At the airport curb Melanie had thanked June for the ride and handed her the keys to the Gilberts’ house back in Malibu.
“Groceries come every week on Mondays,” she had said. “You may as well just let them come. Carson might call at some point, I suppose. If you end up talking to him, you can tell him I’m okay, the house is okay, and you can tell him where I am. And I guess you can give him my parents’ number if he asks for it.”
“And if he asks how long you’ll be gone?”
Melanie had shrugged. “I really don’t know. I just want to be home for a little while, you know?”
June had nodded. “I do know.”
A couple seconds of weighted silence had hung between them.
“He might kick me out,” June had said.
“He might. Worry about that if and when you have to. And, hey, listen. I know you’re upset that the script is gone, but you can rewrite it, June. Rewrite the whole thing and everyone at MGM will see it was you all along writing Elwood’s scripts. They will have to believe you because Elwood’s not here to rewrite it. Only you are.”
“They will assign it to someone else,” June had said. “They won’t want to see anything I’ve written because they’ll never accept that I’ve been writing the majority of the scripts. Max doesn’t know how much I was writing for Elwood. Elwood didn’t even know.”
“Make them read it, June. Don’t stop trying until they do.”
June had nodded, smiling weakly. “All right. I’ll rewrite it. What else am I going to do while I am waiting?”
Melanie and Nicky had gotten out of the car, and Melanie leaned in through the open window to say goodbye.
“You take care, June. And if something happens in the next few days where you need me to vouch for you, I want you to call me, okay?”
June shook her head. “I’m not going to do that to you. I’m the one who made this mess I am in.”
“Call me anyway.”
June’s smile had increased. “I’ll think about it.”
Melanie had turned to go but then suddenly remembered her brother might show up to retrieve Nicky. She swung back around. “If Alex comes by wanting his son, you tell him where he can find him, okay?”
“Absolutely. And, Melanie?”
“Yes?”
“I could be wrong, I know, but I’m guessing your mother and father care for you very much and probably tried as best they could to be good parents.”
Melanie had warmed to those words instantly but nevertheless said, “You’ve never met my parents.”
“But I’ve met you. I know you. I know the people you care for are important to you. And that you wouldn’t let any harm come to them if you could help it. Usually someone has to model that to us.”
A car behind June’s at the curb had honked.
“Thanks, June,” Melanie had said as she stepped away from the vehicle. “I’ll be seeing you.”
Now, as Melanie watched the ground rise up closer and closer, she knew the hours before she’d introduce her parents to their grandson had shrunk to minutes.
She turned to Nicky, who still had his face as close to the glass as he could get it while still being buckled in. “Remember who we’re going to see?”
“Grandmom and Grandpop.”
She loved the way he said their names. “And remember what I said they might do when they see you?”
“They might cry.”
“Happy tears, remember?”
