EQMM, December 2010 by Dell Magazine Authors

Author:Dell Magazine Authors
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dell Magazines

Department of First Stories: THE ACTRESS by Cynthia Benjamin

* * * *

* * * *

It was a typical Hollywood party, if anything is ever typical about the sight of power brokers, faux and legit, circling each other with clenched porcelain veneers set in perma-frost faces, topped by assorted rugs, weaves, and plugs. The air was so thick with the scent of schadenfreude, it could be bottled and sold in any high-end Beverly Hills boutique. It was probably on back order.

Tonight it perfumed the air of a Malibu cliff-top mansion where guests had assembled to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of a mogulette, whose fondest birthday wish was to be fifty. Matt Simon knew her during an earlier incarnation as a third-rate talent agent who once represented his Claire, a second-rate actress. Over the past four years Claire had been devoting more and more time to orchestrating her comeback. Attending tonight's party was part of that grand plan, and Matt watched with genuine admiration as she worked the room, trolling for studio executives and casting agents, while he retreated to the nearest buffet table. It was graced with an ocean view and a never-ending supply of beluga caviar that so far was being devoured by only one other party guest. He was a smiling entertainment lawyer who seemed more dolphin than barracuda. Not that it mattered. Either way, Matt Simon intended to kill him.

When Larry Floyd extended his plump hand, Matt noticed that each half-moon shaped fingernail gleamed with a sheen of freshly applied clear nail polish. Matt wondered—would Larry have taken the time for a manicure that afternoon if he knew he'd be dead by midnight? How does anyone spend his last day on Earth? But Larry Floyd wasn't just anyone. He was Claire's lover, a fact she had made Matt aware of just one week earlier.

* * * *

They were preparing for a small dinner party that Saturday night, which meant Matt was cooking while Claire obsessively rearranged plates of sliced organic mushrooms and grilled shrimp on the deck overlooking the canyon. He knew that any symptom of her OCD behavior was a precursor to an emotional meltdown. Start to finish, it was a forty-five-minute ordeal followed by a total redo of her makeup. That would leave an hour to decompress before their guests arrived at eight.

Matt poured himself a scotch and prepared for the ritualistic venting and sharing that would follow. It was familiar territory they had navigated many times during their fifteen-year marriage. He would ask Claire what was wrong, then she would shrug, shake her head, and unburden herself of a professional rejection related to her age, never her lack of talent. His wife was blessed with many qualities, but self-awareness wasn't one of them. Matt envied her.

Claire was obsessively folding and unfolding the cocktail napkins in the living room when Matt entered, drink in hand, and said what was expected of him.

"Tell me what's wrong."

This time it was Claire's answer that deviated from the script. “I had an affair.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.