“It’s used to a much easier life.”
He laughed quietly. In the kitchen, Miss H banged around, doing who knew what, while Noah and I looked around her place. We had mentioned something vague about wanting to involve her in a film project, but we hadn’t gone into detail, at Noah’s suggestion. He didn’t want to spook her or something, as if she were a wild horse. I wasn’t sure how or why, but he had secured our little meeting at Miss H’s place out of nowhere. He seemed to have a plan, so I decided to go with it.
“Milk or sugar in your tea, dears?” Miss H called from the kitchen.
“None for me, thanks,” I replied.
“Same, I prefer it nice and strong,” Noah said. He gave me a look as if that were some kind of code for sex. I rolled my eyes as I heard the kettle begin to boil.
“Well, here we are,” Miss H said, walking back into the living room with a tray, a teapot, three cups, and some biscuits. She was wearing a colorful shawl draped over a long, flowing skirt. There must have been over a thousand beads stitched into the skirt and the shawl, and they made small clacking noises as she moved. Her greying hair was up in a tight bun, which made her look like a hippie librarian.
As soon as she put it down on top of old newspapers and film criticism books, Noah immediately dove into the biscuits.
“Don’t hurt yourself,” I grumbled at him.
He shrugged and Miss H laughed. “There’s plenty more where that came from,” she said.
“Thanks Miss H, but we’re not here for the biscuits,” he said in between mouthfuls.
“What the idiot here is trying to say is, we’re thinking about shooting a short film that involves you.”
Miss H poured three cups of tea, picked hers up, and sat back, smiling.
“Okay, you have my attention. Pitch it.”
Noah suddenly sat up straight and cleared his throat. It surprised me how quickly he shifted from goofing off to businesslike, but that was typical Noah. One second he’s something you expect, and the next he’s off in another world entirely.
“Miss H, I think you’re one of the most interesting people in this city,” he said slowly. I raised an eyebrow, but we had already agreed to let him do the talking.
“Good start Noah,” she said, smiling.
He grinned. “I’m not just buttering you up, I promise. You’ve been around my family for a long time, you knew my mother before she passed, and you knew my father before he turned into the biggest asshole in Hollywood. You practically raised me for a few years. You know that I have nothing but love and respect for you and what you do. Which is why, when Linda here came to me with the idea to shoot a short documentary about your life, I jumped all over it.”
I stared at him. I hadn’t known anything about Miss H knowing his family, though I had my suspicions.
“Well, Noah—” Miss H started, but stopped when Noah cut her off.
“Before you say no, and I know you’re about to, hear me out.”
She struggled to suppress another smile and nodded.
“The business is bullshit. We both know it. You’ve been in more films than I can count, and you’ve been pretty stellar in most of them.”
“All of them,” Miss H mumbled.
Noah grinned, but kept talking. “But here you are, doing local gigs and managing a theater. I know it’s not pretty to hear, but you haven’t gotten the recognition you deserve. I want to change that, Lacey. You were one of the few friends my mother had at the end, and although I know I don’t need to say this, it’s well overdue. I’m grateful for what you did, and I want to repay you by telling people your story. And it’s a pretty damn good story.”
“Let’s pretend that I’m interested,” Miss H said slowly.
Noah leaned back into the couch with a huge grin on his face.
“We’re pretending, darling,” Miss H said, holding up her hands.
“Oh, I know we are. But I also know that means you’re going to do it.”
She gave him a look. “If I do this, I don’t want it half assed.”
Noah nodded. “I swear to you, we’ll do you justice. Linda here has some pretty damn good equipment, and she knows her shit. And you taught me everything about this business.”
She sighed dramatically. “You’re quite the salesman, Noah.”
“Learned from the best.”
“This isn’t going to take up my whole life, though. You can have some access, but I’m not going to divulge all of my secrets for the sake of your student film.”
He nodded. “I wouldn’t expect you to.”
“Good. Then maybe I can do this.”