How very strange that, after all these years, they were all back here in Indigo Valley. In the movies, when things like this happened, they happened for a reason.

A cloud passed overhead, obliterating the sun. An omen? She shivered. “Let’s go, Atlas, it looks like it might cloud up and rain. Lola’s waiting for us upstairs.”

The Big Three, as she thought of Lola, Mandy, and Anthony, were settled on Lola’s terrace. They looked so gleeful, it was positively pitiful. She said so. “Whatever you three are up to, you better tell me now since I’m having dinner with Boomer. I’m thinking whatever it is, it just might have something to do with me or my old friends. Everyone knows a secret’s no fun unless you share it.”

“Darling, girl, we are just trying to help and move things forward,” Lola said as she upended her highball glass and held it out for a refill. “Sit down and we’ll fill you in. Anthony, fix Cady a highball. We want to hear the details of your morning, too. Are you excited about dinner with your old tormentor? He is a handsome hunk, that’s for sure. Mandy said they call men like your friend Boomer a hunk. Men like the reporter are grown-up nerds. Your friend Boomer probably thinks of you as a hottie. Did I get that right, Anthony?”

“I think so. Young people today speak a totally different language from us. Why can’t you say a man is handsome or a woman is beautiful? It’s so perplexing. If we didn’t watch television, we wouldn’t know half the things that go on. You would not believe how much a person can learn from watching soap operas.”

“Isn’t he a dear? Anthony is hooked on soap operas. He fills us in every afternoon on what’s going on so we don’t have to watch them. I would never have been able to adapt to television. Even when I did those few guest appearances Anthony insisted on, I was so uncomfortable. I require cameras and a set.”

“That’s because your talent requires the breadth and width of the large screen, Lola,” Anthony said, loyalty and adoration ringing in his voice. Cady wondered if Anthony was on Lola’s list of paramours.

“Spoken like a true director,” Mandy said. “Anthony was the toast of the town just like Lola was. They were Hollywood’s golden couple.” Her voice turned fretful. “We dwell too much in the past. It’s gone, and we can’t recapture it.” Her voice went from fretful to defensive. “Not that we would want to. We had our day in the sun.”

“Speak for yourself, Mandy. I would love to be part of this new filmmaking world. I’d give anything to direct again. I didn’t think it would be like this when I got old,” Anthony said.

“Well, I sure as hell didn’t think so either,” Lola said. “I wanted it to go on forever and ever. Stop lying, Mandy, you did, too. Thank God we still have all those old films we can watch from time to time. As you can see and hear, Cady, we’re our only admirers these days. Now, tell us about your day,” Lola said.