Page 75 of Twice
The elevator door opened and three people exited. LaPorta glanced, then glanced back quickly, because one of them was an attractive dark-haired woman with a shoulder bag, and protruding from it was the rounded top of a camera lens.
Alfie. The zoo. Gianna taking his picture...
“Excuse me,” LaPorta yelled, louder than he intended. Several people turned but not the woman, who kept walking.
“Excuse me!” he repeated, stepping toward her. “Gianna Rule?”
She stopped. “Who are you?”
“Are you Gianna Rule?”
She stared for a moment.
“I’m sorry, I need to be somewhere,” she said, moving past.
LaPorta nodded to Sampson, who stepped in front of her, flashing his badge.
“You’re gonna be late,” LaPorta said.
The Composition Book
A single thought can change every part of you. How you walk, how you smile, how you listen, how you breathe. I did go to that premiere in Los Angeles, but I felt like I was going in costume. The whole time I was shaking hands or blinking against flashbulbs, I was thinking,I am going to be a father.The idea turned every sound into background noise. It was a new sensation. It was also terrifying.
Looking back, Boss, I think it scared me in part because of the unusual life I had gotten used to—double time, double chances. I didn’t know how I would use my gift once a baby came, or even if I should. I also realized I might eventually pass my strange power on to this child, as my mother had passed her power on to me.
All this was going on in my head—while I was about to be portrayed on a giant movie screen.
And then Nicolette arrived.
She was dressed in a silver lamé gown, backless, low-cut in front. Her ample hair—dark in the movie—was once again a blinding blond. There were hundreds of people trying to talk to her, but when she saw me, she hurried over. She took my hand, formally, but held it longer than one usually does, and gently rubbed her thumb across my palm.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi, Nicolette.”
“I’ve missed you. Are you good?”
“Yeah. And you?”
“Everything’s great.”
I couldn’t tell if she meant with life or with us. She was so calm. Meanwhile, my scalp was sweating. I think it must have showed, because she leaned in and lowered her voice.
“It’s OK,” she said. “Let’s go make someone happy.”
I forced a grin, because I couldn’t come up with words.
“I’ll see you after?” she said.
“Yeah,” I said.
She was yanked away as cameras flashed.
And that was it.
I never did see Nicolette afterward. I went straight to the airport and caught a red-eye flight home, as I’d promised Gianna I would do.
When I walked through our door, just after 7:00 a.m., I was still dressed from the premiere, wrinkled, grimy, my lower back aching from trying to sleep on the plane. The light was dim and the apartment was silent. I stood there, knowing Gianna was in the bedroom, waiting with our big news, and I hate to admit this, Boss, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t get the image of Nicolette out of my mind. Undressing me in the elevator. Rubbing her fingers in my hand. Was it guilt—or something worse? A desire to be there rather than here? I slammed my eyes shut and shook my head to clear it.
