Page 75 of Beyond the Spotlight Discreet Version
Oh, well, excuse me, Miss Sassy Pants.
Savannah walks into the kitchen and freezes. Her mouth hangs open, surprised to see me home early. I was supposed to be on set until midnight, but it’s about to storm, and the rain is lasting all night, so they rescheduled our outdoor scenes for tomorrow.
Addy runs back to Savannah and takes her hand. She guides her to the living room where I stand.
Savannah’s face turns a dark shade of red, and I know she’s thinking about my threat after being a brat today. She looks anywhere but at me, scanning the room as if she’s never been in here before. Her eyes linger on the white curtains along the wall of windows that face Central Park. I keep them open, letting the sun pour through to brighten the space, but now, with the storm moving in, the cloudy sky gives the room a somewhat ominous feel.
Addy places Savannah on the white couch. The living room is set up in a square formation. The couch, a matching love seat and chair, and a flat screen television and entertainment center complete the square. Floor to ceiling bookcases fill the far corner of the room. The shelves are packed with odd memorabilia from movie sets, photographs of my family and friends, and other random items the decorator thought fit the design aesthetic.
Addy takes my hand and sits me next to Savannah.
“What are you doing, Poppy?”
“I want to play Mario Car.”
“It’s Mario Kart,” I muse.
“Dad set up his old Ninteeno in here,” Adeline tells Savannah, ignoring me.
“Nintendo 64,” I mumble under my breath.
“I’m not very good at the game, but it’s still fun.” She distributes all the controllers, one for me, Savvy, and her.
“Adeline,” I sigh. “Can we play after dinner? I really need to talk to Savannah.”
Savannah’s green eyes fall on mine, and I raise a brow.
“Don’t you want totalk, Savannah?”
My daughter’s shoulders drop and a twinge of guilt rips through my stomach. She didn’t have many friends growing up. Just the kids at the park when the nanny brought her there. She’s never had a sleepover or friends over to play. I’m still hesitant about that. I suppose Savannah is the closest to a friend she has. It’s all my fault as I tried to keep her hidden and protected from the media.
The best decision I made was enrolling her into preschool, where she can be around other kids her age. I need to reach out to the other parents to arrange play dates. Most of the kids that go there are the products of the rich and famous. They all want privacy as much as me.
“Dad, please. Savvy promised we could play when we got home.”
“Oh, did she?”
“Yeah, Daddy, please let us play. We have plenty of time totalklater,” Savannah says. She bites her lip when I narrow my eyes at her. She knows exactly what she’s doing calling me that. Glad to see she’s no longer acting nervous. It’s more fun when she pushes my buttons and fights with me.
Addy bounces on the couch. “Yay!”
“I’m going to kick your ass,” Savannah says out of the corner of her mouth, quiet enough so Addy doesn’t hear.
“I’ve been playing this game all my life, my love. You’re toast.”
Anhour.
That’s how long we played Mario Kart. My face hurts from smiling. Savannah and Adeline giggled nonstop and every time their cart took a curve, they’d lean their bodies left or right as if that would help maneuver it. Savannah and I both let Adeline win. Then we’d battle it out for second place.
She plays dirty, tossing banana peels and shells at me nonstop.
I wononegame out of ten. One!
We battled for fifteen minutes before realizing Addy vanished to the loo and never returned. I have a feeling my daughter did that on purpose. She’s being a little matchmaker.
“You’re so fucking proud of yourself, aren’t you?” I say, plating the dinner Shirley prepared for us. I’d just checked Addy’s nanny cam, and she’s in her bedroom, dressed in her knight’s costume and wearing the blonde wig Lana gave her.
“You don’t understand,” she begins, her eyes bright with victory. She grabs a cherry tomato from the salad bowl and pops it in her mouth. “Growing up, my parents didn’t make a lot of money, but on my tenth birthday, they splurged and bought me a Nintendo 64. It was the biggest and bestest gift I ever got—”
