Page 15 of Bad Reputation

“How did you get this job?” she finally asked Maggie.

That was fair. Maybe if Tasha trusted Maggie, this would go better. “I met Zoya onHear Her, and she thought I would be a good fit for this.”

Her parents still weren’t over their shock. If her being a high school teacher had been mildly disappointing, going to work in Hollywood, especially like this, was spitting in their eyes.

“Because you were fired for directing a sexy play?” Tasha asked. “Yeah, I looked you up.”

That was almost a relief. “You know, it isn’t even a sexy play. I was fired for doing a play. Whatever other excuses the school board might have come up with, the empathy and imagination you need for theatre were the real problems.”

Tasha considered this. “Have you ever been on a television set?”

“I’ve always liked movies and theatre. An older cousin of mine was a PA at Sony for a while, and then he worked as an assistant director on a couple of indie films. I did an ‘internship’ for him one summer when I was in college. Mostly I got coffee and flirted with grips.”

Maggie considered detailing her time with Bernard, but Tasha didn’t want Maggie’s résumé. Tasha was after something more elemental here.

“The truth is, as a performer, I had debilitating stage fright and not very much talent. My Cali summer was fun, but it didn’t feel real. And then it dawned on me, there were other ways to have a life in theatre.”

“So you became a drama teacher?”

“Yup. Then a lightning rod. And now I’m here.” Maggie licked her lips, trying to pick her words carefully. As if there were some combination of syllables out there that would defuse the tension and make Tasha see that Maggie was on her side. “This can be whatever you want it to be. I can be as involved as you want in the scenes, or we can touch base about your hard limits and you never have to see me again. You define how this goes. I’m just here to support you.”

Maggie had the sense that Tasha might not even know what her hard limitswere. But she was now stone-cold certain that Tasha’s resistance wasn’t about Maggie’s lack of experience as much as about on-screen nudity itself. But she wasn’t going to tip her suspicions now.

Hey, so I’ve noticed you might be traumatizedwould go over about as well as an IED.

Tasha pushed her spoon through her custard, considering Maggie’s offer. “Where were you duringCosa Nostra?” she finally mumbled.

Now they were getting somewhere.

“What happened duringCosa Nostra?”

Maggie had seen the movie, of course. Tasha had played the daughter of a mafia don who’d been forced into an unhappy marriage with a rival family’s son and rebelled by seducing several soldiers and capos. It had struck Maggie as a fearless performance, especially given that Tasha had been a teenager when she’d given it and that she’d spent a distressing amount of the film naked or in bed with this guy or that one. It was the part that had made her career.

Several pieces suddenly clicked into place for Maggie, enough to make the picture of the puzzle come into focus. It was still missing chunks, but Maggie suddenly could see the outline of what they were working on.

“Nothing.” Tasha got to her feet. “Absolutely nothing, except I got an Oscar nomination. Now I’m going to complain to Jose, because this is clearly not reserve caviar.”

“What was all of that about?” Cole asked when the door swung shut behind her.

“I’m not sure.” Maggie could speculate, but none of her guesses were good.

“She gets like this before filming sometimes. It’s not you. Once the camera’s rolling, she’ll settle down. Tash is a total professional.”

“Uh-huh.” Maggie wanted to know what being a “total professional” entailed—and what it might have cost Tasha.

When Cole and Maggie had finished their meal, Jose came in along with the servers. “I just saw Tasha, and she asked me to pass along her regrets.”

“For?” Cole asked.

“Taking your car and heading back to the hotel.” Jose scratched his cheek. “She did pick up the bill, if that eases the blow.”

At the very least, that helped Maggie’s credit card.

Cole laughed. “She always does this.”

“Did you enjoy the meal?” Jose asked Maggie.

“I honestly have never eaten so well. You had flavors in there I hadn’t evenimagined.” Going back to eating normal-person food was going to be disappointing now that she knew what she was missing.

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