We had a blast at the beach house. I was ready to brave the other beach-goers, but they seemed to be intimidated when they saw Rita James with me along with Halle, Lacy, and Pam. I was impressed with the older ladies. They were good surfers. Even at four months pregnant, Pam was in a league of her own. She’d been surfing since she was old enough to walk. I about killed myself trying to duplicate some of her moves.
Tracy decided she’d relax and tan on the roof. She warned everyone about what salt water would do to your hair. She caught me off guard sometimes when she became all girly-girl on me.
Pam and Lacy were exposed to their first taste of paparazzi. I was impressed when they acted like they didn’t know the three of us. I teased Rita, offering to give them something to talk about, but she pointed to Fritz, and I got the idea she could probably get him to ruin my day. Maybe I could take him, but it wouldn’t be fun.
◊◊◊
Trip showed up with barbecue for dinner. We ate on the roof. During our meal, Pam received a phone call. When she came back, she was excited.
“Aly and Dan want us to go to a party tonight,” she announced.
I assumed that Aly and Dan were her ex-best friend and ex-boyfriend. The look on Lacy’s face confirmed it for me. She grimaced for a moment and then presented a neutral expression.
“You might want to stay in tonight until you’re used to the time change,” Lacy said.
“Oh, Mom. I haven’t seen them since this summer,” Pam said.
What she was leaving out was how hurt she’d been when she came home.
“Sounds like fun,” Halle said.
Lacy found me as I helped clean up after dinner.
“You do know who Aly and Dan are, don’t you?” she asked.
“I’m sure I do. I’ll make sure Pam’s okay. We’ll also bring Fritz and Flo, just in case,” I said.
“You don’t believe she’d be physically hurt, do you?” Lacy asked with real concern in her voice.
“No, our security will be there in case I decide they all need to die,” I said with a lopsided grin.
I was immediately kicking myself for suggesting anything to her mom. Lacy had been through enough. Well, in fact, she was still going through it. Even though she and Cal were separated, their divorce was still not final. I wondered if I should just kick Dan’s butt and get it over with, but from Pam’s reaction, I needed to let him show his true colors first.
◊◊◊
The party was held at what looked like a typical middle-class home, and the kids at the party looked like normal high school students. It was refreshing not to walk into a mansion and mingle with all the ‘beautiful people’ of Hollywood. The only problem was they all recognized me from my fight with the ‘Baby Dick Gang.’ All that stopped them from mobbing me was that I was with Pam. They all knew her, and I could tell she was enjoying introducing me to her friends, especially Aly.
Dan was an idiot. Let’s be kind and just say that Aly wasn’t Pam, because it wouldn’t be fair to compare the two.
“Pam!” Aly squealed.
Dan hurried over and started to look a little nervous when he saw I was with her.
“Aly, Dan, I would like you to meet my good friend David,” Pam said.
“I actually know Dan. He and I surf together,” I said.
“Let me get you both beers,” Dan offered.
“Sorry, neither of us drink,” I said to give Pam some cover.
“We’ll have one,” Tracy said as she and Halle stepped forward.
I accompanied Dan to get the beers and soft drinks.
“Uhmm, about what I said while we were surfing …” Dan started.
“Is just one more thing you’ve said or done to her,” I said.
His eyes hardened, but I didn’t care. I stared him down, and he looked away. We got the drinks, and he had somewhere else to be once they were delivered. Pam was holding court, with Tracy at her side, so I nodded to Halle, and we made our escape.
That was a mistake. Living in LA, they’d seen much more media coverage about both Halle and me than the folks back home had. I really hadn’t come to the party to have to talk about what it was like to make movies and get pictures taken with everyone. I noticed Fritz had stationed himself just to the side of Halle while Flo was tracking Pam for me. She didn’t seem to be getting the attention we were, plus Tracy was with her.
I guess Halle could see the movie-star routine was getting old for me because she reached over and pinched me hard just behind my elbow. That hurt, and it was accompanied by a look. I got the message, put on a happy face, and sucked it up. I started to crave a real drink, though.
As the party dragged on, the partygoers started to become drunk. Halle was pretty much over it by now, and the guys were getting their beer muscles. Fritz suggested that she go home. He wasn’t as worried about me, but the boys had had enough in them that they were making bold advances towards Halle. If Fritz hadn’t been there, I might have smacked a few of them. I expect that was another reason he wanted her to leave. Fritz drove Halle back to the house in the hills.
I looked for Pam and Tracy and found Tracy talking to Flo.
“Where’s Pam?” I asked.
