So Max was convinced the baby was his. And Maisie wanted Max to think it. Maisie said to Max that he wouldnt see the baby if he didnt come back to her. So he went back.
But when the baby was born, Una, you could see Oliver’s looks all over her. There was not a drop of Max in her. When Max saw the baby, and saw that Maisie knew, he closed up. He left her. So for a year it was just Maisie Pye and Una.
Then Oliver’s sister would offer to babysit, and she’d bring Oliver over on the sly. Bring Una up to see Oliver’s parents too. And then Oliver made it understood that he wanted to try things with Maisie. They started going out. They had never gone out.
Were you in love with Oliver?
Maisie: I loved him. But there was always something lacking. It’s very complicated and hard to talk about, but I can see myself falling for a sensuous man. And Oliver is none of this.
17 Out on the grass of Long’s Hill. The arugula large enough for salads. Lydia picks a handful. She’s by for a half-hour lunch break. She has begun pre-production. I make a green salad, and lay out slices of avocado, tomato, and feta. Lydia likes her greens separate. And this preference has grown on me. Before, I did not have an opinion on salads, but now I prefer them green.
She says, The least you can do is offer me a coffee. I’m all out of coffee.
Sure, you took the whole bag from my cupboard.
Lydia. I did not take an ounce of coffee from your house. I add, Perhaps you should ask someone else that question.
She says she feels unimaginative and everyone is down on her. Surrounded by cube vans, thick cables of electricity, thousands of watts of light, thirty-seven crew members waiting for her call to roll camera. The amount of money riding on a shot. The pressure.
18 Max and Daphne invite us to Brigus, but Lydia can’t go. As I drive I think that things should only ever be half lit and half known. It is false to know everything. The earth, the moon are only ever half spheres. We believe the rest. To portray the whole story is false and grotesque. Even the edges of what we see are blurred. There is only a circle the size of your eye you can be sure of.
As I gas up at Canadian Tire I spot Oliver. He is on his twenty-year-old green Raleigh. He bought it new from Pike’s. It has a dynamo in the front-wheel axle. He’s wearing clips on his cream slacks.
That bike, I say, is so you.
I tell him I’m off to Brigus. Put your bike in the trunk. Okay, he says.
I’ve brought baked chicken and a quart of Ontario strawberries. And now Oliver and his bike. I dont care about allegiances. Oliver may be an asshole, but I still like him.
There’s a new crop of mosquitoes and people are polite to Oliver. They are welcoming him. Everyone asks me how Lydia’s doing on her shoot. I say I’ve barely seen her.
19 This morning, the first real emotive moments of love, and this because Lydia’s marrying Wilf onscreen.
Do you mind if I marry Wilf? she asks.
Before this, she says she’s going to loan Wilf the money for his mortgage.
Lydia: I can see you dont like it.
No. It’s just I’m concerned about lending money to friends remember how you felt about it last time?
But she comes over to me and asks if it’s okay to be Wilf’s wife.
I’m fine with it.
You are?
You dont have a crush on him. Why should I mind you marrying onscreen an old fart who wants to jump your bones.
20 Oliver Squires is sitting on the red carpet. He has warm hands. Strong hands from the all the bicycling. Since Maisie left he is a bicycle fiend.