“Guilty.”
“I liked that piece; I guess I’d never given any thought to what a tough life it can be.”
“Thank you for the kind review.”
“Were you any good as an actress?”
“As a matter of fact, I was.”
“Why didn’t you stick with it?”
“You read my piece.”
“I find it hard to believe that someone so beautiful would have a hard time making it if she had talent, too.”
“Let me tell you something: Being beautiful is hard work, maybe even harder than acting.”
“I’d always thought beauty was a great advantage in any field.”
“There are
advantages, God knows, but they are offset by the liabilities.”
“Such as?”
“The difficulty of hanging on to one’s soul. There are lots of people out there who are in the market for it, and some of their offers are hard to turn down.”
“I see your point.”
“You probably don’t, or at least not much of it, but you’ll just have to take my word for it, because the subject is too boring to be discussed while sober. Let’s order some breakfast.”
They both ordered eggs benedict, and passed the time until their food came discussing the variety of people sitting around them in the restaurant.
“What made you call me?” Stone asked, finally.
“You fishing for compliments?”
“Apart from my devastating attractiveness, I mean.”
She laughed. “I haven’t spent very much time with men as gorgeous as Vance Calder,” she said, “but it occurred to me that meeting me in the company of somebody like that might slow a man down when it came to calling me. You didn’t, for instance, ask me for my number, or even ask me anything that might tell you how to get in touch with me.”
“You’re right; I judged the competition to be impossibly tough.”
“Well, relax; Vance isn’t competition.”
“What is he?”
“A friend, sort of; sometimes. He’s mostly on the coast; sometimes he calls me when he’s in town and he needs a date.”
“It never occurred to me that Vance Calder would ever need a date.”
“Well, he does, and he doesn’t like bimbos. Vance is a very bright man, as anyone who has ever negotiated a contract with him can tell you, and he likes bright company. That’s not so easy to come by, even for him.”
“Is he gay?”
“Not so’s a girl would notice,” she said. “I’ve never known a more attentive man. There are rumors, but there are always rumors about people in his position, even when they’ve been married and divorced a couple of times, as he has.”
“I hope I’m not being inattentive. May I have Your number again? I’d like to call it often.”