Page 68 of Happy Trails & Honey Pots

“I’m okay.” I hear another stifled cry.

“Okay, good.” I take another tactic. “Well, if nothing is wrong, then you can let me in, right?”

I hear the door unlock. I reach down, turn the knob, and open it. Zoe is sitting on the toilet. Her eyes are red-rimmed. There are tearstains on her cheeks. I kneel down in front of her and brush the hair from her face.

“What’s wrong, pretty girl? Are you sick?”

“Sort of.”

“How can you be sort of sick?” I lift my hand and press it to her forehead. She doesn’t have a temperature.

She reaches to the counter and hands me a stick. I look at it, not sure what it is at first. Then it dawns on me.

“Is this…are you?” I look up at her.

“Yes.” She nods and starts sobbing harder than she was before.

I smile. I can’t help it.

“Why are you smiling?” she asks.

“We’re having a baby! You’re having my baby!” I lean forward and kiss her stomach. Tears are in my eyes, too, but I’m not crying for the reasons she is. I’m crying because I’m happy.

“How can you be happy about this?!” she asks as she shakes her head back and forth.

“Because I love you, and I love this baby.” I brush the hair that is stuck to her tearstained cheeks off her face. “I know you’re scared. But I promise I will take care of you and I will take care of this baby. I will never leave you.”

“Youpromise?” Her voice cracks as she smiles with hope in her eyes.

“I promise.” I pull Zoe into my arms as I make her a promise I, as Miles, know Austin thought he would keep. “You willneverbe alone.”

33

ZOE

“Five minutes!”I called up to AJ, who was still in the shower. I could hear the water running.

It was early—only 4:45 a.m. AJ had a 5:00 a.m. call time, which was typical, apparently. I was learning a lot about making movies. For one thing, I didn’t know that children needed to have a special entertainment work permit or that there would be a studio teacher on the set.

Braxton had filled me in on the entertainment work permit, and Nadia got the gig as the on-set tutor. So, for the next week, she would be AJ’s teacher again. I was actually glad that she was going to be there, especially since I was required to be there as well. No minor could be on set without an appropriate adult.

It made sense to me now why they wanted to hire the child actors locally. It would have been more expensive for them to have to pay for travel, accommodations, and per diem for not only the child actor but also their guardians.

I had butterflies in my stomach as I waited downstairs for AJ. I wasn’t sure if it was nerves for him or myself. I hadn’t seen or spoken to Miles since I lost it on him at the lookout spot. He’d texted the day after, and I’d texted back, saying that I was fineand that I was sorry for the way I spoke to him. He said I didn’t have anything to apologize for, but I hadn’t heard anything from him since.

I told myself it was for the best, but I had to admit, I’d missed hearing from him. Which I knew was toxic. It should be good that he’d lost interest in me. Of course, I knew he would. He was a huge Hollywood star who made the sexiest actor lists every year; I was a single mom who spent most of her days in scrubs with no makeup on. I would have been delusional to think what we had could be real.

When the alarm on my phone went off, indicating it was time to leave, it saved the inside of my mouth from bleeding because I was biting it so hard.

“AJ!” I called up again. “Let’s go.”

Two doors slammed. The bathroom and then his room. There was another slam that I assumed was a closet or drawer. A few minutes later, he came bounding down the stairs. As he tied his shoes, I double-checked that I had everything I needed. I’d been told to bring his birth certificate, social security card, and entertainment work permit. Check. Check. Check.

“Do you have your script?” I asked.

“Yep.” He nodded and showed me the papers.

“Okay, let’s do this.”

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