Hollywood Hills

Chapter Thirty-Nine

A week later, Kate was back in Los Angeles looking for a small rental for the new year. The voice-work she was doing would require her to be in the city at least three months, possibly more, and to her pleasant surprise, she'd been offered the position promoting a German automobile after she'd thought the job had fallen through. The commercial wouldn't take nearly so much of her time, but she knew she'd be in and out of the city a great deal over the next six months, so she began looking straight away. Her agent had even convinced the studio to pick up part of the cost.

The remainder of her three-day visit with Eli had been splendid if not dreamy. To her wonder, he'd said not a word about what had transpired in her bed on the first night of his visit. It was unimaginable he hadn't been aware of her disgraceful behavior, but despite the fact she'd walked around red-faced all the next morning, he'd said not a word and poked not the least fun. If anything, he'd been even kinder and more solicitous than after her two earlier missteps.

For the first time, she'd considered the possibility he might be gay, but had dismissed the thought out of hand. It surely answered everything, including the most pressing fact: straight men were never that sweet and thoughtful. He liked girls; he just didn't fancy her, a fact with which she'd come to terms.

So, she'd resisted the temptation to overstep her mark again, and their additional two days together had been spent working and playing. Their evenings and nights were mostly loafing, chatting, and watching movies before they fell into bed together mostly clothed. She hadn't been able to resist the urge to pull him close at those times, but everything below the waist had been strictly off limits. In spite of her few improprieties, those three days had been spectacular.

The four days after Eli departed likewise had been exhilarating. Her biggest coup had been settling on a location and material for her pasture fence. As much as she'd wanted board fencing, a synthetic fence was a better option. The brand she decided on resembled a wooden board fence to any but the closest scrutiny, but it was more durable, easier to maintain, and everyone with whom she'd spoken assured her it was easier to install. It would still be a costly endeavor, but synthetic was significantly more affordable than wood. Eli had made some calls and discovered a supplier he often used in Arizona could provide her material sufficient for two five-acre fences for the same price that local wholesalers would sell her a single six-acre fence. And the Arizona supplier wouldn't charge for delivery.

Ten acres was more pasture than Kate needed, but she'd already spoken to two people about boarding, and the thought of putting in additional stall space at some time in the future appealed to her. Eli had promised to be her hand for the project, and he'd coached her on what sort of equipment she needed to rent to get the job done quickly. The idea of doing it herself, even with help, excited her.

Also, she'd video-conferenced with the kids with whom she would be producing a movie short. Not only had they completed a script, one that was remarkably good, but they'd come up with a shortlist and longlist of things they wanted to do that would require the use of locations and equipment they didn't already possess.

Most of that part of the meeting had been expectation management on her part. They had a shoestring budget—everyone involved had agreed to kick in a few thousand dollars—but if they wanted to do something more complex, they would need to raise some capital. Oddly, Kate, the only one over twenty, had come up with the idea of crowdsourcing, and the others pounced on it. Otto had always thought crowdsourcing was a ridiculous way to fund a movie, which was good enough to convince Kate of its efficacy. The children would handle the crowdsourcing effort once Kate, who knew all the places to buy and rent equipment, did some shopping around and built a tentative budget.

She'd next pitched the idea of which film festivals they might want to enter their film. The youngsters had been at a loss as to why they would do such a thing. More expectation management had followed as she explained carefully that there was scant chance their movie would ever make any money. It merely was a project in getting noticed and in meeting people in the community that might help them in other, bigger projects. Film festivals were a key part of that.

After the teleconference, she'd sent her collaborators off do their research and ponder what she'd told them. It had amused her what neophytes they were—they really were just kids, a brother and sister and their best friend—and it also had given her a rush to realize how much about her profession that she knew and took for granted. She understood a great deal about the movie business, both the artistic and production sides.

There had to be other ways to leverage that knowledge and experience.

She had Otto's rolodex—he'd still owned an actual paper rolodex—and spent the next days making phone calls, soliciting advice on the best way to advertise and promote a movie short. To her surprise, most people took her call, and several were helpful. It was another huge morale boost.

Looking for an affordable and safe place to stay was not so wonderful. She'd spent the last two days looking about with little luck. Even with the studio picking up part of the cost, she didn't want to be extravagant, and every place she saw in her price range was dingy or in an area of the city she didn't feel comfortable. She finally settled on a small complex in Echo Park. The place was something of an actors' ghetto and was slightly above her price range, but rundown though it was, it was in an area of the city where she felt safe.

The decision so relieved her that she thought she might swing by and see if Eli was home. She hadn't been able to get in touch with him since her sudden decision to come to LA. It wasn't clear if he was even in town, for he often shut off his phone when he worked. But it was a short drive to his cottage, and she wanted to take him out for dinner to celebrate ... and just to see him.

It took her some minutes to find the right area, since she'd only visited his place one time before, but once she was parked, his cottage was easy enough to locate. A large and rugged-looking man of about forty, wearing jeans and purple scrub shirt, was just leaving Eli's apartment pushing a large cart when she started down the shaded walkway. The man smiled and nodded as they passed, and when Kate reached Eli's still-open door, she peered in, turned around, and went back to her truck.

When she started the engine and pulled away, she was crying. She didn't know who the woman was in Eli's bed, but she was beautiful.