Swingin' in the Rain (13 page)

  “Thanks! See you!”

  I stood at the window, watching her walk over to her house when she suddenly veered over to the patrol car. The cop lowered his window and she leaned in. They were talking for a few minutes. My God, does she ever stop? She backed up and waved to him as she went into her house.

  I got my script out and looked at my lines. I was usually much more on top of it than I had been lately. Too preoccupied with other things, I guess. I didn’t have too many lines, thank God. But I did have a love scene, which was a lot more work than most people would think. I should have probably gotten a spray tan. It always looks good on camera and saves the time of having to get make-up applied all over with a cold wet sponge. I probably could have used a few workouts at the gym, too. I looked in the mirror and pulled up my pajama top. Not much happening in the ab department. I turned around and looked at my butt. Yikes, those brownies had taken a toll. I had to admit that having had such a close call the night before really put things in perspective. Who cared about a little cellulite? I was happy to be alive.

  I was reminded of this again when my adorable little girl came running out in her jammies.

  “Hi Mommy! Can we have pancakes this morning?”

  “Of course, we can. Come here, let me kiss you.” I planted a big one on her cheek and squeezed her really tight. “I love you so much. Did you guys have fun last night?”

  “We had a blast. Wayne’s funny. We made s’mores in the fireplace.”

  “Really? The fireplace, huh?” I had visions of melted marshmallow all over the bricks.

  “Can I help with the pancakes?”

  “You betcha. Let’s go.”

  We had a big pancake breakfast together then I took Sarah to school. Thankfully she didn’t notice the cop car parked out front. I think she was too happy to be riding in Marilyn to notice. That saved me from having to explain what the police were doing in front of Mommy’s house. I nodded to the cop as I pulled out of the garage.

  My to-do list for the day had clicked in: drop Sarah off, jump into bed with someone I didn’t know very well, avoid being killed. My life had officially gotten very weird.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  I had just pulled into the studio parking lot and was getting out of the car when George ran up to me.

  “Patti’s not here!”

  “We figured that would be the case, right?”

  “Yeah, but she quit
yesterday
!”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because Trudy said she got a letter of resignation from her yesterday morning.” Trudy was the head of the WBN make-up department. It was for real.

  I grabbed my bag and we started toward the Artist’s Entrance, avoiding puddles along the way.

  “That means she was planning on leaving before we went to the club last night.”

  “So what do you think, Alex? Do you think Patti knows more than she let on about Randy?”

  “I don’t know.” We flashed our badges at Security and proceeded down the main hallway. “It could be she just couldn’t handle us all knowing her secret life, ya know? I need to ask Jakes what he thinks.” We headed up the elevator and got off on the 1st floor. I gave George a hug outside my dressing room door. “You okay, today?”

  “Oh yeah. I’m fine. Pooped but fine. You?”

  “I’m okay. Tonja came over this morning.”

  “Really? How was that?”

“Awkward. Sort of. She admitted she was more a part of that club life than she had said. No surprise there. I told her I don’t really care what she does with her personal life. But I’m not sharing any more info about Randy with her.”

  “Smart. I better get back upstairs to make-up. I’ll see you up there.” He kissed me on the cheek. “You crazy girl!” Off he went.

  I yelled after him. “Crazier than some. Definitely not as crazy as others.”

  He laughed.

  “Spread your legs, Alex.”

  “Whoa, that’s cold!”

  “Sorry about that. I’m using warm water.” Kathy replied.

  Kathy was in charge of body make-up for the show and was used to actors complaining. We were at the end of the makeup and hair department, in the corner. There was a curtain drawn across the space so nobody could see us. Kathy was applying the make-up to my legs with a small sea sponge.

  “How far up should I go? Did the director tell you what the shots are?”

  “It’s not HBO so not that far up, but she did say she wants legs. So...higher.” I glanced down. “That’s good.” Then I looked at my chest. Okay, so I was a little vain. Call it an occupational hazard. “Could you give me some cleavage, Kathy? The girls need some oomphing.”

  “Sure. No problem.” She turned back to the counter and dabbed a brush in dark powder. She applied it in between my boobs creating the illusion of cleavage. “There you go. Turn around and let me make sure there’s no streaks.”

  She gave me the once over and handed me my robe. “You’re good.”

  “Thanks, Kath.” I started out the door and she stopped me.

  “Hey, Alex. I saw Patti going into your dressing room yesterday. Did she tell you she was leaving?”

  “No, she didn’t. Did she tell you?”

  “No. She’d been acting weird for a few days, though. We were close. So it kind of hurt my feelings she didn’t at least say goodbye.” Kathy turned back to her make-up counter.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry. Maybe she’ll call you, huh?” I patted her on the shoulder and left the room.

  That was strange. I never knew Patti and Kathy were that close. How close was close? Did Kathy go to those clubs, too? I almost felt offended. Was everybody secretly swinging? Not that I’d necessarily want to go to the party but it would be nice to have be invited.

  I didn’t have time to ponder this new wrinkle. I had called Jakes as soon as I woke up and left a message telling him I was okay. But I needed to speak with him before I went out on stage. I wrapped my robe around me and sat down on the sofa, making sure not to smudge my body make-up. I called Jakes. He picked up on the first ring.

  “I was just going to call you. Are you sitting down?”

  “Yes. Why?” I asked.

  “Your car was definitely tampered with. Someone cut your brake line.”

  “Oh my God! Someone tried to kill me! Do you know if they got any fingerprints?”

  “The weather pretty much destroyed any evidence. What they did get was inconclusive.” He took a deep breath. “Rockland knows about the brakes. And he knows that I put the cruiser on your house. He wants to see you.”

  “When?”

  “He said he’d be in touch . . . personally,” he answered.

  “Patti isn’t here, today. She gave her resignation yesterday. That means she planned on leaving before she brought me to that club.” He was quiet on the line for a few seconds. I could tell something was up.

  “Alex? We need to have a talk.” Uh oh, I thought.

  “What kind of talk?”

  I finally asked.

  “Later. In person.”

  I hated that later stuff. “Can you give me a hint?” I prodded.

  “Alex to the set, please.” Herbie’s voice called out over the intercom, making me jump.

  “Shoot! Jakes, I have to go. They need me. I’ll call you when I’m done working, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  I hesitated before hanging up, and so did he.

  “Are we okay?”

  “We’ll talk later.” And he hung up.

  Something was definitely wrong but I didn’t have time to think about it. I had some simulated lovemaking to do. I stood up, checked my make-up in the mirror and headed out the door.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  “Okay, Alex. I want you laying stage right in the bed and Marcus, you’re stage left.”

  Sandy was our director again today. She pointed to the bed as I wrapped my robe around myself and adjusted my nude colored tube top, tugging it a little higher. I got into the bed and pulled the sheets up as I took my robe off. Some actresses did their love scenes topless. I never really got the point of that. This was pretend after all. And you couldn’t show boobs on network television, anyway. I even had men’s boxers over a pair of Spanx.

  Marcus crawled into bed next to me. My character Felicia was still in the throes of amnesia. She had forgotten she was actually married to somebody else when she had fallen in love with Brandon (Marcus). Their relationship had caused lots of problems, considering Brandon was actually married to Felicia’s daughter, Devon. I know. I have a hard time keeping up with it myself.

  “Okay, so Alex,” Sandy began, “the scene opens with you guys kissing. I want a nice long one. Two lovers that have this attraction that can’t be stopped. Alex, make sure you’re downstage.” This meant she wanted to make sure the camera could see me. “I want to see the emotion all over your face. Then say your line. If you can get it going, a tear might be nice, too.”

  Great. I had to worry about flashing the crew, remembering my lines, showing my face, hiding my cellulite and now working myself up to tears.

  “Then, Marcus, hold Alex’s face in your hands and say your next line. Kiss again. Then when you pull apart, say your line about wanting to go back to Devon. That’s where Alex slaps you.”

  “How do I slap him from this position? My arms will be pinned on the bed?” I asked. Doing a love scene was a lot like choreographing a dance sequence. Everything has to be just right so the scene works.

  “Hmm. Good question.” Sandy was thinking about this when Marcus piped in.

  “How about if I pull her up to a sitting position when I break the second kiss and that way her arms will be free?”

  “That should work. I’ll make sure when I slap you that I just cross an inch in front of your nose, okay? Maybe pull back a little bit so I’ll be sure to miss your face. And make sure you turn your head so it looks like a real slap. Like this.” Marcus and I worked on the slapping a couple of times.

  “That looks good,” Sandy said. “Really sell that slap. Let’s try it. We’ll rehearse it first then give it a go. And Alex? Remember to hike the sheet up. We want to see some thigh.”

  Hooray. Thigh.

  Sandy headed back to the booth where she could see the shots that all three cameras on the set were taking. The booth was where the show was put together, on the spot, and his several televisions across a wall. The Director, Producer, lighting people, sound people, production supervisors, even music people were back there making sure everything worked just right. The Director sat in front of the TVs and snapped her fingers when she wanted a specific camera to take a specific shot.  A lot went into getting a scene.

  Marcus and I were lying in each other’s arms, waiting to start the camera rehearsal. It could be a little odd shooting the breeze when you’re half naked in the arms of someone in a Speedo. But I guess I was more or less used to it.

  “How are you doing today, Alex? How’s Sarah?” Marcus asked me. He’s a nice guy and a good actor. He had been a regular on The Depths of the Sea until its cancellation last year. There was definitely a glut on the market of out-of-work actors now that so many were being thrust into unemployment. Our show had hired quite a few. It was starting to feel like everyone from other defunct shows was jumping onto our ship. And our ship was the Titanic.

  Marcus is actually a good kisser. Thank God. Nothing’s worse than working with someone you don’t like, let alone have to kiss them. As an added bonus, Marcus is very good looking. He’s in his mid 30’s(please don’t call me a Cougar!), has brown hair and soulful hazel eyes. And a body that had helped him make it into People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People issue twice. He also has a girlfriend he’s crazy about. He never tries to slip me the tongue and is always respectful. I love that about him.

  “I’m okay, Marcus. Sarah’s great. Thanks for asking. How about you?” Herbie walked over and interrupted us.

  “Sandy wants to know if you guys can go straight to tape? We have a lot of scenes to do today and a five o’clock out time. You don’t have much dialogue. Want to try it?”

  Marcus and I looked at each other.

  “Yeah, I’ll try it. Alex?”

  “Sure. Let’s try it.”

  “They’re the pros ladies and gentlemen!” Herbie said. He spoke into his headset. “Sandy, they said they’d do it.”

  Marcus and I assumed our positions. I adjusted my tube top, making sure nothing was showing.

  “Make-up and hair? Final touch ups. Quickly!” Herbie yelled out.

  George came running over and whispered in my ear.

  “You look like shit today, Sweetie. Last night took its toll. Let’s bring some of your hair in front. It makes you look softer.”

  “Shut up, George! I don’t need to hear that now.”

  “You know I love you. I’m just trying to help. Add some lips.” He grabbed the lip-gloss from the set make-up artist and dabbed some on my mouth.

  “Thanks,” I said, not meaning it. “Do you have any breath spray?” George reached into his pocket and pulled some out. I opened my mouth and he sprayed. Marcus opened his mouth up and George gave him some, too. I started thinking about the conversation I’d had with Jakes. He had sounded different somehow. Maybe he’d had it with my amateur sleuthing. He wouldn’t break up with me, would he? Before I knew it I actually had tears in my eyes.