Page 215 of My Five Daddies

I stare at him, not sure what to say. “I don’tunderstand.”

“I think she’s in,” he says slowly. We’re standing close together in the very back of the set, far away from any prying eyes. “But I don’t know if we can go through withit.”

“Jackson. Whathappened?”

He hesitates, looking away. “It’s the studio. Apparently they want to kill thismovie.”

“What?” I can’t believe that. So far, from what I’ve seen, things are looking great. So we’re a little behind schedule and a little over budget, but that’s pretty much average for a big Hollywood film these days. Budgets are more like fantasies and wishlists.

“My agent’s assistant called me up and warned me. I tried to get Mickey to take Holly as a client, and hopefully he’d sell that script in the process, but Von warned me to backoff.”

“Von?” I askhim.

“That’s Mickey’s assistant. He said that the studio is unhappy with the drama and the budget and they’re thinking about killing the whole thing before it gets too far out ofhand.”

“Shit,” I whisper and bang my hand against the wall. “Thoseassholes.”

“Yeah,” he says softly. “So you see myproblem.”

If this movie gets killed, a lot of people are going to be out of jobs. The whole cast and crew cleared their schedules for this on the assumption that they’d have months of work ahead of them. People depend on this movie for their livelihood, and although they’ll still get paid for what they’ve done, that future work suddenly disappears. Guys are going to bescrambling.

A lot of people depend on this. I don’t think most people realize just how many jobs depend on a big budget movie. Guys need to feed their families, and working on a big movie like this can bring them some serious financial stability, at least for a year orso.

And if we pull it all out from under them? I don’t know what wouldhappen.

“So that’s it, you’re just screwed?” I askhim.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “I can’t let this movie die. Mickey’s also thinking about droppingme.”

I look up at him, shocked. “You’re notserious.”

“That’s what his assistant says. I think this whole Holly thing is making him see that I won’t play ball. And Mickey wants clients that playball.”

“I’m so sorry,” I say, pressing myself againsthim.

He pulls me tight to his chest. “Truth is, I never thought I’d like this acting thing. But I don’t think I’m ready to give itup.”

“I know,” I say to him. “That’s okay. I don’t want you to sacrifice that much… I couldn’t ask that ofyou…”

He sighs and pulls my chin up toward him. He kisses me softly. “This isn’t over just yet,” he says. “There has to be away.”

“I don’t see how. If you break up with Holly, she smears you. If you keep pushing this script thing, your agent may drop you and this whole movie coulddie.”

He looks at me for a second and shakes his head. “I can’t let it go. You think I should just rollover?”

“No, Jackson, no. But I want you to think long-term. I don’t want you to sacrifice everything just for…” I trail off, not even able to sayit.

“For what?” he whispers tome.

“Youknow.”

“I don’t know.” He looks into my eyes. “Sayit.”

“Forme.”

He kisses me softly and I feel a deep chill run down my spine. “I’d do more than that for you,” he says. “You deserveit.”

“How?” I ask. “What you did… it was so long ago. I’m not mad about itanymore.”

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