Cliff House: Secrets

April 13, 1993

SCENE: CEDARS HOSPITAL. ED is on the phone, talking to HOLLY.

ED: Holly, how’s she doing?

HOLLY: Okay, considering we both polished off a carton of double-fudge-brownie ice cream last night before we went to bed!

ED: Listen, I talked to Dr. Lyndon about setting up an appointment and she’s got some time free at ten this morning.

HOLLY: Fine.

ED: The only thing is I’m kinda tied up here.

HOLLY: No problem. I’ll bring her by.

ED: I hate to keep putting you in the middle like this.

HOLLY: We’ll be there before ten. . . . Ed, it’ll be okay.

They hang up, and HOLLY turns to a tense-looking MICHELLE.

On the same morning, ROGER sits at his desk at SPAULDING ENTERPRISES, examining a folder that contains, among other papers, a photograph of H.B. LEWIS. He turns on his intercom.

ROGER: My daughter hasn’t come in yet?

SECRETARY: No sir, I’ve checked with reception twice.

ROGER: Tell them I want to see her the minute she gets here.

JENNA breezes into the office in a becoming white suit.

JENNA: Is it me you want to see?

ROGER: Well, you’re in bright and early!

JENNA [teasing]: Well, somebody’s got to keep their eyes on you!

JENNA perches on ROGER’S desk . . . kisses . . .

JENNA: Oh, that’s very nice!

ROGER: What a guy’s gotta do to keep his job!

JENNA [laughs, picks up the folder]: What’s in this?

Back at HOLLYBEND:

HOLLY: That was your dad. [MICHELLE says nothing, and looks through her things.] Dr. Lyndon has an opening for you two this morning.

MICHELLE: I know I put it in here somewhere.

HOLLY: Michelle?

MICHELLE: My red barrette, have you seen it?

HOLLY: Did you hear what I said?

MICHELLE: I can’t go to Dr. Lyndon’s today. I’ve got school.

HOLLY: But your dad can write you a note.

MICHELLE: I’ve got a better idea: you call my school, and tell them I’m sick.

HOLLY [laughs]: Uh-uh!

MICHELLE: We can go to the movies, see something educational, like last time.

HOLLY: Not today, honey. Your dad thinks . . . this will help.

MICHELLE: Do you?

HOLLY: I think so, yeah. Talking, even just trying to talk about things that are bothering you, it can help.

MICHELLE: But I talk to you.

HOLLY: Well, she’s got more answers than I do. Look, I understand. This isn’t easy, and if I were you, I’d be a little uneasy about it too.

MICHELLE: Then why are you making me?

HOLLY: I’m not “making you.” I’m asking you, because you and your dad are going to have to start talking to each other again. And, it might help, to see Dr. Lyndon. Can’t make things any worse, right?

MICHELLE: I just wish people would leave me alone.

HOLLY: Yeah, that’s what Blake used to say. And then she went to boarding school when she was twelve.

MICHELLE: See, she lived away from home. She was lucky.

HOLLY: I don’t think she would agree with you. And she liked me even less than you like your dad right now, believe it or not. Of course, I wasn’t too smart then. We just didn’t get along all the time. So, when she said she wanted to go, I said “Okay.” I thought I was doing the right thing then. And I was. I mean, at least we got some peace and quiet. But . . . something happened, while she was gone. We just . . . we lost each other. You know, that’s what can happen, if you just don’t try to make an effort to work things out. You grow apart. I just don’t want that kind of a deal with your daddy.

MICHELLE: What if I say something to make him mad?

HOLLY: It’s not going to happen.

MICHELLE: But what if it does?

HOLLY: That’s what you’re afraid of—that you’re gonna lose him too? Honey, that’s just what he’s afraid of, too.

JENNA’S still on the desk, looking at the folder.

JENNA: So, tell me, what’s in the “confidential . . .”

ROGER: Just a little project I’m working on. It’s nothing important. Mostly legal language.

JENNA: I’m very good at languages, so don’t you let me see it?

ROGER: This is just business. Why are you starting to make a big deal out of it?

JENNA: This wouldn’t be about Lewis Oil, would it? . . . Aha. Okay, Roger, when I took over Spaulding Enterprises, do you know that more than half the people in this town stood in line to tell me “Roger Thorpe stories”? “That’s a man not to be trusted. He always has his own agenda.” I don’t want you using my company for your own ends. I don’t want your vendetta against Billy Lewis to cost me a cent.

ROGER: Haven’t you figured out yet than my agenda is your agenda, that any success I score for Spaulding I score for you?

JENNA: I hope you’re not trying to convince me that this file isn’t personal?

ROGER: I have never hidden my feelings about Billy Lewis from you.

JENNA: Nooo . . . no you haven’t—nor from anyone else. You hate the man, especially since he took your son in. I believe that what’s in this file is really a lot less about business and more about revenge.

ROGER: Now, really. Do you think I would risk hurting you or hurting this company to get back at Billy Lewis? I think I deserve more than that. I guess I can’t blame you. You’re scarred by having the rug pulled out from under you so many times . . . always, I think, by people you trusted. So why should you believe me? Okay, again: I don’t need the company, I don’t need your yacht, I don’t need your Spaulding Estate. Know why? Because I’ve already had them. What I need, my dear, is you. I need to be able to reach out in the middle of the night and feel you. You and me. I need to be able to look in your eyes and know that you believe that with me, anything and everything is possible. That’s what I need, and if you don’t believe that, I’m telling you, all the rest of this nonsense doesn’t mean a damn to me. You think about that.

JENNA nods, touches his face and whispers “Roger.” Kisses . . . It looks like a “desk scene” is in the offing . . JENNA pushes the phone off with her foot.

At CEDARS:

LILLIAN: Ed, do you have a minute?

ED: Yeah.

LILLIAN: When I went to Paris, I went to this little American bookstore called “Shakespeare’s,” and there was a book of Emily Dickinson that Beth just loved when she was Michelle’s age, so I got a copy for Michelle. [Gives him a wrapped package.]

ED: Thanks.

LILLIAN: How’s she doing?

ED: Uhm . . . We have an appointment with Dr. Lyndon today.

LILLIAN: Is that a good sign?

ED: Well, Michelle ran away. She’s staying at Holly’s and I can’t seem to get her to come back home.

LILLIAN: Oh, Ed, I’m so sorry.

DR. LYNDON walks by.

DR. LYNDON: Ed, good morning.

ED: Uhm, Hi. Michelle should be here any minute. Do you think we could just go and maybe just talk for a little bit before. Alone, I mean?

DR. LYNDON: Of course

ED: Thanks.

They go to her office.

DR. LYNDON: I’m glad we’re taking this time. It will help me to get your take on the situation.

ED: Well, I’ll tell you, I don’t know exactly where to start.

DR. LYNDON: Just start talking.

ED: That’s . . . that’s the problem right there. Michelle and I don’t talk anymore. We don’t communicate at all.

DR. LYNDON: This started after Maureen’s death?

ED: Uh, yes. I mean, at first I thought it was part of the grieving process that we were both going through. But now—

DR. LYNDON: You think it’s more than that?

ED: She’s angry. She’s very angry.

DR. LYNDON: Well, children often get angry at the surviving parent. . . Did you have a close relationship with Michelle before Maureen’s death?

ED: Yes . . . yes, I think so. Yeah.

DR. LYNDON: No problems?

ED: No . . . not really. I mean, until just before.

DR. LYNDON: What happened?

ED: You see, Michelle thinks she knows something. . . .[Long pause.] I had an affair. And I, uh, think Michelle knows.

Immediate CUT to the receiving room at CEDAR’S. MICHELLE comes in, with HOLLY at her heels, and sees LILLIAN. MICHELLE flees.

HOLLY: Michelle?

MICHELLE: I can’t do this! I can’t do this! I just can’t!

HOLLY: What’s the matter?

But MICHELLE is already gone.

Back in DR. LYNDON’S office . . .

ED: I mean, Michelle doesn’t know any of the specifics of the affair. Uh, I mean she senses, correctly, that I did something to hurt her mother, and that another woman was involved, but I guess she thinks . . . I mean, I assume she thinks . . . I don’t know what she thinks.

DR. LYNDON: What have you told her?

ED: I haven’t told her anything. I mean, I don’t know what to say. I mean, obviously, she’s very young, and I don’t know why I had the affair, so . . . how can a girl that age possibly deal . . . ? You think I’m wrong to keep it from her? Because, I don’t know, I’m telling myself . . . I guess I’m just waiting for a better time to say it, but maybe there is no better time. Uh, what do you think?

DR. LYNDON: What do you think?

ED: Well . . . I mean there are some times late at night, when I go just outside her room and I open up her door just a little bit, just a crack, so I can stand there and watch her sleeping, you know? She looks so small. And she looks so fragile, and so . . . easy to break. That’s my fear. If I tell her what happened, it would be very easy to break something in that child, and then she’d never be the same again. But, I don’t know what to do. I mean, supposing I go in there and say, “Your mother found out, and then she and I . . . and she went off driving in a pouring rain.” I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know how to talk about this with a little girl Michelle’s age, you know what I mean? I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what words you could use. Do I say, “I broke your beloved mother’s heart”? Do I say, “Your father is in fact the monster . . .that you think he is?”

ED looks at his watch.

ED: It’s late. She should be here by now.

Immediate CUT to the cemetery. MICHELLE, very somber in a black coat, takes a bit of artwork to MAUREEN’S grave. It has pictures of the two of them pasted on it, and a message, “For Mom. I miss you. From Michelle.”

MICHELLE: I made this for you, Mom, so you won’t forget us.

She cries.

BLAKE enters ROGER’S office without knocking and finds JENNA on the desk. JENNA looks annoyed at the interruption. ROGER is embarrassed.

JENNA: What are you doing here?!

BLAKE [a touch of sarcasm]: Reporting for work. . . . Sorry I’m late, but . . . I guess you didn’t need me yet.

JENNA: So, I didn’t know you had given your father your answer yet.

ROGER: Well, I was going to tell you before . . . [To BLAKE] Welcome, my darling!

JENNA: So, you’re coming back for your old job, or has Roger created a new position—“Chief Character Assassin”?

ROGER: Jenna, she knows the company inside out. She will help us immeasurably with her press contacts.

BLAKE: Yes, in fact I have a few good ideas here. [She waves a folder. JENNA yawns a tiny yawn. BLAKE hands the folder to ROGER.] I’d like you to look them over.

ROGER: Of course, honey. Wonderful.

BLAKE [To JENNA, with a look right out of the original Parent Trap]: And if there’s anything I can help you with . . .

JENNA: Blake, what is the first rule of business that you learned?

BLAKE: To win.

JENNA: Wrong. To knock. Always knock before entering.

BLAKE [quiet venom]: Thank you. I’ll jot that down.

JENNA: And how many times may I expect you to report to me on a daily basis?

BLAKE: As often as you’d like.

JENNA to ROGER: I think she’ll do fine . . . for now.

ROGER looks uncomfortable.

ED, at the hospital, talks on the phone with HOLLY, who has gone back to HOLLYBEND.

HOLLY: I brought her there, Ed, but she ran off.

ED: Ran off where? Where did she go?

HOLLY: She just needed some time to be alone.

ED: Holly, where did she go?

HOLLY: I . . . I caught up with her. She wanted to go to Maureen’s grave. Anyway . . . she’s here with me now, and everything’s okay.

ED: Could I talk to her, please?

HOLLY: Maybe . . . it would be better if you waited, you know, if that’s okay with you?

ED: Of course, if that’s what she wants.

HOLLY: Yeah, and one thing . . . How would you feel if she stayed here a couple more nights?

ED: That’s what she wants to do, isn’t it?

HOLLY: Yeah, she did ask. . . Please don’t feel too bad.

ED: Holly, I just, I want her to come home. But you’re right. She’d probably just run away, so . .

HOLLY: I know. It’s . . . it’s gonna be okay, Ed. Really. It’ll be okay.

ED: Thanks. [He hangs up. LILLIAN stands just beside him at the nurse’s desk.]

LILLIAN and EVE watch as ED walks away without a word.

BLAKE and ROGER alone in the office at SPAULDING

BLAKE: Okay, here’s a breakdown on all the department heads—age, gender, charities, hobbies—

ROGER: Then you can work up some feature stories?

BLAKE: I’ve already started!

ROGER: You are good.

BLAKE: I only wish your girlfriend shared your assessment.

ROGER: Listen to me. She doesn’t have to as long as I’m running the show.

JENNA overhears this, and isn’t pleased.

Next Scene:
Jealous Hearts