Даниэла Стил - Neighbors

“Good Lord!” she said. “It really is you. I thought it might be a joke. It’s an honor to speak to you. I’d forgotten that you’re her grandmother, although it’s in our press kit on her somewhere. I’ll get you her number right away.” She went off the line and was back in seconds. “If you have trouble reaching her, and need us to get in touch, let me know. You know how kids are these days, it’s all text, they don’t pick up their phones.” Meredith hadn’t thought of that. “I’ll give you her email address too,” which she did, and Meredith thanked her warmly. It had been a friendly welcome to the Hollywood scene, and the gatekeepers of Julia’s career. She liked the sound of her agent. She seemed young, energetic, and engaged.

After what Sarah Gross said, when Meredith called Julia’s number a few minutes later, she expected it to go straight to voicemail. Instead, a sexy young voice answered, which Meredith thought was a recording at first, and she was waiting for the ding so she could leave a message. But instead, Julia said hello again and Meredith was flustered when she answered.

“Julia? Is that you?” she asked. “It’s your grandmother. I’ve wanted to get in touch with you for ages.” She didn’t know what else to say for openers, but it was true.

“Grandma?” She only had one since Meredith knew Kendall’s mother-in-law had passed away.

“Yes, it’s me,” Meredith said, feeling silly. It was odd dropping into her granddaughter’s life nine years later. “I’ve been following your career, and I’ve watched everything I could lay hands on. You’re terrific, and I wanted to tell you that myself.”

“Where are you? In San Francisco?” She sounded excited and thrilled to hear from her.

“No, I’m in L.A., so I wanted to call you while I’m here.” She didn’t tell her that she was her sole reason for the trip, so as not to pressure her. “I was hoping we could get together if you’re not too busy.”

“I’d love it! Of course I’m not too busy. Where are you?”

“The Beverly Hills Hotel.” Meredith felt a little overwhelmed herself by the warm reaction.

“Can I come now? I’ve wanted to call you, but Mom says you never talk to anyone, so I didn’t want to intrude on you.”

“I’m here to see you,” Meredith said honestly. “Come on over.” She couldn’t believe how easy it had been. It felt meant to be.

“I live in West Hollywood. I’ll grab an Uber and be there in fifteen minutes. I’m so happy you called me.”

“So am I. See you soon.” When they hung up, Meredith looked in the mirror. Her still blondish hair made her look younger, but she felt suddenly ancient. She wondered if she should change her clothes or try to look elegant. She was wearing jeans, a black cashmere sweater, and Hermès loafers. She hadn’t expected to see her so soon. There was no time to get dressed now, and play the grande dame, and she didn’t want to anyway. She wanted to be real, down-to-earth, and accessible to Julia.

She kept walking around the bungalow nervously, and set out some nuts and snacks and petit fours that the hotel had sent her. She was still fussing and had brushed her hair twice and put on lipstick, when the doorbell rang. Meredith opened it, and there was her spectacularly beautiful, tall, sexy granddaughter with a mane of red hair and no makeup, wearing almost the same thing she was, except that she was wearing sneakers instead of loafers. And before Meredith could say anything, Julia was hugging her and they were both crying. It was more emotional than either of them had expected, and felt as though they had seen each other yesterday.

“I still have all the dolls you gave me. I kept them. And I wanted you to know that I’m an actress now too, or trying to be.”

“And doing a damn fine job of it too. I loved you in the second series you did.”

“We’re shooting another season and they’re going to make my part bigger.” There was so much to say and nearly nine years to cover. Meredith took out her file and showed her all the articles she had collected, and Julia looked deeply touched. She was staring at her grandmother. “You look the same.”

“No, I don’t,” Meredith denied it, “but thank you. I’m sorry we haven’t talked in so long.”

“I know, me too.”

“It’s my fault.” Meredith took responsibility for it, but Julia knew better.

“No, it’s not. Not entirely. It’s Mom. She makes everything so difficult. Nothing is ever a straight line with her. It has to be complicated and convoluted and dark, and you have to jump through hoops of fire to get to her. That’s why I’m here. I just couldn’t do it at home anymore. She hates my wanting to be an actress. She hates everything to do with Hollywood. Grampa got me a few jobs, and she had a fit at him. He does what he wants anyway. My dad is an angel, I don’t know how he deals with her. She overthinks everything, and she’s so bitter. It’s sad. She’s poisoned our relationship,” Julia confided in her. It was similar to what Meredith had experienced with Kendall.

“She hardly ever returns my calls,” Meredith admitted. “She goes for months without calling me. She’s still angry about things that happened fifteen years ago, or when she was a little girl. For some reason, after he was gone, she decided that I loved her brother more than I loved her. It’s hard to cut through all that and have a connection with her. I just let her call me when she wants to, and call her occasionally and hope for the best. But I lost you in all that,” Meredith said sadly.

“I told her I wanted to see you when I came out here, and she acted as though I was abandoning her. I think underneath that ice-cold exterior, she’s a very jealous person. She’s pissed that I’m out here and enjoying it. She keeps telling me that I’m just like you, as though that’s a crime. It’s a compliment.” Julia smiled at her. “Grampa says you’re the greatest actress that ever lived, and it’s a tragedy that you stopped working. My dream is to be in a picture with you one day,” she blurted out, and Meredith knew that was never going to happen, but she wanted to know all about Julia now, and it was comforting to know that she had the same kind of problems with Kendall.

“She blamed me for our divorce, and I wasn’t the one who left, your grandfather did. And she blamed me for being too hard on Scott, when your uncle died.” It was odd to think of Justin that way, since he had only been fourteen at the time, but he was Julia’s uncle.

“I don’t know,” Julia said. “Mom’s been angry all her life, and my dad is so patient with her. He’s the one who let me come out here, and she was furious with him. She says she hated Hollywood growing up, and she wants nothing to do with it now.”

“I was gone a lot then, but Scott and I took turns going on location, so one of us was always with her. She’s forgotten that.”

“She has selective memory about everything, and nothing is ever her fault, although I have to admit, we were talking about you a couple of years ago, and I asked why she didn’t make an effort to reconnect with you, and she said it was too late, she had been terrible to you, and you can’t repair that.”

“Oh my God, she said that?” Julia nodded, and helped herself to a petit four. “I’m amazed.”

“She’d rather be miserable and angry than fix anything. She’s still furious with me for being out here. She considers it the ultimate betrayal, that I’m not in New York, still in college and dating who she wants me to, her friends’ sons. I would die of boredom, and that’s not me. So now she never calls me. And sounds like an iceberg when I call her.”

“She forgets that she did the same thing.” Meredith smiled nostalgically. “She dropped out of college after she and your father met in Florence. I did everything to keep her in school, and she quit anyway, and got married. But I have to admit, it worked out well. I don’t see how she can be so hard on you about what you’ve done. You have real talent, Julia,” Meredith said proudly.