“Honey, Don pursued me.” “I’m sure he did.” “The least you could have done was warn me,” she said. “You knew what he was doing behind my back,” I said. “What made you think he’d be any different with you2” “Not the cheating, Ev,” she said. And that’s when I realized he’d hit her, too. I was temporarily stunned silent. “You’re OK now?” I asked after a moment. “You got away?” “Our divorce is final. I’m moving to the beach, just bought a place in Santa Monica.” “You don’t think he’s going to try to blackball you2” “He tried,” Ruby said. “But he won’t succeed. His last three movies barely broke even. He didn’t get nominated for The Night Hunter like everybody thought. He’s on a downward spiral. He’s about to be as harmless as a declawed cat.” I felt for him, in some small way, as I twirled the phone cord in my hand. But I felt for her much more. “How bad was it, Ruby?” “Nothing I couldn’t hide with pancake makeup and long sleeves.” The way she said it, the pride in her voice, as if admitting that it hurt her was a vulnerability she wasn’t willing to give in to, made my heart break. It broke for her, and it broke for the me of all those years ago who did the same thing. “You'll come over for dinner one of these days,” I said to her. “Oh, let’s not do that, Evelyn,” she said. “We’ve been through too much to be so phony.” I laughed. “Fair enough.” “Anybody in particular you want me to call tomorrow? Or just anybody with a tip line?” “Anybody powerful will do. Anybody eager to make money off my demise.” “Well, that’s everybody,” Ruby said. “No offense.”