Jackpot! (34 page)

Chapter 41

I told the cab driver the address, and then I looked at Courtney and said, “I’m taking you to meet my mother.”

“Why?”

“Because if you meet her, I think you might understand things a little bit better.”

Courtney didn’t respond, and neither of us said a word for the entire cab ride except at one point, she asked, “How’s Danny?”

Secretly, I was elated when I heard the question because even though her sadness and anger clearly showed she still cared about my brother, her asking about him confirmed it.

“Other than you two being apart, he’s pretty good.”

The cab pulled up to Frankie’s building. When I went to pay the driver, my hand was shaking. Bringing this woman to meet Ma was just as scary if not scarier than it would be to bring Drew to meet her. Plus, I had no idea how Danny would feel if he knew I was doing this.

We walked up the stairs and then I knocked on the door. I’d called Ma on my way to Courtney’s store and told her I might be bringing someone over, and that it wasn’t Drew.

When Frankie opened the door, the first thing I noticed was how much better she looked. She was starting to look like herself again, recovering nicely from the surgery. Of course, chemotherapy was in her near future and she would be losing her hair and probably losing weight, and I certainly wasn’t looking forward to that. However, if poison was going to get her back to normal, it was well worth seeing her look and feel bad for a few months.

“Hi Ma,” I said, hugging her. I stepped back and said, “This is Courtney. Courtney, this is our mother, Frankie Jacobson.”

“Hello there,” Ma exclaimed with a wide grin, “What a nice surprise.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Jacobson,” said Courtney in a very businesslike tone. She extended a handshake. Ma shook it and then gave me a look, like she thought that was weird. It was hard not to giggle.

“Come in, please…” Frankie said, leading us into the living room.

“Hi, Jamie!” said Rose, with her usual enthusiasm.

I loved this woman. She was always happy. Just the kind of roommate my mother needed right now. “Hi, Rose!” I said.

“Sit down,” Frankie said, “Would anyone like something to drink?”

“I just made lemonade,” offered Rose.

“No, thank you,” replied Courtney, “I can’t stay long.”

Ma looked really uncomfortable. Rose seemed like she had no clue what to say at this moment. We were all just sitting there, the tension in the room almost unbearable.

“So, Courtney, I brought you here because I want you to know the whole story about my mother. She has breast cancer. That’s why she was so desperate for us to have children.”

“Not that it makes what I did okay,” added Ma, “But I think fear makes people act a little crazy. At least that’s what happened to me.”

“My mother really is a good person. She’s very selfless, and she’s a great mother.” I looked at Ma.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” she said.

“It’s true, Ma.”

“I’m really sorry you have cancer, Mrs. Jacobson,” said Courtney.

“Please, call me Frankie.”

Courtney stood up, walked over to Ma and sat down next to her on the couch. “Frankie, I really mean it. You seem like a good person and I’m sorry I judged you without knowing all the facts.” She looked at me. “And I appreciate what you’re trying to do. But it doesn’t make a difference for Danny and me.”

“Why not?” I urged, “Danny loves you. I’ve honestly never seen my brother like this.”

Courtney’s eyes filled with tears and she stood up. “Frankie, I truly hope you get better soon. I think I should go.”

“Before you leave,” Ma said, sounding loud and confident, “I’d like to tell you about the favor Danny asked of me. Is that alright?”

“Okay,” replied Courtney.

“My son called me and asked if I was willing to donate a large amount of money to the Endometriosis Association of America.”

When I saw Courtney’s reaction, I felt the first glimpse of hope for Danny.

“Really?” she asked.

Ma nodded her head and smiled, and then Courtney pretty much just lost it. She broke down again and began to sob.

“It’s okay,” said Ma, gently taking Courtney’s hand, “Really, I’m happy to do it, but I just want you to know what a good person Danny is.”

Courtney looked up at her and nodded, tears streaming down her face. “I know he is.”

The two women hugged and it was the best feeling in the world. I looked at Rose and she winked at me.

“You seem like a wonderful girl,” Ma said to her, “I hope I get the chance to get to know you better.”

“I hope so, too,” said Courtney, “Just give me a little time. Let me get used to everything.”

“I understand,” said Frankie.

We all headed for the door, and just before leaving Courtney turned to me. “Are you going to stay?”

I nodded.

“Thank you for bringing me here.”

“Sure,” I smiled.

Courtney dug through her purse, pulled out a business card and gave it to my mother. “Please call me if you need anything. I mean it.”

Ma looked at the card. “Bernstein is your last name? Are you Jewish?!” she asked.

Courtney and I both burst out laughing.

“Are you sure you won’t stay for dinner?” Rose asked, “I’m making chicken parmesan.”

“Thanks Rose. Another time?”

“Any time!” Ma practically shouted.

“Thanks,” she smiled. When she opened the door to go, her smile turned to shock. Standing there with his fist in a knocking position was my brother. He had the same look of surprise on his face.

“Hi,” they both said at the same time.

“What are you doing here?” he asked her. “What is she doing here?” he then asked the other three of us.

“I brought her here,” I said, afraid to make eye contact with my brother.

“I was just leaving,” said Courtney, “Walk me out?”

“Okay, sure.”

“Good-bye, everyone,” she said with a smile. She looked at Ma one last time and said, “Be well.”

Ma blew her a kiss, and the second the door closed she said, “I love her!”

“Me, too,” I said.

The three of us sat and waited for Danny to come back up. A few minutes later, he walked through the door, looking both sad and happy at the same time.

“So, what happened?” asked Ma.

Danny sat down. “She thanked me for the flowers.”

“That’s good,” I said, trying to sound enthusiastic.

“And she was really happy that I asked Ma to make a donation.”

“Good!” said Ma, “Anything else?”

Now he seemed sad. “She said she wants to be friends.”

“Well, that’s a start,” said Rose.

“I can’t be friends with her. I love her too much.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” said Ma.

“Give her a little time, Danny,” I said, “I can tell she really loves you.”

“How?”

“She cried.”

“Right,” Rose added, “She cried.”

“She cried hard,” I said.

“When?”

“When Ma told her about the donation.”

Danny looked at me. “Thanks for trying, Jamie. I really appreciate what you did.”

“You’re not mad?”

“No,” he said with a big grin, “You’re a really good sister.”

I smiled at him.

“I don’t understand,” said Ma, “Courtney’s not a Jewish name.”

It was nice to see Danny laugh.

Chapter 42

I went back to Ma’s place the next night, only this time, as promised I brought Drew. To say I was nervous to introduce him to Ma, the woman who’d hated every guy I’d ever brought home (except for Max) was putting it mildly.

Rose answered the door. As always, she was a delight, so socially talented, making Drew feel comfortable right away. Frankie was another story. She made her grand entrance by walking out of her bedroom singing Frank Sinatra’s
I’ve Got You Under My Skin
, which made me pretty much want to crawl into a hole and die. Drew, however, seemed to think it was funny. Either that, or he was trying to suck up to his new girlfriend’s mother.

“Ma, why are you singing?”

“I’m happy,” she gushed, “happy that my daughter’s in love.”

“Ma, this is Drew, Drew, this is my mother.”

Ma extended her hand, “Frankie.”

“Nice to meet you, Frankie,” Drew said with a big grin.

As embarrassing as Ma’s behavior was, she was also being uncharacteristically nice and non-judgmental to Drew, so unlike her typical attitude that if a guy wasn’t Jewish, he would never get her stamp of approval.

Ma seemed genuinely interested in getting to know Drew. However, she wasn’t asking him a million questions about what he wanted to do in the future, or how many kids he wanted, or what kind of house he eventually pictured himself owning. She seemed more interested in just talking to him for the purpose of learning more about the guy her daughter was crazy about.

At dinner, Drew held up his glass of wine and asked if he could make a toast. “To you, Frankie, to your health and well being. And also, to your contract!”

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Because I guarantee that if there was no contract, I wouldn’t be sitting here with you at your mother’s dining room table having dinner.”

“I’m sorry about that,” said Frankie, “I realize now how wrong it was.”

“Maybe, but a really good thing came from it. Your bribe forced Jamie into giving me a chance. I feel grateful for that.”

“Well, I feel grateful that you have forgiven both me and my daughter.”

The meal couldn’t have been going more smoothly. There was only one moment I lost my appetite and became nauseous. It was when Ma asked Drew, “Where do your parents live?”

“My dad and his wife live in Arizona. My mother passed away when I was really young.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Frankie said happily. The enthusiasm in her response made me realize she felt death was better than divorce.

“How long has your dad been remarried?” she asked.

“Three years. He met Monica through me, actually.” This was the moment I thought my spaghetti and meatballs might come back up.

“How nice,” Frankie responded, “Did you set them up?”

“Does anyone want some more wine?” I asked.

“You could say that,” Drew answered Ma with a chuckle. Then he gave me a wink.

The night went extremely well, better than I could ever have expected, far surpassing all the nightmare meetings I’d had with Frankie and various boyfriends. I wasn’t sure exactly what made the difference, but I felt it was probably a combination of things. Drew, first of all, was so likeable that I couldn’t imagine anyone not taking to him. And me, I was different now. I was softer and more at ease. But even more so, I knew my mother could feel how much I loved Drew, and any mother would feel good about that, right?

The biggest reason the night went smoothly, though, was because Frankie had changed, I think. Instead of focusing on the fact that I was with a non-Jewish cameraman who on paper wasn’t a good match for me, she seemed to put stock in the fact that the two people sitting at her dining room table seemed truly in love. Everything seemed so natural, the way it was supposed to be.

The next few weeks were crazy. I would go to work in the mornings and spend my afternoons taking Ma to her doctor appointments and/or to her chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and then running errands for her.

I also spent every free minute I had sending out my recently finished new movie script,
Jackpot!,
to producers and agents. I knew I’d get several rejections, but I also knew I only needed one person to believe in the concept of it, and with how funny and sweet it turned out, I was sure it wouldn’t take long. But even if it did, that was okay. I’d keep trying. Because I had all the time in the world. I had a great life. A good job, an amazing boyfriend, a dear, sweet, brother, and a mother who was on her way to getting healthy. I had it all, and anything I obtained professionally would just be gravy on my full and happy plate.