to
me
for a minute,â he said.
âOkay. What?â
âI donât want you to quit.â
âWHATâ¦?â
âHang on a minute. First, there
is
the money issue. Theyâre probably bluffing about suing you. But
I
still get paid in this thing and you donât. Second, youâre good at this and thereâs no reason for you to stop doing it on my account. Iâll be fine. It isnât as if my careerâs overâIâm fourteen. Third, when the year is over, you can either walk away from doing this kind of stuff or, if you want, there will be ten other TV jobs at other places you could have.â
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.
âDid your dad tell you to say all this?â
Why was it, he thought, that she always knew everything. He considered lying for a second, but decided the heck with it. Lying was for TV guys.
âYes, he did,â Stevie said finally. âBut I thought about it before I actually said it, and I think heâs right. And if
you
think about it when you calm down a little, youâll probably decide heâs right too.â
âStop telling me to calm down.â
âOkay. But youâll think about it?â
She sighed again, this time not the âtoo stupid to liveâ sigh but one of sadness. âIâll think about it,â she said.
âGood. Call me after you talk to your dad, okay?â
âI will.â
He was about to say goodbye when he heard her say, âStevie?â
âYeah?â
âI really do love you, you know.â
He wasnât sure how to answer that one. They were fourteen and had kissed once. Still, the answer that came out of his mouth felt right.
âI love you too.â
The phone calls went back and forth over the next two days: Stevie and Susan Carol talked. Their dads talked. Their moms talked. Around and around they went.
The major question for Stevie and Susan Carol was what Susan Carol was going to tell USTV on Monday when they needed an answerâand when she was scheduled to fly to Indianapolis. The fathers talked about legal matters: Could USTV actually take Susan Carol to court for quitting? Could the Andersons counter-sue by saying the show wasnât what they signed on for without Stevie? Don Anderson wondered if the Thomases could sue USTV on the grounds that the contract said Stevie was to be on-air for a year, not just get paid for a year. Bill Thomasâs legal opinion was that USTV had the right to take Stevie off the air as long as he got paid, but Susan Carol had the right to walk awayâas long as she did
not
get paid. Bill Thomas called some of the other lawyers in his office to see what they thought and they seemed to agree.
The mothers talked mostly about how awful it was that the children were seeing this side of the TV businessâor any businessâat such a young age. âI feel like Iâve failed you,â Carole Thomas said to Stevie after one phone conversation.
The one phone call Stevie was truly dreading was the one he knew he had to make to Bobby Kelleher. He knew Kelleher would never
say
âI told you so,â but he was bound to think itâ
entitled
to think it. Stevie still had a copy of the e-mail Kelleher had sent him in October:
âI know why this is tempting,â heâd written. âIâve done enough TV to know how intoxicating it can be. People recognize you, they think youâre more important. I call it being famous for being famous. And I know the money would probably help your family and Susan Carolâs out a lot. Which is why I canât absolutely tell you to say no. But I have to warn you:
these are not good people.
Iâve dealt with them. Theyâll say whatever they need to to get what they want from youâand make it sound good. You just turned fourteen. You donât
need
to do this. Neither does Susan Carol. Youâll both be big stars in
The Marquess Takes a Fall