“Hi,” he said, looking into Juno’s almond-shaped eyes. “It’s Carter. Call me Carter.” She doesn’t recognize me, he realised, wondering why he automatically defaulted to telling her his stage name instead of saying “Remember me–Felipe?” like he’d always planned on doing when he envisioned this moment about ten thousand times.
Of course she doesn’t recognize you, pendejo, he chastised himself. She met you once and she wasn’t obsessed with you for 12 years like you were with her. Then he caught sight of Juno’s bejeweled left hand resting on the camera hanging around her neck, and his heart sank. For sure a woman like her would be married. Lucky bastard.
“I think my first question is why anyone would need this much land,” Juno winked. “How big is this place anyway? And do you use all of it?”
“Well, I’m hoping you’d also ask the Mall of America why it needs all that space as well, because it’s the same 100 acres,” Felipe smiled, brushing aside his disappointment and slipping back into the character of Carter Amos. “It’s about 75 football fields or 800 NBA-regulation basketball courts. It’s a little smaller than Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.”
“Thank you,” Juno nodded. “I’m one of the not-too-bright ones who needs those visuals.” Felipe laughed, remembering how witty and bold she was. He was just grateful to enjoy her company.
“As for your second question, we don’t use all of it right now. We use a lot of it for farming and some for parking for those who are living out of their cars. But as you said, it’s a lot of space. The long-term plan is to build 50,000 units of private, affordable housing.” Juno was gazing out into the cornfield but her head snapped back toward Felipe upon hearing that.
“Feel like a walk?” he said. “We won’t go the entire way of course, but as far as the path goes.”
“Sure,” Juno replied, taking out a pocket digital recorder.
They strolled back behind the house as Felipe explained the zoning laws and red tape he was working through to get the housing project running. Then Juno asked him about his upcoming films. They found themselves at the end of the dirt path at about the same time they found themselves at the end of Juno’s questions.
“Tell me about yourself,” Felipe said after a silence in which all they heard was the wind rustling through the thicket of oak trees nearby. “Do you have a family?” He knew every word of her answer would cut him but he couldn’t stop his morbid curiosity.
“Uhh, that’s not usually how this works,” Juno said, a bit warily. She turned to him in the middle of the grassy path, feeling like they were the only people around for kilometres. “But since you brought up family, how often do you see your son when you’re here in Canada?” Now Felipe was on the back foot.
“He’s actually coming up next week,” he responded. “His mother will be travelling for a few months to promote her new book, so we agreed to have him enroll in senior kindergarten here.”
“How do you curb your smoking habit when he’s with you?” Juno asked. “Are you concerned about whether he might pick it up when he’s older?” Perhaps boldness has its drawbacks, Felipe considered as he felt himself recoil.
“Ah, I’m trying to cut down on my smoking,” he said, “but I make sure he’s at a friend’s house or with one of my staff, or asleep before I light up. I’m hoping to quit before he gets old enough to notice. I picked up smoking from a co-star early in my career, and it was always one thing his mother didn’t like about me.”
“Can’t blame her,” Juno nodded. “What happened between you two, anyway? Apparently, you were the perfect Hollywood couple at one point.” Felipe bristled and shoved his hands in his pockets. Then he turned his body back toward the way they came, as if he were about to head toward the house.