Noah’s smile widened. “Thanks, Miss H.”
“Yes, well, don’t tell anyone about my weakness.”
I looked between the two of them, completely at a loss for words. Noah looked at me and shrugged.
“I guess I didn’t mention how we knew each other,” he said.
I laughed, shaking my head. “No, you didn’t.”
“I’m an old friend of his mother’s, God rest her soul,” Miss H said, the beads on her shawl jangling as she crossed herself.
“After my mom died, my dad more or less dropped out for a while, and Miss H came around to fill the gap.”
“I practically raised this idiot,” she said fondly.
“I had no idea,” I said, shaking my head.
“We don’t really like to advertise it. The other guys at the theater might think she’s playing favorites.”
“Which I am,” Miss H added.
I laughed. “I guess that’s how you ended up getting involved with the theater.”
“When I heard she was in Philly, I asked her to manage the place.”
She nodded. “And since I wasn’t doing anything better, I thought, why not.”
I looked at Noah. “So was your mom involved in Hollywood, too?”
“Yeah, she was a writer. She wrote the screenplay for my dad’s first movie, actually. That’s how they met.”
“A marvelous writer, a genuine talent,” Miss H said.
I gaped at him. I couldn’t believe the weird connections between the two of us. That first movie had intertwined our two families in more than one way. Not only had his dad nearly ruined my mom’s life because of her bad review, but he had also met his future wife and the mother of his kid. That actually began to make more sense of the situation.
“Noah, you know what happened between our parents and that first movie,” I said slowly.
“Yeah, it’s a really weird coincidence.”
“What if it isn’t?”
He looked at my strangely. “What do you mean?”
“Think about it. Your dad meets your mom, falls in love with her, all that stuff. Then, he invites a journalist to review the movie she wrote, and it ends up getting panned big time. What if the whole reason he tried so hard to destroy my mom was because of your mother?”
Noah looked thoughtful for a second and sipped his tea.
“That would make sense, dear,” Miss H said, looking at him.
“Fine, maybe that’s true. It doesn’t change anything.”
“Maybe, but maybe not. It would mean that your dad did something for someone he loved, even if it was a crazy overreaction.”
“Paints your father in a new light,” Miss H said.
Noah shook his head. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Even if he was trying to be a good guy back then, something changed him.”
We lapsed into silence, and I could sense Noah beginning to brood. I regretted bringing it up, but the serendipity was too much to handle. Because of that one event so long ago, all of our lives were irrevocably changed. Noah’s parents met, my mother’s career shifted, and Miss H eventually was pressed into the life of her friend’s child. It all led to the three of us sitting in Miss H’s living room, talking about making a documentary about her life. One writer typed a sentence years ago, and the lives of everyone she touched were changed.
“Noah, your father may have always been a bastard, but he loved your mother,” Miss H said, breaking the silence.
“What does that matter?”
“It means you don’t have to end up like him.”
There was a second while I watched Noah process that. I couldn’t imagine what was going on inside of him, but one part suddenly made sense. He was so afraid of ending up like his father that he began to push people away from him. He was convinced that he was a bad person. But I knew better, I knew all the people Noah had helped in his own way, and a piece of shit like his father would never do those things. Finally, he grinned at Miss H.
“When did this turn into a therapy session?” he asked.
She laughed. “Blame Linda here, darling.”
“Hey, I was just pointing out a coincidence,” I said.
We laughed and the tension broke. I picked up my tea and sipped it. It was luke-warm, but minty and delicious.
As Noah finished off the biscuits, and we drank our tea, I was convinced, more and more, that my project was the right idea. No matter what happened, regardless of whether we won the contest or not, I knew that I was doing the right thing. I was helping a friend get his life together, but more than that, I was helping him discover the life of someone he cared about. Regardless of my misgivings over working with Noah, I felt happier and more content sitting in Miss H’s living room, chatting about movies, than I had in years.