Chapter 20
Flynn
V ivian shakes my hand and steps aside to admit me. “Please come in. I thought we could sit outside and take advantage of this warm day.”
She tucks her hand into my arm and escorts me down a hallway lined with photos of her with everyone who was anyone back in the day, through an outdated kitchen to a table with an umbrella on the back patio. A tray containing a pitcher of lemonade, glasses and cookies is on the table. “Please make yourself comfortable.”
“Thank you.” The yard is an overgrown jungle, the pool is empty, and an overall aura of neglect clings to the place.
Vivian pours lemonade for both of us and offers me a cookie.
I take one to be polite.
She sits next to me and takes a sip of lemonade. “I’ve so admired your career. Camouflage and Insidious are two of the best films I’ve ever seen.”
“That’s very kind of you to say.”
“It’s the truth, and you’ve got the awards to prove it.”
“We’ve had a nice run at Quantum.”
The look she gives me has probably brought many a man to his knees over the years. “Handsome as sin and modest, too. That’s a deadly combination.”
“Is it?”
“Oh yes. I’ve followed your romance with your pretty wife. I understand a film about her is in the making.”
“Yes, Valiant is out in March.”
“I can’t wait to see it.”
“It’s been a labor of love that’s taken years to get to this point.”
“The best things take the longest to come to fruition, or so it seems.” She sits back and eyes me shrewdly. “I’ll admit to being curious about why you wanted to see me.”
“I figured you might’ve guessed.”
“I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage.”
I remove the NDA from my pocket and hand it to her.
She reaches for reading glasses that I hadn’t noticed on the table and props them on her nose to read the document, glancing up at me and then back at the paper. When she’s finished, she folds it into threes and places it on the table. “I assume this is a copy for me to keep.”
“It is.”
“You remind me of him,” she says softly. “Handsome as can be, with kind eyes and a sweet disposition.”
“I never get tired of being compared to him. He’s the best man I’ve ever known.”
“He’s the best man I’ve ever known, too.”
I’m surprised to see tears in her eyes.
“He’s my greatest regret.”
She removes the reading glasses, folds them, places them on the table and dabs at her eyes with a napkin. “I can see I’ve taken you by surprise.”
“A little.”
“You don’t let a man like Max Godfrey get away and not live to regret it.”
Dad would be shocked to hear that. He’s under the assumption that she has no love lost for him.
“I spent most of my adult life trying to find what I had with him, and as you and the rest of the world know, that didn’t work out so well.”
“I’m sorry.” I didn’t expect to like her or to feel sorry for her.
“I’m sure your mother has nothing nice to say about me.”
“Well…”
“It’s okay. I did her dirty, as the kids say. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, and that was another I deeply regret. She was—and is—a nice person, and I’m sorry I hurt her the way I did. I chalk it up to immaturity, an overinflated ego and the feeling of invincibility that we all eventually outgrow, hopefully before too much damage is done. Sadly, I left some destruction in my wake, and I own that.”
“Do you own it in your book?”
“I discuss the mistakes I made and that I regret hurting others.”
“Do you name my parents?”
“I do.”
“Including your marriage to my father?”
“Yes.”
“Per the terms of the NDA, you’re not legally permitted to discuss him or the marriage.”
“I figured that document was long gone into the dustbin of history.”
“Now you know it’s not. In consultation with our attorneys, my father is fully prepared to enforce the terms of the NDA.”
She releases a deep sigh and looks down at her folded hands. “I was hoping you’d come to offer me a part in your next film.”
“I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news.”
“It’s devastating news.”
I begin to feel as uncomfortable as I’ve been in a long time.
“I’m sure you can tell that I’ve fallen on hard times. Divorce is expensive business in a community property state, and I haven’t worked in quite some time. The memoir is my lifeline.” She glances my way. “I understand that your parents want to protect their privacy, and they certainly have a right to that. But… I’m not sure what I’ll do if the book isn’t published. M-my home is mortgaged to the hilt, and I’m behind on the payments… I won’t receive the bulk of the advance until the book is published.” All at once, she seems to realize she’s oversharing and shakes her head, forcing a smile. “Of course, none of that is your problem or your parents’.”
“Do you have any family?”
“Not anymore. My precious son, Tommy, passed about a year ago from cancer. He was dreadfully ill for about five years before I lost him. Terrible disease.”
“Yes, it is. I’m so sorry for your loss.” I ache at the thought of losing either of my sons.
“Thank you. He was the light of my life, to be sure, and he wanted his illness kept private, which was his right.” She reaches over, puts her hand on top of mine. “I want you to know… Your father is within his rights to insist that NDA be upheld. I wouldn’t blame him if he did that. But if there’s any way…”
“What do you say about him and my mother in the book?”
“I could show you the actual passages if that would help.”
“It would.”
“I’ll be right back.”
I’m left feeling sympathetic toward someone I expected to revile. What the hell do I do now? My phone chimes with a text from my dad. Are you still at Vivian’s?
I am. Interesting woman. I’ll call you when I leave.
Pins and needles.
I understand.
She returns to the patio, holding a hardcover book that she hands to me. There’s a photo of her in her prime on the cover, and the title is My Life and Times by Vivian Stevens. I notice there’re sticky notes marking the sections of interest to me.
I flip it open to the first passage and read about how she met my father through now-disgraced producer Bobby Scott (more to come on him, she promises) and quickly fell madly in love with the handsome young actor.
This news will take the world by surprise, as Max and I were urged to keep our relationship—and our eventual brief marriage—private, lest we hurt careers that were just getting started. In those days, you see, it was a liability to be “off the market” or, God forbid, married . We were told our fans needed to be able to imagine the fantasy of themselves with us, or some such nonsense. At any rate, we were told to keep quiet about it, so we did. We weren’t together long due to the relentless pressures of two busy careers, months apart on location and endless demands on our time.
In the more than fifty years since, I’ve thought of him often and wished we could’ve made it work because I never met another man quite like him. Honorable, kind, caring, compassionate, grounded, not at all caught up in the madness that was his life—and mine—at the time. I wish I could say the same about myself. I was young and foolish enough to believe that another Max Godfrey would come along one day, but that never happened. Instead, there was a series of poor substitutes, while Max went on to have a long and successful marriage with Stella Flynn, a woman who rightfully despises me.
I glance up at Vivian, surprised by the raw emotions she conveys through her words.
I met Stella on the set of London Town . She’d recently become engaged to Jonah Street, a man I’d long admired from afar. I’m not proud of how I behaved when I met him in person. I was instantly taken in by his easy charm and sexy smile, swept away on a sea of inevitability, or at least that’s how it seemed at the time. Looking back at it with the perspective of fifty-plus years, I cringe at how I behaved. My disrespect for Stella is something I regret to this day. She was always a classy person, the kind who took the high road, except for when someone walked onto her set and made off with her man.
In front of the entire cast and crew, she called me a whore.
Her words cut me to the quick. Not because I didn’t deserve them, but because I did. I’d become someone I barely recognized and was ashamed of the pain I’d caused another young actress. In this brutal town, women had to stick together, and I’d broken the code of sisterhood we relied upon to survive in a man’s world.
Stella paid a big—and unfair—price for that episode, with her career temporarily derailed as people took sides. Most of them took my side, even if I didn’t deserve their loyalty. I want to be clear that I never asked anyone to blacklist her. That happened anyway. The nastiness directed at her was one hundred percent my fault. I own it, not that it matters now, but I regret that it happened in the first place. In the end, despite his undeniable charm and handsome face, Jonah wasn’t worth the price either of us paid for the mistake of caring for him.
It’s made me happy to know that she and Max found each other, built a beautiful family and produced a movie star named for both of them in their talented, charismatic son, Flynn. That they also continue to enjoy blockbuster careers is a testament to their talent and perseverance in this dog-eat-dog business.
A life well lived doesn’t come without its share of regrets. I’ve gotten to watch the woman I once wrongly considered an enemy be loved by the man I let get away. Only in Hollywood!
I look up at her, oddly moved by her words and the frank way she owns her mistakes.
She smiles warmly. “Other than the surprise revelation that your father and I were once married, hopefully you didn’t see anything too egregious.”
“No, I don’t, but I can’t speak for my parents. May I have this copy to share with them?”
“Only if you promise to keep it confidential. The publisher has been adamant about that. They feel the revelation of my marriage to Max will make the book a runaway bestseller, which would change my circumstances dramatically. Not that that’s your problem or your parents’…”
“I understand the need for confidentiality, and no one will hear about the contents of your book from us. You have my word on that.”
“Then you may take that copy with you.” She glances toward her unruly backyard, which I’m sure was once glorious. “As you can imagine, I’ll need to know fairly quickly if your father plans to enforce the NDA. The book is due to be released next month.”
“We’ll be in touch as soon as possible.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you for seeing me.”
She flashes the smile that made her a star. “Oh, honey, that’s been entirely my pleasure.”
Flynn
Before I leave Vivian’s, I text Natalie to let her know I’m on my way back to the hotel to pick up her and Bennett.
We’ll be ready , she replies.
As I head through Vivian’s gates, I call my dad.
He picks up on the first ring. “Hey. You’ve got both of us. How’d it go?”
“Surprisingly well. She was very nice and welcoming.”
“What did she say about the NDA?”
“I think she was caught off-guard by it. She said she figured it’d been relegated to the dustbin of history.”
“That’s convenient,” Mom says. “Sounds like her.”
“I don’t think she’s the same person you knew back then, Mom.”
“Don’t tell me she got to you, too.”
“It wasn’t so much that she got to me as she shared some things I didn’t know. For one thing, she’s out of money and in danger of losing her home.”
“A likely story.” Mom’s tone is full of disdain.
“It’s true. The place is a wreck. It hasn’t seen a maintenance worker or gardener in years. Did you know she lost her only child to cancer a year ago?”
“Not Tommy,” Dad says. “Good Lord. Everyone knew he was her pride and joy.”
“She said he fought the disease for years before he passed.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Mom says. “No one deserves that kind of pain.”
“Are we mentioned in the book?” Dad asks.
“Yes, and she showed me the passages. She divulges that you two were briefly married at a time when young, hot stars were encouraged to stay single to keep the fantasy alive for their fans. She says she was foolish enough to believe that another Max Godfrey would come along one day, but that never happened.”
“Why does it please me to know that she regrets letting him go?” Mom asks.
Dad chuckles.
“And, Mom, she totally owns that she did you dirty with Jonah. She regrets hurting you.”
“Well… I certainly didn’t expect that.”
“I’ve got a copy of the book for you to read for yourselves, but I didn’t see anything in the parts about you that would harm either of you other than some increased publicity due to the revelation of her marriage to Dad.”
“Which could be good for business,” Dad says.
“Honestly, Max.”
“What? I’m just saying…”
Their exchange makes me laugh. “You guys are coming to Marlowe’s this afternoon, right?”
“We’ll be there.”
“I’ll bring the book with me. You can take it home, read it and decide how you feel, but here’s the thing… She needs the money from the book—and she needs it badly. She’s behind on her mortgage, and the place is falling down around her. She understands that if you choose to enforce the NDA, we could probably stop the publication of the book, but that’d be the end of her financially since her acting career is over. She gets the bulk of the money for the book after it’s published.”
“So she put a guilt trip on you, then,” Mom says.
“It wasn’t like that. She was very matter-of-fact about what’s at stake for her.”
“You liked her,” Dad says.
“I really did. I went in there expecting to despise her, but she was warm and welcoming and fully owned her bullshit from the past. I found myself admiring her by the time I left.”
“And of course you want to help her,” Mom says.
“I’ll be sending my gardener over there after the holidays.”
“Oh, Flynn!” Mom says. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t, but I will anyway.”
“You’re a good man, son,” Dad says gruffly.
“I learned from the best.” I pause before I add, “Listen, it’s totally up to you guys to decide what you want to do next, but it’s very clear to me that if there was any kind of contest, so to speak, you two won by a mile. Your lives have been blessed beyond belief compared to hers. She’s alone in the world, while you’re surrounded by a big, loving family, and yes, I know she made her bed and now she has to lie in it, and I get not wanting your past history with her put on blast… Anyway, we can talk about it after you read the passages that involve you, but in my opinion, there’s nothing awful. If anything, you both come off looking like the wonderful people you are.”
“And you’re not at all biased,” Mom says with a laugh.
“I’m extremely biased, and you know I’d move heaven and earth to put a stop to this thing if I thought it would hurt either of you in any way. But after meeting her and talking with her and reading the part of the book that involves you… In my opinion, there’s no there there.”
“As you know, your opinion means the world to us,” Dad says. “We appreciate you taking this meeting and your insight.”
“Happy to take one for the team. I’ll see you later on.”
“See you then,” Dad says. “We love you.”
“Love you, too.”
I end the call about two minutes before I pull up to the hotel. Natalie and Ben are outside with a bellman, awaiting my arrival. I put the SUV in Park and jump out to help her with the baby and the bags.
She smoothly tips the bellman, thanks him for his help and then turns to me. “How’d it go?”
I lean in to kiss her without a care as to the photographers that could be lurking nearby, hoping for a celebrity sighting. “Better than expected.” I hold the passenger door for her and wait for her to get settled before closing it. As I’m rounding the front of the car on the way to the driver’s seat, someone calls out to me. I give a wave and continue on my way, not interested in being waylaid by a fan right now.
We pull away from the hotel and head for the Hollywood Hills.
“How’re things at home?”
“All good. Olivia made pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse that were a big hit.”
“How are they better at this than we are?”
“They’re younger and more energetic, not to mention endlessly creative.”
“We used to be energetic.”
“We were pretty energetic last night.”
“Yes, we were.” I bring her hand to my lips. “Thank you for a great night. I needed the time alone with you.”
“I needed it just as much.”
Bennett lets out a squeak to remind us that we’re not completely alone.
I glance at him in the mirror. “Hey, buddy. We hear you. You’re here, too.”
“Tell me about Vivian.”
I relay the same story I told my parents, giving her the highlights.
“That’s so sad about her son.”
“Is terrible. She’s all alone in the world and out of money after all the divorces.”
“What did your parents say about it?”
“They’re reserving judgment until they read the book.” At a stoplight, I grab the book I stashed behind the passenger seat and hand it to her.
“Beautiful photo of her,” Natalie says of the cover image.
“It is. She doesn’t look like that anymore.”
“Which would be another in a string of painful losses for a woman who traded on her looks to make a living.”
“I suppose so.”
“Can I say something else?”
I glance at her, surprised she’d ask for permission to speak her mind. “Whatever you want.”
“I’m really proud of you for how you handled the meeting with her.”
“You are? Why?”
“Because you didn’t go in there like a battering ram to defend your parents. You listened to her and came away with a feeling of compassion toward her, when it would’ve been easier not to notice her suffering.”
“I’d have to be a robot not to notice the suffering.”
“Some people wouldn’t have seen it, even if it was smacking them in the face. I like that you’re planning to clean up her yard and that you want to help her, even if you didn’t expect that going in.”
“Thank you for your input yesterday. You were right that there was no place for deliberate unkindness.”
“There’s never a place for that.”
“Sometimes I need a reminder.”
“If we’d never had that conversation, you would’ve taken one look at her situation and backed off that plan. I’m sure of it.”
“I wish I was.”
“You would have. At the end of the day, she’s an old woman with no real power in this world.”
“Except to expose something my father would rather keep private, not to mention a rehash of the scene with my mother.”
“They’re strong enough to withstand that storm, and like Marlowe said, they could act like it’s nothing new to them. That would take the steam out of the story.”
“Right.”
“Do you think your dad will enforce the NDA after they read what she wrote about them?”
“I doubt it. There’s nothing in there that can truly hurt them.”
“I really hope they let her publish her book, so she’ll get the money she needs to live out the rest of her life in comfort.”
“I do, too, and I wouldn’t have expected to feel that way when I left the hotel earlier.”
“And that is why I’m proud of you.”
I give her hand a squeeze. “I always want you to be proud of me.”
“I’m the proudest—and luckiest—wife ever.”
“I’m the luckiest. No contest.”
“Luckiest wife?” she asks with a saucy grin.
“Luckiest person in the whole world because your old dog chose me for you.”
“Fluff knew what she was doing.”
“I’m thankful for her every day of my life.”
“Me, too.”