Page 40 of Love Scenes

Mom breaks from me, dusting off the place where my head rested on her shoulder. She straightens her dress and takes a cleansing breath. “How do I look?”

“Perfect.”

She turns on her heel to walk to her mark. “Oh, and when do you start?” she asks, her back to me.

“Start what?” I call back.

A makeup artist comes to do quick touch-ups on her face, freshening the soft mauve color on her lips. Mom rubs them together, then blots on a napkin. “You’ve been trying to get someone to ask you this all week. And your sister, love her though I do, is afraid you will leave, so she won’t do it.”

Tyler, who had been sitting in her director’s chair talking something over with Guy and our DP, perks up. “What’s going on?”

“Is everything all right, sunshine?” Guy asks Mom.

“Since none of you will do what’s necessary, I’m offering Sloane the part myself.”

One by one, every person on set turns in my direction.

“She’s spent two weeks running scenes with Joe, so she knows the script. She’s practically the same size as Haven. She’ll fit into all the costumes. Her hair is too short and too dark, but we still have a few more of my scenes with Melanie to get through. Plenty of time to figure out an appropriate style. And she’s already shown a great level of commitment to this project. I have no doubt she’d be ready to go as soon as needed.”

I’m reminded of the moment in the waiting room after Dad’s heart attack, when my family found out I’d been fired fromThe Seeker. The spotlight once again shining on me without warning.

“Plus there are no worries about whether or not she will go nude, as evidenced by the fact that at the age of twenty-two my beautiful baby girl turned over not just her breasts, but her entire body to a no-name director for a horror flick that only grossed eight million dollars domestically.” Mom wags a finger at me. “Lucky for her, this is directed by the best in the business. And there is no better name to go at the top of the marquee than the one we all wanted in the first place: Sloane Ford.”

My eyes well up to the midline.

Without the unnecessary shame around nudity, if she’d said all of that to me that day on the phone, I probably would have taken the part.

Yet she didn’t.

And these circumstances are far from perfect, but for once, she’s giving me something not because I am her daughter, but because I’ve worked for it.

Tyler gets out of her director’s chair and comes over to me. “Ikept thinking you’d bring it up if you wanted to do it,” she tells me meekly. “And it’s okay if you don’t. I get it. I just want you to behere.”

“I tried to pull you aside the very day we fired Haven!” Guy informs me. “Alas, these wise women said this was a sensitive topic that required time. I hope we’ve given you enough.”

“You have,” I say.

“And?” Tyler urges.

It’s been months since I’ve wanted a part. Years, really. All this time I thought I was done. Inching toward a retirement at the ripe old age of thirty. Feeling this right now, I know I was waiting. I had to crawl my way back to this work.

To love it again.

“I’ll do it,” I say. “I’ll play Elise.”

The whole soundstage erupts in applause.

10

Week Three of Production

I can’t believe my prayers have finally been answered!” my manager, Glori, hollers, loud enough that other patrons look over at us. “Sloane Ford is doing a period piece.”

We’re on the covered patio of a popular breakfast spot, the trellised wall behind me decorated with various succulents. There’s a nice summer breeze coming in, cooling the nervous heat that’s settled into the core of me. Our server places a votive candle on our table and tops off our water glasses.

“No. Sloane Ford is making a movie. That’s all.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever helps you sleep at night. Can I just be glad to take you out to a celebratory lunch for landing a huge part?”