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“I dunno what or how you even did it kiddo, but it worked! You’ve got a three movie deal waiting for you at the studio,” she says loudly, almost shouting as though I can’t hear her or even know who she is.
“And they even said not to worry about the jet. Or the fur or the jewels. Like I said boy, I dunno what you pulled back there, but after I saw the tape myself…”
“The tape?” I ask her, sounding confused.
“Yeah the tape,” Denise exclaims boldly. “I thought it was just grainy pictures some tourist took that made that news story. Turns out it was the studio screen test for you and your new leading lady,” she says brashly like she has a point even I wouldn’t get.
Which I don’t.
“I’m not sure I follow, Ma. C-can I call you back?” I stammer, lowering my voice and moving into a corner of the tiny apartment when I hear the toilet flushing. Olivia then running herself what sounds like a shower but could be anything with all those pipes hammering.
“Ah Jack, you don’t have to put on an act for me. I just got off the horn with Goodwyn. Those stories the papers ran? He wants to sue all of ‘em. Breach of studio privacy and copyright,” she laughs, asking if I’m still there.
Wondering why I can’t share her enthusiasm.
“He saw the screen test you did with that contest kid and wants to run with it. A new franchise: ‘Jack Mercury falls in love with average girl’, or something like that… Jack?”
“Uh, yeah. I’m still here. Look, Mom? I got her right here. The girl. Turns out she’s an entertainment reporter who does all the heavy lifting for the gossip columnist who ran said story. She wants to switch sides,” I tell her in one breath.
“Can you help?” I ask her finally, grateful when it registers Olivia’s in the shower and I can have a few minutes to update my mom on what I have in mind.
Almost everything anyway.
“You’re shittin’ me, Jack?” she asks, all of her agent’s fee from three movies taking a backseat for something I know she loves more.
A good old fashioned catfight.
My mom, hates the gossip columns, only grinning when we win in court, which until recently hadn’t been too often truth be told.
Now it’s a chance for us both to turn things around for good.
I can set Olivia doing something she loves and we can have a better voice for actors and the industry from people on the inside. Not just muckrakers.
“Right, mom?” I ask, pitching her my own idea about setting Olivia up in an office of her own, with full access to our Hollywood contacts.
“This girl,” she muses with an air of friendly suspicion. “That screen test kiss wasn’t just for the camera, was it Jack?” she finally asks plainly.
I can’t lie, not to my own mother. Nor to myself.
“She’s the one, Mom. I just know she is,” I hear myself tell her excitedly. “And I’m not asking if I can do this. I’m telling you it’s what’s going to happen,” I make clear.
No more wondering or waiting for anything anymore.
Jack Mercury is back, king of Hollywood and he’s found his queen. Together, we’re gonna rule over our new empire.
There’s a lengthy silence, but I finally hear my mom sigh with some relief.
“I can finally rest easy Jack, knowing you’re on the way to having a family of your own. I’ll have my grandbabies after all,” she says, sniffing back emotion.
“Uh, I said she’s the one, Ma. Give her more time than one day to give you a whole family,” I try to protest, but it’s no use.
I know she’s right. Mom’s always right.
If Olivia’s the one, and I know she is, then I want the whole fairy tale as much as she does. Complete with a white picket fence and as many kids as she can handle under our feet.
“Before any of that though, mother,” I caution her gently, knowing how much she wants a family for me as well as herself.
“Before we even think about choosing the colors for the nursery. I need your help to get Olivia going on her own project. Making her the new face for Hollywood reporting, and making her first big break a story that dismantles the untouchable Naomi Pilkington.”
Denise goes quiet again, but thinking hard this time, not emotional anymore. It’s her ability to shift from emotional to business oriented so quickly that helps us both.
“Jack. You’re telling me this girl would rather write Hollywood entertainment articles than star opposite her leading man… you in a franchise deal that’s on the table from Goodwyn himself?” she asks with a tone of disbelief.
I have to admit, when she puts it like that, it does sound a little odd. And she’s not just playing devil’s advocate either.
