Role of a Lifetime Read online

  "Okay," she said.

  They talked more and then the waitress came back.

  "Dessert for anyone?" she asked as she cleared the plates.

  "Sure I'll have dessert, what do you have?" Holly asked her.

  "The pie's really good," Kelly told her.

  "Um, pie?" Holly said.

  "Apple or cherry?"

  "Ap," Holly looked at Kelly and caught the slightest shake of his head, "No wait cherry?"

  He gave her a big smile.

  "A la mode?"

  "Uh, yes!" she said on Kelly's nod, "And an extra fork, cause I won't be able to eat the whole thing, he'll probably have to help me."

  When the waitress left Kelly grabbed both her hands and quickly kissed the top of each of them quickly.

  "You're an angel," he told her.

  "You're ridiculous, it's just pie."

  "Don't tell my trainer."

  "How, I don't know your trainer, how could I possibly tell him? Her?"

  "Him. He's evil, I mean, he's amazing, but evil."

  "You're crazy."

  They ate the pie, well Kelly ate most of it, then he left a pile of twenties for the bill that probably would have covered a month full of lunches. Kelly and Carl walked her back to her car, but this time Kelly banished Carl to walk behind them, silently, while they talked. About halfway back he told her if she ever needed money for the therapy group he could help her out.

  "We're not really planning on expanding," Holly told him.

  "That was really amazing stuff today, you should," he said.

  "I haven't really thought about it," Holly said but her mind was already running.

  Non profit status, liability insurance, multiple chapters, logos. What if some patient snapped and hurt the animal, or the volunteer? She shouldn't have done what she had done today. For all she knew she could have a voice mail waiting for her, when she got home, from the volunteer coordinator at the hospital. Possibly a very stern, unhappy voice mail. What if they told her they didn't want them to bring the animals back, ever? How would she explain that to her daughter and the other kids in the group?

  "You okay?" Kelly asked her.

  "Yeah," Holly said, shaking her head and forcing her attention back on him, "We don't need any money. What we are doing is fine."

  "Oh," said Kelly, "I didn't mean."

  Holly looked at him. She didn't know anything about him but he looked uncomfortable. She didn't say anything, just waited while he sent his assistant back to their car and walked her to hers.

  "Thank you for lunch," she said, as she dug in her pocket for her keys.

  "Look, I made you uncomfortable, and I'm sorry. I just, there was a kid I visited today, he lost his leg and he's not even twenty, I don't think. It sucks. It really sucks. I hate it and I could just dump money into the hospital, lord knows I have enough of it, but I saw what you did, with that rabbit. You can help people, I just thought, I could help you help more people. You know, really help them."

  His voice trailed off at the end and he stood there looking at her. Something inside of Holly was telling her his heart was in the right place.

  "I just can't commit to anything larger than we are doing now," she told him, "Maybe in the fall when my daughter goes to school I'll be able to look into it, come up with a plan."

  At that Kelly's demeanor brightened considerably.

  "Okay, that sounds great, let me give you my number."

  Holly put Kelly's number into her phone and he opened her car door for her. She automatically started the car and drove off. It wasn't until she had gotten home, checked her voice mail, combed through her e-mail thoroughly, found Lia's note that she was out with her boyfriend for the rest of the evening and wondered where they were and what they were doing, did she even realize that a guy who was routinely considered one of the most eligible bachelors on the planet had given her his phone number.

  "Well technically I guess he gave you his phone number, Timber," she told the rabbit, who reacted by rooting through his hay pile and coming up with something that pleased him. "Congratulations."

  Chapter 3

  "Okay, now,"

  "Nope," Kelly interrupted and Carl groaned. "Holly and Lia Sawyer, find them."

  Carl didn't bother to ask why. It was one of the reasons Kelly considered Carl the best assistant Kelly had ever had. He just did what he was told, when Kelly told him to. Kelly busied himself with his own phone.

  "Jeez, I don't know Kel," Carl said after a couple of minutes.

  "L I A, sorry, I should have said that."

  "Okay." There was a pause while Carl tapped away, "Maybe, look."

  Carl held out his phone and Kelly looked at Lia's facebook page. The page was private, but her high school was listed in her favorites.

  "That's her, Holly's her mom, I need their address."

  Again Carl didn't ask why, but a couple of minutes later he had Holly and Lia's home address on the phone and Kelly typed it into the order he had ready to go. He had thought about flowers first, but while waiting on Carl he had googled some quick facts on rabbits and had changed his mind and was instead sending Holly a huge fruit arrangement. He added something to the note he had composed about how pineapple was good for rabbits and placed the order. Then he stored his phone.

  "Okay," Kelly said, slipping his phone back into his pocket and buckling up.

  Kelly drove the rental car back to the airport. He and Carl were on their way back from London where they had spent three days for the premiere of a film. Once he got home he had a good month and a half before he had to be in the studio for his next project. He had a pile of scripts lined up for his consideration.

  Carl chatted nonstop on the way to the airport and although it was all business and necessary, it was also a relief to leave Carl to deal with the rental car and walk away. Kelly headed to the first class lounge, put his earbuds in and turned on the sports news. When Carl arrived in the lounge he looked for Kelly, saw the earbuds, sighed and turned away.

  Once they were airborne, confident that Carl would leave him alone until Kelly was ready, Kelly took out his phone and looked at the order and the message he had sent to Holly. Even he wasn't a hundred percent sure why he had done it. He did want to help her help veterans and if that worked out he would be very pleased. But he also thought she was super cute and super sweet and that was the real reason he had sent the arrangement. Now he was wondering if it had been a mistake.

  He didn't think Holly was married, when they had been eating lunch, he had realized just how pretty she was and he had looked for a wedding ring. But just because she wasn't married, that didn't mean she didn't have a boyfriend. And there was the slightly inconvenient logistical problem of him living on the west coast (mostly) and her on the east.

  Kelly stared at the order and refreshed the page several times but the status never changed from pending. He knew it would be delivered that afternoon but all he could do was wait and see what happened. Frustrated, Kelly went through his personal e-mail. There wasn't anything terribly interesting so he gave up and turned to Carl, who was sitting next to him.

  "What do we got?" he asked.

  "Okay, well this just got moved to the top of the list," Carl said.

  "What?"

  "That script, what was it called, "Mistakes"."

  "Oh, yeah," Kelly said, "I know which one you mean," and he did although he didn't know anything about it. "What about it?"

  "Supposedly Zoe Portnoy is going to do it."

  "Really?" Kelly said.

  That was big news. And it did move the script up to the top of Kelly's pile. Kelly had made his career based on playing the stereotypical real life action hero. It had made him famous and very rich. But the studios never wanted him for anything more serious. Zoe Portnoy was a relative newcomer but she was rapidly impressing everyone in the industry with her talent and versatility. The last movie Kelly had seen her in had been set in Colonial America and she had been in three scenes before he h
ad realized who he was watching. She was that good.

  "Oh and they have a sick schedule. Releasing in the spring."

  "Okay, I'll read that one first," Kelly said, thinking of the pile of scripts he had printed out sitting on his kitchen counter, "What else you got?"

  They spent the rest of the six hour flight working but separated at the airport, Carl heading home in a cab, Kelly in the car service he used, to his home in Malibu. When he got home he tossed his luggage in the front hall and went right to the kitchen. First he grabbed a beer out of the fridge. Then he checked the tide chart he had printed out and stuck on the fridge door. Predicting the surf wasn't an exact science, but Kelly had the times he liked to go out. He glanced at the clock and figured he had about four hours to kill, so he found the script he was looking for and headed out to the deck.

  Two hours later he was out for a run, wondering if he would get the part. He had given up on his dream of being an Oscar contender years ago. He had no right to be unhappy. He had more money than he could spend in ten lifetimes. He went to any sporting event or concert he felt like, always in the best seat. He couldn't remember the last time a woman he had been interested in had turned him down.

  He still loved his job, loved acting, working on the set, the excitement, the hordes of people running around and how somehow all the combined effort turning into something spectacular. But the thought of a role that might take him to the top level was pretty exciting.

  On the run back to his house he had two thoughts on his mind. One was Holly, and if she had received the arrangement yet and what she was thinking about. The other was the part in the movie. He wanted both. Holly, if she would have his help with the rabbit therapy group, and the role no matter what. Kelly sprinted back to his house. Then he called his management team and told them what he wanted and to make it happen. He changed and went out to the garage. He double checked that all his gear was loaded in the jeep, then headed out to the beach.

  Chapter 4

  Holly was half asleep on the couch when Lia came home.

  "Mom?"

  "Oh, yeah, hi honey, how was your night?" Holly glanced at the clock on the cable box and saw it was eleven fifteen.

  "Fine, we hung out with Megan and Cody."

  Lia didn't have a curfew anymore. She was eighteen, she was driving, she was headed off to college at the end of August. She had always been a responsible kid and, when classes ended in May, she had asked not to have a curfew. Holly couldn't see why she needed one and Lia had barely been out past midnight anyway, since that decision was made, though she occasionally called and said she would just stay at a friend's house. No the problem wasn't Lia, the problem was Holly had, over the years, managed to convince herself not to worry until the designated curfew time had come and gone. Lia had given her very little reason to worry, but now, with no official curfew, Holly drove herself nuts wondering when Lia was going to be coming home.

  Holly stretched out on the couch and looked around for the remote to turn the TV off. She heard Lia open the fridge in the kitchen.

  "What's this?" Lia called.

  "It's fruit," Holly called, as she turned off the TV and joined her daughter in the kitchen.

  "Did you...make this?"

  "Oh no," Holly laughed. It wasn't an unreasonable assumption. Occasionally Holly got turned on to a new hobby and was known to go a little overboard with it. "Have one," she said, and pulled a bamboo stick laden with strawberries, grapes and pineapple out of the pot.

  "Okay," Lia said, and took one as well.

  "I'll disassemble it tomorrow, I thought you should see it first, it really is pretty." Holly said and took a bite out of the pineapple flower off the top. She turned back to see Lia also pull the stick with the card out of the fridge.

  "What is this?" Lia said, reading it, "From Kelly? Is that Kelly Rockport?"

  "Yes it is," Holly said and took the card out of her daughter's hand. But once she had it she didn't know what to do with it.

  "What does he mean, hope you'll consider what his offer? What did he offer you?"

  "Oh Lia, it's nothing, he wanted to give us some money to help with the therapy rabbits, that's all."

  Lia wasn't satisfied and it took several minutes and another helping of fruit for Holly to explain the whole thing.

  "Maybe you should do it Mom, I mean, what are you going to do when I go to college in August?"

  "You don't need to worry about that."

  "Come on Mom, really, what are you going to do?"

  "Not that, I don't think, it would take a lot of research."

  "Well I don't think he sent you this because of the rabbits, I mean look at it, it's huge."

  "I'm sure it was just because of the rabbits."

  "And he took you to lunch."

  "I'm going to bed Lia, good night."

  "I think he likes you."

  Holly shook her head and headed upstairs, leaving Lia in the kitchen and wondering if she was going to find that the lights had been left on when she came back down in the morning. She didn't need to argue with her daughter about Kelly's intentions. Whatever his reason, seeing that vet's reaction to Timber had struck a nerve in the guy. Holly was sure that was all there was to it. She wasn't much for following celebrities but Kelly Rockport was big enough that his relationships were usually headline news. She was pretty sure any woman he had ever been involved with (or had been rumored to be with) was still firmly in her twenties and out of this world gorgeous.

  No, she didn't need to worry about Kelly's intentions. But Lia was right about one thing. Holly didn't have a plan for when Lia went for school. Holly had spent the past sixteen years filling her time with stuff for her daughter. She helped out with the school, with scouts, with whatever activity Lia was involved with, it had kept Holly busy. Very busy. Now Lia was moving on as she should. Holly didn't have to worry about money. The settlement from the accident had set them up for life. When Holly thought about it, the idea of Lia being an hour and a half away and Holly having no idea where Lia was, or who she was with or what she was doing and Holly having nothing but time on her hands to worry about it, well she was upset just thinking about it and Lia hadn't even left yet.

  Holly crawled into bed and forced herself to think about Kelly Rockport. The rabbit therapy group could expand. She would have time to take it on in the fall. She fell asleep planning to text Kelly in the morning and thank him and tell him she was definitely going to seriously consider his offer.

  Chapter 5

  Kelly rolled over and looked at the clock. He had overslept, but being late for the surf isn't like being late for a job you need to pay your bills, so he shrugged it off and stretched out on the bed. Eventually he forced himself up and headed down to the kitchen. He started up the coffee and grabbed his phone. He was surprised, and pleased, to see a text from Holly. He read it and was happy to see she had gotten the arrangement and was considering his offer. She said she had no idea where to start but she'd be looking into it over the coming months.

  Then he checked his other messages and saw that the producers for "Mistakes" were willing to see him tomorrow. He quickly called his management company to have them confirm the appointment, then he grabbed the land line phone and called his neighbor Mabel.

  Kelly had first met Mabel when he had moved in. She had taken it upon herself to welcome him to the neighborhood, if you could consider a twenty minute lecture on what was and wasn't acceptable behavior a welcome. She was eighty-five now and lived alone. One day, not long after he had moved in, Kelly had seen her struggling trying to get a bag of potting soil out of her car and he had stopped to help her. She had yelled at him for his insolence, but finally relented and let him help. It had gone on like that for a while, till one day she had told him she wasn't taking his help anymore without paying him. There was no way Kelly was going to take a dime from Mabel, ever, and he told her that. There had been a bit of a standoff until Kelly had finally suggested she help him read lines when he needed to.


  On the surface it seemed crazy but it worked. Eventually Kelly had invested in a professional camera so he could play back the footage and watch his performance and see how his face and body language looked on screen. Mabel needed her reading glasses, but her reading was fluent and it really helped Kelly to work with her. Once they had come to a love scene and, after an embarrassed look at each other, they had both flipped the pages and gone on.

  Mabel answered the phone right away and they agreed Kelly would drop off the copy of the script before his run and she'd come over later in the afternoon to rehearse with him. Kelly looked at the clock and decided to try calling Holly. As he was dialing it occurred to him she could be at work, not that he knew where she worked, it hadn't come up during their conversation at lunch. He was happy when she answered.

  "Hi?"

  "Hi Holly, it's Kelly."

  "Oh, hi."

  "Did I get you at work? It's like," Kelly squinted at the clock across the kitchen, "One o'clock where you are."

  "Oh, yes, sort of, I work from home, self-employed."

  "Really, what do you do?"

  "Oh, um, painting, and pottery, and stuff I sell it on line sometimes."

  She sounded embarrassed, or nervous, Kelly realized.

  "Oh, well I didn't mean to interrupt you, I just, got your text, I was happy to see that you decided to give the animal therapy thing a shot."

  "Yeah, I haven't really looked into it yet."

  "No, I know, it's just," Kelly realized the conversation was going from bad to worse. He cared about the animal therapy group but he cared more about seeing Holly again. A lot more. "Maybe we should get together and brainstorm some ideas."

  "Get together? I thought you lived in LA."

  "Well I do, but I have about a month off until I start shooting again." Holly didn't say anything so Kelly continued, "I could fly back East, we could go to lunch again, or dinner."

  There was silence on the other end and Kelly was trying to figure out what to say, that wouldn't make him sound like a babbling idiot, when she spoke.