Ludivine’s Hollywood premiere went exactly as she hoped. She had the scandalous and stunning dress, plenty of press and photographers, and a standing ovation at the end of the movie. Lenny had gotten over the Miranda-Iryna situation when his sister Anna promised to stay with her in Vienna over the summer, but most of Lenny and Ludivine’s arguments never lasted long, or they just had angry hate sex about it. Tonight, he doubled down on the role of the dutiful lover, showing off his girlfriend, answering playful questions about the movie and his own upcoming American film debut in August.
Things were less perfect when they got home. Lenny had woken up screaming in the early hours of the morning. Ludivine was instantly up, trying to console her boyfriend, but he had refused, going into their bathroom and locking the door. The nightmares came and went, ever since Lenny came home from Vietnam. He never talked about it, but she knew things had happened that had fucked him up, for lack of better words. He drank more, and she had suspicions about drug usage, but she didn’t think it was at the point where she needed to confront him. Ludivine indulged every so often after all. She tried to get him to come out and talk, but it was useless, and Ludivine eventually got ready for the day in their other bathroom before going on a walk to clear her mind.
Since Ludivine rarely went out in public with her natural curls, it often acted as a disguise, and most people she passed didn’t recognize her at first glance. The neighborhood they had moved into was relatively new, meant for upper-middle-class families, not Hollywood starlets. She liked it because it was quiet, and they lived at the very end, so it offered plenty of privacy. She and Lenny had been together off-and-on since 1961, and they were only now living together, six years later. She knew it was still scandalous to live together unmarried, but hardly anyone she knew her age cared about that anymore. Sex and love weren’t tied to anything, and it only felt natural that she and Lenny lived together as they pursued Hollywood careers.
As she walked back toward the house, still unsure what to say to Lenny, a yipping noise caught her attention, and she saw a cardboard box in the middle of a grassy patch near someone’s yard. She walked over to the box and looked down as shock appeared on her face. It was a puppy! Ludivine gasped as she picked the tiny creature from the box.
“Oh my god, how did you get here?” She asked with a smile. “You’re so tiny,” she giggled as an idea ran into her head. Yeva wouldn’t be a fan, but who cared what a raccoon thought?
Ludivine was sitting in a chair in their bedroom when Ludivine returned, looking sullen. He didn’t look up when she opened the door, and the heavy eyebags on his face said a lot more than words ever could. She hid the puppy behind her back, hoping Yeva wouldn’t follow her to hiss at this strange new creature. “Lenny, love?” She asked gently, standing over him.
He looked with sad eyes. “I’m sorry I woke ya. …Why you standin’ like that?”
Ludivine sat on her calves as Lenny rubbed his eyes. “I found something when I was walking this morning,” she began casually. “I just had to bring him home.”
“Him?” Lenny questioned as Ludivine set the puppy down on his lap. “Oh shit, it’s fuckin’ puppy!”
She giggled. “I found him in a box all by himself. I think he’s a borzoi, so he’s Eastern European, like you.”
“Actually, borzois are Russian, but I suppose we can forgive him for that, it ain’t his fault. …He’s Ukrainian now. And French.” He pet the puppy’s head gently. “I want to call him Valentyn, if that’s fine with ya.”
“Is that the Ukrainian version of Valentine?”
“I like that,” Ludivine agreed. “...You know, we’ve been working nonstop since you came home, and haven’t had much of a vacation. I hear everyone’s heading up to San Francisco this summer. We don’t have anything until August. What if we went there too? After all, I think you and I quite embody their ideal of free love and whatnot.”
“Can we take Yeva and Valentyn?”
“We would blend very well with the hippies if we brought an elderly raccoon and a puppy.”
Lenny smiled. “I love ya, ya know.”
