Chapter 30
Ingrid pulls up to the Wangs’ town house in Pasadena with a huge smile.
The pitch went fabulously, thanks to Maggie’s help.
Her pages were funny and punchy and had all the elements of a great story: high stakes, interesting characters, and surprising turns.
By the end, Ingrid had the guys salivating and dying to hear more.
“Boysober, what a concept! Did you come up with that?” Dennis, senior vice president of the studio, asked.
Ingrid nodded, though she’d had no idea of the term before Maggie sent her the pages. “Yup! I think it works here.”
“It totally works,” Charlie said. “This is going to be so much fun! My only note is that I just want a little more backstory from Isabella. What’s motivating her? Did something happen in her past that’s making her reject society’s notion of a happily ever after?”
Ingrid took down the note, then turned their attention to the lead-actress slide.
Besides Camila Veracruz, she’d included Margot Robbie, Jennifer Lawrence, Lily Collins, and Hailey Jane Madison.
All the actors are white except Camila. Though the men were clearly partial to the other actresses, especially Hailey, they also didn’t force the point.
Ingrid would like to think Camila’s perfectly timed post helped.
By the end of the meeting, Bob was yelling, “Let’s do it!,” Dennis looked like he was seeing dollar signs, and all three guys were thinking of the huge international potential. She was on cloud nine until she saw Kyle walking around the house with a tape measure. God, was he still at it?
She didn’t stay to find out. She just got in the car and drove to Pasadena. As Ingrid gets out of the car, Maggie starts walking over to her.
“How was the pitch?” Maggie asks.
“Amazing! They loved it!” Ingrid says. The two of them hug. “Thanks so much for all your help!”
“I’m so glad! Does that mean they’re making it?” she asks as she leads Ingrid up the steps to the door. Then, without waiting for an answer, she blurts out, “By the way, my parents don’t know about our blood thing…”
“Don’t worry, I won’t say a word!”
They walk inside. Mr. and Mrs. Wang are just as Ingrid had pictured—warm and polite and bearing fruit. Mrs. Wang presents Ingrid with a platter of cut-up apricots. The Wangs are wearing matching baby-blue jogging suits, which Ingrid thinks is so adorable. Mrs. Wang has a blue face mask on.
“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Wang! Maggie’s told me so much about you!” Ingrid says.
Mrs. Wang points to the platter of cut-up apricots and offers Ingrid a toothpick.
“Try!” Mrs. Wang says. “Apricot! Very good for digest!”
Maggie and her mom take a seat on the couch.
Ingrid sits across from them in one armchair while Mr. Wang sits in another.
As Ingrid reaches for another toothpick, Maggie tells her parents all about Ingrid’s movies.
She recites her entire filmography, ending with Summer Rain and adding, “which I just wrote the pitch for, and it got the movie passed through the studio!”
Ingrid smiles awkwardly. She wouldn’t have put it that way. But she lets Maggie take the credit.
“So I’ve been reading your daughter’s book,” Ingrid says, taking out a pen and notepad. “Have you read it?”
“Not yet,” Mrs. Wang says, turning to Maggie. She gives her a light poke with her elbow. “But we very proud!”
“Getting published by big publisher!” her dad adds.
“Right!” Ingrid says, glancing at Maggie. “Yeah, it’s amazing. I’m actually helping her expand some of the stories. I just wanted to come and make sure we get some facts right. In her book, Maggie wrote about how hard it was for you to take care of her while also working in the hotels.”
“Really?” Mrs. Wang asks, looking over at her daughter.
Mr. Wang scratches his head. “I thought it was about a high-stakes blackjack game.”
Maggie turns to her parents. “I told you, I’m not writing that anymore.”
“So what are you writing, then?” Mrs. Wang asks.
“About my life,” Maggie says. “What happened to me.”
Ingrid reaches for her phone in her bag. “I’m sorry, do you mind?” She taps open her Voice Memos app. “I’m just going to record for my notes.”
Mrs. Wang glances uneasily at the phone. But Maggie puts a hand on her mom’s knee. “It’s fine, Mom.”
Gently, Mrs. Wang nods.
“Can you just walk me through that time in your life? What was a typical day like for you?” Ingrid asks.
“Typical day…get up, drop Maggie off school, or sometimes she walk. I don’t know why this is interesting for book.” Mrs. Wang casts a look at Maggie. “Just normal life. I go to work. I get home. That’s it.”
“What time did you get home?”
“Around nine p.m.,” Mrs. Wang says.
“Wow.” Ingrid jots it down on her notepad. “That’s a long workday. And your husband?”
“Same.”
“We had no choice,” her husband pipes in. “That was only job we could find. I worked in restaurant. My wife worked in the spa.”
“And what about Maggie?”
“Maggie, she student,” Mrs. Wang says. “She in school. School just near. Every day, just walk to school, walk home by herself. Very independent. Do her homework. Sometimes she go to friend’s house. Everything fine.” She looks at her daughter, pointing to Ingrid. “They’re publishing this?”
Maggie lowers her head. Ingrid can see why it’s hard for her to get into it with her mom. The woman clearly has no interest in unpacking that part of her life.
Ingrid tries again. “Your daughter said that you let her go to a woman named Vivian’s house. Do you remember Vivian?”
Mrs. Wang nods.
“Can you tell me about her?”
“She nice lady we met at church. Had very nice husband, very nice house, beautiful granddaughter—” Mrs. Wang says.
“You’d never been to her house, Mom…” Maggie cuts in.
Ingrid looks over encouragingly. Good! Get into it with her. Go deeper.
“What do you mean, I never been to her house?” Mrs. Wang says defensively.
Mrs. Wang turns to Ingrid and explains how even though she never personally went to Vivian’s house, she knew she had a nice home, because Vivian was a frequent customer at the spa, and one of Mrs. Wang’s coworkers had given Vivian a massage at her house.
And anyway, it didn’t really matter how nice Vivian’s house was, she was just grateful to Vivian for helping take care of Maggie when she couldn’t.
“You have to understand. I was working thirteen hours a day. I couldn’t just leave my job. The hotel was sponsoring our green cards,” Mrs. Wang says.
Ingrid jots down this important bit of information. She glances at Maggie, who also looks like she hadn’t factored in the immigration visa component of this story.
“Anyway, she was a fine lady. She went to church. She had a nice granddaughter.”
“But you didn’t really know her,” Maggie says, looking up at her mother. Ingrid smiles, proud of her protégée for taking charge.
“I didn’t need to!” Mrs. Wang says. “She did me huge favor. I know you don’t like Vivian, but I still thank her. She kept you safe. Just because she didn’t get you big present at Christmas—”
“You think that’s why I left?” Maggie cuts in.
“Wasn’t it?”
Ingrid is spellbound.
“No, it wasn’t,” Maggie says.
“Did Maggie ever tell you about the dynamics between her and the girl she was babysitting?” Ingrid asks softly.
“I know Vivian’s granddaughter was brat,” Mrs. Wang admits. “But Maggie staying home by herself was not healthy, either.”
Ingrid chooses her next words carefully. “What was it like getting her call from McDonald’s? That’s where she went, after Vivian’s house that Christmas?”
There’s a flash of fear in Mrs. Wang’s eyes. She turns to Maggie. “You’re writing about that?”
A silence follows. Then, ever so gently, Maggie adds, “What was that like for you, Mom? Getting that call from me?”
Ingrid is so impressed with Maggie’s courage.
“I was terrified,” Mrs. Wang says, her gaze sliding to her feet. “I told her to go back to Vivian’s. She can’t stay at McDonald’s. What if bad guy coming?” She squeezes her eyes shut, then shakes her head. “But she kept saying no. So I told her stay in bathroom, not let anyone in.”
“Why didn’t you come and get me?” Maggie asks. “Why’d you keep working?”
Ingrid’s eyes open wide. She kept working?
“Oh, baby girl.” Mrs. Wang starts crying. “I wanted to come! So much! We both begged our bosses.”
Mr. Wang adds, “Boss said if we go, that would be the end of our green card application.”
Maggie nods at her parents’ words, wiping her tears. Ingrid feels so bad for her. She can’t imagine what it must have been like to sit in that bathroom for so many hours. And to hold that question in for so many years.
“And when you finally got there, to McDonald’s, and Maggie opened that bathroom door…what did you say to her?” Ingrid asks.
“I say, thanks God!” Mrs. Wang exclaims. “I was so mad at her, but so glad she OK. She told me Vivian not giving her any presents. I say, silly girl, just because no presents, you don’t walk out onto street in Las Vegas by yourself! You know what could have happened to you?”
“She hugged me so hard, I almost couldn’t breathe,” Maggie adds, reaching over and giving her mom a hug. Ingrid feels her eyes get wet. She’s so glad she came. It’s clear how much love is between the two of them, even now.
“Can you imagine? We move all the way to this country, work like dogs…all for her. And if something happened to her?” Mrs. Wang turns to Maggie. “But she didn’t care. Our stubborn, wild girl.”
As they’re hugging and embracing, Ingrid picks up on a really interesting part she just said. They worked like dogs for her. What’s it like growing up with that hanging over you? But before she can think longer on it, Maggie asks, “So what do you think? Are you going to option this, for real?”
The question is so unexpected, and asked with such enthusiasm, that she’s caught off guard. As she stares back at the three Chinese people, their eyes lit up with hope, there’s no other way to answer it except with an enthusiastic “Yes!”
Maggie erupts in screams and throws her arms around Ingrid. She whispers into her hair, “Thank you.”
Ingrid hugs Maggie back, her body swaying with hers.
She laughs at how happy Maggie is. She really can’t remember the last time she’s made anyone this happy.
Not Kyle or either of her kids. Not even the actors and actresses she casts, who usually immediately start plotting their next movie.
And it really is an incredible story. But more important, Maggie’s an incredible person.
It hurt Ingrid to know she’d had to go through so much.
For a second, she imagines herself as Vivian the church lady, leading Maggie into the room, except the entire room full of presents is for Maggie this time.
She’s glad she can give this moment to the girl.