Page 136 of Not Exactly a Small-Town Romance

“That’s the spirit.” He opens his drawer. “You should know you had an influence on this old man.” He pulls out a tin. Gummy Bear Tarot!

“You have a deck!”

“This old dog learned a new trick. It’s tons of fun. Shall we pull a card for your luck?”

“We should.”

Jester shuffles the deck and spreads it in a fan across his desk. “Should you take it or me?”

“Let’s both pull one. For our futures.”

“For our futures.”

I slide one out from the middle, and he takes one from the end.

“On three?” I ask.

He nods.

I give the countdown. “One, two,three.”

We both flip over our cards.

Jester gets the Fool. “Oh, that’s certainly my card,” he says.

“It means originality and spontaneity.”

“A better definition than I figured on!”

I have the Chariot.

“What’s yours mean?” Jester asks.

“It stands for a journey, one where I’ll overcome all obstacles.”

“That’s good, right?”

I nod.

It’s very, very good.

There’s my sign.

Time to leave the lights of Hollywood behind.

Chapter 44

ZACHERYRETURNS TO THEWHALE’SBELLY

I don’t plan to ever step foot in Desdemona Lovechild’s world again, but during a dinner with Catalina and Sweta in late June, Catalina admits she might pull out ofRomeo and Juliet. Her agent can’t get through to the director, which is exactly why she was reluctant to work with him again, and the accent coach he insisted on hasn’t gotten back to her with only a month until shooting.

I tell her I’ll handle it, but I don’t have Luigi Casperra’s contact information.

So I call Jester.

He doesn’t answer. He always knows when someone he doesn’t want to talk to is calling, even if caller ID is blocked. It’s a weird skill of his, Desdemona’s favorite trait.

I’ll have to go in. I can’t count on a call back, even if I leave a voicemail. And Desdemona’s in London. She’s kept me in the loop even though I have no intention of doing anything she asks.

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