“Jackie darlin’. Oh honey, are you there? Can you hear me? I flew right in when they called. The nurses told me I shouldn’t stay too long, they say you need to rest. How can they know that?” Brett takes off his cap and twists it in his hands. “I don’t know if you can hear me Jackie, and well, in a way I hope that you won’t. No, that’s not what I mean. I wish you could hear me, honey, you know I am praying for you with every bone in my body. Mama and the girls put you on every prayer list in the world.”

He crosses the room, rubbing his temples, then puts his hands on his knees and breathes in and out several times. “I guess I’m trying to say, Jackie…if you do hear me, I hope…”

He walks quickly to my bed and takes my hand. He wiggles my fingers, then lays my hand back on the covers and takes a deep breath.

“Okay. You know how I told you I was going to see a shrink. Well, I’ve been talking to him almost every day now. He’s Reiner’s guy in New York but he says we can do phone sessions while I’m here. Oh, and not that it matters, but he’s Jewish and I don’t know but it does seem the Jews have a talent for psychology. And comedy. Reiner, man that guy… Rob, he said to tell you he’s pulling for you, baby. Everyone on the set signed a card.” He fumbles around in his jacket pocket and pulls out a crumpled envelope.

“See?” He waves it in front of my face. “I’ll just, well, I’ll hold it for you ‘til you…um…” He stuffs it back in his pocket.

“Anyway, Dr. Markowitz, Lenny, he thinks it would be helpful for my therapy if I told you a few things that, have, uh…” Brett goes to my door, opens it, and peeks up and down the hall, then shuts it and pulls the chair up to my bedside.

“Okay, so,” he says in a low voice, “when you and I first got together, I mentioned I had been seeing someone in Texas. Kelly. Okay, here’s the thing. Kelly was older, was married. With two children. The family went to our church and all. No one found out, but, well, it went on for almost two years. We…we met in places far out of town. I moved to California to break it off. Clean. I was not going to wreck his family and if anyone ever found out… I’m trying to say…” He leans in close to my ear. “Kelly was a man,” he whispers. “Is a man.”