“No, and stop trying to fix me up. This one is tall, red hair, really built. And she cooks. Or I think she does. She had no idea I own the place. I’m not sure she’s ever seen me before.”
“Good!” Nina snapped. “But if I’d known you wanted a fan staying in there, I would have advertised in The Hollywood Reporter.”
“I don’t want—” He let out his breath. “Okay, right, there’s no reason she should know, but if I’d been told, I wouldn’t have…I certainly would have thought twice before I…”
“What did you do?”
“Took a shower on the porch.”
“Oh,” she said. “Like Letty and Ace used to do? In a swimsuit?”
“Didn’t have time to dress,” Tate mumbled.
“You mean you had no time to put on a suit? So what did you do? Shower naked on her front porch?”
“The shower is at the back of the house, but, yeah, I did.”
“Full frontal?” Nina was barely suppressing her laughter.
“Yeah.” There was a hint of laughter in his voice. “I’m not sure but I think she sat on a stool and drank a cup of tea while she watched.”
Nina laughed. “People usually have to pay to see you do that.”
“In all my movies, there’s been only one bathing scene. It was under a waterfall and it was shot from the side.”
“But then you moved so they got your back and your bare chest, and afterward you walked around in a towel that wouldn’t cover one of Emmie’s dolls.”
“Okay.” Tate was laughing. “So I have to earn a living. Look, I need transportation and I have to get someone to repair a screen door.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“I was sort of…well, unhappy when I saw Miss Pajamas in my house. I thought she was taking photos. I sort of put my fist through the screen. And from the look of the place, I may have accidentally kicked the bottom half out too.”
Nina’s voice was serious. “Tate, that’s not funny. You’re big, and when you get angry your whole face changes. Onscreen it’s great, but in real life you can be frightening.”
“I know.” His voice was apologetic. “I’ve already heard this from Jack. And I will apologize to her. I’ll probably see her this afternoon, but right now I need a car so I can get food. You think this town has a taxi service?”
“I doubt it, but I’ll call the—”
“Holy crap!” Tate said.
“What is it?”
“There’s something upstairs in her house. I think it’s a bird. It’s the size of a dog and I think it’s trying to get out. It’s pecking at the window screen.”
“Oh, no!” Nina said. “It’s probably a peacock or a peahen. I forgot to tell you that Stacy said the caretaker was releasing them today. The birds have to bond with their environment, so they’ve been in cages. Remember Mom telling us about that huge peacock and how she and Ace used to—”
“Nina!” Tate yelled.
“Right. Oh, no. Emmie is calling me. She’s home sick in bed today. Why don’t you go chase the pea-critter and let Emmie watch on her iPad? It’ll entertain her while I call the caretaker.”
—
Nina didn’t wait for his answer but hung up and quickly left a voicemail for the Tattwell caretaker. He probably wouldn’t get the message before evening, but Nina didn’t mind. One great thing about having an actor for a brother was that he loved to entertain. He could make the most mundane of events seem spectacular. Surely, chasing a peacock in a small house would cheer up Tate—and watching him would occupy her daughter for a while.
She ran to Emmie’s room and grabbed her tablet.
It took Nina just minutes to sync phone and iPad between her brother and her daughter, and set it all to record. Sometimes her brother gave his best performances for his family and she liked to see them. She gave Emmie a bag of vegetable chips and some juice, put the tablet on the stand, and headed to the bathroom. If she knew her brother and daughter—kindred spirits if ever there were any—she’d have at least half an hour to herself. She would be within hearing distance, but she was going to soak in a tub of very hot water for as long as she could manage.
—
Tate smiled at his pretty little niece, who looked unhappy at being confined to her bed, even if it did have pink and white ruffles. Since she was born, the two of them had had their own little world. They understood each other. Tate said that entertaining Emmie fulfilled his need to be writer/director/producer/actor all in one. And he did indeed work to come up with new ways to make her smile.