Page 56 of Wild Love

It was nice to have someone in my corner who didn't have an ulterior motive for me to stay. "Thanks for believing in me."

"I saw you teach that class. Trust me, seeing is believing."

I winced. "That's sweet. But I'm still worried we won't be able to pull everything together in a few short weeks."

"This is just the start."

I frowned. "Is that what people are saying? I told Marigold it would be just one production. Maybe she could find someone who's interested in a full-time, unpaid position."

Eli shifted on his feet. "Right."

He didn't say that it wasn't likely. He didn't have to. I just had to focus on making this one production great. Then I could say I did something on my hiatus from acting.

"Can we go over what you'll need, and then I can order it?" Eli asked, pulling out his phone to take notes.

"I don't want you spending a lot of money. This is just for fun."

His forehead wrinkled. "Let me worry about that."

"For starters, a few animal costumes. Whatever you can find. But try to avoid ones that cover their face. We'll want to see their facial expressions."

"Got it."

"We'll need to build a set with trees and mountains." I put anything we could use in a storage box and the ones that weren’t salvageable in a trash bag.

Marigold popped her head in. "Pizza's here."

"Oh, good." I finished putting away the items, then washed my hands in the small bathroom off the stage.

When we went to the auditorium, everyone was sitting on the edge of the stage eating a slice of pizza.

I grabbed one and sat in one of the cushioned seats in the front row.

"What do you think?" Marigold asked, plopping down next to me.

"It's dusty." It was like everywhere I went, a cloud of dust followed me.

Marigold waved a hand in front of my face as if she could ward off my words. "Ah. We'll take care of that. What do you think of the setup?"

"It will work for what we need it for." I wanted to say it would be perfect. But I didn't want to fall in love with this place. I spent too much time imagining it was mine. I could do whatever I wanted with it. I could plan the plays we'd perform, encourage more kids to love the theater. It sounded amazing. But I didn't have enough money to buy a theater. Eventually, whoever owned this place would probably sell it to someone who'd turn it into a restaurant.

I was just temporary, a means to fill a gap. I wasn't needed here. Or at least, that's what I kept telling myself. This job wasn't my future. "Eli said he's going to help us get the costumes and props we need and direct the set crew."

"Why's he taking such an interest in this?"

I was wondering the same thing. "He appreciates the theater?"

"I have no idea. But this place has been sitting empty for years, and then when you come home, someone buys it and allows us to use it without paying rent."

"We're just lucky, I guess." I'd received a message this morning from Steve telling me not to bother inquiring about other jobs. He'd already blacklisted me. I didn't know if that was true, but he knew I was asking around. He probably had said something to tarnish my reputation. Leaving town wouldn't be as easy as usual.

I had to find someone who didn't know about Steve. He was fairly recognized in our circle, so that meant working with an up-and-comer. Someone who didn't have experience or a big budget behind them. It would be like starting over again.

We threw out the pizza boxes and finished cleaning. We left the windows open to air it out. But when we left, we had to close everything up again.

When we headed out to our cars that were parked in the small lot behind the building, Eli asked, "Can we go over what you need tonight? We don't have much time."

"Of course." I'd never been the one in charge of set design or costumes, so it was nice to have help. I couldn't do this on my own. I was just an actor not a director or a producer. I wasn't used to marketing or ordering supplies.

---