Platinum Doll. Anne Girard

director took a liking to me and introduced me to a casting director before I left. Joe Egli.”

      Jean gasped. “You actually met Joe Egli?”

      “That’s how I got the next job. He called over to Fox where he knew they were hiring. I have a call tomorrow. It’s a prison picture called Honor Bound. It’s just another crowd scene, but it’s more work!”

      “Oh!” Jean exclaimed as she drew her daughter to her chest and wrapped her into a tight embrace. “That’s my Baby! I knew if they could just see you this would happen!”

      Harlean and Chuck walked outside after that and stood beneath a bright quarter moon in a breeze that was balmy and soothing. Chuck had tried to pull his hand away from hers, but Harlean had only clamped onto it more tightly, her determination overpowering his strength in the moment. She reached up and cupped his chin in the palm of her other hand. His jaw quivered at her touch.

      “They’ll be gone soon. Mommie said she had an appointment lined up tomorrow to look at a house for rent.”

      “God, how I hate when you call her that,” he groaned as he looked away.

      “Listen, Chuck, you know how sorry I am about your mother but you don’t have to take it out on me because I still have mine.”

      Harlean heard her own harsh tone the moment the words left her lips, and she was instantly sorry that she had allowed her frustration to lead her.

      “I’m sorry, that was cruel of me,” she said. “There’s just so much inside you that you won’t share with me. Sometimes it’s difficult to know how to reach you, especially when it comes to that subject.”

      “I don’t like you talking about her, or my father, either. I think I’ve made that pretty easy to understand.” She heard the sharp defensiveness in his tone, and she was even more ashamed of herself. She willed her next words to be spoken slowly and tenderly.

      “But it might do you some good. People need to grieve, Chuck, or it’ll be like poison. It’ll tear your heart up inside.”

      “How the hell would you know?” he snapped at her.

      “I lost my daddy.”

      “Mont Clair Carpenter is still breathing, doll,” he shot back. His tone was still harsh but now it was fragile, too. She hated how easily she could imagine him shattering. “You have no idea at all what my grief feels like.”

      She put a hand on his shoulder. “I’d like to, though. I want to share everything with you, even that.”

      “Well, you can’t. No one can.”

      “I can’t because you won’t let me.”

      “Because I can’t let you! I refuse to feel that pain, or even think about it, because there’s not a damn thing I can do to change it!”

      Harlean saw tears suddenly shining in his eyes. “Do you think maybe that’s why you lash out sometimes, though?” she asked very gently.

      She hoped he wouldn’t lash out at her even more for suggesting it.