Poor Kimberly wilted before my eyes at that cliché dismissal.
“Manaia, please take Kimberly and show her around,” I suggested.
Kimberly looked like she needed to go cry. We waited until she was out of earshot.
“Honestly, I don’t think so,” Kitty said.
Both Saul and Kendal tried to jump in to advocate for their client, but I held up my hand.
“I owe her,” I said.
The whole Laurent mess as a director, predator, and him sending her to sleep with me was in the back of my mind. I was still a little worried that it would all come back at some point.
“You’re the boss. I’ve worked with her, and I’m sure I can get what I need,” Kitty conceded.
I’d almost forgotten that I was one of the owners of the film, along with Halle and the studio. If I’d known I wielded this kind of power …
“You sure?” I asked.
Kitty knew what had happened in Cuba and probably guessed why I’d asked that Kimberly get a shot at a role. She was smart enough to know that I’d be careful not to overstep with her because I respected what she did. Kitty nodded her agreement. I figured I now owed Kitty for something she would want down the road. Hollywood was a small community in a lot of ways. I was okay with owing Kitty for this favor. I was sure that we could trade back and forth if my career continued. Heck, I got her this gig. It might be that I was still in the plus column on the favor ledger sheet.
Kendal and Saul left to give Kimberly the news.
“Thanks,” I said.
Kitty went off to get ready for our day.
◊◊◊
Kimberly landed the role of a barista at the coffee shop everyone seemed to go to in the movie. Kitty had me order coffee and flirt with Kimberly. In another scene, Kimberly commented that my girlfriend was in the back area. I explained that Halle’s and my characters were just friends. Kimberly acted like I was clueless.
When you make a movie, the scenes sometimes make no sense because they’re shot out of sequence. It didn’t help when they added a character halfway through filming. All the scenes of ordering coffee had to be reshot. I felt bad for the girl who’d originally been cast. I was somewhat mollified when I saw she was still in the scenes. At least she’d get her screen credit on this movie. The difference was, Kimberly had more lines than was originally in the script; that was done to help beef up her role.
My final scene was with Halle’s character telling mine she was in love with Ben’s. It was supposed to be the feel-good moment when she admits it to herself and unknowingly crushes me. Halle stopped me before we did the scene.
“Can I give you some insight?” she asked.
I nodded, not quite sure where this was going.
“Imagine how I felt when you told me that you would rather be with Brook.”
I took it in and sighed. It sounded like I was about to have ‘the talk’ one more time. So far, Zoe’s had been the worst. She made it clear that she wanted us to date and took it hard that Brook and I had decided to be a couple. I’d never doubted my decision once it was made, though I did have some doubts about Brook when she went postal on me a few times.
The most memorable one was when she thought Destiny and I’d hooked up on the date Destiny had won for getting the most signatures for Duke’s mayoral run. It was not quite as bad when Brook learned that I’d had three more children pop out of the woodwork. Other than that, I’d known she was right for me.
“If I’m honest, I’ve had feelings for you since we first met. And I know that you care for me very much. I want you to know that the last thing I’d ever want to do is to hurt you,” I said.
Halle looked down, and she started to get emotional. Crud! Johnny Depp once said, ‘If you love two people at the same time, choose the second one. Because if you truly loved the first, you wouldn’t have fallen for the second.’ Even I realized that Johnny Depp wasn’t someone to take advice from, but that made sense to me. Still, although I might agree with him, I wasn’t about to tell Halle that.
I decided to go with what I thought about the matter. If I might lose my friendship with Halle, I wanted it to be honest.
“I know you don’t think it was fair. Your leaving to chase your dreams wasn’t something in either of our control.”
“You mean if I’d stayed …?”
“Oh, Honey,” I said as I wrapped her up in my arms. “I didn’t mean it that way. I guess I was just ready to have a relationship. You know that Brook and I were close; maybe as close as we are. It just came down to the fact that she and I fit. I don’t want to sound clichéd and say Brook is the wind beneath my wings, or she makes me a better man. But the crazy thing is—she is and does.
“It took us a while to realize just how much we care for each other. Now that we do, I can’t imagine being with anyone else,” I said.
