Page 39 of Home to Me

She nodded fleetingly, but he was clearly not convinced.

"Are you nervous about this or..." He eyed her meaningfully.

The last thing Lauren wanted was to get into a conversation with Ben about their late-night escapades in a place where they could possibly be overheard by the director and entire crew, so she quickly assured him, "This, this! I'm nervous about this. You know, it's just first-day jitters, the camera, all that."

Ben smiled, looking relieved. "Well, try not to be," he said. "I know that's easier said than done, but really just try to remember what I told you about picturing a friend inside the lens of the camera. Every single person out there watching the show, Lauren—they're rooting for you. They want to connect with you. They want to be your friend. It's just up to you to let them. Use that. Picture Sam in there, or Karina, or Amanda. Talk the way you talked to Karina when you were showing her the house she ended up buying. You're really good at this, Lauren. You're gonna be fantastic."

He smiled at her, and she thought that it was probably the first truly genuine smile he’d given her all morning. That alone made her feel better than the entire pep talk—and it was a pretty damn good pep talk, too.

She took a deep breath and felt herself relax a bit. Although her jitters weren’t entirely gone, at least she wasn't wound up as tight as a coiled jack-in-the-box anymore, ready to spring out of her skin at the slightest provocation.

Just a few moments after their exchange, the director yelled, “Action!” for the first time, and Ben and Lauren launched into their introductory remarks about the property. Lauren was extremely prepared. The cue cards were hardly a necessity because she’d done all of her research and knew the facts of the home well.

After three takes, though, she didn't need Paul to tell her that she was being stiff. Even she could hear the wooden quality in her own voice—the simple, bare recitation of facts with no passion, warmth, or engagement behind it.

She shook her hands to try to release some tension and rolled her head back and forth to stretch out her neck. She knew that this was just nerves. God, she hoped it was just nerves. She really needed to break past this tension that was holding her so stiff.

Not knowing what to do to accomplish that, she turned to Ben, her eyes a bit wide. She recognized that she was sinking and didn't know how to pull herself back up.

"This is not going well," she whispered tensely. "Any other suggestions?"

Ben glanced over at Paul and then back at Lauren, a sly smile slowly growing on his face. He leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Well, if none of my previous suggestions work, then maybe I can find a little hidden corner of this house and use my other special techniques to loosen you up."

Lauren couldn't help it. The shock of hearing him whisper that to her in front of all those people, with cameras trained on them, had a powerful two-pronged effect on her.

First of all, she thought it was hilarious and started to laugh. Second, she felt a rush of primal heat power through her, which had the unexpected side effect of completely loosening up her tense neck and shoulder muscles, relaxing her immediately.

Ben stood up straight, smiling at her, clearly delighted at hearing her laugh. "See? That wasn't so hard. Come on, Lauren. I know you can do it. You're one of the most capable people I’ve ever met. You’ve got this," he said supportively.

She smiled, actually believing him, feeling her confidence surge.

Paul, fresh from a conversation with one of the PAs, walked over just at that moment and said, "All right! This is great. I already like it better. Just the energy and the dynamic of how you two are standing. Very good. Much more relaxed, much more comfortable with one another. Let's go again, and let's try to keep that energy."

Lauren and Ben nodded, and Lauren smiled up at Ben, realizing that not only had he saved her ass, but he had done it by merely bringing out a side of her that had already existed. She took a deep breath and felt not nervous this time, but excited. Pumped up. Ready to take on this challenge.

She was shocked at the way that moment with Ben seemed to be a magic switch. She and Ben were in the zone, joking around, doing perfect takes on the first try, interacting with the crew, laughing—basically kicking their job's ass.

Lauren couldn't remember the last time she had felt so confident, so powerful, so on top of her game as she did during the shoot.

Even the crew members were continually coming up and telling them that it was the best shoot they'd been on. When Lauren asked Ben if they were just kissing butt and it was the kind of thing they said all the time or if it was actually true, Ben shook his head.

"No, they're not like that," he said before letting out a short bark of laughter. "Trust me. They don't care enough about what we think to make stuff up or be that interested in stroking our egos. We're not that famous."

She smiled, again recognizing the ring of truth in what he said and feeling gratified that she could take the crew's flattering words at face value.

When the day was done and she and Ben were waiting in the town car for the ride back to the airport and their flight back to Hope Falls; Ben looked at her, eager anticipation in his face.

"So, what did you think?" he asked.

She smiled broadly and then reached up and stroked the side of his face.

"I think," she said happily, "that I've found a second career."

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Lauren's high lasted about as long as the flight did. And when the plane descended from the clouds, so did Lauren's heady emotions. As their hired town car drove them back up the mountain to Hope Falls, Lauren found herself drawing more and more inside herself, putting up her old walls, wondering why she’d felt so free with Ben during the past couple of days.

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