“Just follow your gut. Cast someone who will work hard if they’re the lead. Talent is great, but hard work is better.” Aubrey shifts and whispers in his ear. Noah sighs and then returns to the topic of the call. “Listen, I would love to shoot the shit, but that’s not going to happen. I want us to go over some options of reshoots and talk about prep for the next movie. I know you’re spending time in Pennsylvania, so coming out to the studio would be a pain in the ass, and honestly, I need to be home for a bit. What about if we work out a schedule sometime next month?”
I nod. “That’s fine.”
“Good. I appreciate it. I also wanted to see if you had questions about the script for Forced Landing.”
“I do. I actually . . . I have issues.”
“Yeah?”
“Noah, we’ve always been straight with each other. I respect you and your work not just as a director but also as an actor.”
“I appreciate that,” Noah says earnestly.
“But this script . . .”
“It’s total shit?” he finishes.
I breathe a huge sigh of relief. “Yes, thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. I’ve spent the last three weeks making the writers redo it to where I’m happy with it. They should be done this week and then we’ll send it out. We will not have a delay, so you’ll have to work hard to get the new one down. As soon as we’re sure it all ties in I’ll need you to be ready to head to L.A. for any reshoots for Flight Plan when I call.”
For a new script, one that’s better, I’ll do whatever it takes. “Of course.”
“Good.”
“Noah? Can we go shopping now?” Aubrey asks.
“One minute, sweetheart.” He placates her and then turns back. “I have to go, but the biggest change to the series is that you’re going to have a love interest. One that isn’t fleeting and she’ll carry through the rest of the movies.”
“Really?” That was one of the big things that Noah wanted to leave out when the first movie was written.
“Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I want it. Once you get the script, you’ll see. We’re adding a redhead superhero female who is going to knock you on your ass. I gotta run. Talk to you soon and send me an email once you read it over.”
He disconnects, and I’m left feeling as if my fictional life and real life are mirroring each other just a little too much.
Chapter Fourteen
Jacob
“All right, everyone.” I clap my hands as all the kids settle down. “I was very impressed with the work you guys did today. There are some very talented people in this group, and I look forward to announcing the cast tomorrow.”
They all look around with huge smiles.
A hand goes up. “Yes, Clarissa?”
“Can you tell us now if you know who will play the leads?”
“I can,” I say and then pause. Again, the kids fidget in their seats. “But I won’t.”
A groan goes through the auditorium, and I fight back the urge to laugh. Now I see why Noah started acting less and directing more. This is fucking fun.
“Now, everyone head home and go over the script if you want, it’ll help you prepare in case you’re selected for another role than the one you auditioned for. Remember, there are only so many lead roles. It’s not an insult if you’re selected for something else. Every role, no matter how small, is important. After all, without the supporting cast, a play would be boring.”
After the talk with Sebastian about taking roles you don’t always want, I was taken back to the earlier parts of my career. When things were always bleak. In Hollywood, actors are a dime a dozen. I was unprepared for that reality. I got there, thinking I was hot shit and would get any role I wanted.
I was an idiot.
The kids get up, grab their stuff, and shuffle out, except for one.
“Hey, Jacob?”
“Sebastian, you did well today. I was impressed.”
“You were?”
I nod. He has talent oozing out of him. I was worried that his passion for the theater meant he wouldn’t be good, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case. I could see the amount of work he put into the role, and I’d be a fool not to cast him.
“I was. Good job. How do you feel you did?”
He sighs and looks over at his mother, who is doing her best to ignore me and failing. “I think I did okay. I had fun, which Mom says is the most important thing.”
“Your mother is very smart.”
He smiles. “Don’t tell her that.”
I laugh. “Did you want to ask me something?”
He shifts his weight, and I can tell that whatever is on his mind, he doesn’t want to really ask. “It’s not a question.”
“Okay.”
“It’s more . . . I heard something around school.”
I lean against the stage. “Whatever you have on your mind, you can say it.”
“All right. Here it is. I heard that you went on a date with my mom.”
Okay, that definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. “It wasn’t a date, we had lunch to discuss the play.”
“Everyone is saying you’re dating her.”
I let out a heavy breath. “I’m sorry they’re giving you a hard time. We’re not dating.”
He shakes his head. “I heard her talking too.”
Now my interest in piqued. “Yeah?”
“She was telling Aunt Cybil that she wanted to kiss you.”
I could fucking do a jig right now, but I keep it together. “A lot of women want to kiss me,” I say as a joke.
“You should ask her out.”
“Sebastian . . .”
“No, I’m serious. She didn’t smile a lot before. She was always sad and never wore makeup or did her hair. She does now. I think she likes you.”
I smile, thinking of how hard this probably is for him. “I like your mom too.”
“You have my permission to ask her out.”
“I appreciate that.”
He extends his hand. “Thanks for the talk.”
I put my hand in his and shake. “I appreciate that we were able to settle this like gentlemen.”
“If you hurt her . . .”
“I’ll hurt myself,” I promise. “Now, Saturday we’re all going to the festival in town, and I’m picking the three of you up. How about we go fishing before it?”
Sebastian beams. “I’d like that.”
“Me too, and thanks for the talk.”
Sounding much too old for his eleven years, Sebastian smiles. “Any time.”
I’m nervous.
I’m never nervous.
And, yet, here I am, standing outside Brenna’s door, feeling like a sixteen-year-old kid about to pick up the girl who is way too pretty for him. Only I’m not going on a date. I’m not sixteen. And there will be no kiss at the end of tonight.
Not that I wouldn’t give my left nut to have that be untrue.
I thank God for the years of acting classes and the roles where I had to be someone else because tonight will be the show of a lifetime.