The next two days were nothing but quiet. Hilary spent most of them either on the phone, or trying to figure out how to pay the bills with their meager savings. If Father didn’t bring home something soon, she had no idea what would happen. They could barely afford food on C.J’s salary and what Betty’s scripts brought from the radio stations.
Two days after Father’s departure, she was going over the electrical bill and trying to figure out what they could afford when she heard a knock on the door. “Hello?”
“Hello, Hilary!” Doug Thompson, with his boyish smile, sweet dimples, sandy hair, and stocky body, stood on the other side of the door, flowers in hand. “Is Betty home?”
“Yes.” She let him in. “She’s working on another script.” Her lips drooped slightly. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard from Jeff since…since he married her.”
“No.” Doug shook his head. “I’ve tried to track him down, Hilary. Pavla told the press he, Scott, Victor, and their entourage were taking a sabbatical from the theater, but she didn’t say where they went after that.”
Hilary’s eyes blazed. “Well, what do I care about that little fool anyway? He’s the one who dumped one of the finest women he could ever have for a little Czech vamp, who I will mash into meatloaf if I ever get my hands on her! Or have I said too much?”
Doug raised an eyebrow. “I’m going to assume you still aren’t taking Jeff leaving you well. He did say he had an explanation.”
“What explanation could he have?” Hilary snapped. “He married her. She said they loved each other! She practically flung it in my face! End of story.” He followed her up the creaky, narrow wooden stairs that might have been painted mud brown once, but were now as chipped and faded as the rest of the house. “Betty!” She knocked on the door of her youngest sister’s room. “Betty, Doug’s here!”
“It’s open, Hilary!”
Betty’s “room” was little more than a broom closet she had repurposed as her workshop. The cracked, whitewashed walls barely had enough room for a bed, her desk and ancient typewriter, two boards and cement blocks used as a nightstand that held a flickering lamp, and one shelf of the only books she’d been able to keep after Father lost his wealth. “Yes?” She barely looked up from her keys going clackety-clack. “Oh, hi Doug. What brings you here?”
“I know it’s a bit chilly out,” Doug began brightly, “but I thought we could go skating this afternoon, maybe get some hot cocoa.”
“I’m sorry, Doug.” She kept typing. “I’m much too busy. These scripts won’t write themselves. Someone has to keep money coming in.”
“You know,” he went on, “I do have money of my own. I could pay your bills this month…”
“That’s very sweet of you, Doug,” Hilary interjected, “but Father would never approve. He’d rather we kept this in the family. He doesn’t even want to join the breadlines and get the food they’re giving away for free.”
“Doug.” Betty flashed him that stunning smile that made the young man’s heart melt despite the chill in her sanctuary. "As it is, I’m barely going to have time for lunch. Besides, Father called and said he should be back soon. We’ll go out another time.”
He just gave her a shakier smile. “All right, Betty.” Hilary followed him out the door as he sighed. The clacking of her typewriter continued, even as she closed it. “To get to Betty, I suppose I would have to have lived then.”
“When?”
“Another time.”
Hilary patted his shoulder. She had no objection to Betty dating her lawyer. He wasn’t the most exciting young man, but he was steady, kind, and had money of his own. “Come back and ask her out for dinner, Doug. She might be more receptive after she’s knocked back a second or third draft.”
“All right.” He handed Hilary the flowers. “For you, then. You probably need them right now more than Betty anyway.”
“Thank you, Doug.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “If you weren’t my lawyer, I’d have half a mind to date you myself right now.”
Doug turned red all the way down to his blue silk tie. “Thanks, Hilary.”
She saw him out the door, then returned to Betty’s sanctuary and flung herself in without knocking. “You know,” she said pointedly as she sat on Betty’s perfectly made bed, “it wouldn’t kill you to accept one date with Doug. He’s a nice young man, and a good lawyer. He’s been a friend of the family for years.”
“Hilary, I have to get these out.”
She made a face. “You’re not still thinking of Jeff’s manager Scott Sherwood, are you? I didn’t like that man pursuing you. He was a liar and a con-man of the highest magnitude. Lord knows why Jeff hired him. He knew his reputation.”
Betty just kept typing. She finally stopped briefly as she pulled out the paper. Hilary swore she saw surprising hurt in her sister’s eyes, but her voice was firm. “No, Hilary. I’m not thinking of Scott. All he ever did was feed me lies and pick-up lines. He’s not my type. I just want to focus on my career.”
“There’s more to life than work, dear. Take it from someone who spent a decade focusing on her own career.” She raised an eyebrow as the front door slammed. “I’m going to assume Maple’s home. It is getting late. C.J should be walking in soon too, and Father said he was supposed to be back today. He mentioned he was at some…mansion…when he called yesterday. Didn’t say much else. I certainly want to hear more about it.”
The two women came downstairs just in time to see Maple throw her green coat aside with such force, it ended up on the floor. “Oooh, why did I think that jerk at the Crimson Follies wanted to hire me?” She kicked the leg of the coffee table. “He just wanted me to put out for him! I told him I wasn’t like that, gave him a knee where it hurts, and left. And I thought I had a job!”
Betty and Hilary sat on either side of her at the table. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.” Hilary sighed as Betty rubbed her shoulder. “But I did try to tell you about that theater’s reputation.”
“Girls?” C.J came in as Hilary patted her back. “Are you alright? What happened?” He wore the black clothes required of stage hands to blend in with the dark and was brushing snow off his shoulders. “It’s really starting to come down out there. Dad’s supposed to come home soon. I hope he doesn’t get into an accident.”
“Aw, C.J, it’s ok.” Maple waved him off. “I just figured out somethin’ I should have already known. I ain’t never gonna get a job. Producers take one look at me an’ think I’m just a body. They don’t got any respect for me.”
“If it’s any consolation, we respect you, sis.” He pulled up a chair next to them. “We know how smart you are.”
“Yeah,” Maple made a face, “but I wish someone else could figure it out.” She tugged at a thread in the ragged blue striped couch. “There was…a guy…I saw at one’a Hilary’s shows. He was a buddy of Jeff’s. He was real cute, but he was bent over some papers the whole time. I don’t think he even saw me.”
Hilary sighed. “Maple, I’ll find you someone who’ll take care of you and give you everything you want.”
“All I want,” Maple said softly, “is to be seen, ya know?”
Betty nodded. “I do know, Maple.”
Hilary frowned and looked at the old wooden clock on the mantel. “It’s getting late. Father should be here any minute. We really need to be preparing dinner for him…”
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