Page 23 of To the Moon and Back

“Fan-fucking-tastic. I get Carly here on time, and Evelyn can’tmake it.”

“I know,” Lauren said sympathetically. “But we have Nia ready tostep in.” Nia Blankenship had been cast as the standby for both lead roles. Shewas a sturdy understudy, which was why The McAllister recommended her readilyin the casting sessions. You could always count on Nia, and with a wild cardlike Carly Daniel in the mix, having a solid backup was key. No, she wasn’t themost charismatic actress, but she was serviceable.

Ethan sighed. “All right. Put her in.”

After briefing an eager Nia, rehearsal was finally off and rolling.Their agenda was a run of act 1, and with only a few hiccups, they stumbled theirway to the end, blandly. Carly looked defeated by then and walked away to aquiet corner alone. Ethan appeared weary, almost as if he hadn’t slept in aweek. Nia looked nervous as hell. Apparently, working with a celebrity rattledher more than Lauren would have guessed. Today was feeling like a wash.

“And that’s lunch, everyone,” Trip announced to the company. “Seeyou back here in an hour.”

Lauren could feel the low energy in the room as the cast quietlyfiled out. The run-through had run flat without Evelyn, but honestly, it hadn’tbeen much stronger with her. The production, while still afloat, wasn’t exactlythriving, and she could feel Ethan losing his patience as the days went on.They opened in just over two weeks, and while the set, costumes, and publicitywere all on track, the narrative needed a jumpstart. Even Lauren could see thatmuch.

“Hey, guys?” Kirby said, returning to the rehearsal hall. “Nia’sin the women’s restroom in really poor shape.”

“What do you mean, poor shape?” Lauren asked.

“I think it’s her stomach.” Lauren deflated and exchanged a lookwith Trip. It was starting to look like they had a stomach bug on their hands,not the food poisoning Evelyn suspected. This was not good news at all.

“Aren’t you two friends?” Lauren asked Kirby, who nodded. “Wouldyou be able to help her into an Uber? I don’t think it’s a great idea for herto be around the other actors.” The idea that she’d already been in such closeproximity to Carly was a bad thing, and Lauren was now in save-the-cast mode.

“Yeah, I can do that. No problem at all.”

“If you’re late back from lunch, it’s okay. We’ll make it work,”Ethan said. Once Kirby headed out, Ethan turned to Lauren and Trip. “I’mthinking we work everything that doesn’t involve Mandy’s character, and thencall it a day.”

“Can I make a suggestion?” Carly asked from across the room. Sheleaned against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Of course,” Ethan said.

Carly pushed off the wall and straightened. “Have Lauren fill in.We’ve run lines together, and it’s always gone smoothly.”

Lauren felt her cheeks heat. “No. I don’t think that’s a goodplan. I need to be on book for lines, and—”

“I can be on book,” Trip said.

Ethan waved them off, still not over his catastrophe of arehearsal. “If that works for Carly, I’m fine with it.” He stalked away withhis hands shoved into his pockets, probably already conceding defeat.

“Is that okay?” Carly asked her quietly.

Lauren nodded. “It’s fine. Whatever you need to salvage theafternoon. We’re down two Mandys and have to get creative, right?”

Carly squeezed Lauren’s wrist and smiled at her with gratitude.That smile filled Lauren’s half empty cup to full. She was happy to help andwould do her best for Carly and Ethan.

When the company returned from lunch, they moved backward to act 1at Carly’s request. Lauren played the role just as she had in her two rehearsalsessions with Carly, only this time, instead of just the lines, she followedthe set blocking. As stage manager, she was intimately familiar with Mandy’spath in the show, as it had been her job to track and record it. Rehearsing thescenes face-to-face with Carly was at first a little jarring. She found herselfstaring into those light blue eyes and losing herself in them as Mandy,something she’d never allowed herself, as Lauren, to do. The liberties shecould take as Mandy were startling, freeing. She could reach out and touchCarly briefly, study her when she spoke, smile like Carly affected her, andeven lay her head down in Carly’s lap when Mandy was called to do so. She lovedevery second of it so much that she lost herself in the afternoon. Before sheknew it, they were done with rehearsal for the day.

She sat up from Carly’s lap, where they’d concluded, and turned toface her. “Was that okay?”

Carly chuckled. They were the only two left at rehearsal apartfrom Ethan and Trip. The others had been released one by one. “I’d say so.Wouldn’t you?” She stood and moved toward her belongings with a triumphantsmile on her face. Lauren wasn’t sure what that meant, until she turned toEthan, who still sat behind his director’s table, beating a pencil against thetop of his lips.

She joined him and Trip at the table and opened her laptop,prepared to record Trip’s times for the day and get Ethan’s input about who tocall first thing tomorrow.

“We have a problem,” Ethan said, finally turning to her.

Her heart sank. She couldn’t take any more setbacks. If one moreperson was struck ill by this virus, they’d be hobbling along at best. “What’s wrong?”

He pointed at the makeshift set with his pencil. “That was fuckingamazing.”

Lauren blinked. “Today?”

He swiveled in his metal chair to face her. “Yes, today. The wholething lit up like a Christmas tree. The story came alive. The relationship mattered.I know the whole fucking story word for word, and even I was rooting for them,and this was only the first portion of act one.”

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