The words ‘organized’ and ‘schedule’ were like catnip to Phoenix. He chewed his lower lip for a few moments as he considered the possibilities, but then he shook his head. “Harper is a pain in the ass. He’s also an overgrown child. You should see his house in L.A. He actually put a miniature golf course in the backyard, and he lives with a whole menagerie of animals. I even heard he brought his pet chicken with him while he’s here in San Francisco. Who the hell does that?”
That all sounded great to me, but I said, “That’s why he needs a responsible adult in his life. And do you really have to like him to work for him? It’d only be until July anyway, when you’re planning to go back to work for Will.”
“That’s true. He offered me three times my usual salary, so he must be desperate. But I just don’t know.”
“Well, maybe you should take some time to think about it,” I said. “He probably doesn’t need an answer right away, and you still have six days left on Will’s contract.”
“Yeah, I’ll give it some thought over the weekend.” Phoenix stretched his arms over his head as he asked, “Speaking of Will, did you see him out there? I thought he’d be done by now.”
“After filming wrapped, he started talking to a tall older man with white hair. I’m not sure who he is, but he’d been hanging out on set for the last couple of hours.” Since the cat had settled onto my lap, I picked up her pink rhinestone harness and tried to fit it around her, while she resisted by going totally limp.
Meanwhile, Phoenix got up and moved a few things from the mini fridge to a small cooler as he asked, “If you two aren’t busy, want to grab dinner?”
“We have plans, but you should join us,” Gabriel said, as he scratched Madame Leota’s ear and the cat leaned into it. “Two of my friends are amazing artists, and they want to teach a class for kids at an art center run by another friend of ours. They’re not sure if their kinetic sculptures are actually buildable in a two-hour timeframe though, so a few of us are going to be their test subjects while they do a run-through of the class. In return, they’re buying us pizza, and it’s definitely a ‘more the merrier’ type of event.”
Phoenix hesitated before asking, “Are you sure they wouldn’t mind one more?”
Gabriel pulled his phone from the pocket of his cardigan and said, “I’m sure, but I’ll ask anyway so you don’t have to worry.” He typed a message and sent it, and his phone beeped less than a minute later. After he glanced at the screen, he told Phoenix, “This is from Christian, my friend who founded and runs the community art center where we’re going. He says there are twenty building kits, about ten people are coming, and he’s ordering enough pizza to feed a small country. He also wrote ‘so please bring your friends’. That means you, Phoenix.”
“Okay, I’ll come. It sounds fun,” Phoenix said.
Will and Lorenzo joined us a few minutes later. Will looked a bit dazed as he dropped onto the bench seat beside the table, and I asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m great, actually,” he said. “The most amazing thing happened. I was just telling you this morning about my awful meeting with the author of Alex and After. Well, guess who came to the set this afternoon?”
Gabriel asked, “Is that the man who pulled you aside after you finished filming?”
“Yeah, that was him. He was here because he was concerned about the scenes the screenwriter added. Well, he ended up loving them, and me.” Will shook his head in disbelief. “He told me he’d been wrong, and that I was actually perfect as Alex. I feel like I just won an Oscar.”
Lorenzo sat beside him and took his fiancé’s hand. “I’m glad he finally came to his senses, but everyone else has always known you’re absolutely brilliant in this role.”
“Thanks for saying that. It was important to me to have the author’s approval though, because I think I know what Alex meant to him. I also think it’s going to be a little easier to say goodbye to this character now, because I feel like I did him justice.”
As we all got ready to leave, we invited Will and Lorenzo to join us at the art center. “Thanks for the offer, but we’re going on a date tonight,” Will said. “It’s our last weekend in San Francisco. I still can’t believe it’s almost over.”
“Well, the filming anyway,” Phoenix said. “You’re going to be spending all kinds of time promoting the film over the next year and a half or so, especially once it hits the theaters. In the process, Will Kandinsky is going to become a household name.”