Jason nodded at Bryan and took the papersthe assistant handed him. “I got them this morning.” After turning a few pages,he asked, “Which scene do you want to go over for this?”
“We’ll try the first time he finds his wayback to Genevieve.”
“Ok. Great.” Glancing at the corner where Iwas sitting, Jason looked at me and winked.
I gave him a lame thumbs up and smiled.
Clearly amused, he shook his head andturned back to the director.
“Who’s coming in for Evie?” he asked no onein particular.
“We’re down to three names. We’ll see howyou do on camera and then go from there.”
When I saw the first actress, ClaudiaColbert, walk in, I was very proud of myself for not losing my cool. Eventhough nobody was paying attention to me, I still thought I deserved a pat onthe back.
She was wearing a simple white tee withblack jeans and Toms. Her hair was in a ponytail that was effortless in a way Icould never achieve, and from what I could see, she had no makeup on. While usmortals had to have at least some concealer on, of course she’d been blessed withgreat skin on top of everything else.
She shook hands with Jason, talked with thedirector for a few seconds, then took her place in front of the camera with herscript in her hand and waited for Jason to take his place.
“You guys ready?” Bryan asked, giving themall his attention as he got up and sat down next to the cameraman.
Both Jason and Claudia nodded.
“Let’s start reading from the top. I wantto record the ending from two different angles so we’ll stop and take the lastpart again.” When they started reading their lines, Bryan was watching themthrough the little screen that was on the table. I tried to lean to my left totake a peek, but they were in my way, so I settled back and focused on hearingIsaac and Evie for the first time.
“How could you leave me, Evie?” Jasonasked, already sounding like a different person—tired, broken, hopeless. He wasbecoming Isaac right in front of my eyes.
Claudia took a step toward him and tiltedher head to the side. “I’ve never left you, Isaac. I tried, but I can’t leaveyou. But I won’t come after you either; I won’t force this on you.”
Jason’s voice turned harsh as he laughed.“Force this on me? What is this, Evie? Is there even anything left of us in you?”
She took another step toward him and liftedher hand, but then dropped it as both of her hands formed fists.
“Do I disgust you now? Is that why youcan’t touch me?” Jason all but spit the words at her as his eyes took in hermovements.
Claudia flinched and shook her head, hervoice beaten and small. “I don’t want to hurt you any more.”
Jason dropped the papers and claspedClaudia’s wrists, lifting them up and pulling her against his chest in onequick move I wasn’t expecting. “You think your touch can hurt me? You killed methe moment you let me go in your heart, Evie.”
“Isaac,” Claudia murmured, and when shelooked up at Jason, there were tears swimming in her eyes.
Holy cow! If only I had some popcorn andtissues.
“You were the one who left me,” shecontinued. “You broke my heart into so many pieces that I never fullyrecovered, Isaac. But none of it matters, does it? You aren’t here to stay. Youwill never stay.”
Whooaaa there!
That was most definitely not my dialogue.They had turned a perfectly romantic scene into a cheesy one.
She looked heartbroken.
I saw a teardrop fall from her eyes andJason let go of her wrists as if they had burned him.
“I came back. I came crawling back to you,”Jason choked out. Leaning down, he cupped her cheeks in his hands, forcing herto look at him. “Evie. You’re my only one.”
They both closed their eyes and restedtheir foreheads against each other’s.
“Take me with you,” she whispered into thesilence. “Don’t leave me bleeding again. Don’t let them take you away from me.”