CHAPTER 33
“Oh, excuse me. I didn’t know anyone was here.”
Devin stood in the doorway of Reid’s house. The key was still in the lock, and she clutched a stack of folders to her chest as she faced Ty, who was sitting in a chair in the living room, looking annoyed.
“It’s okay,” Ty told her, sounding irritated. “I’m not supposed to be here. I’m supposed to be on my way to the airport. But my car hasn’t shown up.”
Devin shut the door. “I was just bringing Reid these script reports,” she explained, walking into the living room and putting the files on the coffee table. “I thought I’d do it while he was out on his morning run. That way I wouldn’t interrupt him.”
“Well, now you can keep me company until my car shows up,” Ty told her, smiling.
Devin took a seat across from him. So far, everything was going as planned. But things were just getting started, and she didn’t want to rush. She needed Ty to trust her.
“So, have you and Reid found anything to work on yet?” she asked. The story Reid had given her to explain Ty’s frequent appearances at the house was that they were going over scripts for possible film projects. And in fact he had given her a lot of scripts to look over and make notes on, a ruse she went along with because it helped support the notion that she really was simply interested in learning more about the film business.
Ty shook his head. “No,” he said. “There’s a lot of crap out there.”
“That’s something I don’t understand,” said Devin. “I mean, everyone talks about how hard it is to get a film made, but I see tons of really bad movies coming out every week.”
Ty laughed. “That’s because the suits who run the studios know they can make the most money by making films that appeal to the lowest common denominator,” he told her. “They don’t care if people come out of a film thinking. All they care about is getting asses into seats. Everything else—the story, the dialogue, the meaning—comes second. Not even second. Special effects come second. Then the title and how everyone involved is credited. The movie actually ranks about fifth or sixth on the list of what they think about when they make this shit.”
“But some good films get made,” Devin said.
“Yeah, by accident,” Ty replied. “I swear to God, if something good comes out of Hollywood it’s because most of the people involved were so high on coke they didn’t notice.”
He waved a hand at Devin. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t mean to sound so down about it all. It’s just that you’re right—there are excellent scripts and ideas out there. But they make it so hard for anyone to do anything different, anything special, that most people give up.”
“Haven’t you liked any of the films you’ve made?” Devin asked him.
Ty nodded. “A couple,” he said.
“And now that you’re a star,” Devin added quickly, “I bet you can do whatever you want.”
Ty sat up. “See, that’s the problem,” he said. “When no one knows who you are, you can do things that are risky. But once America loves you, you’re stuck with this image, and nobody wants you to do anything that might change how much everyone loves you. And why? Because then the profits go down.”
Devin nodded. She’d gotten Ty to start opening up, and she wanted him to continue. “Like Meg Ryan,” she said.
“Exactly,” Ty replied. “Look what happened when she left Dennis Quaid for Russell Crowe. Suddenly she went from being everybody’s sweetheart to being this huge slut, a homewrecker who ditched the nicest guy in Hollywood for a bad boy. You can bet her publicist and manager went through a dozen bottles of Prozac a day while that was going on. And what has she done since?”
“Not much,” Devin admitted.
Ty leaned back in his chair. “The truth is, we make movies so that other people can escape their lives. Look at who goes to them. It’s not the CEOs and the people with fantastic lives. It’s people who make minimum wage, live in little towns, and wish they were somebody else who really pack the multiplexes every weekend. Those are the people Hollywood makes movies for. And those people want to pretend that if things were just a little bit different, they could be in the movies. They want that fantasy.”
“What about you?” Devin asked. “Is it true that you were discovered when a casting director saw you working at a gas station?”
Ty nodded. “And the guys who come to see me in movies want to think they could get discovered working at a gas station. Or at Home Depot. Or McDonald’s.”
“And the women who come like to believe they could meet a guy like you working at a gas station,” Devin added.
“That too,” Ty agreed. “It’s all about fantasy.”
“I always figured that’s why Madonna was popular,” Devin continued. “You know, because underneath it all she’s just a sort-of pretty girl from Detroit with an okay voice and lots of attitude. She’s this amazing star, but really it was kind of an accident.”
Ty smiled. “Don’t say that to all the queens who think everything she does is magic,” he said.
“The gay community loves its icons,” Devin said, pleased that the conversation had veered in this particular direction.
“Well, they’ve resurrected Cher on more than one occasion,” said Ty. “That woman is like Dracula in drag.”
“So why don’t more actors come out then?” Devin asked. “I mean, if the gay community supports celebrities so much, you’d think more people would be open about who they are.”
“Ah, but that’s the thing,” Ty answered. “How many gay icons are actually gay? Think about it. Bette Davis. Judy Garland. Joan Crawford. None of them were gay. And none of them were men. Gay men might as well be straight women when it comes to the actors they love. They want the big, butch heros too. They don’t want the sissy queens or the old men whose careers couldn’t possibly be damaged by their coming out. They want Bruce Willis and Colin Farrell and Vin Diesel, not Danny Pintauro and Rupert Everett and Nathan Lane. It’s only the dykes who throw their cash at someone just because she eats pussy. Melissa and k.d. owe their whole careers to lesbians. But even in Hollywood you won’t find many lesbians who are out of the closet.”
“Yeah, well, we can probably thank Anne Heche and her amazing disappearing lesbianism for that,” joked Devin, earning a big laugh from Ty.
“I wish things were different,” Ty said. “But right now they aren’t.”
“What do you think it would take to make things change?” Devin asked.
Ty sighed deeply. “Somebody big coming out,” he said. “Someone everyone really likes. I think that would probably do it.”
He stopped talking and looked out the window. “Yeah, that would do it,” he repeated.
“But you don’t see it happening,” Devin prodded.
“Not for a long time,” replied Ty. “Not as long as the weekend gross is the bottom line.”
He looked at his watch. “If I don’t get to the airport I am going to be so screwed,” he said. “Maybe I should call the car service.”
“Why don’t I just drive you?” Devin suggested, as if the idea had just that moment occurred to her. “My car is right here.”
Ty looked at his watch again. “You’re sure you don’t mind?” he asked.
“Not at all,” said Devin.
Ty stood up. “Okay,” he said. “You’ve got a deal. Let’s go.”
He picked up his bag and followed Devin outside to her car.
“Buckle up,” Devin told him. “I’m going to have to break a few traffic laws if you want to make your plane.”
Ty did as she asked, and Devin took off. She’d made sure to check the departure time for the Cape Air flight before calling the car service to cancel Ty’s pickup, and she knew exactly how much time she had and how long it would take her to get to Provincetown’s tiny airport. They were fine. But she wanted Ty to think she was saving his ass.
“So, it’s great that you and Reid are such good friends,” she remarked after they’d been driving for a minute.
“He’s a great guy,” Ty said. “I owe a lot to him.”
“I can’t believe I’m getting to work for him,” Devin continued.
“I know he’s really impressed by the work you’ve been doing,” Ty told her.
“Really?” Devin said happily.
Ty nodded. “He’s so used to the players in Hollywood that having someone normal around is really good for him.”
“You seem pretty normal,” remarked Devin.
“Compared to some of the freak shows in La-La Land, I’m totally normal,” Ty replied.
“You remind me a lot of my ex-husband,” Devin said casually.
“Ex-husband?” Ty said, sounding surprised. “What’d you do, marry him when you were thirteen?”
Devin smiled. “I’m not that young,” she said. “Besides, we were only married for two years.”
“You don’t sound too broken up about being divorced,” said Ty. “I’m not sure I like the fact that I remind you of this guy.”
“It’s okay,” Devin reassured him. “It’s a good comparison. Zane is a really great guy.”
“Then why the divorce, if I’m not being too nosy?” asked Ty.
“It’s sort of a strange story,” Devin answered. “Actually, it would make a good movie, now that I think of it. Zane and I were in college together. We met in a film class and became good friends. To tell the truth, I had a major crush on him. One night I had a little too much to drink while we were watching Chinatown in his dorm room, and I kissed him.”
“And one thing led to another, you got pregnant, and he had to marry you!” Ty said excitedly.
“Sadly, no,” said Devin. “He told me he was gay.”
“Ah, a plot twist,” remarked Ty. “So how do you get from kissing a gay guy to marrying him?”
“Zane was from a wealthy family,” explained Devin. “A family that wouldn’t exactly be thrilled if they knew that he was gay. He stood to inherit a lot of money, but only if he got married to someone the family approved of. So he asked me if I’d be his wife for a little while.”
“You’re kidding,” Ty said incredulously.
Devin shook her head. “Really,” she said. “We came up with this whole plan. We would get married and live together for a while. Zane would get his inheritance. Then there would be this nasty breakup caused by Zane finding me in bed with his best friend. We’d divorce, everyone would feel sorry for him, and when they found out that he was really the one sleeping with his best friend, it would be too late for anyone to do anything about it.”
“Get out,” said Ty.
“I’m serious,” said Devin. “You should have seen the wedding. There were swans.”
Ty laughed. “This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard,” he said. “Did you pull it off?”
“Yes and no,” said Devin. “Everything was going fine until one afternoon Zane’s parents came over for a surprise visit and found him and his boyfriend going at it in the pool house. His father had a massive coronary and dropped dead on the spot. Other than that, though, it pretty much went off the way we’d planned it. Zane’s mother tried to get him disinherited, but by then he’d gotten all of the money anyway. We got divorced and he and his boyfriend bought a house in Palm Springs.”
“You have got to be shitting me,” Ty said. “That did not happen.”
“Here we are,” Devin said, pulling up in front of the airport terminal. “Now run. You have five minutes.”
Ty got out and retrieved his suitcase from the backseat. “Thanks again,” he said, pausing beside Devin’s window.
“No problem,” Devin told him. “That’s what I’m here for. Anything you need, just ask.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ty told her.
He gave a final wave and then walked quickly into the building. When he was out of sight, Devin put the car in gear and drove away. As she pulled out of the airport she turned on the radio. The Stones were playing.
“You can’t always get what you want,” Mick growled.
Devin smiled. “You can if you know how to tell a good story,” she said.