Crazy For You (30 page)

Waking, he found himself sitting up in bed. His
heart was racing wildly, and beads of perspiration had pebbled on
his brow. Trying to put the dismal dream out of his mind, his
attention was drawn by something else.

Knowing he heard something, he strained to listen.
It sounded like someone weeping. Frank got out of bed and went to
the doorway. The crying grew louder. He stepped out into the
hallway. The sobbing was coming from Frankie’s room.

Frank found him in bed, curled up in the fetal
position. He was whimpering even though he was sleeping. A bad
dream? He sat down onto the edge of the bed and laid a hand on
Frankie’s shoulder.

“Mommy…Mommy!” Frankie cried out in his sleep.

Frank pulled him into his lap and hugged him
tightly. “Frankie, it’s Daddy. Come on baby, wake up.”

Frankie opened his eyes and looked up at Frank. He
threw his arms around Frank and cried harder. “I want my Mommy!” he
wailed. “Daddy...I want my Mommy!”

“I know…I know.” Frank tried to console him. “She’d
be here if she could.” But Frank couldn’t convince himself, much
less Frankie.

“I want my Mommy.” The boy bucked and kicked. “I
want my Mommy...” His shrieks trailed off into his tears. Frank
hugged him tighter.

There was nothing Frank could do but hold onto him.
He couldn’t give the boy what he wanted. And Frank hated himself
for that. After all, he was the one who’d taken Roxanne away from
him in the first place.

***

Chapter 26

F
rank, Candy, and Rich
attended the Oscars, to the media’s surprise. No one expected them
to be there, considering what had happened recently. There were
rumors—plenty of rumors—but nothing substantial about what had
happened to Roxanne Simon. The family was very closed-mouthed about
the conditions that had left her in a coma.

The movie Bad Company was cleaning house, too. It’d
had won five awards, and there were three left to be presented. Two
of those categories held nominations for Roxanne and Candy’s
movie.

The time had come for the presentation of the Best
Actress Award. Candy was nervous. She hoped Roxanne won, but if she
didn’t—all Candy knew was she didn’t want to win out over
Roxanne.

“And, the Oscar goes to…” The presenter stalled,
opening the envelope. Surprise pleasantly filled his face. “We have
a tie. For Bad Company…Candy Simon.” He paused while the crowd
roared. If he didn’t follow Candy’s name with Roxanne’s, this would
end up a truly hollow victory. One she would absolutely hate. The
presenter leaned toward the mic, his expression stoic, giving
nothing away about the identity of Candy’s co-winner. “And
again...” He stalled again, dragging it out. Candy was ready to
strangle him. “For Bad Company, Roxanne Simon.”

The crowd went wild.

Tears pooled around Candy’s eyes. She hugged Rich
and then grabbed Frank’s hand. “Come on,” she said. “Come with me
and accept on her behalf.”

Frank followed Candy up to the stage and waited
patiently while she gave her acceptance speech. As Candy wrapped up
her
thank-yous
, he decided it was time to make his
announcement to the world.

Frank stepped up to the microphone and took a moment
to eye the Oscar statuette. “I would like to thank all those people
that Roxanne would have—” He continued to stare at the coveted
prize. “—but I don’t know who they are.” He laughed a little,
having amused himself. “But, thanks to all of you anyway...whomever
you may be.” He waited for the applause to fade. “There’s something
I’d like to tell you all. Something that really doesn’t have
anything to do with tonight’s event.” He finally looked out at the
audience. A hush fell over the entire auditorium. “As you all may
know, my wife was recently hospitalized and remains in a coma. I’d
like to take this opportunity to tell you all that
Garrett-Hollander is now officially disbanded.” The audience
gasped. “With due respect to my wife, I will no longer perform in
concert or record any more albums.” Saying what he had to say,
Frank backed away from the podium.

The audience mumbled, showing their disapproval.

At the end of the evening, Bad Company was named
Picture of the Year. But even as the announcement came, it was old
news.

O
ver the next few days, the
Simon sisters and Garrett-Hollander were the lead stories in just
about every newspaper in the country. Back in Tampa, Frank scanned
the front page of the Tampa Tribune with little interest.

Simon Sisters Win: Garrett-Hollander Quits

It came as no surprise when the Simon Sisters latest
movie Bad Company swept the Oscar’s last night. And it was
refreshing to find that both Roxanne and Candy tied for the Best
Actress Award. What was a surprise though, was Frank Garrett’s
announcement to the world.

Garrett, co-founder of the popular rock-band
Garrett-Hollander, announced to the world last night that the group
has officially disbanded. He went on to say that he would not
perform at any more concerts or record any more albums.

We doubt the Academy cares about this at all, but
they probably are very sorry to lose Roxanne Simon to a coma. Many
of us will miss her fine performances.

As for G-H, the music world is devastated. And to
all of the band’s fans, of which I am one, it is a sorrowful day
for us all. We will never hear any new music from the band, or have
the opportunity to attend one of their concerts. However, there is
one consolation for us. Aside from the three previous albums, G-H
is about to release their fourth and apparently final album. Thank
you Mr. Garrett for leaving us with that much.

Your public commends you, Frank, in your quest to
show your wife proper respect. But to the band Garrett-Hollander,
we will miss you terribly!

Hell
, Frank thought,
who are they trying
to kid
? He threw the paper down on the table.
Nobody really
gives a damn
.

Frank went up to Roxanne’s study. He took the disks
out of the drawer and accidentally dropped them on the floor.
Bending over to pick them up, he noticed a few spots of blood on
the carpet. It must have dripped from Roxanne’s hand when she was
sitting at her desk that night.

He went downstairs and gathered some cleaning
supplies, intent upon removing the stain from the carpet.

Candy came in sometime later, while Frank was on his
hands and knees, scrubbing the floor with a sponge.

“What are you doing?” she asked, walking around
behind the desk.

“There’s blood on the carpet.” Frank didn’t look up.
He continued to scrub at the stain. “It probably dripped off her
hand that night.”

“Frank—” Candy grabbed his arm. “Stop it.”

He jerked away. “Candy, I have to clean this up.” He
refused to stop.

She went for the sponge. “Frank…you have to stop
this.”

Frank looked up into Candy’s worried green eyes. “I
can’t,” he said helplessly.

“You’ve got to stop avoiding the facts.”

“What facts?”

“The fact that you can’t deal with what’s happened
to Roxanne.” She gave a quick, one-sided shrug. “The fact that you
blame yourself, and your music. Isn’t that why you killed your
guitar and quit?”

“Killed my guitar?” He almost laughed.

“It looked pretty dead when I saw it in the
trash.”

“From the very beginning…if I hadn’t made her feel
like music was more important to me than her,” he said with
conviction. “Then you and I wouldn’t be racking our brains right
now, trying to write this book.” He paused, content in reveling in
his own self-condemnation. “She’d be here, alive and well and doing
it herself. And I wouldn’t feel like such a jerk.”

“Frank, you’ve got to stop this.” Candy’s tone
didn’t hide her concern. “You’re going to drive yourself
crazy.”

“Well now,” he said with a hint of laughter.
“Wouldn’t that just be poetic justice.”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t you see?” He looked at Candy. “
I
did
this to her. I drove her crazy.”

“Frank, you had no control over what happened.”

Oh, yes I did
. After all, he was the one
who’d plotted and planned to drive her nuts. “You know what the
worst part of all this is?” he asked, but he didn’t wait for an
answer. “It’s the way this is affecting Frankie.” The notion that
Frankie would have such a hard time with the absence of his mother
had never crossed Frank’s mind. And now Frank hated himself for
being the cause.

“Frankie’s a survivor,” Candy said with a measure of
certainty.

“He has dreams about Roxanne, you know.” Frank let
it out. “He cries in his sleep for his mother. He wants her and I
can’t give her to him.”

Candy wished there was something she could do or say
to help Frank, but it was useless. Nothing would help Frank.
Nothing short of Roxanne waking up.

F
rank dreaded going to bed
that night. He knew at some point that Frankie’s cries would wake
him up. Every time it happened, it cut into his heart a little
deeper. The worse part of all—there was nothing he could do to fix
it.

But this time, unlike all the others, Frankie’s
crying didn’t rouse Frank until Frankie was standing over him,
banging on his chest, beckoning him to wake up.

“Mommy…” Frankie cried. “Mommy!”

Frank realized the boy was still sleeping.
“Frankie...” Frank pulled him down onto the bed.

“I want my Mommy.” Frankie sobbed, half awake
now.

Frank pulled him into his lap. “Frankie, you know
your mother can’t be with us right now. She’s not well enough
yet.”

“No!” Frankie wailed, kicking his feet. “I want my
Mommy…”

“Mommy’s in the hospital right now,” Frank tried to
explain.

“No…no…no...” Frankie continued kicking. “Daddy,
please...I want my Mommy...”

Horrific thoughts flooded Frank’s mind.
Oh
God
...
what have I done
?

C
andy wasn’t exactly
confident in her ability to write Roxanne’s book. She didn’t feel
she had a talent for writing—not like Roxanne. The best solution
she could come up with was to try writing it the way she thought
Roxanne would have.

After printing out the portion she’d just completed,
she handed the printed papers to Frank, who instantly began
reading.

~From the autobiography

When Roxanne met Kirk Bronson he was very married.
Any fool could see that he was totally in love with his wife Sara.
But he’d once said there was something about Roxanne that had
captivated and mesmerized him from the moment he’d laid eyes on
her. He’d only seen her the one time in Lyle’s office, but even so,
during the days that followed he couldn’t get her out of his mind.
Still, at that point, Kirk didn’t harbor any romantic delusions
toward Roxanne. During his marriage to Sara, he never made an
attempt to carry on an affair with Roxanne. He simply wanted to be
her friend.

A few days after the initial meeting with Lyle
Williams, Kirk phoned him up even though he was still apprehensive
about acting.

“Kirk,” Lyle said into the telephone, “I hope you’re
calling to say that you’ve reconsidered our offer.”

“Well…” Kirk paused. “I have been thinking about
it.”

“When can we meet?” Lyle asked quickly.

“There is one thing,” Kirk said. “That young woman I
met in your office the other day.”

“Roxanne…? She wrote the novel.” And then Lyle
remembered that Roxanne hadn’t been exactly nice to Kirk. “She’ll
be on the set quite a bit, but if that’s a problem we’ll separate
the two of you as much as possible.”

“No. I don’t have a problem with her.”

“Wonderful,” Lyle said, relieved.

“By the way,” Kirk said. “Given that I can somehow
manage to pull this off…who is my co-star?”

“Well, that’s where we’re having a little trouble,”
Lyle admitted. “We just can’t seem to find the right girl.”

A
few weeks later,
auditions were still ongoing for the role of Cherie Baker. Mainly
out of curiosity, Roxanne decided to sit in on the auditions.
Testing in one of the hospital room scenes, the actress reading
wasn’t doing it any better than the other four who’d come before
her.

In the scene, Ben lay sleeping in the hospital bed.
Cherie was supposed to enter the room and drop the chart on the
floor, in turn waking him. The chart’s metal cover hitting the
floor would startle him awake, causing Cherie to pretend concern.
She was supposed to say, “Oh, I’m so sorry,” in a half-serious, yet
intentional way. And then add, “Did I wake you?” with a hint of
insincerity. But this girl, like all the others, simply apologized
and nothing more.

Roxanne had seen enough. “No…no!” She hopped off the
stool. “Cherie isn’t really sorry. She drops the chart on purpose,
but in a playful sort of way.” Deciding to show them how the line
should be read, she said, “It’s like…” She paused, preparing
herself. “Oh I’m so sorry. Did I wake you?” she said halfheartedly,
on the verge of laughing.

At that moment, the light bulb went off in Lyle’s
head, as well as the director’s. After some gentle persuasion, they
cast Roxanne Simon in the role of Cherie Baker in
The
Secret
.

With production already in progress, and Roxanne too
pregnant to hide, they made plans to film her scenes after her
baby’s birth.

In celebration, Roxanne and Candy joined Kirk and
Sara for lunch. They’d chosen a booth for the added privacy, with
Roxanne and Candy on one side and Kirk and Sara on the other.

“Listen,” Roxanne said to Kirk and Sara, “since you
both know I’m pregnant…I’m going to ask you not to say anything to
anyone.”

“Not say anything?” Kirk didn’t hide his confusion.
“About what?”

“My pregnancy,” Roxanne said.

“If that’s what you want,” Sara agreed.