hardship location. There were films she had made where she’d spent six months in the jungle, three months living in a village in Africa, and they had been in places where civil war had broken out while they were there. Palm Springs was a piece of cake, and it was only two hours from home. They’d be coming back from location soon anyway, and it was a little bit like a vacation when he came out to spend the night with her.
“I miss you too,” she whispered as he started to make love to her, and after that she forgot everything but him.
Afterward, they lay in each other’s arms and talked for a few minutes, and she had to fight to stay awake. She was so peaceful and at ease, she couldn’t keep her eyes open. She put an arm around him, and while he was still talking to her and stroking her hair, Tallie fell sound asleep.
Chapter 3
BRIGITTE WAS IN the driveway at four-thirty the next morning, right on time, as always. No matter what she did the night before, she always came to work on schedule, whatever the hour. She texted Tallie that she was there, and she came out of the house barefoot and carrying her shoes, and closed the door silently behind her. Tallie ran to the Aston Martin and got in. She had showered again and her hair was wet, and if possible she looked an even bigger mess than she had the day before. She was wearing another pair of ratty, torn denim cut-off shorts with a T-shirt that was in shreds.
“Is that fashionable and you paid a fortune for it,” Brigitte asked, referring to the shirt with fascination, “or did you get it at Goodwill?” There were in fact items of clothing that looked like that, wrecked by trendy designers who tore the clothes before they sold them. Max was always buying things with that look at Max-field’s. Tallie usually created hers for free, but with her you never knew. She rarely spent much on clothes. And designer anything was of no interest to her.
“No,” Tallie said happily, “I got this shirt out of the garbage. Hunt threw it away, but I hated to waste it. It looks like it still has some life in it.” She seemed pleased.
“As what? A rag at a car wash? You’re the only woman I know who makes the kind of money you do and dresses out of the garbage.” Brigitte laughed as they drove down the street.
“If I told you it came from Maxfield’s, would it be chic?”
“Of course,” Brigitte said without hesitation.
“Okay, then pretend it did. I don’t have time to worry about the way I look.” She never did. It wasn’t on her priority list. She cared about what was in her head, not on her back, unlike most of the women she knew, and Brigitte certainly, who wore new designer clothes almost every day. Brigitte spent most of her salary on jewelry and clothes. She liked to say that she had an image to keep up, since she represented Tallie Jones. But Tallie didn’t give a damn about that herself.
She called Max in New York on the way to Palm Springs, and caught her just as she was leaving for school. Max said she had just been calling to check in the day before, to see how she was and how the movie was coming.
“It’s going great. We’re pretty much on schedule, and we should be back in L.A. in a few weeks. What’s happening with you? How’s school?” Tallie loved talking to her, and called her as often as she could.
“It’s okay. I met a new boy in the library last week. He seems pretty cool. He’s in pre-med.” Her romances always worried Tallie, realizing that she’d only been two years older when she fell for the cowboy from Montana and got pregnant with Max. But it didn’t seem like the kind of thing she would do. Max was less naive than Tallie had been at the same age, and Tallie felt now that if her mother hadn’t died a few years before that, she wouldn’t have gotten pregnant and had a baby. She was pretty lost for a while, although her father had always been there for her. But she was sure her mother would have handled it differently, and probably wouldn’t have insisted she get married, which her father did. The whole event had been a big mistake, except that she had gotten a terrific daughter out of it, and was grateful for that. Max was a wonderful kid, and had never caused her mother a moment of grief. And her aspirations to be a lawyer like her grandfather sounded good to Tallie. She didn’t want her in the movie business. It was too hard a life, full of unstable people, and a crazy world. She had never encouraged her to hang out with movie stars’ children, although Max had met several at school. But she was a levelheaded girl, and some of the stars’ children were surprisingly nice kids too. Max had always avoided the bad ones, and had a knack for gathering wholesome young people around her.
“Have a nice day, Mom,” she said cheerfully after a few minutes, and they hung up, and then Tallie remembered to tell Brigitte about the audit for their Japanese investor. Tallie asked her to call Victor Carson, their accountant, and ask him to cooperate fully with them, and give them whatever they wanted.
“At least you don’t have to do the work on it,” Tallie said to her, looking relaxed as she pulled out the script.
“I’ll give Victor whatever he wants, if he needs anything from me.” Brigitte was good with figures and kept impeccable track of all of Tallie’s bills. There was never a problem about not having bills or receipts for whatever she paid for. After the first several years of chasing Tallie around to sign the checks, they had set up an account where Brigitte could sign them to pay all her bills. It saved Tallie the time and headache, and Brigitte kept meticulous accounts of everything. She had a charge card she used for Tallie’s expenditures as well, and she handled everything for Max, who lived in the apartment Tallie owned in New York.
She and Victor worked well together, and Tallie counted on both of them to keep her financial life in order. With Brigitte at the helm, it ran like a Swiss clock. Hunt always said he was envious of her and wished he had an assistant like Brigitte. She was even helpful to him too, and never minded assisting him with anything.
Tallie read the script changes on the way back to Palm Springs, and they had faxed several more to Brigitte at midnight the night before. She had brought those with her too, and Tallie went over all of it, while making copious notes. She wanted more changes when they got to the set, which did not surprise Brigitte. That was how she worked, vigilant about the tiniest detail.
“So what did you do last night?” she asked her assistant as they approached Palm Springs.
“Nothing much. Took a bath, read, answered some e-mails. I went to bed pretty early. I need my beauty sleep,” Brigitte said innocently. The one thing she never told Tallie about was the actors she got involved with on the set. Once in a while Tallie found out, and she didn’t say anything about it. She had a don’t ask, don’t tell attitude, and figured that it was one of the perks of Brigitte’s job, if that was what she wanted, and it seemed to be. Tallie didn’t think it was worth the trouble commenting on it since Brigitte’s on-set romances never lasted longer than the making of the film. It was fine with her, as long as she didn’t put Tallie in a compromising position of some kind, or promise favors she couldn’t deliver, but Brigitte was too smart for that, and never stepped over that line. So Tallie figured that whoever Brigitte slept with was none of her business. She looked a little too innocent to her employer and old friend as they drove along, and Tallie smiled, wondering who it was. Undoubtedly someone very young, one of the extras or young actors. That was always Brigitte’s style.
Tallie’s day on the set was as busy as the one before. Brigitte stuck around and brought her cold drinks and hot ones, and saw to it that she got something to eat. Otherwise Tallie never took the time, she was too impatient and had too much to do to stop for meals. It was the same reason why she didn’t bother to dress decently and comb her hair. Tallie was obsessed with her work, and hated anything that distracted her from it or took a moment of her time away.
Brigitte answered e-mails, and made several calls for her. She called Victor Carson and told him about the audit, and when she had nothing else to do, she sat and watched the action on the set. She often gave Tallie very valuable critiques. She had a great eye, and she always knew exactly the nuance and impact that Tallie was trying to get. Tallie respected her candid opinions much of the time. Brigitte had learned a lot about the business over the years.
It was another good day, and Tallie talked to Hunt when she finished work. He was on his way to a meeting at the Polo Lounge, and told her about what he’d done all day. He said he missed her, and after a few minutes they hung up. She liked that neither of them felt they had to be together all the time, like Siamese twins. They lived together but had their own lives, with joint projects as a common bond. But he never got antsy or jealous when she was away, and she didn’t worry about him. After four years they trusted each other and knew each other well.
Hunt was an entirely different kind of man from the ones she’d been involved with before, all of whom had eventually cheated on her. Her second husband had been the most glaring case of that, but the others hadn’t
