Page 57 of Love Scenes

“Now is better than later.” Guy points to Mom, Tyler, Melanie, and me. He beckons us over to the dining table farthest away from the rest of the crew. “I need all of you.”

We relocate. The exhaustion among us is palpable. Tyler doesn’t collapse into her seat, but melts. Mom drags her fork through her quinoa bowl like she’s digging a hole. Melanie folds one leg atop the other and rubs her own foot, yawning. Even Joseph’s constant motion has a newfound delay to it. He sits sideways on the bench, his outward leg not so much jittering, but swaying.

“As the days go on, Tyler grows stronger in her vision,” Guy tells us. “I can start to see her style emerging in a way that excitesme. But the writing is stillmybaby. And there’s a gap in this story that must be filled.”

“Honey, there’s not much time to make changes.” Mom may as well pull out a nail file, she’s so uninterested in where this is going.

Meanwhile, Tyler turns noticeably rigid. Her shoulders pinch together hard enough she could hold a pencil between the blades.

“I know, but this is a film about all the ways we love each other. Yes?” Guy doesn’t wait for an answer. “It’s about the resilience of the spirit when the world turns against you. How our heart can want and our mind can deny us. And while we have Elise and Calvin riding off into the sunset after their long, tumultuous years apart, we should set Vera and Ruth’s love story apart. They cannot end up in the same place as the other lovers.”

Mom is listening now.

“Vera has this exquisite romance with Ruth. The footage is radiant. Everyone should be proud of what we’ve shot so far. Tyler had an eye for it that I never would have. To use color in such a way! Magentas and violets. And the tender focus, following their hands instead of their mouths. She understood the two women’s love in a way I simply couldn’t. And she’s already woven in this beautiful imagery with the vase of chrysanthemums slowly decaying. New beauty emerging at each stage. I think we can take it further. Push the love these women share even deeper.”

He’s circling the point at a typical Guy Cicero pace, platitude upon platitude.

“What is it you’re thinking?” Mom urges.

“The closure for Elise and Calvin is the realization that they must be together. Vera and Ruth learn this much earlier on. Their story doesn’t really move beyond that. What we need is tosee Vera pass on. Let this romance be her swan song. The last good days before—”

Tyler cuts him off with an aggressive “No.”

“What’s that, dear?”

“We arenotkilling Vera.” All the bluntness she wished to inherit from me comes out twofold. She’s leaning over the table, staring Guy in the eye.

“I know. You love this character. I do too. She’s modeled partly after my mother, after all. But this is a movie, dear. I’ve heard you speak of these moments as paintings. What is it that we’re showing in the gallery? The entire collection should have a theme. And this will complete it. Think of the orange chrysanthemums in the vase! A flower of optimism. Of hope. They will be dead by movie’s end. Wilted but still beautiful. And that shot we’ve planned, when Elise moves out, and she finally puts the flowers in the trash. But she keeps the vase. Doesn’t that tell you everything?”

“No.” Tyler’s sparse answers are like kindling she adds to a pile. She’s daring Guy to set it all alight.

His face betrays his confusion. He didn’t expect to receive any pushback. This is a man who basically got a blank check to do with what he pleases. But he didn’t hire a yes-man in Tyler. He hired a codirector. Her word carries as much weight as his, and the tension between them here is painted into the fine lines that crease around his eyes. “It will really strengthen the love between Elise and Calvin,” he adds weakly.

“Because there aren’t one hundred and seven other pages of script that do that,” Tyler mocks. “It’s the death of our gay character that will finallysell the hetero romance.”

I have to do something before she loses control and the flames burn down everything she’s worked so hard to create. At the veryleast, she needs to know I’m on her side. No matter what, I’malwayson her side.

“The problem is that if you kill Vera, you’re feeding right into a pretty exhausting trope. A few, really,” I say. “So while I get what you’re saying about the themes and the galleries and all that, I still think the movie will actually be even better if you let them live in their joy. This is a queer interracial couple in the 1940s. Having them end up together is already the difference. Not everything has to end in tragedy to be satisfying or important.”

It’s a stark truth I stumble upon accidentally, and it takes my breath away.

Joseph turns so that both his legs are under the table. “You know I’m a bastard who is lucky to still have this gig at all, but I wanna say that Tyler and Sloane are right. The story’s better without anyone havin’ to die.”

His support trips a wire in my heart. Everything he does feels like he’s telegraphing our recent activities to the crew. Old Sloane would’ve found a way to knock him down. But this is too important. I give him a noncommittal nod, aiming for something that reads as cautiously appreciative.

Melanie takes a big bite of her salad. “It’s not a good idea.”

Only one vote remains.

Guy turns to Mom. Our family has always been ruled by Katherine Porter. She runs the back of her hand along Guy’s cheek.

We’ve lost. Mom is choosing Guy. Vera’s going to die and it’s all going to be an even bigger mess than it already is.

“Honey,” she coos. “I see where your head’s at.” She pulls her hand back. “But there is more on the line than your own reputation here.”

Tyler perks up. The two of us lock eyes, stunned at this lead-up.If Mom delivers the fatal blow, we win. That easily. It will save hours of tears. Maybe even years, considering once the movie is out, it’s forever. This story will be attached to our names for the rest of time.

“I know this isn’t easy to hear, but it won’t work,” she says plainly. “We’re fighting against the clock as it is. There’s no room in our schedule to shoot additional coverage we haven’t planned for, dear. I’ve already made Sloane quite upset by taking time from her gala to do reshoots. Besides, Melanie won’t be available to us beyond our already reworked schedule.”