Five for Forever (34 page)

“How did you get here then?” Agnes asked. The concept of no car was unknown to an LA family.

“I hitchhiked.”

“That’s courageous of you in LA.

“No, from Las Vegas. Apparently I made the day for a trucker who liked my early movies, and I had to take a selfie with a single mother who had taken her kids to the doctors. It got me here.”

Britta smiled. “That will hit the social networks immediately. I see the Twitter news in front of me.”

Josh gave her a smile. “Can I speak to your father alone for a minute?”

“Sure, let’s go outside,” Rick led Josh onto the back terrace, and they sat down.

Josh looked around the small garden, at the small pool. The barbecue grill was already positioned and decorations were fixed between the two trees. “So this is suburbia?”

“This is it. Everything as promised, just not as big,” Rick agreed. “You feel better now?”

Josh had a glassy shine over his eyes, his nose was red, and he was sickly pale. A long shot from his movie-star self. “Not much. But at least I stopped after the night at the yard. And I did not kill myself. My agent . . . well, my former agent has agreed to pay for my rehab, and I am leaving today. Who would have thought that this bean-counting bastard had such a big heart? Just wanted to tell you in person that you were there for me at a critical time. And I thank you for that.”

“Don’t mention it. Honestly, I was more afraid that you would start a fire and torch the boatyard.”

“Yeah, I might have done that after a while.” Josh smiled a little. “I also wanted to tell you that I won’t be coming back. The rehab clinic is in Oregon, somewhere in the woods. After that I’ll go anywhere but here again. Maybe get settled near a lake, become a sailing instructor. Give acting lessons. Who knows? Maybe I will become a teacher.”

“Like Vickie,” Rick smiled.

“Maybe I will become a teacher on Nantucket,” Josh said. “What about you guys?”

“We wound down the business and are looking for the next chapter. Hal will take some time off to find himself. I am evaluating some offers. Today’s the last official day for our company, hence the decoration for the lay-to-rest party.”

“Will you stick with shipbuilding?”

“Maybe. Maybe something different. Lot of things are made of wood. Our shipyard slacker founded a furniture start-up and is looking for a designer. Shipbuilding work is out on the East Coast. Maybe they need someone of my profile. Speaking of . . .”

“Yes, the
Vera
,” Josh said.

“It will be auctioned off in January. Pure material value will be close to a hundred thousand dollars. Styler, our furniture start-up guy, intends to buy it for a first batch of authentic materials. This will be the end of that dream, too.”

“Don’t worry.” Josh patted Rick on the back. “This boat is part of John and Vera’s story—waiting for something to happen, waiting, not knowing what exactly but surely for things to be different.”

“Yeah, well put,” Rick admitted.

“The
Vera
was built and named after a broken heart, a desire unfulfilled, a love unfinished. Let’s leave it unfinished. Maybe its wood will end up in a happy household as a desk or a shelf. That is someone else’s story, not for us to write.”

Rick started to say something, but Josh interrupted him, “I know what you’re thinking: such a great boat, innovative lines, a classic, one of a kind.” Rick nodded. “Rick-baby, look at your life! How important is all of this, really? You walk on this earth for only a few years, most things only happen once to you, and then they are over. Forget this boat, concentrate on your life, the next step, enjoy what you have with your great kids, cherish your friendship with Hal. And your love of boats. Forget the
Vera
. It’s just wood, a broken-hearted man’s work.”

Rick nodded again, staring into the house where Britta and Dana were playing cards. Josh was right. They were what mattered.

Josh looked at Rick. “Before I leave, there is one more thing. Louise.”

“What about her?”

“Go and forgive her.”

“Will not happen. That one is behind me.” Rick shook his head. “It is terrible that she needs to go through this sickness, but she really, really broke my heart. I am not sure that I want to risk that from happening again.”

Josh held up his hands. “Listen, if there is one thing that I found during my ups and downs over the last twenty years is that there are no absolutes. The only reason why I dug out of my holes was because there were people who forgave me all the shit I had put them through during my bad spells. My former wives, my kids, a few friends, and very few business partners. And this is my parting advice for you, Rick Flint. Forgive Louise. Forgive her unconditionally.”

“Louise and I are light-years apart.”

“Love or no love, I can’t look into your hearts. I have no clue whether Louise still feels for you or whether you still feel for her. And I am too self-absorbed and messed up to really care. But don’t have this absolute irrevocable ‘no’ in front of you. Look into your heart and forgive her. And take your relationship from there.”

Rick shook his head.

Josh stood up. “Advice is all I can give. Rick Flint, have a good rest of your life. Give my regards to your kids; they will go places.” He walked toward the garden gate.

“Where are you going? Can I take you somewhere?” Rick asked.

“Don’t worry about me. I got here, and I’ll get away from here.” Josh gave a short wave and vanished around the house.

Agnes came out and looked around “Did Josh already leave? He’s not staying for the party?”

“Yeah, he rode off into the sunset.” Rick looked into the sky, looking for help from Bella, who was looking down at them. “He strongly suggested that I make up with Louise. To forgive her. And maybe give her a second chance.”

“That is not the worst advice, Dad.”

“Now don’t you start, too!”

“Honey, Louise is a very special person. She is not the girl next door you simply fall in and out of love with. All the time with her, I felt so excited that this extraordinary woman had fallen in love with me. And at the same time I always felt so scared, like never before in my life. She was larger than life. Our relationship was larger than life. And getting your heart broken by her like that, showed me how vulnerable I was towards our relationship.”

“And don’t you think you should put this behind you? She has a terrible disease that might kill her. Then she will be gone, and you will never know whether there would have been a second chance in the stars for you guys,” Agnes argued.

“But if I invested in us again, and this time she would leave me for good? I fear, a second time would simply kill me, too,” Rick shook his head. “Please respect that I would like to keep my distance. It worked so far. Not perfectly so, but it worked.”

“Just saying, Dad. Your kids have a different opinion on this topic than you—accept it,” Agnes said, looking him straight in the eye. Both knew that they were also talking about her military career choice.

My God, she really is fully grown up now. One thing is sure: my part of her upbringing is over, Rick thought and felt again this sweep of loneliness racing through his stomach, crashing like a wave over his insides. How will I survive Dana leaving in fifteen years?

The first idea of “the harebrained scheme,” as Britta had initially christened it—Charles had clarified that hares were actually quite intelligent, but admittedly not in the range of complex scheming—had come on New Year’s Eve. Agnes took care of the Flint kids while their father left with Hal and the other shipyard guys around eight to continue the good-bye party at the Whale’s Tail.

The gang had congregated in Dana’s room, where she was getting ready for bed.

“Can I be up for new year?” Dana asked while she put on her pink Barbie PJs.

“If you want to,” Agnes replied and helped Dana’s arms find their way. “But I think the sand in your eyes won’t let it happen.”

Dana blinked several times, rubbed her eyes, and yawned. “Stupid sand.” The powers of suggestion.

“Charles made his first New Year’s midnight when he was seven, so you still have some years to go,” Britta forecasted.

“Louise will have a party?” Dana asked out of the blue. She was aware that her best grown-up friend was very sick and far away—a good party might be a good activity to cheer her up. Their attempts to contact Louise over the last days had led to nowhere. Her cell phone went directly to voice mail, and Izzy’s agency had only taken messages, without any other return call.

Britta gave Google a spin but received no indication of what Louise was up to. Izzy had been spotted at a big extravaganza in Beverly Hills. Josh had officially checked into the Oregon clinic. But no word about Louise.

“We should visit her,” Dana determined and looked sullen.

“She’s in a hospital in Baltimore. That’s almost three thousand miles away.”

“Aga can drive,” Dana pointed out. She was very proud of her sister being able to drive her around.

“Dad would kill me if we took the car for a cross-country spin through deserts, mountains, Midwest plains, red-neck territory, and truck stops,” Agnes said.

“We could fly.” Dana didn’t give up.

“We do not need a grown-up to fly, yes. But we need someone to accompany us to the gate. And pick us up at our destination,” Charles explained.

“So that is a no-go, too,” Britta said.

“We can fake it,” Charles said, matter of fact.

“Mr. Know-It-All!” Britta groaned.

But Charles raised an eyebrow at her, a skill none of his siblings had mastered. “Agnes could take Mom’s driving license, gel back her hair, and put on her glasses. And then we are the
three
Flint kids traveling with their mom. If you can’t make it, fake it.”

“I like fake,” Dana stated.

Britta and Agnes stared at Charles for the scale and audacity of his plan

“This is getting out of hand,” Agnes held her hands over her eyes.

“This is a harebrained scheme,” Britta said.

“You want to visit Louise; I showed you a way to do it. The rest is up to you.” Charles shrugged.

“Worst part: it could work,” Agnes admitted. She looked at her little brother. “You are aware that your superbrain produced the first really forbidden idea ever.”

“We won’t count all those times I hacked the Oxnard PD’s computer to erase Agnes’s speeding tickets,” Charles said, rubbing the bridge of his nose, pushing up his glasses. He saw Agnes’s and Britta’s slack jaws and quickly added: “Just kidding! You girls are so easily played, it’s not even fun anymore.”

“Dr. Evil reincarnated,” Agnes said.

“With Dana as Mini-Me.” Britta giggled.

“There is a critical hole in the plan: we need money for the plane tickets,” Agnes pointed out.

Dana had fallen asleep during the hard planning, and the rest of the gang relocated to Agnes’s room. Britta searched online for four round-trip tickets to Baltimore for one of the next days and came out at $1,200.

Charles waved it off. “I’ll sponsor it from my science fair competition win; that’s a thousand right there.”

Britta lifted her hand. “I’ll sponsor the rest with my babysitter job leftovers.”

The three Flint kids looked at one another, a silent pact forming at that very moment, no formal decision made, only the realization that something exciting, forbidden, and potentially dangerous was going to take place. They all felt the weight of the plan, to see their friend Louise against the wishes of their father. Loyalty lay with their father, but in this particular case his view was clouded. Very clouded.

Madge Hardy enjoyed the spotlight and gave out autographs ceaselessly and took selfies at Johns Hopkins with the people on the evening shift, one or two paparazzi breaking the protocol, storming the ER landing bay, shooting their cameras. A nurse brought Madge and her entourage to the wing where Louise had her room. The security guard held back Madge’s bodyguard, hangers-on, and personal assistants and waved her through.

The nurse knocked and announced Madge. Louise sat in a comfortable chair in lime-green yoga pants and a warm black cashmere pullover. Outside was the white sprinkled hospital campus, life happening.

“Don’t get up, Louise,” Madge said.

“I am neither dead nor an invalid, Madge, just tired and a bit dizzy.” Her daily dosage roller-coaster effect was in the process of ebbing, and she felt hunger coming on. The drug had developed an additional side effect; her head was buzzing and she had trouble standing straight because the world was spinning around her. If the effects went towards worse, Dr. Singh would interrupt the trial medication.

“The cancer?”

“No, the new experimental drug they’re trying on me. I puke and shit and feel dizzy most of the day. After a few hours, it is fine again.

Madge made a face. “Sounds like a typical LA party night to me. Is it working?”

“Too early to tell, my teenage doctor says.”

“Teen doctor? Is he hot?”

“If you are into twenty-year-old brainy Indians, yes. But he is promised to someone his mom found for him.”

“I was amazed when Izzy called and asked me to see you,” Madge said. “And he wouldn’t say why. But of course I was curious.”

Louise looked at Madge. Was that me, seven or eight years ago? This drive and determination? This careless poise that came with success and money? That idea the world belonged to you? Even the parts that you didn’t own yet?

“Earth to Louise?” Madge asked. She saw her biggest competitor as a sickly woman, deep in thoughts. It had taken Louise a lot of guts to ask her to come here and present herself in this painful and humiliating situation.

“No, you reminded me . . .” Louise didn’t complete her sentence. She realized that in reversed roles, ten years ago, she wouldn’t have understood. So Louise moved to the topic at hand. “Thanks for coming by.”

“On my way back from a New Year party in Paris. New York tomorrow, so Baltimore had been almost on the way,” Madge said.

“Are you still in that ugly remake of
Gone with the Wind
?”

Madge shrugged. “Studio is still scraping together the two hundred million. The Chinese investors make it a bit cumbersome. So it drags along without a green light. Last I heard they wanted to cast Xi-Ho Lun as Mamie to give the movie a better Asian profile.”