Page 458 - A Little Life: A Novel

Now, he listened to Kit’s gloomy predictions for another hour, and then,
finally, when it was clear that Willem wouldn’t change his mind, Kit
seemed to change his. “Willem, it’ll be fine,” he said, determinedly, as if

Willem had been the one who was concerned all along. “If anyone can do
this, you can. We’re going to make this work for you. It’s going to be fine.”
Kit tilted his head, looking at him. “Are you guys going to get married?”
“Jesus, Kit,” he said, “you were just trying to break us up.”
“No, I wasn’t, Willem. I wasn’t. I was just trying to get you to keep your
mouth shut, that’s all.” He sighed again, but resignedly this time. “I hope
Jude appreciates the sacrifice you’re making for him.”

“It’s not a sacrifice,” he protested, and Kit cut his eyes at him. “Not
now,” he said, “but it may be.”
Jude came home early that night. “How’d it go?” he asked Willem,
looking closely at him.
“Fine,” he said, staunchly. “It went fine.”
“Willem—” Jude began, and he stopped him.

“Jude,” he said, “it’s done. It’s going to be fine, I swear to you.”
Kit’s office managed to keep the story quiet for two weeks, and by the
time the first article was published, he and Jude were on a plane to Hong
Kong to see Charlie Ma, Jude’s old roommate from Hereford Street, and
from there to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. He tried not to check his
messages while he was on vacation, but Kit had gotten a call from a writer
at New York magazine, and so he knew there would be a story. He was in

Hanoi when the piece was published: Kit forwarded it to him without
comment, and he skimmed it, quickly, when Jude was in the bathroom.
“Ragnarsson is on vacation and was unavailable for comment, but his
representative confirmed the actor’s relationship with Jude St. Francis, a
highly regarded and prominent litigator with the powerhouse firm of Rosen
Pritchard and Klein and a close friend since they were roommates their

freshman year of college,” he read, and “Ragnarsson is the highest-profile
actor by far to ever willingly declare himself in a gay relationship,”
followed, obituary-like, with a recapping of his films and various quotes
from various agents and publicists congratulating him on his bravery while
simultaneously predicting the almost-certain diminishment of his career,
and nice quotes from actors and directors he knew promising his revelation
wouldn’t change a thing, and a concluding quote from an unnamed studio

executive who said that his strength had never been as a romantic lead