Page 25 of How to Kiss a Movie Star
I’m working on being okay with this. My life has always been different from the rest of my siblings, but before, it was always because of my career. Now, it’s different for other reasons. More personal reasons. And they somehow feel so much more substantial. I’ve never been particularly opposed to meeting someone and settling down. But now, seeing my siblings so firmly entrenched in family life is only making it obvious how much I want the same thing.
With someonenotlike my fame-hungry ex.
I lift an eyebrow as my gaze turns back to Audrey. She couldn’t be more different from Claire. “Hey, what’s your favorite movie?” I ask.
She leans back like the question surprises her. “Me?”
“I’m not talking to the squirrels,” I joke.
She looks up, her eyes scanning the trees. Apparently, the very mention of her squirrels requires her to look for them. She looks back at me with a sardonic expression and pulls her dark ponytail forward so it’s hanging over her shoulder. “I guess I don’t have a favorite. I don’t really watch movies.”
I stare. She doesn’t watch movies? Who doesn’t watch movies? “Like, ever?”
She grimaces. “I realize that might be an insult to you, considering your profession. I just…I don’t know. I have a hard time giving up two hours to do something so…pointless?” This last word she says like a question, almost like she senses it might not land well.
“Pointless,” I repeat. I’m not exactly offended. I don’t need everyone in the world to like movies. I’m just surprised. And maybe a little disappointed since, so far, I’ve liked everything about this woman. “The point is to relax. To be entertained. To feel…I don’t know. Happy.”
“There are other things that make me happy,” she says, like that alone is enough to disqualify my argument.
“Like what?”
She takes another sip of her water. “Sometimes I read.”
“Science books?”
She rolls her eyes. “Notalways.I read novels, too.”
“Novels about science?”
“Or nature, or—” She huffs and sits up a little taller. “You know what? It’s okay if I like different things.”
“Sure. If you liked differentkindsof movies. But to not like movies at all? I don’t know that I’ve ever metanyonewho doesn’t like movies.”
“Leave it to me,” she says dryly. “But don’t worry. Being the odd woman out is a feeling I know well.”
Audrey’s words ring with a note of truth that makes my heart twitch, and I feel a weird compulsion to invite her to everything.Include herin everything.
Across the yard, Mom and Olivia wave from where they’re standing near the house. Their smiles are wide, their waves much more enthusiastic than the situation warrants. It’s probably taking all their resolve not to come over and join the conversation. I shift my body so more of my back is facing them and turn all my attention to Audrey. “What if you’re just not watching the right movies?” I ask.
Audrey reaches down and scratches her ankle, her fingers dipping inside the top of her very utilitarian hiking boots. “Trust me, my sisters have tried,” she says. “But my brain—it takes a lot for it to slow down. Now, you want to watch a nature documentary? I’m here for it.”
“I narrated a nature documentary last year—the one about the orca whales.”
She brightens. “I loved that one! That was you?”
I clear my throat, then drop my voice into the baritone I used when narrating the documentary. “The orca whale, known colloquially as thekillerwhale, is the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family.”
“Itwasyou!” she says, her smile wide. “You did an excellent job.”
I can’t help but grin. The power of that smile—I don’t even care that she doesn’t like movies. That, of all the work I’ve done, the only thing familiar to her is a nature documentary that’s barely a blip on the map of my career.
“Maybe I should have talked a little more when we first met,” I say. “Then you might have recognized me.”
She closes her notebook and notches her pen on the outside. “Did it really bother you that I didn’t know who you were? I mean, admitting I don’t watch movies—that has to ease the sting a little bit. There aren’t many actors Iwouldrecognize.”
“It didn’t bother me at all,” I say. “Honestly, it was kind of nice. And it worked to your advantage because your indifference was a big part of why I was okay with you coming back.”
She barks out a laugh. “Ha! It would kill my sisters to hear you say so. They’re constantly teasing me about being too nerdy for my own good. If only they knew.”
