Page 78 of Guarding the Singer

"I'm thinking of getting full time staff around here, too. It's a lot to do around the house and if I want to get out the house, I'm going to need to stop doing all the chores."

The producer snapped his fingers when an idea came to him.

"I'm going to start with one of those vacuum spinning things. The Roomma? Roma?"

"Roomba?"

"Yes." He laughed. "One for each floor." He started to shake his head and stopped, lifting his hand to his head, pressing his fingers against his temple. "Maybe I'll explain it like that? Getting an assistant for different things. I'll figure out something before I talk to her. She might end up grateful for the time she can get back and the bonus I'm going to give her."

William's phone chimed and he looked at his watch. "It's almost lunch time on set. I'm going to head back."

Reaching across the table, William shook Cooper's hand.

"Thanks for seeing me."

Cooper stayed in his seat. "Happy to. I'm glad we've gotten a reprieve from the... the pranks on set."

William nodded. If things stayed quiet, he'd be happy to think of things the same way as Cooper.

Maybe it was just that?

William allowed the words to sit there in his head, but his gut didn't buy it.

"You want me to lock the door on my way out?"

Cooper looked at the clock on the wall. "No, that's okay. Mandy will be back soon."

William headed for the door, but Cooper called out to him and he turned back to look.

"If you see Mandy, please don't say anything to her. I want to talk to her personally."

William shrugged. "Sure. No problem."

And he meant it, he didn't think Mandy liked him at all. She always seemed to give him a wide berth when she saw him.

He didn't take it personally. He was a big guy. Tall. He had muscles. Some thought that was good. Some thought he was scary.

Mandy was likely in the second group.

Moments later he was back in the car and on his way to Lincoln Center.

The filming was going fine, at least that's what everyone was telling her, but Selene was struggling with it.

Every time they called ACTION she was on! She felt good while it was happening, but when they called CUT, that's when the worries started.

It didn't help that just before one of the close-ups was filmed, a mic stand fell over and ripped her dress.

As if by magic, Jessica appeared on set and walked her into the wardrobe trailer.

The first words on Selene's lips once the door closed was an apology. "I am so sorry."

Jessica shook her head. "Since when are youresponsible for something falling over? You didn't touch the mic stand, did you?"

Selene shook her head.

"Then let's talk about other things. I think," Jessica lifted her arm to peak under and used her fingers to feel along the tear, "we can fix this. I don't think you'll even have to take it off."

Selene let out a relieved sigh. "Good. I think it took half a dozen people to sew me into this thing."

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