Page 33 of Second Act
“I don’t think so. That wouldn’t work for me,” she said without further explanation. In fact, the idea of losing another child she loved was so frightening and unbearable that she couldn’t even remotely imagine taking that risk again. Liam had been her one and only great love. He was not replaceable, and she didn’t want to try. She had changed the subject immediately, but Wendy was reassured by her answer.
Wendy brought it up casually to her father, one night when they went to pick up dinner together and Violet was watching the kids. Wendy was telling him how much she liked her, that she was a real person, and so sweet to the children. “And at least she doesn’t wantany of her own. That must be a relief to you, Dad, with a woman her age.” He had recently turned fifty-eight, and with a woman nineteen years younger, children were presumably an issue, or could prove to be, especially since Violet had none. Wendy had always disliked the idea that he might have other children one day. He hadn’t been present for her, and it upset her to think of his being more attentive to a second generation of children with a new wife. Even the mention of it made her jealous.
“How do you know that she doesn’t want children?” Andy asked her as they stood in line, waiting to buy pizza for the kids. They had wanted to stay home for dinner, and play at Grampa’s house. Wendy and the children were staying at Claridge’s, because the carriage house was too small for three guests. Andy had never dared broach the delicate subject of future children with Violet, because of Liam.
“I asked her,” Wendy said blithely, “you know, girl talk. She’s almost my age, she loves you, and it’s a reasonable question.” Violet was six years older than Wendy, but seemed infinitely wiser and more mature to Andy, and had had a much harder life.
“She had a son,” he said quietly. “He died in an accident four years ago, when he was a few months younger than Jamie. He died because of his father’s dangerously risky behavior. He was driving at a high speed on ice, and hadn’t put on the boy’s seat belt.” Andy sounded somber when he said it, and Wendy looked horrified.
“Oh my God.” She looked pale at the image he painted. “The poor woman. Oh God, Dad, the poor thing. How did she survive it? That would kill me.”
“I think it almost killed her. She’s a strong woman, and there’s a lot more to her than one sees at first. She got me through the last year. She got me writing again. I hired her as an assistant, and I found a manuscript she was working on. We turned it into a screenplay together. I’ve never talked to her about wanting more kids. I don’t get the impression she wants more. I think it was too painful when she lost her son.” It suddenly explained to Wendy how naturally at ease she was with Jamie. She knew little boys that age. Wendy looked serious when she and her father left the pizza parlor with three boxes of pizza, with her children’s favorite toppings and combinations.
“I’m really sorry, Dad, that I brought up the subject. I like her. A lot. I can see why you do too. She’s not some gold digger out to play you, like Alana and all the movie stars before her. To them, dating is a business.” He laughed and it lightened the moment. He felt sad for Violet that Wendy had brought up the question of children to her.
“You should see who Alana’s dating now. The oldest studio head in the business. He’s a terrible curmudgeon. He’s been married four times to girls in their twenties, and Alana won’t be the next one.” He laughed and truly didn’t care. The wounds of the last year had healed nicely. He was comfortable in his own skin as never before, and Wendy could see it. And if it was thanks to Violet, she was grateful.
In their five days in London, they took the children to the zoo, a carnival, a boat ride on the Thames, an interactive children’s museum Violet had found, a doll museum for Lizzie, a military museum for Jamie, and a teddy bear factory where they made their ownbears they could take home. And Andy had participated in most of it and had made the time to do so, more than ever before. What Wendy noticed about him that was different was that Violet had humanized him. He was just as passionate about his work, but it was hands-on, it challenged him, he was collaborative with Violet. He didn’t seem to be interested in showing off anymore. He had always been a real person under the big job, but now he was more down-to-earth. And he seemed much happier in his life than he had been before.
He had always been running, but to what? Now he had real goals, with the movies he was making, and he was achieving them, which gave him more satisfaction. He said himself that he wasn’t sure what he would do in the future, but for now, he felt like he was exactly where he should be. He confirmed that he was keeping his house in LA, in case he went back, and he had urged Wendy to use it if she wanted to. Her family had stayed there when she and Peter took the children to Disneyland over a long weekend, and had commuted to Anaheim from his house, which was better than any hotel with the gigantic pool. Andy was more than willing to share his blessings with his only child, and her children. The visit to London had been fun for all of them.
Andy drove Wendy and the children to the airport himself when they left, which was a first. Violet came with him, and they went from the airport to work for more auditions.
Dash had selected two more members of the cast in the last five days. Violet and Andy hadn’t missed much.
Wendy and her children would remember the visit forever. Theycould all coast on that for a long time, and Andy had urged Wendy again to bring them out in the summer, in July, before they started shooting, if the children didn’t go to camp again. Both of the kids were clutching the new bears they’d made when they left. Jamie had named his Andy, and Lizzie had named hers Violet, and tied a lavender bow around her neck, when Wendy told her what “violet” meant. The visit had been a smash hit. Wendy sent her father an email that said so clearly and thanked them for the wonderful time they’d had with both him and Violet. He had tears in his eyes when he read it and showed it to Violet. She was deeply touched too. She and Wendy had become friends in a real way.
Andy and Violet settled down in earnest in the days after Wendy and the children left. In the next week, they picked the rest of the cast. Contracts were drawn up, negotiated, and adjusted. They had everything sewn up ahead of schedule in late March, and they were sticking to the projected shooting schedule, with preproduction in July, and they would start filming on the first of August. It was all nice and tidy and falling into place.
Andy and Violet were talking about some of the preproduction details when they got home that night. It was six o’clock in London and tena.m. in LA, when Andy’s lawyer, Barry Weiss, called him. He sounded serious, as he usually did. He wasn’t a jolly kind of guy, but he was a good lawyer, especially with complicated contracts.
“Did you see the newspaper today?” he asked Andy.
“No, did the stock market crash? Should I be panicked?” Andy always tried to lighten Barry’s dark moods, usually without success. “Is something wrong?” Andy asked more seriously.
“There was a plane crash over the weekend, a private jet. Harvey Seligman was on it. Everyone on the plane died, including Seligman and his wife. You obviously know he was the head of Planet Z,” the second biggest studio in the business after Global, and neck-and-neck recently, with the new head of Global losing ground, predictably. “I just got a call from the chairman of their parent company. To cut to the chase, they want you, Andy. Badly. They’ll pay almost any price. They need you desperately. They have a lot of big deals on the table, and no CEO. They need you to start immediately.”
“The king is dead, long live the king,” Andy said softly, taking it all in.
“If you want it, you’re back in, on top, where you belong. It’s a fantastic studio. They’ll give you carte blanche. It’s what you’ve been waiting for, and the opportunity won’t come again. This is a fluke. No one leaves those head of studio jobs unless they get fired or die. And you’re not going to want to be fooling around with little indie films for the rest of your career. You have nothing else to do right now. But this is what you do, Andy, and the job you want.” Barry told Andy the dollar amount Planet Z had quoted as a starting point for negotiations, and it was breathtaking, even more than he’d made before, which was hard to imagine. “You’re the only man they want for the job. Your noncompete expired five days ago, so the timing is perfect. They want you to come to LA as fast as you can get here to talk to them. They’ll send a plane for you.” It was one hell of a powerful message Barry had delivered, and Andy was silent for a minute.
“It was considerate of Harvey to get in a plane crash five days after my noncompete expires,” he said ironically. There wassomething so sad and so sordid about it. A man and his wife that Andy knew had died. They weren’t close friends, they were competitors, but Andy knew and respected Harvey. He had children and grandchildren who loved him, presumably. The crew and several other passengers had died too, and they were talking about Andy’s severance contract, his noncompete, and how much Planet Z were willing to pay him. It was business above all else. But if he wanted to be a studio head again, Barry was right, this was his chance. It didn’t get better than this. And a man “only” had to die to make it happen.
“How fast can you get here?” Barry asked him.
“I don’t know,” Andy said vaguely. He felt totally turned around and stunned by the news, sad for Harvey and his wife and the others. A door had opened that Andy had wanted so desperately, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it now. He felt shocked and numb. If he took it, playtime was over and he’d be king again, at an even better job than he had before, for more money. And Planet Z was an impeccably run company, much better than Global these days. Global had an inexperienced CEO, and a year later it had started to show. There was no victory in it for Andy. He didn’t want revenge or retribution, he just hated to see a company he had once loved and put so much effort into start to slip.
“I have to call you back,” he told Barry. It was early on the West Coast, so he had time. He needed to catch his breath. He hung up and looked at Violet.
“Is something wrong?” she asked him. He didn’t look elated, and she saw the shock on his face. He told her what had happened, and she was suddenly quiet. There was no doubt in her mind what hehad to do. It wasn’t even a question for her. “You have to take it, Andy. This is what you’ve been waiting for. It won’t happen again.” He knew it too. How many plane crashes would there be to wipe out the rival studio heads and free up their seats for him?
“Christ, Vi, I feel like we’re going through the wreckage, and going through Harvey’s pockets and stealing his job. Talk about being vultures or predators. The poor man isn’t cold yet, and they want to hire me. They don’t waste any time.” But it was yet another multibillion-dollar corporation and they needed a CEO immediately.
“When do they want you to go?”
“Now,” he said dismally.
“Was he young?” Violet asked.
