Page 22 of To the Moon and Back

“No, no, no. I have a presentation in Boston in the morning. Ineed to be on that plane.”

“We all have somewhere to be, but sometimes you have to acceptdefeat. Cinnamon pretzel bite?”

“What are you doing? Why are you getting comfortable with thepretzel things? We should argue. Or call someone. Someone important.”

Just like Lauren had noticed the night before when they’d read,Carly’s version of Ashley came alive. Not that it wasn’t good before. It was.But the readings they did together were other-level for Carly.It’s because she has somethingmore to respond to.So Lauren continued to give, and Carly continuedto come up with new and exciting line deliveries. By the time they’d workedtheir way to the end of the scene, Lauren noticed that she’d abandoned herstage management duties and had lost herself in the world ofStarry NightsandAshley and Mandy. The result was her standing face-to-face with Carly when thescene ended.

“You have no concept of how helpful that was,” Carly said quietly.Lauren’s focus fell to Carly’s bottom lip and the subtle pink lip gloss thatgave it a small shine.

“Well, that’s what I’m here for. To help.”

“Then you need a raise,” Carly said sincerely. “I really feel likelast night and this morning have amounted to a major breakthrough for me. I cansee the path to this character now, and it’s because of you.”

“Good. That makes me happy.”

They stared at each other.

Lauren closed her script and remembered herself, heated cheeks ornot. She had only a short amount of time to finish her rehearsal prep, yet shefound herself completely out of sorts. She wasn’t complaining. The buzz she gotfrom reading lines with Carly reminded her of the days she used to act herself,and with such a capable scene partner, her enjoyment level only doubled.

Reading Mandy’s and Ashley’s lines as they discovered each otherin the play reminded Lauren so much of her personal journey with Carly, who shehad yet to fully figure out. Just when she thought Carly was a spoiled,entitled starlet, Carly would do something to showcase her humanity andkindness. She was beginning to care about this production, and seeing her cryyesterday had been eye opening for Lauren. No, she hadn’t pinned Carly Danieldown just yet, but Lauren also understood that was part of her appeal. Carlywas a lot of things, some of them unexpected.

“All right. I’m back with some scheduling details from Chuck.”Lauren blinked. Ah, yes, she’d sent Trip to speak to The McAllister’s residenttechnical director about their transition to the theater. Chuck was known forhis grumpy side, and she’d come to learn that Trip’s cheerful dispositionoffset it nicely.

“What did he say?” she asked, trying to ease back into her PSMrole, despite the fact that the back of her neck felt warm and she could stillfeel Carly’s gaze all over. She stole a final glance at Carly but felt thatconnection from minutes ago still very much intact.

“He said that if the scenic folks would speed the hell up, we’reon time to move in this week. Yet he’s grumbling about Tinsley demanding moremoney for paint.”

This wasn’t the first time those two had butted heads. “Tins isalways very particular about her mixing, and sometimes that requires additionalcoats we didn’t budget for.”

“Sounds like she’s our holdup. Other than that, we’re good to go.”

Lauren set out the sign-in sheet and nodded. “I’ll talk to her.”It wasn’t technically her job to wrangle an assistant designer, but if Tinsleywas going to be a monkey wrench in the works, she could always mention it toWilks so he could get ahead of the problem.

“So, this is yet another thing you do,” Carly said, grinning. “Youlook ahead to any problems.”

“Part of my job. Yes.” The answer seemed to intrigue Carly, whostole a doughnut and wandered a few feet away to study her lines.

Trip pointed at Carly silently with a shocked looked on his faceand his jaw fully dropped. Lauren nodded back at him wordlessly with wideoh-my-God eyes, as if to say, yes, an early Carly Daniel was something tobehold. The morning had been a unique one. Yet Lauren couldn’t wipe thenever-ending smile off her face. Their one-on-one work sessions invigorated herjust as much as they did Carly.

In fact, she wondered when they’d find some alone time next. Shetold herself that the thought was a harmless one and allowed it. Underneath,concern crept in, because with Carly, Lauren felt out of control, and there wasnothing Lauren craved more in life than structure and control.

“You okay in there, Lala?” Trip asked quietly, as the cast membersbegan to trickle in.

Lauren grinned at him. “I think so.” She didn’t have time to dwellon her status, however, as her phone danced in vibration where she’d left it onthe table. They were two minutes from the official start of rehearsal and theactors who had been called were already engaged in vocal warm-ups. “This isLauren.”

“Lauren. Evelyn.”

She glanced down at the sign-in sheet and saw that she’d yet to sign-in.“Hey, there. Everything okay?”

“Definitely not.”

“Okay. What’s going on?” Lauren walked a few feet away, out ofearshot of the group, sensing this might need to be a private conversation.

“I’m not coming in today. Food poisoning. Really bad.”

“Oh no. Do you need anything? What can we do?”

“I’ll be fine,” Evelyn said in a curt voice. Even sick, sheapparently wasn’t the warm and friendly type. “Just can’t quite keep anythingdown, so I better…Oh no. I have to go.” Lauren winced as Evelyn clicked off thecall out of clear necessity. She made a note to check in on her later in the day,and moved to plan B. “Evelyn’s out today. Food poisoning,” she told Ethan.

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