled up to the gym and took out his cellphone. He started scrolling through photos that Cyril had recently sent him. Most of them were of Cyril wearing cowboy hats, standing in rows of vines. It was actually really pretty, completely unexpected. I hadn’t visited Texas before and part of me just assumed it was mostly flat land and desert. The pictures proved me wrong.

“Apparently, Texas is a well-known wine-producing state,” Kenny mumbled angrily.

“By why Texas? Why not open a winery here in California?”

“California’s too expensive. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. He started taking sommelier classes and now he thinks it’s his life’s calling to grow grapes.” The way Kenny described it made it sound especially absurd.

“Not to be nosey, but how is he going to pay for a winery? I’m guessing even a cheap one is expensive.”

“Trust fund.”

“Jeez, is everyone in L.A. rich but me?”

“Some days it seems like it.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. We got out of the car and entered a weird looking metal building. It looked like an airport hangar in a Salvador Dali painting. The inside of the gym didn’t have a floor. There were a bunch of little rocks under our feet with large abstract sculptures artfully displayed a few feet from each other.

“This is different,” I remarked.

“I know. Isn’t it cool?”

I smiled tightly. Cool definitely wasn’t the word I would use, but I didn’t want to say anything that would offend Kenny. Clearly, this was unlike any gym I had seen before.

After we passed the rock garden, we entered a lounge with a concrete floor. The lounge was very minimalist with just a single steel bench in front of a large metal desk. Sitting behind the desk was a beautiful bald woman wearing a long flowing robe. She smiled at Kenny, who blew her a kiss. I followed him into a studio area.

Finally, something that actually looks like a gym, I said to myself. There were about 20 large punching bags in the room and the attendees stood around quietly wrapping their hands with long pieces of fabric or stretching, doing weird splits on the floor. Boxing gloves were scattered across the room, others were resting on top of the punching bags or near the wall.

Kenny waved hello to everyone and then went to a locker and handed me a pair of gloves.

“Pick a bag, hon.”

I did as I was told and then I stood awkwardly with my gloves in my hand and then started to put them on when the other girls did too.

“Ladies, this is my cousin, Nina!” he said into the microphone hanging from his ear. “Let’s give her a great big welcome!”

“Hi, Nina!” everyone shouted, making me smile.

“Nina here is visiting from Georgia! My old stomping grounds! She’s having some man problems...”

I shot Kenny an evil look as he shared my business with the other strangers in the room.

“But don’t we all?” he said, laughing and I could hear a snicker or two. I tried to keep from blushing, but I was sure I was turning red.

“Alright ladies, find a partner. Let’s do this!” shouted Kenny, and there was a lot of howling and whistling.

I found a partner and tried to keep up with all the jab, cross and uppercut sequences, but my coordination was mediocre at best. My arms got tired as I was practicing with my partner and her jab caught me in the eye, sending me sprawling.

“Uh oh!” Kenny said, running over to me. “Now class, this is an important lesson. This is exactly why we keep our guard up, right?”

“Right,” they echoed.

Kenny happily jogged away to continue teaching class and another assistant instructor gave me an ice bag. She was nice and asked me if I wanted to quit, but I wasn’t a quitter... usually. As soon as partner drills were over we started what he called bag rounds. I barely made it through to the end of class. When it was over, I collapsed onto the floor, breathing hard, covered in sweat.

Kenny said goodbye to all the students and then leaned over me. I stared up at him.

“Hey, hon. You ok?”

I shook my head. “My body. My poor body. And my eye... my body and my eye. Everything hurts.”

“She barely hit you,” he said, helping me up.

“Whatever, I’m sure it’s going to be puffy and swollen tomorrow.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’ve been hit by a truck.”

“You can tell you’re an actress, drama is definitely your specialty.”

“You’re so catty.”

“Meow,” he said, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. I leaned on him, grateful that he was taking care of me. I’d missed him when I’d returned to Georgia.

When I started feeling less sore, I also started feeling more charitable. “You’re the best cousin in the world. Thank you for getting me off the couch.”

“You’re welcome... but honestly, I wanted to join in on your junk food binge since I’m so miserable, but I’m just too disciplined to eat crap like that.”

“Thanks for that insightful information,” I said sarcastically.

He laughed and then instantly his smile faded as he thought about Cyril. “This whole Cyril situation has got me down. I left Georgia for a reason and I have no interest in going back to the same type of situation. I’m pretty sure Texas will be just as welcoming to our kind as Georgia had been.”

I knew what he was talking about. As far as I knew, he’d been the only openly gay kid at school. He’d been bullied and picked on. The administration hadn’t done much. And so, his mother had sent him to L.A. to live with his father. I’d missed my cousin, but I’d understood.

“The world’s changing, Kenny.”

“Not fast enough,” he said softly.

I looked at him and could see that he was truly upset. Not much got Kenny down, but apparently this situation with Cyril was weighing on him.

“Do you need a hug?”

“I’m not five anymore,” he said, and then looked up at me. “But I’ll still take a hug.”

I embraced him and as I pulled away, I heard someone clear their voice.

I instantly stiffened when I saw her. “Mrs. Wallace.”

“I see you’re still getting around,” she said succinctly. She was wearing designer leggings and a tank top. She looked like she was in great shape. What’s that saying? The evil ones are always well preserved. She then walked away from me without uttering another word.

“Woah, that’s one cold bi—”

“Kenny!” I admonished him.

“What? I wasn’t going to say anything bad.”

“Please! We both know that’s not true.”

He shook his head. “I think she covered me with frost by just glaring at me.”

I laughed. “Let’s go.”

When we were in the car, he said, “I’m sad that you had to deal with the Ice Queen alone. She’s no Elsa, that’s for sure.”

“Kenny,” I said, thoughtfully. “Earlier, Griffin said that he wasn’t married.”

Kenny glanced at me and then back at the road. “But I thought you said that you saw him with his wife and child...”

“That’s what I thought I saw, but what if I jumped to conclusions?” I shook my head sadly. “Then that would mean I single-handedly deprived Sadie of years she could have spent getting to know her father.”

“I don’t know,” Kenny said uneasily. “You did what you thought was right. You made the best decision you could based on all the variables around you.”

“I know, but—”

“No, buts. You can’t go back, so there’s no need to worry yourself about the past.”

He was right, but when we pulled into our neighborhood I couldn't help but wonder if I had let the scared little Nina win. Was it because of my cowardice my daughter didn’t have a father?

I was in a contemplative mood most of the night as I lay in Kenny’s guest bedroom. I felt ridiculous, staying up thinking about Griffin, but I couldn’t help myself.

I couldn’t deny that this trip to L.A. had me second guessing the decisions I made all those years ago. But Kenny was right, that was all in the past. I needed to focus on making things right in the present. Feeling conflicted, I closed my eyes and drifted off into a restless sleep.