Payback (32 page)

“Ah, I love Jason. He’s such a sweetheart,” she teased.

“Jason can’t wait to meet Jack.”

“Jack will love him.”

“Yeah, who wouldn’t?  Jason is a great guy.”

Marie nodded. They talked about the ranch
, and then when they were done, Marie checked on Jack and found him still fast asleep.  When she got back to the kitchen, Caden was already doing the dishes.

“Hey,” she winked, “I thought washing was my job and drying was yours?”

“That was a long time ago.”

They quietly finished the dishes
, and then Caden turned to Marie. There was a look exchanged between them, one of both deep enjoyment and deep longing.  

“Caden, I’d like to take Jack and go home now.”

He nodded. “I thought so. I’ll arrange for you to take the helicopter back and then a car back to your house.”

Jeremiah walked in to the kitchen. “Have you two been banished?”

“I was a bad girl,” Marie admitted.

“So I heard. I also heard that you sold your book.”

Caden’s head swiveled on his neck, “You what?”

Jeremiah chuckled.  “Didn’t you hear?  Marie convinced a publisher in New York to buy the manuscript. They’re shopping the movie rights as we speak.”

Caden’s brow knitted. “Is that true, Marie?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t say anything all day?”

“I didn’t think it mattered to you
, not after you pulled your offer.”

Looking overly concerned, he turned to Jeremiah. “You should have said something.”

Jeremiah and Marie exchanged looks of bafflement.

“Why?”

“Just because you should have.”

Jeremiah, unfazed by Caden’s lunacy, laughed.  “Okay…whatever you say, Caden. Maybe you can fill me in on my friendship duties later.”

“Caden, could you make those arrangements for Jack and me?”

“Yes, of course.” Caden left the kitchen to go call the helicopter pilot.

Marie turned to Jeremiah. “Do you know what that was about?”

“Frankly, I’m totally baffled. You know, when it comes to you, that man is a conundrum.  One minute he wants you to be the center of his world, the next he wants to distance himself from you as far as he can. And now, with Jack, you two don’t have the option of just moving on and pretending the other doesn’t exist. Marie, you’re going to have to cut bait because he can’t
, and it’s affecting his relationship with Brooke. He has a chance with her, but not unless you do something that lets him know you’re going to move on without him.”

“Don’t you think moving on with my novel without him is just that? I mean, the novel was written with him as Daniel, the lead, and yet I’m shopping it in Hollywood without him. Th
at should scream, ‘moving on’!”

Jeremiah paused and thought for a minute, his gray eyes focused on nothing in particular. He finally nodded and agreed, “You’re right. That’s probably why he’s acting so strangely.  He never thought you’d actually make the movie without him as Daniel.”

“I would love to see him happy—I’d love to see us both happy.”

With Brooke at his side, Caden walked Marie and Jack out to the Jeep that was to take them out to the helicopter approximately a half mile away on Caden’s helicopter pad. He kissed Jack on the cheek and then stepped cautiously back next to Brooke, slipping his arm around her shoulder in a show of solidarity.

“Safe trip home,” he said.

“When are you going to want to see Jack?” Marie asked, more for herself than for her son.

He shook his head. “I’m not sure. “

At the end of January, Marie quit her job in Bakersfield and rented an apartment near Santa Monica to be closer to the action as her publisher negotiated the screenplay rights to her novel which was scheduled to debut on Valentine’s Day.  Marie was scheduled to do the circuit of the talk and early morning news shows, many which filmed in Los Angeles. 

The apartment wasn’t spectacular.  It had a large bedroom, big enough for a double bed and Jack’s crib.  The room had a large window with boring beige curtains and vanilla walls. The rug was a short, tan yarn, with a few stains that had been cleaned but not completely obliterated.

The bathroom was small
, with a sink, toilet and bathtub/shower enclosure that had a few scratches in the fiberglass bottom.  The bathroom hadn’t been updated for years, but it was reasonably clean and in working order.  The kitchen, dining area, and living room were all small but adequate for her immediate needs. She set up her computer in the dining area and put up a small playpen in the living room where she could put Jack when he was napping. 

It took three days of interviews, but she finally found a sitter with references that she liked. Nancy Barrett was in her mid-twenties
, going to school two nights a week and on Saturdays.  She was available to babysit the remainder of the time, as long as she could do homework when Jack was sleeping.  Marie had no problem with that, and she liked Nancy’s sweet disposition.  Still, because of all the horror stories, Marie set up a camera in a bookshelf and filmed three minutes out of every hour when Marie was away.  Relief flooded her each time she reviewed the digital images and saw that Nancy was just as sweet alone with Jack as she was in person.

The book,
Bites of the Apple
, hit the bookstores, and within two weeks Marie had given over twenty radio, print, and television interviews. Most of the interviews always started with the fact that she had been Caden Kelly’s lover and that he disappeared from Hollywood when they broke up. The interviewers always asked, some in a roundabout manner, others quite bluntly, whether Daniel was, in fact, Caden.

She always gave the same answer, “There are elements of Caden’s personality and life in Daniel, but the character is fictional; Caden isn’t fictional.  Caden is a very happy man
, living the life he wants with a woman he loves.  Daniel, as you know, is a tortured soul who only finds happiness when he finally lets go of his past, including the woman he loves.”

“So this isn’t based on your relationship with Caden? It sure sounds like it.  Daniel runs off to Colorado after his breakup with Alexis and buys a ranch.  Sounds a lot like Caden Kelly running off to Montana.”

“I’ll admit that our breakup gave me some ideas, but the story is fictional. Like I said, Caden left to be a rancher because he’d been raised on ranches and loved the life. He didn’t really leave because of our breakup,” she lied.

This always seemed to appease the interviewer. Luckily, very few people knew that Caden had fathered Marie’s child.  When asked about her baby, Marie would light up, say just enough to let the world know she was an adoring mother
, and then shut up.  On occasion, a courageous interviewer would ask about the father, but Marie would simply state that although they were no longer a couple, the father was very involved. Only one person, a radio host in Los Angeles, asked if the father was Caden. Marie laughed hard and long before saying, “You think I would have spent the last eighteen months living in Bakersfield if Caden was the father?” More laughter. The interviewer laughed with her and went on to another question.

Over the next few months
, Marie was back on top of the best seller’s list, and now her Hollywood agent was in talks with several companies for the film rights.  The bidding was down to two studios, one which was willing to give Marie a larger percentage of the gross if she would give up more creative control and agree to allow their favorite screenwriter to collaborate with her.  Unfortunately, the studio willing to give her almost all creative control was also unwilling to give her a percentage of the gross. They would only be willing to give her a generous percentage of the net profit.  Unfortunately, Hollywood was well known for playing around with the numbers so that there was no profit, or very little, to go around to the people waiting for their payday.

Marie looked out the window of the conference room where her lawyers had their offices.  It was mid-November and some of the
leaves were turning brown and even more were on the ground.  Although she could afford to move, Marie was still in the one-bedroom apartment. The problem was that she didn’t have time to move.  Her house in Bakersfield had sold, and most of her furniture was now in storage.  Luckily, Nancy agreed to go to the Bakersfield house and pack up Jack’s toys and clothes.  On one of her free days, Marie went to the Bakersfield house and packed some of her own belongings before having the movers send the rest to storage.

Jack was now a
year-old and had been walking since he was ten months.  Caden had convinced Marie that Jack was old enough to spend more time with Caden and Brooke in Topanga Canyon but still hadn’t received the okay to take him home to Montana. Brooke preferred Topanga Canyon over Montana because of its access to her favorite amenities, such as Prada, Gucci, and Armani. She often made excuses not to join Caden in Montana.  As much as he enjoyed Brooke’s company, Caden had to admit that he enjoyed his time in Montana with just the boys, so he rarely tried to dissuade her.  Commuting back and forth on a bimonthly basis to Montana was getting old. Caden desperately wanted to go home to Montana for good, but knew that it would mean seeing less of Jack, and he wasn’t sure that he could stomach that.

Being a father had meant more to him than he ever thought it would.  The days he had Jack seemed to go by too fast.  On the mornings when he had Jack, he would saddle up and spend an hour holding Jack as they rode around the ranch. At first Jack cried for his mother, but after several days on the horse
, Jack would waddle into the bedroom to wake his father, pointing outside and saying something that Caden now interpreted as a desire to ride the horse.  Caden would slip out of bed, put on his jeans and then, grabbing Jack under one arm and his T-shirt and socks under the other, leave Brooke to get some more sleep. After a quick bowl of cereal, the guys would then put on their cowboy boots and take off for the stables where Caden would corral Jack in the small office while he saddled a horse.

It was one of his greatest pleasures
, holding his son in his arms as they slowly traveled down to the beach where they would gallop, Jack giggling and laughing as they did.  After a few runs, they’d go back to the stables, and Jack would listen as his father gave a running detail of how to put a horse away after a run. Throwing Jack a wink, Caden would describe how to loosen the cinch before unbridling the horse. Then Caden showed Jack how he removed the pads for cleaning before wetting down the saddle marks with a sponge and brushing the horse’s hair flat.

“And now we’ll check the hooves. See
, Jack, no rocks. We’re cool.  I’m going to put him in the stall, and then we go back for our shower.”

J
ack liked his showers with his dad, although Brooke usually ended up complaining about the squealing coming from the bathroom.

“Can you two keep it down?  I’m still trying to sleep in here.”

Yelling back, Caden would try to appease her, “You’ve already had enough beauty sleep; you’re the most beautiful woman in town!”

“Flattery will get you everything,” she giggled.

Caden had noticed that Brooke had cooled a little to motherhood, but she had her moments when she truly delighted in having Jack around.  She could be a very good mother, giving Jack lots of attention and spending a lot of time playing with him, but on occasion he could sense a jealousy, a desire to have Caden to herself. At times he wasn’t sure if she really wanted to be a stepmother.

Nonetheless, he desperately wanted to be a father and not a part
-time one.  Unfortunately, Marie had proven to be an excellent mother, and there was no way he could argue that he should have full custody over her. So he would have to live with the way things were—every other weekend with his son. But he had a plan.  A plan that he was sure would work, but which he knew would strain his relationship with Brooke. But—she’d live.

Chapter 1
4

He Did What?

I was sitting in the conference room with my literary agent to my left and lawyer to my right.  Jesse Molinari, my publisher, and his assistants, three of them, sat across from us. The lawyers’ offices were on Wilshire Boulevard
, with a nice view of the La Brea Tar Pits.  The room was overwhelmingly large with a burl conference table that advertised, “We’re the best damn lawyers in town.”  As I admired the table, I kept thinking that my $500 an hour for a lowly associate was paying for that damn table.

We had met with the two studios, but just as we were wrapping up our discussions, my lawyer received a call and was informed that both offers had been pulled. My stomach knotted
, and I know I must have turned uncommonly pale.

“Marie, Marie! I don’t know what happened, but we’re going to find out,” my agent, Michelle Lockhart
, assured me.

I was stunned. We’d been working on this for five months.  I didn’t understand what was going on and why the deals had disappeared. The conference room phone rang
, and the young associate lawyer, Nicholas York, picked up the phone, listened, and then said a few words before hanging up. He looked up and noticed that we were all staring at him.

“Apparently, we have someone who wants to speak to us.  They’re on their way up.”

“Who?” I asked.

Nick shrugged. “I don’t know. I was just told that we should wait in the conference room.”

The door opened and in strolled six men in expensive suits with expensive leather briefcases.  They parted at the door and in walked Caden, taller than the others, slim, dressed in a beautiful, deep navy blue pinstripe suit that draped perfectly over his perfect form. His black hair was cut short with a side part. He looked as if he was the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

His minions took seats and began to open their
briefcases. Caden walked over to me, put a hand on my shoulder, and leaned down to kiss my cheek.  “How’s Jack?”

I was so flustered I didn’t realize what he was asking at first.

Calmly and slowly he asked me, “How’s Jack?”

“Oh, oh.  He’s fine, just said a new word—‘poop
.’”

Caden laughed with delight.  “That’s great!” He patted my shoulder again and then walked over to the windows to look out at the Tar Pits.

He looked so sophisticated, so handsome, and so serious. The men with briefcases handed out documents, stacks of them.

“What’s this?” I asked Caden.

“My offer to buy the film rights to your novel.”

“Your offer? But I already have offers.”

“Had. And there will be no other offers from any other studio or producer.”

“But it’s a bestseller! Why wouldn’t a studio want it?”

“Because I just purchased Parker Publishing Company and, as you know, that gives me certain rights regarding the sale of the film rights.

My mouth dropped. “You would do that to me? Why?”

“Because we both know that this novel is about me.”

“It’s about a man similar—”

“
Damn it, Marie! Don’t lie!”

His flash of temper silenced me and caused my cheeks to flush with embarrassment. Taking a deep breath, I clenched my teeth and hissed, “So, you want to stop the movie from being made?” It made sense; he wouldn’t want the publicity of the movie to ruin his quiet life in Montana.

He studied me and must have seen the anger and fear in my face. Caden gave me a comforting smile. “I’m not going to stop the movie from being made, but I’m taking some of the control.”

I leaned back in the padded leather chair and felt it tilt back away from him.  He whipped my chair around to face him, pushing on the arms to upright it.
Crouching down to look me in the eyes, he said, “I’m not going to do anything to hurt you or Jack.”

“Who’s Jack?” I heard one of the lawyers ask.

“Their son,” someone answered.

“
Their son?”
the lawyer responded with amazement. “They have
a child
together?”

Caden, who had been staring deep into my eyes
, looked up and across the table at the attorney, annoyed at the tone of disbelief in the lawyer’s voice. “Ms. Morrigan and I have a beautiful little boy that we both love very much.” He turned back to me.  “And that’s why I am going to play Daniel for scale. I’ll take twenty-five percent of the profit in perpetuity. You’ll receive five percent of the profit and three hundred thousand dollars to write the screenplay.  In addition, we’ll film the movie at my ranch in Montana. I’ve already met with the film board and governor. They’re ready to give us a huge tax break and bend a few rules to allow me to set up a series of trailers on the ranch and build a set with permits that they will have waiting for us when we’re ready.  You and Jack will live with Jason in the house I built last year.  I’ll live in the old house with Brooke and the director.  The crew and the rest of the cast can either commute to the ranch each day or stay in the trailers that we’re going to set up.  I have the horses, the cattle, the mountains, the property, the stables, everything that’s in the book.  We’ll save millions of dollars by using the ranch.  So, shall we let these guys work out the details and you and I go have lunch?”

I blinked several times and then nodded, taking his arm and leaving the room
, which had exploded into a cacophony of male voices as we left. In the elevator, we waited for the doors to close and then bent over with laughter.

“Who the hell was the guy who didn’t know about Jack?”

I shrugged.  “Just one of the associates.  Did you mean everything in there?  About the movie?”

“Every word.”

“You just want to keep an eye on me and Jack.”

“Of course I do.  It will give us a chance to both be with Jack for a few months. I’d like him to live on the ranch for a few months, get used to it.  One day he’ll own the ranch. I just want as much time with him in Montana as I can get.”

“He’s not even two yet! He won’t remember it.”

“He may not remember events, but he’ll have impressions.  He already knows that he likes to ride horses.”

“He does?”

“We
ride whenever he comes to the canyon.  In the morning, he comes into my bedroom and pulls on my hair until I wake up, and then we sneak out together and go for a ride.  I hold him in my arms and we go all over the canyon before breakfast.”

I smiled at the thought of the two of them sitting up on a horse traveling down the beach. We stopped and looked at each other.  Jesus, this man could walk into a room, knock my world apart at the seams
, and then have me laughing a few minutes later. I saw the same thoughts in his head, a desire to understand what the attraction was, the pull between us.

“Are you okay with this?” he finally asked
, as we exited the building and turned towards the café on the corner.

“I think you’re a little crazy. You really believe that having both your women in the same place is sane?”

“I know that you’ll behave. You will because of Jack. Now, Brooke will be difficult because she’ll want to stay in Montana to keep an eye on us, and yet she’ll hate being there and not being able to go out with her friends, shop, and party.” He gestured to the empty table by the window in the café, “Is this okay?”

“Yeah.  How long have you been planning this?”

“Since Christmas. I bought the publisher a week after they signed you.”

My jaw dropped. “So you’ve made millions off of me?”

“They didn’t really know what they had. I knew your book would score big. I’m sure they’re kicking themselves.”

“Why didn’t you just buy my book when I was in Montana?”

He smiled and shook his head. “I wasn’t feeling very generous when I found out that you had left me.”

“And I left because you had keys and money waiting for me on the counter.”

He smiled and reached over to brush a strand of hair from my face but said nothing. I shuddered at the touch of his fingers against my cheek. “You’ll enjoy Montana in the spring and summer.”

“So when will
we start shooting?”

“Next spring. We’ll get a few shots for the winter scenes in January
, so I need for you to concentrate putting those on paper first. Okay?”

I nodded and watched as most of the women in the restaurant stared, a few inching to the edge of their booths in the hopes they could snag an autograph or photo with Caden.  Although he seemed oblivious to them, I knew he was not only aware of the staring, but not happy about it.  Nonetheless, as a public figure, his only recourse was to ignore it.

“I’ve already started on the screenplay, and, in fact, I have two-thirds of it done.”

“Email it to me so that I can read it. Any thoughts on leading ladies?”

“I think Brooke would be perfect for Coco, and maybe Cathy Shelton for Myra.”

“I have to agree with you on Brooke. I don’t know if Cathy is available for Myra, but I could see her in the role.”

We agreed, ordered, and ate our lunch while spending most of our time talking about our son. It seemed that Jack was not only my favorite subject, but Caden’s too.  I have to admit that I couldn’t fault Caden as a father.  Whatever free time he had, he spent most of it with his son and had once told me that he had made it very clear to Brooke that Jack came first. I don’t know her response, but I do know I wasn’t aware of her treating Jack badly. She was always kind and pleasant with him, according to both Caden and Nancy, who frequently stayed weekends when Caden needed a nanny while he and Brooke attended events.

By the time we returned to the offices, only three of the lawyers remained. “Where is everyone?”

“We looked their contract over, made a few changes, and wrapped it up. Frankly, we’ve never seen such a generous contract, Marie. We suggest you sign it,” York said.

I turned to Michelle, my frumpy agent, who had just walked back into the room with a candy bar from a vending machine. “Should I sign it?”

“Hell yes! It’s going to make you rich and him—” nodding at Caden, “even richer.”

I looked over at Caden and shrugged. “I guess I should thank you.”

“No, I just felt that keeping the money in the family helps my son.”

Michelle came over and put a hand on my upper arm. “You need to get that screenplay ready.”

“Ah, yes, I meant to ask you over lunch.  Do you want to fly up to Montana to do your writing? You’d have the ranch to yourself most of the time.  I only go up about one week each month although I’ll probably be up more often as we get closer to filming.”

“You know, that would really help. Would I stay at your house? Or Jason’s?”

“It depends. I usually go up by myself, but if Brooke knows you’re up there, I suspect she’ll want to join me.”

“I’ll stay with Jason
, if he doesn’t mind.”

“It’s a huge house.  He has the downstairs bedroom. You and Jack can have all of the upstairs and the office. Jason works out of the office in my house.”

“They’re both your houses, right?”

He chuckled. “Yes, but I’m
so used to calling the big one Jason’s, that I feel like it’s not mine.”

“Just how big is the big house? Yours is over three thousand square feet.”

“It’s over six thousand square feet.”

“
Holy cow! Does it have a theater?” I asked.

“Do you want one?” he asked.

“I know I didn’t use yours very often, but that was because I felt more like a prisoner than a guest.”

Caden winced as he scanned the room, all eyes on him.

“But I think we’d use one now,” I said.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know that the entire basement is an entertainment center geared towards entertaining a little boy. There’s an indoor pool, theater, bar, music room
, and play area with tables, chairs, pool table, kids games, all kinds of things.”

“Then
when do we leave for Montana?”

“I’ll fly you and Jack up whenever you’re ready.”

“You don’t have to go.”

He leaned in and whispered, “It will be Jack’s first trip to the ranch. I’d like to be there.”

I couldn’t help but smile. The Little Prince was going to his kingdom for the first time and the King wanted to show him around. “Okay.  I’ll let you know. I think I can be ready by next week.”

Ten days later
, I pulled into the ranch in Topanga Canyon and found a petulant Brooke standing next to a chipper Caden, who was throwing luggage into a helicopter.  He rushed to the passenger door of the back seat and pulled Jack from the car seat, giving him a little toss in the air. 

“Hey, buddy! You ready to go home?”

“Daddy, go home?” Jack was confused. He thought home was the apartment I had just let go this morning.

“Montana, buddy. We’re going up to the ranch in Montana where there are lots of horses for us to ride!”