Little Known Facts A Novel - By Christine Sneed Page 0,2
is the only time he’ll be here until they’re done shooting Bourbon at Dusk.”
“I haven’t talked to him in a couple of weeks.”
“You should call him more often, Billy. He says you don’t unless you need something.”
He feels anger prickle his scalp. “That’s not true.”
She hesitates. “Don’t get mad. He was probably just in a bad mood when he said that.”
“I called him last week. He’s full of shit if he says that I only call when I need something.” It sometimes takes him a week or more to get through to his father. They are both in the habit of waiting two or three days to return each other’s calls. Anna always seems to have more success reaching him, but she also calls more often.
“He asked if we’d have dinner with him on Saturday. Can you?”
“I don’t know. I think I have something planned already.”
“Reschedule it. I bet you haven’t seen Dad since his birthday.”
She is right, but he doesn’t admit it. Their father’s birthday is in April. It has been almost six months since their last dinner together, at his favorite restaurant, an Italian place in Santa Monica where the ardent and merry owners refuse to let him pay for his meals and only ask permission to take his photo, to have him sign autographs for their relatives back in Salerno. It is their pleasure, their honor, to have him eat their humble lasagna, their minestrone and sweet cannoli. Their smiles split their handsome, aging faces, and Will can barely look at them, he feels such a painful mix of shame and pride.
“I’ll let you know, Anna.”
She purses her lips but doesn’t say anything.
After he drops her off at her house in Silver Lake, he calls his friend Luca, who was supposed to have returned two days earlier from several weeks in Australia. Luca is his closest friend from high school and prone to devising practical jokes that involve convincing impersonations of celebrities and politicians. He has almost perfected Will’s father’s voice and sometimes calls pretending to confess to a fetish for lawn mowers and athletic girls wearing men’s underwear. To Will’s mind, Luca fits the stereotype the rest of the world seems to have of southern Californians—happy, never anxious, half stoned. When he calls Luca’s cell number, he is routed directly to voice mail and his friend’s lazy voice declares that he’s “hanging in the land down under until November 1.” Will is disappointed that he has decided to stay on the other side of the world for another month. It is likely that he has found a girlfriend, which a year earlier kept him in Paris at his father’s place for two extra months.
Will knows that he could do the same thing—disappear overseas for months at a time—but the idea has never appealed to him. He likes California, his apartment, his sister and mother’s proximity. He spent a semester in Scotland during college and drank too much and slept with girls who liked him because his father was Renn Ivins. Luca once asked him, “Wouldn’t it be worse if you had a famous brother? Your dad at least is twice your age. It’s not like you can go on a double date with him.”
“Why couldn’t I?” Will had said.
“I guess you could, but why would you? He’s your dad, you freak.”
He dials his father’s number now and is surprised when he answers. Renn sounds tired and deflated for a few seconds before his voice rises to its usual breezy conversational pitch. “I just talked to Anna,” he says. “She said you took her out for her birthday. That was nice of you.”
The compliment makes him feel shy. “It wasn’t a big deal. She went out with Jill and Celestine for lunch, so it was just us at the steak place she likes in Pasadena. Mom’s in New York. Anna might have told you.” He is the dutiful son, filling in the blanks for his absent father. He can’t help it. He has always wanted to be good, to be applauded too for this goodness. But Anna’s comment that their father thinks he only calls when he wants something rankles. Still, he can’t find the nerve to confront him, not so soon.
“How’s Danielle?” his father asks.
“She’s in Hawaii with a couple of friends.”
“Why aren’t you with her?”
“She didn’t invite me.”
His father hesitates. “I want to ask you something.”
Will feels his stomach sink. “Okay.”
“We’ve had a couple of people quit down here, and my assistant is taking a