Christopher Beha - Arts & Entertainments - A Novel

JUSTINE WAS STILL ON all the front pages the next week, but on Tuesday Stanley Peerbaum’s column included a photo of Eddie dropping Melissa off for class. Peerbaum had interviewed some of her Intro to Media Studies classmates, as well as the professor, who said he was writing a scholarly article about the Martin-Hartley tape.

“She was real stuck up from the first day of class,” a girl named Edwina Gart was quoted as saying. “Like because she grew up on Fifth Avenue and goes to hot parties she’s better than everyone.”

“I don’t even know who that girl is,” Melissa said. “This is so amazing.”

The weeklies — not just the tabloids but the newsmagazines— were devoted almost entirely to Justine. “Have We Finally Gone Too Far?” Time asked on its cover. “We Did This,” Newsweek announced. Both showed Justine inert in her hospital bed.

“I bet these are their biggest sellers in years,” Melissa said. “They must be thrilled.”

Speaking after a round of chemotherapy, Sandra Scopes from Scavenger: Urban Adventure Edition told Marian Blair that Justine was a fighter and her inspiration. Burt Wyman admitted that the collapse had set off “larm bells” for him.

“I thought, Jesus, this ain’t a joke,” he said. “I’m walking the straight and narrow here on in.”

Tom Bliss gave a press conference to address rumors— Eddie had not heard these rumors himself, and he was following the story as closely as one possibly could — that he planned to take Justine off life support.

“I love my girl,” he said. “And she’s going to be back better than ever.”

That night the new episode of Desperately Expecting Susan began with a brief tribute to Justine, in which Susan, Carl, and Tomaka stood arm in arm to wish her a speedy recovery. The rest of the show went on as usual. Near the end, Susan went in for another ultrasound. This time Rex came with her.

“We’re just friends,” Susan insisted to the camera. “But he’s so sweet to come support me. It makes everything a little bit easier.”

Susan and Rex waited alone in the examining room. The doctor appeared, and Eddie learned that his wife was expecting three girls.

MELISSA WAS RIGHT: PEOPLE could only take so much of Justine. So long as she was unconscious, the story had nowhere to go. Everyone seemed ready to move on to other matters. But those matters didn’t include Eddie. CelebNation dedicated its next cover to Martha and Turner, whose wedding would take place on New Year’s Eve. Martha was likable again, and her marriage to another Hollywood star was just the kind of story to displace Justine for a few days. There were even whispers that she missed Rex, that she felt betrayed by Susan, as if they were old friends. This was all to the good as far as Eddie was concerned. Once people were talking about Susan, it was just a small step to start talking about him. Eddie didn’t expect to compete with Martha, but he didn’t need to be that big. He only wanted enough press to get Moody’s attention. So it felt like an act of God when the egg came.

It sailed from nowhere one morning as he stepped out of the hotel alone. The day was beautiful, cold but dry and bright, a day that demanded you look up to the sky with some measure of gratitude, whatever your troubles were. This Eddie did. He squinted at the naked sun, and the egg seemed to sneak in behind it. It might have been a trick of the light, a dust mote, or something dropping from the sun itself. By the time its true nature was apparent to Eddie, the thing was already upon him, breaking on his chin and splattering on his shirt. The impact of the shell carried more force than he would have expected, and he bit his lip as he recoiled.

The scrum of photographers who’d been waiting outside separated, as if by common decision, allowing his accuser to face him. She was a woman of early middle age, dressed in torn clothes, her face darkened by dirt. He thought she might have been a random attacker until he heard her call, “You monster. You pervert. You predator.” The photographers turned, and Eddie expected her to keep screaming. But she seemed only to want their attention. Now that she had it, she went quiet. She had more eggs in her hand, and she fired one straight at Eddie’s chest. A third broke on the ground in front of him, splattering on his shoes. The fourth flew over his shoulder, and Eddie went into full retreat.

“Who was that?” he said out loud in the lobby.

Eddie had heard stories from old friends with parts in soap operas, about being accosted on the street by women asking why they hit their wives or neglected their parents. They had to explain that they were actors reading lines off pages. It was just a television show. Standing in the elevator, Eddie wanted to say the same to the egg-throwing woman. Eddie Hartley was a character, not a real person.

Back in the room, Melissa sat in front of the TV.

“You’re going to want to see this,” she said.

“I need to shower first,” Eddie told her. “I got attacked out there.”

“I know.”

“You know?”

“I read about it.”

“That was fast.”

“There’s a great photo on Teeser. But I think you should watch this first.”

Melissa took the TV off mute.

“Does Susan want Eddie back?” Marian Blair asked. She turned to another camera before continuing. “As Eddie Hartley parades around town with teen tart Melissa Westlake, his pregnant wife fumes at home. Sources tell Entertainment Daily that Desperately Expecting Susan star Susan Hartley is scared to go it alone as she prepares for the birth of the couple’s three daughters. Rex is ready to step in, but Susan wants Eddie back. It may be too late, as the infamous other in the Dr. Drake sex tape is enjoying his new role as boy toy to the teacher’s pet. We’ll have more on this developing story later in the show. But now, here are Justine Bliss’s daily vitals. Body temperature ninety-one point three degrees. Her pulse is holding steady.”

“Teen tart,” Melissa said after putting the show on mute. “It’s kind of clunky, but I like it.”

As Eddie washed the egg off his face and neck, he wondered what would happen to Melissa when Susan took him back. Would she find some way to drain every drop of this notoriety? He imagined watching her in a year on a new season of Scavenger: Urban Adventure Edition or Celebrity Sex Addict. Eddie was grateful to her, but he was already tired of playing this part. He didn’t want people throwing eggs at him.

The call came from Talent Management the next day.

“Jesus,” Alex said. “I’m looking at the front page of the Post , and there you are with egg on your face. Literally, egg on your face. I love it.”

“I’m just trying to get myself back into the story.”

“Well, it worked. I talked with Moody’s people, and they want you in. They’re drawing up the contracts now. Boilerplate stuff. I’ll be in town tomorrow, and you can come to our New York office to sign. I’m setting up a meeting with Moody himself. You’re going to be in very good hands.”

“That’s great,” Eddie said.

“You should know that there’s going to be some serious nondisclosure language in this contract, so I wouldn’t say too much to anyone.”

“That’s all fine,” Eddie said. “So long as I get to see my wife.”

“Still working on that.”

“I thought you were getting me on the show.”

“They don’t want you with Susan. They want you with the girl. Same show, but a separate story line. On one hand, we’ve got the single mom struggling through pregnancy, trying to decide what to do about these overtures from Rex. Will she or won’t she, that sort of thing. On the other, we’ve got the cad and the nymphet.”