Page 34 of Full House

She turned, walking backward to give him a scowl. “Dream killer.”

Nate tipped his head back and laughed.

They parted ways at their trailers, and just as she was stepping through the door, her cell rang. Her manager’s name lit the screen. “Byron,” she said after answering the call and bringing the phone to her ear.

His voice boomed over the line. “Congratulations.”

She pulled the phone from her ear and stared at it in disbelief. How did he know these things? Putting the phone back to her ear she mumbled, “Um… thanks. How’d you find out so fast?”

“Oh, Victoria, you’ll find there’s nothing I don’t know.”

Yeah, well, he didn’t know one thing, and it was a biggie. She’d gone to the doctor, and it was confirmed. She was three months pregnant.

As if reading her mind, he said, “I have two readings booked for you next week.”

Victoria sighed into the phone. “We’ve already talked about this. I want to take a little break between movies.” Byron had been hounding her for the past week with potential role offers.

“We’ve got to strike while—”

“The iron’s hot,” she finished his sentence for him. “So you’ve said, a hundred times.” She needed to get him off her back about any new projects, but she wasn’t sure how to do that short of telling him the truth.

She still needed to tell Nate before she could tell Byron. And she would tell Nate soon. Just as soon as he returned from filming his commercial. She knew she was prolonging the inevitable, but their lives have been so crazy this past week, and now with him going out of town the next day, she figured it was better to wait until he came home.

Her stomach felt queasy at just the thought of telling Nate. She really was a big fat chicken.

“Listen, Byron, I need time off. So please stop booking readings for me.”

“Fine.” He sounded harassed. “I’ll give you a month, but that’s it. You can’t afford to step away longer than that.”

Growing agitated she foolishly blurted, “I need at least nine months.”

There was silence for a few beats where she could picture the wheels in Byron’s head spinning.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Please tell me that doesn’t mean what I think it does,” he finally said.

She remained silent. She’d already said too much.

“This is going to ruin your career before you even get started,” he yelled over the line, and she had to pull the phone away from her ear or risk going deaf.

Now she was just plain mad. “Plenty of actresses have babies, and it doesn’t ruin their careers.”

“Not so young in their careers. Besides, babies take a lot of time and energy. What if you decide to quit working after you have it?”

Like your mother. He didn’t say the words, but they were implied. Victoria knew her mother had never regretted leaving the business, but she was sure her mother’s manager regretted she had.

Moving on. “Don’t you think you’re jumping the gun? Let’s wait to cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“Fine. We’ll discuss it later.”

“There’s nothing to discuss. At least not for the next six months. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to anyone. You’re the only person who knows.”

“Oh, believe me, this is one cat I want left in the bag.”

Victoria hung up the phone after they said their goodbyes, then rushed back to the bedroom. If she didn’t hurry and get changed, Nate would wonder what was taking her so long. And recounting her phone call with Byron was something she definitely didn’t want to do.

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