“Well, I don’t know if Mark told you, but I have season tickets to the Lakers and I was wondering if you’d be interested in checking it out with me. The game’s on Thursday.”

“Sure,” I replied quickly, trying not to seem as desperate as I felt. “I love the Lakers.”

We decided he’d pick me up. “Great,” I said, though it didn’t make me happy—but he wouldn’t have to come far inside. I told him how to get to my house. He said he lived “way out in Malibu,” which put him in the GU category (geographically undesirable), but it wasn’t as if he lived in San Bernardino. And everyone knew that Malibu spelled m-o-n-e-y.

My buzzer rang exactly at six thirty. I had known he’d be on time, because we were trying to make the tip-off.

I let him in. “Hi, I’m Dani,” I said. I started to put out my hand for a handshake, but he came in for a kiss, which was a little surprising, but I hadn’t had sex since May, so it was fine.

Troy was a little odd-looking, definitely Jewish, not that there was anything wrong with that. His face was a little pale and he had a nose, but allowances had to be made for the man who had earned billions for a studio. A successful bachelor in Hollywood had his pick of anyone. See a model on the cover of a magazine? Have your assistant call her in for a meeting to see if she wants to act. Just tell her she has “that star quality” and deserves to be in movies.

“So you want to get going?” Troy asked me.

“Sure.”

It felt a little funny for the two of us just to be standing there in my living room staring at each other. I followed him out and saw that he had parked his brand-new mega Range Rover in front of my place. Up here in the hills, the streets were pretty narrow, so this kind of thing isn’t that great of an idea. Cars were already bottle-necked behind him, and I caught a nasty look from someone in a Prius a quarter way down the hill.

“Sorry, sorry,” I called to the cars, before hopping in and slamming the door behind me.

At the Staples Center, Troy had the best-of-the-best VIP parking. We arrived just in time for the national anthem, performed by Seal, complete with light show. This was Hollywood.