Crazy For You (13 page)

***

Chapter 12

R
oxanne and Candy moved to
New York City where, once again, they started a new life. Roxanne
had made the decision to break away from Frank Garrett long before
she ever left Florida, yet, leaving him behind turned out to be
easier said than done. Why couldn’t she put it all behind her and
forget about him? Considering the circumstances, that might prove a
little hard to do.

Jason Fischer, her publisher, picked up on Roxanne’s
troubles as she struggled with her inner conflict. His concerns
weren’t purely altruistic though, he’d just signed her to a
three-book contract. He took it upon himself, presumptuously, and
made her an appointment with an old college friend of his—Jerry
Sterling, a psychiatrist.

With Jason’s connections, Roxanne got in to see
Jerry the same day. Without a word, she sat down in the chair in
front of his desk.

“Hello Roxanne.” Jerry offered his hand in a
friendly manner. “I’m Jerry Sterling,” he said as they shook
hands.

Situating himself back behind his desk, he scanned
the preliminary paperwork she’d filled out in the waiting area.
“How are you doing today?”

“Isn’t that for you to figure out?”

“I can’t figure anything out until you tell me what
the problem is.”

“Well, if I knew that…then I wouldn’t need you, now
would I?”

“What’s gotten you so upset?”

“Look…” Roxanne decided to lay it on the line. “I
just want you to tell me how to get him out of my head, okay?”

“Who?”

“Frankie. I’ve tried. And I can’t do it myself.”

“What is it about this man that upsets you so?”

“Don’t you know?” she asked as if he should.

“Did you two break up?”

“Oh, you catch on fast.” She laughed dryly.

“If the break-up is affecting you so strongly,” he
said, seemingly ignoring her snide remark. “Why don’t you just go
back to him?”

“That’s out of the question.” She’d made up her
mind, and reconciling with Frank was not an option. “I have to
think of the baby.” She couldn’t forget how cruel Frank had been to
her. Roxanne couldn’t bring herself to subject a child to his
hatred.

“You have a child?” Jerry examined the file, more
closely this time.

“Not yet. My baby’s due in January.”

“And he’s the father?”

“Yes.”

“Well, isn’t that a reason to stay with him?” He
wanted her to consider the consequences of her actions.

“Normally it would be,” she said. “But this is no
normal situation.”

“Why is that?”

“Because he’s Frank Garrett. And nothing is ever
good enough for him.”

“How about Mondays and Thursdays?”

“For…?”

“Appointments. You come see me on Mondays and
Thursdays…and we’ll talk,” he said. “We’ll see if we can figure out
how to get him out of your head.”

Roxanne liked that idea. She hoped Jerry was
everything Jason made him out to be. If he couldn’t help her, she
feared no one could.

Later, after his newest patient had gone, Jerry
phoned his old pal Jason. “I saw your latest discovery this
morning.”

“And…” Jason’s anticipation reached across the
wire.

“Well, to make a long story short,” Jerry said,
“your girl has serious problems.” He revealed as much information
as his professional ethics allowed.

“Jerry,” Jason’s tone hardened. “Need I remind you
that she’s extremely important to me?”

“Yes. I get that you don’t want to lose your new
discovery to a mental breakdown.”

“Damn straight I don’t.” His exasperation was
confirmation enough. “So find a rope in that brain of yours and
throw it to her. Pull her back to safe ground.”

“I’m seeing her again later in the week. I’ll do
what I can.”

Garrett-Hollander prepared to leave for California,
and the realization that Roxanne and Candy were really gone, for
good, started to sink in for both Frank and Rich.

Frank began the slow process of trying to get over
Roxanne, and the words began to pour from his soul. He wrote about
his heartache. He even sang about it. But Frank refused to openly
admit, to anyone, just how deeply Roxanne’s desertion had affected
him. Even so, the first song he wrote did hint at a glimmer of the
heartbreak Frank was feeling.

Verse 1

I wanted to tell you I was sorry

But you were gone when I went to look for you

Don’t say it’s over

Please don’t tell me we’re through

You said you never meant to hurt me

But still you do the things you do

Chorus:

I read it in your letter

I found it lying on the floor

You think I don’t know any better

And you can’t take it anymore

But I’d give anything

If you’d just walk back through that door

Verse 2

You said you didn’t love me anymore

And that you stayed too long

But now you’ve gone away

And my love still grows strong

Why did you turn your back on me

Somebody tell me where I went wrong

Chorus:

I read it in your letter

I found it lying on the floor

You think I don’t know any better

And you can’t take it anymore

But I’d give anything

If you’d just walk back through that door

Verse 3

I can’t seem to get past us

I look for you everywhere I go

You have to say you didn’t mean it

You have to tell me it isn’t so

How could you forget how much I love you?

That much you’ve got to know

Chorus:

I read it in your letter

I found it lying on the floor

You think I don’t know any better

And you can’t take it anymore

But I’d give anything

If you’d just walk back through that door

***

***

Chapter 13

1988

Early Summer

Tampa, Florida

R
ich grabbed a beer from
the fridge and planted himself in front of the television. Eager to
tune in to Lauren Weber’s special—the show was his guilty
pleasure—he wanted to see who she was going to dog this time.

Of course, he wasn’t expecting to see Roxanne on his
TV screen. He knew Roxanne and Candy were actresses, and that
Roxanne had written some books, but he’d never read any of them and
he’d never seen any of their movies. As he watched Lauren Weber
interview Roxanne, life started to feel a bit surreal for Rich.

He didn’t pay much attention when Lauren asked
Roxanne if Frank Garrett was the father of her son. That whole
notion kind of escaped him. Until Rich got a good look at the kid,
who turned out to be a miniature version of Frank. That simply
floored Rich.

What
?
Frank’s what
…
Frankie
…
a
son
…
Frank has a son
.

Granted, Roxanne had pretty much denied the
possibility that Frank was the boy’s father. But the resemblance
was too much for it to be a coincidence. The boy looked exactly
like Frank—his hair, his eyes, the shape of his face. And Roxanne
had named him Frankie.

Frank and Roxanne have a son
. Then he thought
about the fact that, as far as he knew, Frank didn’t know anything
about the child.
Oh, No
. Rich knew Frank had had enough
problems over the years because of Roxanne Simon without adding
fathering her child to the list.

Rich knew what he had to do. He had to get to the
bottom of this. Unfortunately, he knew of only one way do that.
He’d have to see Candy.

But was he ready for that? He hadn’t contemplated
seeing her again. He didn’t think he’d have to. For the most part,
he’d put her behind him. He’d convinced himself that whatever had
existed between them was over and done, and he didn’t care if he
ever saw her again. But, because of Frank, he had to.

Roxanne was sitting at her desk in her study. Having
chosen to start working on the autobiography, she let the
consequences of that decision sink in. Finally, the whole truth
would be known. That of course meant she’d have to tell the truth
about Frank Garrett. That he was Frankie’s father.

Admitting that publicly would also bring about a
whole slew of questions that she’d be expected to answer. Like for
instance, why she had let someone else—namely Kirk Bronson—claim to
be Frankie’s father.

Kirk Bronson. She’d caused him a lot of trouble
without trying. The famous musician from England had been cast as
her first co-star. And they quickly became the best of friends.
Roxanne had also formed an amiable friendship with Sara, Kirk’s
wife. During the filming of The Secret, Roxanne hadn’t been all
that stable, mentally. The handful of people who knew about it,
including Kirk and Sara, kept it very hush-hush.

Roxanne’s scenes had been filmed after Frankie’s
birth, and the movie premiered when he was about ten months old.
The producers persuaded Kirk and Roxanne to attend the premier
together for publicity purposes.

…
Roxanne and Kirk had strolled down the
red-carpeted walkway, pausing periodically to pose for pictures.
This in itself had made Roxanne extremely nervous. Everybody told
her that using a stage name would make her virtually invisible. But
she knew…she knew if Frank saw any one of these pictures, he would
know it was her.

The pack of reporters began asking the usual
questions, all taking note of the answers given to the others.

Someone called to her, from out of the crowd, and by
her real name. “Roxanne...has Frank Garrett seen the baby yet?”

Roxanne froze.

Kirk had known how Roxanne felt about Frank finding
out about the baby…so, without giving a second thought to the
consequences, he said, “Why would Frank Garrett want to see my
son?”

Needless to say, the press had a field day with that
one. Which, incidentally, led to a divorce between Kirk and Sara
Bronson….

And now, all these years later, Roxanne had no idea
if Frank knew about Frankie or not, much less Kirk’s public
declaration that he was the boy’s father. If Frank did know about
it, did he believe what he’d heard?

Over the years, Roxanne had tried to put the memory
of Frank Garrett to rest, but all her attempts were in vain. While
she refused to acknowledge his existence to most people, still, she
knew. She knew everything that’d ever happened to Frank and
Garrett-Hollander during the past five years. She knew that every
song he’d ever written was about her, and she knew every last one
of them all too well. Whether the topic included anger, hatred,
vengeance, or simply regret, the subject was always the same. The
subject was always her.

Ironically, she’d thought she could run away. Yet,
every time she turned around there he was on some radio station
somewhere, singing about her.

Roxanne shivered, trying to shake all those songs
out of her mind and her heart.

Granted, she hadn’t always handled the past the best
way she could have. But the one thing she had done right back then
was accepting a minimal actor’s fee in exchange for a small
percentage of the first movie’s profits. The Secret grossed over
one-hundred million dollars and Roxanne quickly realized the
position she and Candy were in. Before agreeing to sell the movie
rights to her second book Always and Forever, she insisted on
retaining five percent of the profits. With two box office hits
under her belt, Roxanne ended up a wealthy woman.

Candy and Frankie sat side-by-side in the living
room, watching TV. The telephone rang and she answered it without
much forethought.

“Candy?” she heard Walt’s voice.

“Yes, Walter, it’s me.”

“I got this call from Garrett-Hollander’s manager.”
His voice was filled with confusion.

At the mention of the famous rock group, her heart
jumped into her throat.

“It seems that Rich Hollander is trying to contact
you,” Walt said. “I didn’t know you knew him that well.”

“Well…that was way before you entered the picture,
Walter.”

“So what’s this all about?”

“I haven’t a clue,” she said. “You’ve had more
contact with them than I have.”

“There’s a phone number.”

Candy took the number and couldn’t resist calling
right away.

“Hello...” She recognized Rich’s voice. After all
those years, hearing it was comforting.

“Hi, Rich,” she said.

“Candy?” he asked. “How are you?” A coolness had
invaded his tone.

“I’m fine.” She tried to hide her nerves. “What’s
up?”

“I need to see you. It’s important.”

“Sure,” she said with all the cool and casualness
expected of an award-winning actress.

Her concurrence came a bit too easily to suit Rich.
“Should I come there?”

“No!” Now her voice perked up. “That’ll scare the
hell outta Roxanne.”

“Well…how about a late lunch this afternoon?”

They made plans to meet at Bennigan’s within the
hour.

After Candy left, Frankie went upstairs to find his
mother. Figuring he’d find her in her study, he tapped on the door
gently.

Whenever he knocked, she always knew it was him.
“Hi, sweetie.” Her voice traveled through the door. “Come on
in.”

Even at his young age, Frankie knew his mother
worked in her study. What she did in there, he wasn’t exactly sure.
But he knew, while she was working he wasn’t supposed to disturb
her, unless something important came up. And Frankie figured this
was important.

Roxanne smiled, watching him run across the room.
“What’s up?” she asked. “Did Aunt Candy abandon you?”

“What’s that mean?”

“Did she leave?”

“Yes,” he said, and then his eyes lit up like he
remembered why he’d come in. “Mommy, who’s Rich?”

“Rich?” The mention of his name startled
Roxanne.

“Yeah, Rich. Aunt Candy was talking to him on the
phone,” he said. “And then she left to go see him.”