Ava emerges onto the patio in her swimsuit, headed to the pool once again. She stops when she notices us.
“I’m going to miss this when we leave tomorrow,” she says.
“The pool?” I ask. “The weather?”
“No,” she says, nodding at me and her grandmother.“This.”
Ava takes off racing across the patio and yard and leaps into the pool. A resounding splash echoes off Zsa Zsa.
“So, this is happy hour?” Trudy asks. “I like it.”
“Are you happy?” I ask.
“I think I finally just might be,” she says.
“Me, too.”
We clink glasses again, and watch as the sun slips toward slumber.
Barry
The sun has yet to rise over Joshua Tree, but Pioneer Town is bright as day.
It’s my first day on set.
Lights illuminate the ramshackle bar where—in about an hour—I will shoot my first scene forBilly’s Back.
“Barry’s back!”
I had wanted to take this moment in all by myself, but the director, Mitch Michaels—the Golden Globe winner who has directed the likes of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon—sees me and waves me over from his chair.
“You ready?” he asks.
“Damn straight!”
This ironic turn of phrase does not hit home with macho Mitch.
“You better be! My ass is riding on this! You know Billy Bob Thornton wanted this role.”
Mitch is subtly trying to intimidate me. I know because it’s happened to me on way too many sets to count. I know what guys like Mitch want to hear because I’ve used my own macho daddy act to direct the actions of more men than this director ever will.
“Billy Bobwearsblood,” I say. “Idrinkit for breakfast.”
Mitch roars with laughter. “See you in an hour!”
I walk toward my trailer and stop cold.
Barry Goggins?
My name is centered on the door next to a huge gold star.
After forty years, I’m finally a fucking star!
I cannot help myself: I grab my cell and snap a selfie standing in front of it.
I type a caption so casual and so cool that you’d think I’d been shooting major motion pictures my entire life instead of commercials for local carpet companies.
First day on set! Barry’s Back #BillysBack!
