“Seers Representation.”
“Hey, Louise. It’s me. Did you see the blurb in Yvonne Chase’s column?”
“Yes, I saw that tidbit,” she said. “And I also heard from a friend of mine this morning. He says they showed your video last night during a party at Vaughn Samson’s house….”
“Oh, great.” Avery muttered. “So we’re party entertainment….”
“If it’s any consolation, you were quite a hit with Vaughn and the boys. He may just want to direct you in your next film.”
“Swell,” he grunted, pinching the bridge of his nose. He sat on his sofa. “Have any reporters called you about this yet?”
“Only about a dozen since breakfast,” she answered dryly.
“I need to see Steve Bensinger as soon as possible,” Avery said. “We shouldn’t talk to the press until we’ve worked out an angle on this.”
“I’ll call Steve for you,” Louise offered. “He owes me a favor. I’ll make sure he sees you tonight.”
“Good.” Avery sighed. “I don’t know how to thank you, Louise.”
“Hmmm, maybe you could get me a copy of that video.” She was the only one laughing. “Avery, it was a joke.”
“Sorry. At the moment, I don’t have a very good sense of humor.”
“Honey, a sense of humor is what you need most right now.”
He managed a chuckle. “Sound advice. Thank you, Louise.”
Avery clicked off the line, but held on to the phone. He needed to call Joanne, and dreaded it. Despite the quiet calm before the storm of these last few days, she’d shown signs of increasing strain. Last night, she’d thrown a glass of red wine at the kitchen wall, because he’d made the fatal error of mentioning her mother again.
He’d brought up the topic a few days ago. Avery felt they had to warn their parents about the bad publicity ahead. He certainly didn’t want Rich and Lo hearing about the video from someone else. They were still catching flack from church friends about his controversial TV movie. To brace them for this latest bombshell, he’d asked his brother to be at his parents’ home when he called, then he got both his mom and dad on the line. At first, his mother didn’t seem to comprehend what Avery was talking about: “What do you mean? What ‘personal item’ did these people steal?”
“They stole a video, Mom. It’s—kind of a risque home movie of Joanne and myself—in bed.”
It was quiet on the other end of the line for a moment. Finally, his father cleared his throat. “Um, you made a video of the two of you—”
“Yeah, Pop. And they stole it.” Avery’s stomach was turning.
“Why?” his mom asked, incredulous. “Why did you do that? I can’t believe Joanne would agree to such a thing. What were you thinking?”
“Honey,” his father cut in. “Let’s just listen to what he has to say.”
“I’m really sorry, you guys,” he muttered, “It gets worse. The people who took the tape, they say they’re going to make copies…”
The more he tried to explain, the more upset his mother became. Finally, his father gently interrupted. “Avery? We’ll have to call you back. Okay? Your mom’s crying. We’ll call you back, son.”
Avery heard a click on the other end of the line.
“I’m sorry,” he said to no one.
They phoned back a half hour later. By then, his mother had calmed down, and his dad was even trying to joke about it. Avery apologized for the embarrassment they’d have to endure. But his dad reassured him, “Oh, so we’ll get some flack. This too will pass. Comes with the territory when you have a movie star for a son. For the most part, it’s a pretty sweet deal.”
As much as he’d hated making that call to his parents, Avery had known deep inside that they would be supportive—no matter what.
Joanne’s relationship with her parents wasn’t so ideal. She’d been estranged from her mother for several years—some bad blood over her mother’s selling the house and all their furniture right after her father had died— without consulting Joanne. Though Avery had never met his mother-in-law, he encouraged Joanne to end their six- year standoff. Joanne told him to butt out. She claimed not to care one way or another what her mother thought once this sex video went public.
Avery had let the subject drop for a couple of days. Then he’d made the mistake of picking it up again last night. All he’d said was: “You sure you don’t want to try getting in touch with your mom?”
Then the wineglass hit the kitchen wall. Joanne went on a tirade, calling her mother a bitch, and blaming Avery for bringing on this whole humiliating ordeal. “Why did you have to make that stupid TV movie anyway?” she screamed, banging her fist on the kitchen counter. “It’s because of that movie they singled us out and stole the video. It’s probably why I can’t get pregnant. God’s punishing us, because you played an abortion doctor—”
“Joanne, you can’t mean that,” he whispered, reaching out to her.
She reeled away. “Leave me alone!”
“All right, all right, just calm down,” he said, pulling back. He glanced at the wine stain on the wall and the broken glass on the floor. “Listen to me for a second,” he said. “I was wrong. Phoning your mother was a bad idea. Let’s erase that. Okay? Everything’s going to be all right.”
She settled down a bit later, and took one of those pills that the doctor had prescribed. Avery cleaned up the broken glass, but the wine had made a noticeable mauve-colored stain on the white kitchen wall.
Joanne had gone to bed early. She’d still been asleep when Avery headed off for the studio this morning. He’d hated leaving her alone.
It was extra infuriating that he had to be here—while Traci hid in her trailer and held up production. An awful thought occurred to him:
Avery dialed home. The machine switched on. “Joanne? If you’re there, pick up….” He paused. “Okay, some things are starting to happen with the video. You can page me on the set—”
There was a click on the line. “Avery?”
“You’re home….”
“I’m screening calls,” she said briskly. “The phone hasn’t stopped ringing since eleven. And there are, one, two, three—I’m looking out the living room window—
“Then I guess you know already,” he said. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m doing okay, believe it or not.”
“You sure?” he asked.
She laughed. “Yes, I haven’t smashed one single glass all morning.”
“You had me worried last night,” he admitted.
“Huh, I was pretty worried myself. But now that it’s finally happening and the awful wait is over, I feel we can handle this. Really. Sorry if I gave you a scare. But c’mon, honey. You’re married to an actress. The theater’s in my blood. I can’t have just a little hissy fit. Last night, Joanne Lane was playing to the balcony. But I promise, no more theatrics.”
“Uh-huh,” was all Avery said. The actress hadn’t quite convinced him that she was all right. He was still worried about her. “Better not talk to any reporters until I get there,” he said. “I’ll be home soon.”
The number of reporters and TV news vans outside their front gate had doubled in the last couple of hours. The police had arrived to redirect traffic on the block. Avery couldn’t believe that a private home video of a married couple having sex was causing such a sensation.
“Is this a slow news day or what?” He nodded at the front windows. “It’s like the Miracle of Fatima just happened out there.”
Steve Bensinger chuckled. The public relations guru sat with them at their breakfast table. He had a tan complexion and a moussed mop of brown hair. “You’re right, Avery,” he said, sipping his coffee. “It’s a slow news day. But your increasing star power is more of a factor. Plus you and Joanne are very high profile in print and on TV with those gun-control endorsements.”
