Virtuous(78)

“I don’t know. Like sixty, maybe?”

“You own sixty cars?”

“It’s a collection. Often, when you collect things, you have a lot of them.”

“You have sixty cars.”

“That’s an estimate.”

“So it could be more?”

“Or less.”

I start to laugh, and I can’t stop. He’s so cute and funny and embarrassed.

“I give a lot of money to charities of all kinds, especially the starving-children kind, so don’t tell me there’re a lot of starving kids out there who could benefit from the money I spend on cars. I take care of them first.”

I wipe laughter tears from my eyes. “It seems you may have mounted that ready defense in the past.”

“All the time with my sisters, who think my collection is ‘obscene.’ They also like to remind me that he who dies with the most toys is still dead.”

“I think I’m going to like them.”

“They do help to keep things real for their little brother,” he says with a chuckle. “I don’t get away with much around them. And, seriously, starving kids are a thing for me.”

“I already knew that about you.”

“That’s one thing they write about me that you can actually believe. I hate that there are kids going hungry in this land of plenty. It astounds me that a country with our resources can still have hunger problems. So I do what I can to shed some light on that issue.”

“I have kids who come to school hungry in the morning. I keep breakfast bars and juice boxes in my desk drawer. They all know they’re welcome to them and they don’t have to ask first. It breaks my heart every time one of them visits that drawer. Even at that young age, they’re embarrassed.”

He grips the steering wheel so tightly, his knuckles turn white. “God, I hate that. It makes me f*cking furious that hunger exists as a problem in this country.”

“Me, too.”

“If celebrity is good for anything, it’s for stuff like this. I never miss a chance to raise money or draw attention to the fact that while we’re sitting fat, dumb and happy in our big rich lives, kids are starving from coast to coast.” He glances over at me. “I’m actually starting a foundation to put my money where my mouth is on this issue.”

I’m immediately intrigued. “Really?”

Nodding, he says, “It bugs the shit out of me that so much of what I donate to other organizations goes to overhead. I hate going to fancy, costly benefits to raise money for hunger issues. Screw that. Hungry people don’t need the glitterati having another black-tie event on their behalf. They need food. Right now. I want to work on ways to make that happen more efficiently. Develop networks across the country, tap into my own network for funding. That kind of thing.”

“I love that idea.”

“It’s starting to look like it might happen. I’ve had a couple of recent meetings with people in LA and New York about what it would take to get it started. We’re planning to begin in the biggest population centers and work our way out from there. We’ve got another meeting coming up soon.”

“So many people would benefit from that kind of project.”

“That’s the goal. So am I forgiven for my car collection?”

“You didn’t just make up the foundation idea hoping I’d forget about the cars, did you?”

His guffaw makes me smile. “Not hardly. I can provide witnesses that the foundation was in the works long before today.”

“It’s really admirable, Flynn. All kidding aside, I absolutely love the idea.”

“I’m glad you do. I feel good about it.”

“You should. When I first moved to New York, I gave money to every homeless person I encountered on the street until Leah told me I had to stop or go broke myself. It kills me every time I have to walk by someone who’s living on the street, especially in the winter.”

“I used to do the same thing when I was able to walk around in the cities.”

I smile at him as we discover another trait we have in common. “So where are you taking me?”

“I figured since you’ve never been to LA before, we’d do a little windshield tour starting with Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. Then we’ll hit the coast and check out Santa Monica and Malibu. Sound good?”

“Sounds great. Those are places I’ve heard about all my life but have never seen.”