Little Known Facts A Novel - By Christine Sneed Page 0,61

no, to stay out of trouble, to think kind thoughts and behave with tact and forbearance, to get a good education, and to be sure that we can provide for ourselves if necessary. We are not supposed to talk back or expect too much from life or put on airs. If we do those things, we will surely be putting ourselves in harm’s way. You reap what you sow—this is probably the mantra of all small southern towns, if not northern ones too. I have reaped what I have sown, and this, I suppose, is my cautionary tale.

Q & A

Over the years, a few people have asked me what one thing Renn did while we were together that upset me more than anything else. If you’re going to ask a question like that, you probably aren’t too worried about causing pain because you’re forcing someone to revisit a moment in her life that likely she has tried to forget. Yet if you catch her at the right time, she might actually enjoy this chance to say something unkind about the person who treated her badly.

What was the one thing? Well, there wasn’t just one. Marriages fall apart because eventually there is a critical mass of wrongdoing and petty selfishness that suffocates all of the affection and desire that presumably once existed between the couple. Renn almost never bothered to call me or have someone call on his behalf when he was delayed in meetings or on the set. I can’t remember how many times I cooked us what I hoped would be a dazzling meal but then was forced to eat alone or throw it in the garbage because by the time he came through the door, grouchy and not at all interested in talking to me after his long day at work, the food was cold and congealed and generally unappetizing. And this was when he was in town. For half the time we were married, at least half, he was far away, often on the other side of the planet. I was invited to go with him to a few of his faraway shoots and stay for a week or two, but usually that was when his kids were also invited and he needed me there to look after them.

Some other things he did that won’t win him any trophies:

1. He sometimes went to parties hosted by his movie friends and didn’t invite me along.

2. He wouldn’t even discuss having a child with me. “Out of the question,” he said. “Who’s going to raise the kid? I’m gone a lot and you certainly can’t do it by yourself. You can barely get yourself dressed in the morning.” (An exaggeration. I had bad days once in a while, but they didn’t happen that often.)

3. He hadn’t had a prenup with Lucy, but he did have one with me. He must have known that he would eventually want to dump me too. It wasn’t that the agreement was stingy, but I should have known that if he could foresee the possibility of divorce, he could probably also foresee himself going through with it.

4. He cheated on me. He slept with at least two of his costars, the first when they were off filming in Bordeaux, the second in Lima. These were the two affairs that he admitted to. I’m sure there were more, but I didn’t have proof. The reason I found out about these two tramps was because the one from the Bordeaux shoot called and told me. She was trying to steal Renn for herself, I’m sure, not do me any favors, which is what she had the nerve to claim: “You should know that he’s not a good guy. If he’ll run around on you, you really don’t need that. What self-respecting woman does?” I told her to go to hell. I told her that it wasn’t any of her goddamn business what happened in our marriage because I was the one wearing the ring on my finger, not her.

The tramp from the Lima shoot didn’t call, but she did send a letter to Renn that I intercepted. She was such an idiot; she should have sent it to the studio, not his home address, but I guess she thought that I’d be too lazy to collect our mail each day, let alone open it. I can only imagine the stories Renn told her about me, the two of them bonding over my alleged bouts of depression