bills before they turn off my water and electric."
He drew her down on the couch beside him and said, "I've been thinking about that. I don't want you to go. I want you here with me. Would you be willing to let me hire a lawyer to help you wrap up your affairs there and sell your house?"
"You're suggesting we shack up?"
"I'm not sure what I'm suggesting, exactly. I want you to be with me. It doesn't have to be here. Frankly, I can't see you living in LA full-time, but I can't see me living in Aiken, South Carolina, either. Maybe we could live in Gordes most of the time. I have my lawyer doing some research on French immigration regulations regarding how much time out of the year we could stay there."
"You would move away from LA to be with me?"
"When I'm working, I'll have to come back here, or go on location. In between films, it sort of doesn't matter where I am. France is as good a place as any. Gordes is remote enough that the paparazzi usually don't follow me there. And on the rare occasions they do, the locals run them off. They have always been very protective of me. Living there might be a perfect solution to your fear of living in the public eye. Plus, I love it there."
"We can talk about the future at Christmas. In the meantime, I have to go home to pack."
"Why? You can buy anything you need here."
"What about my mail, my bills and my passport?"
"Diane takes care of my bills and stuff. Why don't we have your mail forwarded to my office. Diane can pay your bills as they come due. Where is your passport?"
"In my safety deposit box."
"I am sure there is a way to have the bank send it to you."
"Luke, what is the matter with you? You sound shrill and upset."
He put his arms around her and nuzzled her neck, "I hate to admit it, but I'm afraid. The last time I let you go home to make preparations to join me, I didn't see you again for more than thirty years. I don't have thirty years to wait for you again. I feel anxious and afraid at the very thought of letting you out of my sight."
Marianne relaxed against him and lay her hand on his chest, "I suppose that's understandable, and in a way I deserve it. Alright, find out if Diane can figure out a way for me to get my affairs squared away without going home."
"If she can't, we could charter a plane and go together for just the day. I wouldn't mind seeing your home and town."
She said she didn't think that was a good idea. He would not exactly blend in. Then she turned to kneel on the couch and face him. She put one hand on either side of his face and put her nose almost up against his, and said, "I told you: I will never leave you again unless you agree it's not working out with me here."
He said, "I sincerely hope you mean that."
The ever efficient and resourceful Diane arranged to have Marianne's mail forwarded to Luke's office. Marianne opened an account at Luke's bank, and Diane took over paying her bills just as she did Luke's. The bank sent Marianne's passport by overnight courier.
Luke took her shopping at some of the most exclusive shops in Beverly Hills to buy the things she needed for the trip. Whenever she left the house and ventured out into the city of Los Angeles, Marianne had a sense of unreality and confusion. Alone in the house with Luke, it was an altogether different world. She felt as though she had come home to a familiar and safe place. She knew she would not be happy living in LA, but Aiken was out of the question. The more she thought about it, Gordes seemed like the perfect place for them to live.
Luke and Marianne decided to leave for Gordes a week early in order to allow Marianne to reacquaint herself with the place before the kids arrived.
A few days before they were scheduled to leave, Luke booked a meeting at the Beverly Hills Hotel to discuss an upcoming movie with Braddock Austin. He invited Marianne to join them. She demurred, but Luke insisted, "The last time you attended a meeting with Braddock it worked out pretty well for me. I'd not be totally bummed out if you pulled a repeat of that performance. It's been a while since I've had a really big movie, and, besides, Braddock says he'd love to see you." She was reluctant, but her desire to see the dining room at the storied Beverly Hills Hotel got the better of her, so she agreed to accompany Luke to the meeting.
Braddock brought his latest wife to the meeting. This one was wife number 5 for Austin. At one point while the woman, whose name he didn't even tell them, was in the bathroom, Marianne asked whatever happened to Andrea. Braddock had a hard time even dredging up the memory of her, and had no idea what became of her. Marianne thought that was sad at first, but, then she realized, she had no idea what had become of her ex-husband either, so who was she to judge Braddock Austin?
The new wife came back from the bathroom and seemed utterly disinterested in the meeting, although Marianne noticed she seemed exceedingly interested in Luke. She kept batting her eyes at him and reaching out to touch him. Marianne noticed the top two buttons of her already-low-cut blouse were unbuttoned. The cleavage that spilled out was prodigious. Austin was in his late sixties, but the woman appeared to be in her early thirties. Marianne found herself wanting to scratch the woman's eyes out. Luke was watching Marianne. He winked ever so slightly when no one else was looking. Marianne knew he had something up his sleeve. She refrained from strangling the bitch in order to see what he was up to.
Luke turned to the woman and poured on the charm. It had the effect of turning on an electro-magnet in a room of paper clips. The woman responded immediately and started openly flirting with him. She did about everything short of crawling up in his lap, and Marianne was pretty sure she'd have done that, too, at the slightest provocation. Braddock leaned across the table and hissed, "Go home, Betsey, if you can't behave. You may behave like a trollop the rest of the time, but at least have the decency to not act that way in the presence of a lady."
Betsey looked at Austin with something like disdain and stood up to leave. Before leaving the table, she narrowed her eyes and looked at Marianne for a long time. Without taking her eyes off Marianne she said to Austin, with venom in her voice, "I don't see that she is any different than what I am. I'm just more honest about it."
For a minute, Marianne could barely breathe. She felt as if she had been punched in the stomach and she thought she might throw up. Luke's face drained and he clenched his hands. He had never hit a woman, but it was clear he was considering making an exception in Betsey's case. Austin waved pointed toward the door, and Betsey left quickly. He then turned to Luke and said, "Don't pay any attention to her. She's a bitch."
Marianne pursed her lips and said, "She may be that, but the woman does have a point."
Luke glared at her and whispered, "Don't you dare say, or even think, that."
Marianne shrugged, "We'll talk about that later. Right now, you two have business to discuss."
The men talked at some length about a couple of projects that were of interest to Luke. Marianne couldn't understand why Luke still wanted to work so hard at his age, but she said nothing. She could tell from his body language and demeanor he was totally focused on his conversation with Austin. She concluded that he still worked hard because he was still as passionate about his job as he had been when she first met him. He liked the ideas for both movies, but wasn't happy with the scripts. Austin agreed to send them both back for further editing. They planned to meet again after Christmas.
As they said good-bye, Austin hugged Marianne and said softly, "I am so glad you two reconnected. I have been very worried about him. You have brought the joy back into his eyes."
She smiled, "The joy is mutual, I assure you." She paused and looked at him. She knew he had been one of Luke's best friends for decades. She blurted, "Perhaps you should consider doing something about your own joy."
"You mean my utter failure as a husband? The problem with me is that I am a total bastard. The only thing I am really passionate about is my work. I keep marrying women because they want me to. I forget how much I hate being married."
Luke was standing back wa
tching the conversation from the doorway. For a second, Marianne thought he might not appreciate her whispering so intimately with Braddock. Then she noticed Luke was smiling. She smiled back at him. Braddock noticed the exchange and smiled, saying loud enough for Luke to hear as well, "And besides, I've never found a woman who loves me as much as you love him."
Luke grinned and said, "That's because I'm not as much of a bastard as you are."
"Betsey says they say different at her gym. She is kind of disappointed to be one of the few women in her Pilates class who hasn't had sex with you, or who at least hasn't claimed to have sex with you." He laughed and waved his hand in the air, "She'd be delighted to rectify that situation at any time, I am sure. All you have to do is whistle."
Luke laughed and said, "I'll pass. I do not mess around with married women. Especially not wives of my friends." He looked at Marianne and smiled, "Besides, I seem to have developed a penchant for older women and fidelity late in my life."
Braddock said, "My advice to you is to guard that secret as carefully now as you did when you were married to Lisa."
Luke laughed, "I'm 76, for crying out loud. Shouldn't I be slowing down?"
Braddock raised his eyebrows and asked, "Are you?" Then he immediately put his hands up, palms out. "Don't answer that. I don't want to know!"
Chantal had departed for