Chapter 40: Clare’s New Job

Breakfast among four people who had a deep love and affection for each other transcends even a family breakfast. The feelings and caring we felt for each other were extraordinary. No one said anything special, but the emotions and auras were evident.

My cell phone went off halfway through the meal. Terry Ross, my agent, pleaded with me to get back to Nashville ASAP so he could get me on a couple of syndicated radio broadcasts promoting my albums and the movie. He also had some new songs and more. Busy, busy.

Terry handed the phone to Crystal who told me I was dearly missed by everyone in Nashville, and everyone was over the moon about the new baby.

I passed the phone to Summer, and she and Crystal talked for ten minutes. Summer had a bare breast, and Little Crystal was latched on to one teat happily experimenting with her new food source. I could tell from listening to one side of the conversation that having the baby named after her had deeply touched Crystal to the point of tears. Summer, too, felt very close to Crystal, particularly for her sharing me and for being so open to everything that went on nine months earlier when Crystal had connected with George. I watched Edie blush when Summer told Crystal about the ménage á trois with such joy in her voice.

After we ended the call, Summer said with a chuckle, “I guess you have to go back to being a country music and movie star.”

“Yeah, I guess. I’ll make a couple of calls later to arrange transportation back to Nashville. I’ve been reminded by my agent and keeper that I have many responsibilities there, but don’t worry I will be back in a few weeks. This place feels like home.” Edie stood beside where I sat at that instant, and I pulled her close to me and kissed one of her breasts through the thin material of her t-shirt. She playfully but ineffectively slapped at the top of my head, and that made me continue by latching on to her nipple through the shirt’s material just like Little Crystal was doing with Summer a few feet away.

Edie laughed; “Stop it. You’re embarrassing me.”

I said with a grin, “But I’m nursing.”

Edie leaned down, and French kissed me with lots of tongue. When she pulled away, she said, “We are all going to miss you.”

George chuckled and nodded in agreement.

I watched through the window of the King Air as we raced down the runway at the Greenville Airport. Edie and George leaned against the fence waving wildly as we rushed by the small building that passed as a terminal. I waved, but couldn’t be sure they saw me.

Nadia and Claire picked me up at Nashville Airport general aviation. I got showered with kisses and hugs, as well as congratulations about being a new daddy.

Claire presented me with the most recent newspaper accounts about my new fatherhood, but all in all the press under played the event, sometimes with little more than a single paragraph describing the unusual arrangement with George and Summer. While some could have reported the event as a scandal, none of the media chose to take that slant on the news. Edie had sent in one picture of George, Summer, Little Jim, the baby, and me when we posed in Summer’s hospital room. Her newspaper had shared it with a few others in their syndication. The picture just showed three happy adults with a toddler and a new baby.

Crystal flew into my arms as I came into the house from the garage. I felt appropriately welcomed. Terry, Dan – our publicist, and Ellen appeared from the living room, also with hugs, handshakes, and congratulations.

Nadia produced a masterful dinner for us, and at our insistence joined us at the dinner table. The women questioned me in detail about the delivery, and wanted a second-by-second description of what I saw and heard as the baby came out. They seemed particularly enthralled that I had touched the top of the baby’s head as she crowned, before officially being born.

We all helped Nadia clear the table and process the dishes, mostly into the dishwasher. Leftovers quickly disappeared into the refrigerator.

The seven of us suddenly stood there in a spotless kitchen. I set the stage for the next hour with a simple question, “Where’s the nearest ice cream joint?” The room broke into smiles. We squeezed seven of us into my Prius V, and Crystal directed me over a series of back roads to a small strip mall with a TCBY in it. To the amazement of those inside, two movie stars and their friends trooped in, ordered ice cream, and then sat at the picnic tables outside and enjoyed our desserts.

Crystal showed me a different way back home. At one point in the road, she asked me to slow to a near stop in the darkness. She said, “OK, now put your high beams on ... do you recognize this place?”

“Sure. This is where I met you. This is the place your bus had broken down.”

“And you, my knight in shining armor, on his fancy motorcycle, came along and rescued me – and changed my life forever.”

“Not as much as you changed mine,” I offered. I reached across and affectionately squeezed Crystal’s hand. “I can’t tell you how much you mean to me. There aren’t enough words. I love you so.”

From the back seat and, the very back of the car a synchronized chorus of ‘Ahhhhhhs’ came forth at top volume.

Later, as we stood in the kitchen, Crystal organized the rest of the evening’s activities. “Ice cream makes me really horny. Actually, everything makes me really horny. So, I am feeling that we should have a small orgy – the seven of us. Anyone up for that?”

Six other heads smiled and enthusiastically nodded in unison.

The following Monday, Terry arrived at the recording studio we were working at with a large FedEx box. He opened it and pulled out four copies of the script for the movie Downslope. He passed them out according to the names on some of them to Crystal, Ellen, and me. Crystal and my copy were annotated on the cover: ‘Male Lead – Mellon’ and ‘Female Lead – Lee’.

Terry turned to Claire and spoke as he handed her a copy of the script marked ‘Female Co-Star - Whitman’; “I have a pleasant surprise for you my Love, although you have to decide whether you want to risk the exposure.”

We looked puzzled.

Terry said to Claire, “There’s a part in this movie for you, if you want it. It’s a pretty major role – supporting actress, but not the lead female in the movie. Sony said they’d be interested if you are, but they need to know by tomorrow. I talked you up and showed them some photos of you. I said you had acting experience, but didn’t go into detail. In particular, I didn’t broach with anyone your previous career, but knowing them that wouldn’t make any difference. They’d probably consider it a plus, because if word did get out, it’d be more of a draw to the movie. If you recall, Sasha Grey did some films that weren’t porn after she’d been a star in the adult industry for years – even winning awards, and the studio that used her thinks her ‘name’ propelled those recent movies into big money.”

Claire wrinkled up her nose a little, and I knew this was her signal that she wanted to think about it for a little. She looked at the script in her hands with a puzzled look on her face. “I’m astounded. I don’t know what to do. Thank you for this.”

Terry reminded Claire, “Don’t forget, you’ve already had some exposure to the media. You were on the cover of National Rumors and one other magazine when they caught you kissing Jim and wondered what was going on with him and Crystal. No one said anything. You also had a couple of bit parts in his movie. I recommend you do this.”

Claire countered, “Yes, but the pictures were taken from far away and blurry, and I was only in the background shots in the movie.”

Terry said emphatically, “I still think you should do it.”

Claire said, “I spent a lot of time, effort, and money creating a new existence for myself – my new name, plastic surgery – thanks to Jill’s urging, and a long hiatus doing nothing but shifting gears. If my past life were to get dragged up again, I’d almost feel I had to do it all again.”

I got up from my seat and went to Claire. I pulled her into my arms and surrounded her with love, “Babe, you don’t have to do anything, but isn’t it unlikely that anyone would even recognize the new you?”

Claire let me kiss her on the forehead. “Maybe. You’ve never seen the old me.”

I nodded. “That’s true. Do you have any photographs from back then?”

Claire smiled devilishly, “Oh, you bet I do. Just wait here.” She dashed out of the room and headed to our bedroom. In the unique living arrangements we had, and given the space in the large bedroom, Crystal, Ellen, Claire, and I had dressers and closet space. Mine was pretty simple.

Just as I’d sat down again, Claire came back with a couple of magazines and three DVDs. She announced, “These are from my previous line of work. I should have shown these to you a while ago, but I had them buried in my suitcase. I have more too.” She dropped a magazine in my lap, another in Crystal’s, and a third in Ellen’s lap.