Chapter 9
Jeff
The morning after making love to Pat, I woke up with a grin on my face. At first, I thought it was a dream, but then I remembered the love making session out in the open, followed by champagne at the seafood diner. I could barely drink as I was driving, but Pat enjoyed two glasses and we shared a platter of the most divine Hawaiian treats. It was the best night I’d had in years.
The intensity of our lovemaking was something I hadn’t experienced since Jen died. This was the first time in years I felt truly engaged in the sex. The other women had just been for fun. This was more. So much more. There was a genuine connection. And I loved how liberated she was out by the waterfall. Those eyes that had been so sad when we first bumped into each other on Mulholland had steadily grown happier and last night, they were filled with lust. Pure, unadulterated lust.
I shivered just thinking about it. I wanted to make love all night, but I think we both felt like there was a tomorrow. We said we would take it slow. Spending the whole night together wouldn’t have honored that agreement. We needed breathers. Too much too soon would mess with us both. But that didn’t mean I didn’t want it. I was so hard just thinking about her it was all I could do not to run over to her room, and bang on her door…
Thankfully Shaun was there to distract me.
“Wake up, Daddy, I want breakfast. Monica is still asleep and I heard her say she was tired last night, so I don’t want to wake her.” Shaun was standing outside my door, knocking. It was a habit I had taught him early on: never enter a door without knocking.
“OK,” I said, “you can come in, but I think it’s better if you go get dressed and I get dressed, too. Then we can have breakfast.”
“Sure, Dad. I bet I’ll get dressed faster than you!”
“Bet is on,” I called back and got out of bed.
There was an incredible power in the idea of doing something to beat the clock, or beating someone else in speed, when it came to children. Counting to ten still worked too.
I quickly had breakfast with Shaun, then woke Monica and headed to set. Today there were no stunts for me to coordinate, but I was going to do work from a room in the factory that I had converted into an office. And I wanted to keep an eye on the production. While this was a director I knew well, experience told me that too free reigns led to delays and artistic outburst that cost millions. Literally.
As I arrived on set, I saw Pat getting ready for her first scene of the day and waved at her and winked. She gave me a big smile.
Then I headed for my office.
Five hours later the smile on my lips had faded — it looked like Netflix was no longer interested inSpeed Bumps.I’d have to find another network. Amazon would be my first call. Then HBO. Damn! Apparently, Netflix had just bought another show and we were late. Too late. It had a similar theme — badass female detective. They couldn’t afford two such shows and as the other show’s pilot was already done and dusted, they decided to go for that instead of waiting and risking losing that show.
As I walked out my office to grab a coffee from the catering table, I saw Pat standing there, staring at her phone with a vacant expression on her face. As if she wasn’t really in the room.
“Pat?” I asked, touching her arm. I wanted to embrace her, but the look in her eye told me she wasn’t really present. Had something happened on set?
“Oh, Jeff, hi,” she said with a small smile that vanished as soon as it appeared.
“Has something happened? Was there a problem on set? Did anyone upset you?”
“No, no, not at all. The filming went well. It was fun.” Another brief smile and a squeeze of my arm. “No, it’s Bill. He texted me the other day after weeks of him not saying anything. Seems like it finally hit him I wasn’t coming back, so he went to L.A. to look for me. I told him I was in Hawaii and to leave me alone. I just got another text saying he’s in Maui now. He must have tracked me down somehow.”
“I’m sorry, Pat, I guess he wants to fight for you after all,” my forehead creased as I spoke. I didn’t want to lose Pat. Not when I’d just found her.
“I don’t want him to fight for me. I want him to go away.”
“You can always get a restraining order if he becomes a nuisance. Listen, I’ll tell the security we have for the show to stay with you 24/7. Put a man on you. I didn’t think it was necessary for this production as we aren’t working with any stars, I’ve just had them guard the set, but let’s get you a bodyguard.”
Pat frowned.
“Do you really think that’s necessary? I mean, it’s Bill.”
“I’ve seen men do strange things when love doesn’t go their way,” I replied. “I’ve also seen fans do incredibly weird things. You told him to stay away, he didn’t. He’s not respecting your wishes. You’re better safe than sorry.”
Pat nodded. She looked relieved. I didn’t think she was scared of Bill and truth be told, I wasn’t really either, but even harmless men can be a nuisance when their love life doesn’t go as intended.
Then Pat did a double take as she looked at me.
“You don’t look too happy yourself,” she said. “It’s not about last night, is it?”
“No, no of course not. It was great.” I smiled and stepped in to embrace her. Then I held her away from me so I could look her in the eye. “No, it’s Netflix. They pulled out. I mean there was no deal, only negotiations. But they found another, similar show, that was ready to go. They may be interested in a year from now, but I want this off the ground in the next six months. Of course, there’s no guarantee it will get sold to any network. It’s a gamble. It depends on what they’re looking for right now.”
