A Different Kind of Forever(78)

He answered on the second ring, angry, tense. “Now what?” There was noise in the background, voices raised.

“Michael. Hello.”

A pause, then - “Wait a minute.” He yelled something, then she heard a scuffling, and the sound of a door closing. “Diane? Please tell me it’s really you.” He sounded hoarse. She felt a lump in her throat.

“Yes, it’s really me. The rose expert from Hell was here this morning. She made me feel two feet tall, but she was very helpful. Thank you for thinking of me.”

“I’m always thinking of you.” He stopped. She could feel him, over the miles, reaching for words. “It’s terrible here. Prescott is a madman. He found another producer for the soundtrack. Seth and Joey are furious. Prescott still doesn’t have a final cut. This movie is supposed to be done, opening in December, and he’s still changing things. David Go quit twice already.”

“Oh, Michael,” she said softly.

“How is your play?”

“Opening in four weeks. It’s going to be good, I think. It’s hard for me to tell, but Sam is happy.”

“How are the girls? Is Megan still in love?”

Diane bit her lip. “Yes. They’re fine.” She was sitting on the floor of her den, knees drawn up to her chest, clenching the phone so tightly her knuckles were white. “I miss you.”

“I don’t know when I can come home.” His voice was so low she could hardly hear him. “I can’t leave now, it’s impossible. It’s all falling apart. If I sent you a ticket, could you come?”

Her heart leapt. “Of course. Next weekend. Would it help?”

“The situation? No. If God himself came down, Prescott would probably tell him to mind his damn business.” Michael sighed. “But it would help me. I’m going crazy here. It would be so much better if I could see you. I didn’t – this was a mistake, coming here. I should have insisted on Toronto. I shouldn’t have let him bully me. It’s just, this is – I didn’t want to blow this, you know?” He sounded exhausted, defeated. “I may have blown it anyway.”

“No, Michael,” she said quietly. “I know how important this is to you. You’ll get it done.”

“Maybe. No, you’re right. I’ll get it done, one way or another. I have to go.”

“Yes. Good-bye.”

“Diane?” She heard voices again, loud, arguing. “Diane, I have to go. Bye.”

Jasper jumped lightly up, balancing on her knees. She scratched his ears absently, thinking about London. It was one of her favorite cities. She would go to London to see Michael. Jasper purred, and she sat for a long time, phone in hand.



Michael leaned his head back against the wall and let the phone drop from his hand. He could hear Seth in the next room, raging at Prescott. Seth had started doing lines of cocaine at three in the afternoon, and now, all those hours later, Michael knew Seth was totally out of control. Prescott knew it too, but Gordon Prescott thrived on tension and discord. He was one of those people happiest when all those around him were miserable. Prescott had been a happy man for weeks now.

Last night had been the last straw. Michael refused to look at what Prescott had called ‘the final cut’ of the film. Michael had only two days before he finished what he thought was the last bar of music that he would have to write for Prescott. But Prescott had arrived at Seth’s house just outside of London with yet another version of his film, and Michael had finally, finally lost his temper. He would not re-write anything else. David had done all the orchestration, they had been recording all day. Michael could see a light at the end of what had become the longest tunnel he had been ever seen in his life. He was not doing another note.

Prescott had wheedled, promised and begged. Michael, drained and miserable, had walked out of the house. When he returned an hour later, after walking aimlessly around Seth’s posh neighborhood, Seth and Prescott were locked in a battle over the soundtrack.

It had been decided, way back in June, that Seth and Joey would produce the soundtrack, including all the cuts by the other contributors to the CD. Upon arriving in London, they found that Prescott had made an agreement with a new Irish band, Daemon Spirit, who was also going to be on the soundtrack. Daemon Spirit would produce their own tracks. With the tracks for NinetySeven complete, that left only four more songs on the soundtrack, and Daemon Spirit wanted to produce those as well. Seth and Joey had been fighting with Prescott and Daemon Spirit for weeks, in and out of the studio. Michael, having written a lovely ballad to be sung by Moira MacCauley, tried to stay out of it, but it was proving impossible.