“We have to evaluate everything we have first,” Nathan said, following her into her office. Kitty would be the gatekeeper determining what reached Nathan’s desk for consideration. She couldn’t believe her good fortune, landing a job in which her main task was to read.
“When you’re finished, ask someone to bring up the next batch from the vault,” he instructed.
When she made the request, she was told that Abner had deemed everything in the basement unsuitable for production.
“We’ll be the ones to decide that,” Nathan said. “I want to create my own legacy.”
“That could take years.” Kitty recited what Lucy had told her. “People will leave the studio if we don’t turn a profit.”
Nathan wasn’t concerned. “I expect that. They don’t trust me. My dad didn’t keep his feelings about me to himself.” Kitty felt a pang of softness toward him.
Nathan worked hard. He was manic with ideas from the moment he arrived to work, as if he’d been up all night, thinking and making lists. He started and ended his day on the other side of her desk. She appreciated him not summoning her in and out of his office; she was still learning to walk in her higher-heeled shoes. He was astonished by how fast Kitty read, and while script evaluation was an arduous task, she enjoyed his praise for pushing through. He read the ones she liked and came in each morning, before going to his own office, to discuss them. Reading and talking about stories reminded her of evenings with her mother, and soon she felt at home on the lot in his company. Richard had been smart—smarter than her in the practical subjects—but Nathan was a gifted conversationalist. He had big ideas, and she found herself hanging on to his every word, whether he was talking about Greek mythology or cowboys.
At the end of almost every day, he offered to pour her a drink, and each evening she declined, following Lucy’s advice. It’s too soon for you to be so casual. Kitty didn’t know how to be casual with Nathan—she hid it well, but he made her nervous. She was always trying to impress him, to get him to look at her in the way he did when he read and loved one of the scripts she had recommended.
Her sanctuary was destroyed after only a couple of weeks, when Emma decided it was past time that she met Nathan Tate. She barged into Kitty’s office after hours, dressed in sky-high heels, as if she was going to a party. Kitty and Nathan looked up from their script review.
Kitty noticed a twinge of disappointment cross Emma’s face as she saw that Kitty’s office was big enough for a sitting area. She walked right up to Nathan on the couch. “Mr. Tate, it is such a pleasure to meet you! I’m Emma, Kitty’s sister.”
Nathan rose to greet her. “Hello.” He looked at Kitty. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”
Emma didn’t break eye contact with Nathan. “I’m an operator here. I came to pick up my little sister.” She reached to pat Kitty’s head. “Ready, doll?”
Nathan turned to Kitty. “I’m sorry for keeping you late.”
“We’re going to dinner,” Emma said. “I’ve barely seen her since she started this job.”
“She’s very dedicated.”
“You both are. Would you like to join us? Have you eaten?”
Nathan started his exit. “No, no. I still have some work to do. It was very nice to meet you, though, Emma.”
Emma touched his arm as he stepped around her. “Things have been running so smoothly since you started.”
Nathan bent like a twig to her compliment. “Why, thank you.”
“Will there be another round of secretary interviews?”
“For you, yes.”
Emma beamed. Kitty knew he meant because she was Kitty’s sister, but Emma had hearts in her eyes, as if he’d changed his mind about dinner.
“Come by tomorrow,” he said. “Ask for Laura.”
She grabbed his hand. “Thank you so much.”
Outside, she winked at Kitty and slid inside her car, which was parked at the curb. Kitty rushed to open the passenger door as the engine started.
Emma slid over and slammed the door lock. “I have plans.”
“Fine, but drive me home.”
Emma scoffed. Her voice became muffled, but Kitty still heard her. “With your behavior, I think not.”
“My behavior?” Kitty took a breath. She didn’t pivot to look but assumed they were being watched as many of the office windows faced that side. “Emma, it’s less than a minute’s drive.”
Emma waved as she pulled off. “Don’t wait up!”
Kitty watched as Emma’s car disappeared around the corner, fearing this was still only a preview of Emma’s rotten core.
* * *
Emma replaced the first-floor receptionist. On her first day, Nathan gave her a script to read, something he’d done with all the new hires. Misreading it as an overture, Emma stopped him the next morning and, in the front lobby, presented him with a basket of muffins. He brought them to Kitty’s office. “I’m more of a chocolate guy,” he explained.
Kitty peeked underneath the red cloth. The blueberry muffins were arranged in a heart shape. “I’ll put them in the break room.” Kitty bit one and then took another for later, recognizing them to be from Canter’s, the diner close to their house. The next day, Emma handed him an apple pie (again, Canter’s); two days later, a cup of coffee; then a copy of William Faulkner’s latest, with a note stuck in its pages suggesting they discuss it over drinks soon.
Nathan gave them all to Kitty. This chain of custody continued until Emma became upset that Nathan hadn’t addressed, let alone returned, her advances.
Gossip started to circulate, and Kitty overheard it, straight from Emma’s mouth.
She wants to be an actress.
Is she even talented?
He’s found something he likes.
Must be nice having his attention.
That’s the one thing Kitty will never give up—attention. Before she knows it she’ll be too old to marry and too old to act.
Tears came before Kitty could return to her office.
As if he could sense something was wrong, Nathan appeared at her door. “Would you like a drink?”
She wiped her eyes. “Definitely not now.” Already low, she didn’t know what she might say with a loose tongue.
“A cigarette?” He came in and closed the door. He lit two before handing her one. “Want to talk about it?”
“It’s just my sister. You’re an only child; you wouldn’t get it.”
“Maybe not, but I can recognize jealousy a mile away.”
Kitty smiled at his acknowledgment of her feelings. “She wanted this job.”
* * *
Days later, Emma was transferred to the desk of a producer on the opposite end of the building. Emma boasted, calling the move a promotion, a view which Kitty publicly endorsed. Really, Kitty didn’t want to fight. Talking against her to their colleagues—White people at that—was treacherous. Having accepted she could never trust Emma, that Emma would never wish her well, her sister’s reassignment had in fact been at her own directive, a casual suggestion mentioned to Nathan that afternoon. He was bothered by Emma’s attention and, though she didn’t know it then, flattered by Kitty’s care.
CHAPTER 20
Kitty
End of October, 1955
Lucy lived behind an iron gate in Beverly Hills. A few stars lived close by, but she never would say who. The two-story redbrick house had ten steps that led up to the front door and two large white plantation-style columns. Lucy hadn’t just married into a political family; she’d married into a wealthy one.
Lucy opened the door. “My husband’s grandmother left this house to him,” she said, reading Kitty’s expression. “And she was the poorest of his family members.”
What Kitty had thought was the front door opened onto a patio with walls covered in ivy and vines with pink and purple flowers. Lucy gestured for her to take off her shoes. “So the maids don’t have to clean the floors so often.” Five or six pairs were already covered by a layer of flowers that had fallen from the dangling vines.
Lucy turned the brass doorknob to reveal a narrow hallway. “Laurie, Miss Karr has arrived!”
“I hope you’re hungry,” Lucy said.