Page 64 of Cinematic Destinies
A smile flickered across Albert’s face.
“Al, you’re completely awesome exactly as you are. Mom and Dad love you like crazy. Live your life. Be who you are full force,” Georgia said.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Betty added.
Albert smiled. “Thanks. As annoying as you two can be, and even though I’ll never forgive you for treating me like your doll when I was little, I got pretty lucky in the sister department.”
“Damn straight!” Betty exclaimed.
“We are amazing,” Georgia joked. “Seriously Al, just be you.”
“I’m trying,” he replied.
“Okay, so now that we’ve settled that, let’s get back to the good stuff. Tell us about the guy. Is he sexy?” Georgia asked.
Albert blushed.
“Ooh, it seems he is!” Georgia squealed.
“Can I ask you two something for real?” Albert said. They nodded and he continued, “I don’t have that much experience with guys. But with Ryan . . .”
“Yeah,” Betty gently encouraged.
“The way he makes me feel. Sometimes I think it’s everything. When we’re together”—he stopped to shake his head—“it’s just the best feeling. Like I’m more alive with him than I could ever be without him. Everything feels possible. I’m not just who I am. I’m who I want to be.” Betty and Georgia looked at him wistfully, as if they understood deeply. Albert continued, “Why is it so hard to let go of everything else and just grab onto it?”
Betty sighed and softly said, “I don’t know.”
Georgia looked down and inhaled deeply. In a barely audible voice, she whispered, “Me either.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of,” Albert said.
CHAPTER 17
Georgia was curled up on the couch under a blanket, the shades drawn in her drab apartment. She grabbed her laptop off the coffee table and switched it on, resolved to delete Roo’s last message. Before she could complete the task, her inbox beeped. There was a new message from Jean with the subject line “Anniversary video.” She opened it and read it aloud. “Ma chérie, forgive that I have not made a personal message for your parents. I have always preferred to remain behind the camera, so I sent something else in its stead. When making a film, I have the camera operators record some of what happens on and around set, behind the scenes. I went through my archives fromCelebrationand edited together this video of your parents the summer they met—stolen moments when they had no idea that a camera was capturing them. Raw, naked footage of two people falling in love. Pure beauty. I thought your family would enjoy seeing it. Between us, I must confess it was watching your parents that magical summer, and all the years since, that made me believe all is not lost in the world and indeed love is real. Perhaps it will even make you believe. Love, Jean.”
She opened the attachment and hit play. Suddenly, her parents, younger than she had ever known them, appeared on screen, her father strikingly handsome and her mother extraordinarily beautiful. Georgia gasped at the sight of them. Finn was tenderly stroking Ella’s cheek, off in the corner of the set. The camera pulled closer as Ella looked down bashfully, and Finn gently kissed her forehead, washed in a look of unbridled new love. The corners of Georgia’s mouth trembled as she leaned closer, the light from the screen forming a halo around her face. There were intimate snippets of her parents walking on the lawn, stealing a kiss outside Finn’s trailer. They were radiant, full of hope, and unabashedly taken with each other, all when they thought no one was looking.
Georgia sat utterly mesmerized, a smile crawling across her face and her eyes flooding. Tears silently streamed down her cheeks as she watched the last moment, the cast ofCelebrationtaking their final bow and Finn racing to Ella, picking her up, and twirling her in the air as she laughed, before they kissed passionately. “That must have been right before she left him,” she muttered. “God, they look so impossibly happy.” When the video ended, she grabbed a tissue and cleaned herself up. Then she forwarded the email to Betty and Albert, following up with a text message that read:Just sent you a video of Mom and Dad. Watch it now. She took a deep, centering breath and rose, finally knowing what she had to do.
KHALIL CAME INTO THE RESIDENTS’ LOUNGElooking for Betty. “Hey, I brought you this,” he said, handing her a PowerBar from the vending machine. “They restocked. It’s your favorite kind.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking the snack but unable to meet his eyes.
He touched her hand and said, “Please, can we talk? It’s been strange for weeks, since that night. You’re my best friend. I don’t want it to be like this between us and . . .”
She started to raise her gaze to meet his, but they were interrupted when her pager went off. “Sorry,” she mumbled, pulling it out of her pocket. “Fuck,” she said, tossing him the PowerBar.
“What’s wrong?”
“Kate O’Connor needs an emergency C-section,” she replied as she raced out the door.
Nearly an hour later, Betty shuffled into the residents’ lounge, her head hung. Khalil was waiting for her. He sprang up from the bench and asked, “How’d it go?”
Betty shook her head almost imperceptibly, her eyes fixed to the floor. “She had a massive placental abruption. There was so much blood. I’ve . . .”
“Oh, Betty,” he said, putting his hands on her shoulders.
“We saved the baby. But Kate . . . there was nothing we could do. There was nothing I could do. I—”
