He dipped his head.
“Well, each successive instance was worse. But I think Mimi knew. I think that’s why she told me to go to LA. She probably didn’t understand exactly what was happening, but she knew I couldn’t stay in Georgia and live the life that was being laid out for me.”
“What did she say to you that day? Will you tell me? I’ve wondered since you told that story.”
Blair had always thought of those words as a gift Mimi had given her, a gift that belonged to her alone. But here, now, she didn’t mind telling him. In fact, shewantedto tell him. She wanted him to know her. He did know her, of course; he was the one who, not to be too melodramatic about it, had saved her—or pushed her to save herself. But she wanted him to know all of her.
“My mother always hosted this massive Independence Day picnic. All our extended family came, and lots of friends. I was sitting with a bunch of people, including my mother and Mimi and two of my mom’s sisters. I was talking about the movieNew York Waltz.”
“Directed by Morton Afonso!” Jack exclaimed.
“Yes! I had written a paper about it for school. Which, by the way, I have since fully retracted given what I have learned about Morton Afonso from Mrs. Afonso.
“Anyway, at the time I thought it was a work of great genius, and I was opining on the subject in the self-impressed way only teenagers can. I was talking about how the movie was filmed on a soundstage in LA made to look like New York City, and I made an offhand remark about how it would be so exciting to live in either of those cities.
“When I was done with my little monologue, one of my aunts ‘whispered’ to my mother, ‘She’s getting above her raising.’ It was one of those stage whispers we were meant to hear. But we were also meant to pretend we hadn’t. Not Mimi, though. She just looked at my aunt and said, calmly, but very loudly, ‘I sure as hell hope so, but the jury’s still out.’”
“Mimi sounds pretty great.”
“She was. Then, later that night, as my dad was taking her home, she hugged me before she got in the car. Mimi wasn’t a hugger. She didn’t really do physical affection, so it startled me. But she hugged me tight, and she whispered in my ear, ‘Sometimes a girl has to get above her raisin’. Go make hay while the sun shines, girl.’”
Jack clapped his hands together, seemingly pleased with Mimi’s instruction. “And you did.”
“I did. I mean, I got lucky. One of the first auditions I went to was a huge cattle call. They were looking for a sidekick for this teen rom-com. I made it through the first cull somehow and at one point was super confused when they had me do a screen test with the romantic lead. What they hadn’t told anyone was that the female lead had gone to rehab and they’d decided to recast her role.”
“And you got it.”
“Yep. Thus began my run as the queen of the rom-com. The funny part was, when I had the idea to move to LA to try to be in the film business, I thought,Well, OK, this means I’ll be an actor.I couldn’t imagine anything else. I must have known that there were directors and all kinds of other jobs that might have suited me better. But I just went with what I knew, and since it was working out, and since I ended up having kids so young, I just kept doing it.”
“How come you never told me all this?”
It was a good question. “You were working on your book. I wasn’t supposed to be talking to you.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, but that notion went out the window right away. Anyway, so Mimi noticed your troubles the first time around, and I noticed the last time. But that second time, during COVID: Weren’t you locked down with your family? Where was Reggie?”
“He was there, but he didn’t see it.”
“That is…”
“What?”
“I’m not sure how that’s possible, for one thing.”
“He wasn’t a great husband.”
“Clearly.”
“But also, I worked pretty hard to hide it. Everyone was spending a lot of time in their own rooms, and that house was unreasonably large.”
“What about Tiffany?”
“She used to call me on being too intense. This last time around, she thought I was being a hermit because I was depressed from the divorce.”
“Esme thought that, too.”
“Maybe. Anyway, they all know now—the kids, Reggie, Tiffany. Part of the whole therapy thing was coming out of the closet. I even told my parents. You can imagine how that went.”
“Good for you.”
