Page 16 of Bring me Back

“Oh yes, super fun. Can you take a break?” I wasn’t expecting that. I’d imagine we had to go to the theater and sit on the far ends of the reading table while Mrs. Carr mediated. It seemed a little out of control to do this without supervision.

I bit my cheek and might have taken too long to reply, because he simply shook his head. His shoulders slumped for the first time around me. Mr. Miller expected me to refuse him. Something coiled inside my stomach, and an urge to prove him wrong surged within me. I couldn’t disappoint the only person who was entertained by my personality, could I?

Even though it was too early to take my break, I marched straight to Torres, hung his order and threw my face outside, looking at Marian. “Can I take ten?”

She dragged her cigarette and watched me.

“Five might do.” I bargained.

Marian tsked. “Go ahead. I’ll send Torres with his order and something for you.”

I beamed at her. “Cheeseburger with crispy onions.”

“Aren’t you tired of that already?”

I shook my head, and then went back inside, straight to his table.

He was sipping the coffee someone got him, when I dropped on the bench opposite him.

“Do you know how much you need?” I went straight to the point, pretending not to be affected when he smiled warmly at me. I kept talking to distract us both. “I know Mrs. Carr wants to have this incredible scenery, but… It’s a play about fairies. We need good costumes.”

Mr. Miller nodded, his long fingers tapping rhythmically on the table. “What she wanted wasn’t possible, anyway.”

“Do I even want to know?”

Mr. Miller snorted. “She wanted me to construct a movable platform to rotate between the city scene and the woods.”

“Oh.” My eyebrows rose. “That sounds silly when the city is only in the beginning. Isn’t it better to concentrate in the woods?”

Mr. Miller took another sip and nodded.

“Did you change her plans?” I asked.

“I made them possible,” he corrected me but with a smile, stretching his arms behind him. I blushed straight away and held back the eye roll. I hated blushing, it was a dead giveaway. So I scratched my cheek and started talking about clothes before I lost my cool.

“I can convert Juliet’s dress into Hippolyta’s,” I explained. “There’s enough red fabric, and I can add golden bits and maybe rushing…” I closed my mouth and shook my head. Normal people tended not to care about rushing. He didn’t need to know everything I was planning.

I looked up, and he was staring at me. Not in judgment, not impatient. Just looked like he had the whole time in the world to hear me blab about Hippolyta’s costume. I cleared my throat. “But for Helena and Hermia, things get a little trickier. I have white fabric but it isn’t as light as I wished for… for what I have in mind.”

I waited for him to say something. But he kept his eyes on me and no words left his mouth. “What’s wrong?” I wanted to know.

He shrugged. “Nothing. You’re talking a lot.”

My eyes widened, and I sat back on the seat, a little hurt.

He chuckled. “It’s not bad,” I was assured. “What else are you thinking?”

I chewed on my bottom lip. “What areyouthinking?”

He rolled his shoulders back, looking comfortable on his own skin. “Paneling.” Yes, he told me that before. “Get the kids to make a lot of leaves and branches from wire…”

“What diameter? We can use the same wire for the wings…”

“Wings?”

“Titania’s.”

He hummed. Honestly, being responsible forA Midnight Summer Dream’scostume design was a dream come true. I was going to make wings.Wings!If I wasn’t so nervous to talk to him properly for the first time, I’d have felt giddy.

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