Page 33 of Happy Trails & Honey Pots

“I don’t want him to get the role just because the movie is about Austin. I want him to audition, just like everyone else. He’s never acted before. I don’t want him to show up on set and not be able to do the job.”

When she first said that she didn’t want AJ to get the role, I thought it was because she didn’t want there to be nepotism, but now I saw that her real fear was that AJ would be put in a position where he would fail. I would never let that happen.

“Let me work with him. We’re hiring locally for the under-eighteen roles, so all the tapes are getting uploaded online and sent to our casting director. I’ll film it with him and help him with his lines.”

“You don’t have to do that.” She shook her head. “That’s not why I was telling you.”

“I know it wasn’t. But I like AJ, and I think it would be really special if he were a part of this project. Also, I see something in AJ. I’ve been in this business most of my life. I know when people have something that can translate on screen or not, and he has it. And I know how to memorize lines with dyslexia. I won’t hire him if he’s not ready. In fact, we can upload the tape to casting, and we won’t even tell Joanne that he’s Austin’s son. James is a very common last name. She sends me the top ten tapes that she thinks are right for the role. If he doesn’t make the cut, he doesn’t make the cut.”

I could see the battle going on behind Zoe’s eyes. She clearly wanted to make the right decision for her son. I could see how scared she was that she was going to make the wrong choice.

“I won’t let him be put in any position that he’s not ready for, I promise.”

She exhaled. “Okay.”

An unearned sense of pride flooded through me. Having this woman’s trust, especially when it came to her son, meant more to me than anything else I’d ever achieved.

She started to stand, and I helped her up. When we were both on our feet, she started to take the jacket off.

“Keep it,” I told her.

“No, I can’t.”

I pulled the two zippered sides together, wrapped them around her, and her eyes lifted to mine. “It’s just a hoodie. I want you to keep it.”

The air between us was thick with tension. I needed her to say yes, to say that she’d keep my jacket. I couldn’t explain why it was so important to me, but it was.

“Are you sure?” Her voice was so quiet I could barely hear her.

“Yes.”

She licked her lips again, and I noticed her chest was rising and falling in short breaths. I wasn’t the only one feeling the intensity in this ‘innocent’ exchange. Whatever was happening between us, I didn’t think it was one-sided.

Without saying a word, we made our way down the hill. She smiled and waved as she climbed into her white Audi. I watched as she drove away in my black zip-up hoodie. Even though we were just talking about a hoodie, I really liked the idea of her going home in a piece of clothing of mine—of her wearing something of mine. That was the word that I kept thinking as her car disappeared down the road.Mine.

15

ZOE

“AJ,I want your homework done before you work on the scene!” I called upstairs and waited, but there was no response. “AJ!”

“Okay!” he shouted back. “I know!”

I looked down at Daisy, whose tail was wagging happily, thudding against the tile entryway floor at the bottom of the stairs. “Seriously, if this is his attitude now, what are we in for during his teenage years?”

Her big brown eyes stared up at me as her tongue hung out of her mouth. She wasn’t worried about his teenage years. She lived in the moment. That was something I needed to get better at.

“You’re right.”

I patted her head and turned to go back to the kitchen and tripped over cleats. “AJ! Put your cleats away!”

I bent down to pick them up and took them into the mudroom. While I was there, I pulled out a load of clothes from the dryer and put towels from the washing machine into it. With a laundry basket filled to the brim with T-shirts, sweats, and socks, I made my way to the kitchen table and dumped it out. Daisy flopped down at my feet with a heavy sigh.

Tonight was the night Miles would be working on AJ’s scene with him. They were going to rehearse it, film it, and upload it to the casting director. I was nervous for him, but I knew that it was wrong of me to hold him back from trying just because of my fear. That wasn’t the right emotion to base my decisions on

I caught my reflection in the sliding glass door and wondered if I’d made the right decision on my outfit. I’d changed six times today and finally ended up with a V-neck green shirt that I always got compliments on because it was the same color as my eyes, and my good-butt jeans. They were the jeans that made my butt look really good. It was my day off, so I’d taken the time to blow out my hair and put a little makeup on, something I rarely ever did. I told myself it was self-care. It had nothing to do with Miles Ford coming over. That was a lie. It had everything to do with Miles coming over. He was also the reason I had butterflies that were throwing a rave in my stomach.

I’d barely gotten through my second stack of T-shirts when there was a knock at the door. Daisy scrambled up to her feet and began barking as I pressed my hand to my stomach and took a deep breath. All day, I’d had a running clock in my head of the minutes until he was showing up. If it was Miles, he was early. Fifteen minutes early.

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