I had called last night after leaving Ryan last night and changed my flight to the earliest they offered. Adrienne and the guys would be heading home around noon, but I had too much I needed to get done.
When I walked through the door, Katie was waiting for me with open arms, a cup of tea in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other, “pick your poison,” she said laughing.
My mom had a hair appointment with my favorite stylist. It was my “thank you” to her for watching Lucas on such short notice for my Utah trip. I had called Katie from the airport and asked her to meet me at my house so I could finally come clean about everything that had been going on the last several weeks.
Katie had been one of the first people I’d met when I’d moved to Los Angeles. She had been a child actress and knew way more about the industry than she wanted to. Now in her late twenties she had transitioned into full on mom life with her daughter.
Katie’s husband, Stephen, had been my business advisor for years. Katie and Stephen had been the closest thing Lucas and I had to family here in California for the longest time. They were a great couple and amazing friends.
I felt confident going into my conversation with Katie. She had seen everything over the years in Hollywood and she was the least judgemental person I knew. Finally talking to her about the last several weeks felt like the last stop on the road to total catharsis.
“Let’s go with tea, I have way too much on my plate today to do mimosas.”
“Okay, Little Miss Secret Keeper, out with it,” she challenged as we made our way over to my living room with our chai teas.
“Remember the story I told you about Lucas’ dad?” I asked.
“Yes! The erotic conception. I know it resulted in an unwanted college pregnancy Tinsley, but I have to tell you, losing your virginity story, totally beats mine. Losing it to a wannabe jock in the back of his mom’s van is not nearly as hot as what you experienced.”
“Well, what I failed to mention is who his dad is. You know how I said I knew a couple of the Falconi guys from back in Chicago? Well Ryan Jacobs is Lucas’ father.”
“Shut the front door! Ryan freaking Jacobs! Shit, how did I miss it? Of course. Those blue eyes, the gorgeous blond hair. They look practically identical,” she said, amazed.
“But maybe I should back up. I’m not going in order of how things went down,” I said, and I started on the first day on set at the table read. I told her everything, my various rendezvous with the guys, Lee’s craziness, even the embarrassing bits about my conversation with Adrienne in the bathroom that first day.
Katie looked on in surprise and amazement. When I was done, she took a moment. And for a second, I was worried that I had managed to shock my least judgemental friend. Then she said, “Damn Tinsley! I am so freaking proud of you.”
“Wait, really?” I replied, shocked.
“Yes, you have been taking care of everything and everybody around you for so long. And now here you are telling me that not only did you finally get rid of the biggest secret in your life, the one that has been eating away at you for seven years.
“But you also found a group of men, smoking hot ones at that, to help share your burdens. You have been taking it on alone for so freaking long. If anyone deserves happiness, it’s you Tinsley. I don’t care how many people it takes to give it to you.
“It might be unorthodox, but if it works for you, that’s the only thing I care about,” Katie finished.
“Thank you, I-,” I stopped as my phone started buzzing. It was my assistant, Alex, probably checking to make sure I got in okay. She was so good about looking out. I would have to remember to call her back later. Technically I had taken the morning off.
As soon as the buzzing stopped, it started up again. This time it was someone from the studio.Okay weird.
“Do you need to get that?” asked Katie, looking concerned.
“No, just one of those weird things where your phone doesn't ring all day and then everyone calls at once,” I said.
A text came through from Alex, “TMZ now!”
Shit, I thought to myself. I popped open my laptop and went straight to TMZ. There across the website’s main page was the headline “Famed Director Loses His Sh*$ at Utah Film Festival.”
Katie saw my face turn pale and rushed over to see what I was looking at. We scrolled the story, watched the video and read the comments as quickly as we could. Lee had finally done it.
Apparently, he’d gotten drunk at one of the after parties last night and gone on a full blown tear. Nothing was sacred. He’d been hitting on an actress for one of the indie films that were being featured. And when she rejected him, he lost it.
Her girlfriend had stepped in to try and ease the tension of the situation and Lee went on a full-blown rant about how much he hated women, gays and then he threw in some racism for good measure.
The whole thing was of course caught on camera. The couple was threatening to sue and there were about thirty perfect shots of Lee being escorted out by three bouncers and two off duty cops.
“Katie, this is so bad,” I said, stating the obvious. “I knew things were at a tipping point with Lee, I’d even offered to get him some help. In all honesty, I thought he would calm down a bit after my offer. Things must have been worse than I even realized. Time to get in crisis mode.”
Just then my phone rang.