Page 14 of Take 2
A laugh bubbles through me. It’s not her job to be my friend,but I got lucky with a two-for-one deal here. “I’m still not fully recovered from seeing him a couple of weeks ago.”
“Well, we can fix that.” She opens her laptop and swirls a fingertip around the trackpad. “Can today be the last day you’re here for a bit?”
“God, I hope so. If my meeting today is anything more than ‘Great job, thanks,’I’m going to die.” Or kill Gus. Seriously, I’m done changing this stupid thing. Thefuck itphase has already happened. I did what he wanted, and I’m ready to wash my hands of it.
“Well, youhavedone a great job, so I’m sure that’ll be it. Then there’s nothing else on your calendar for the week.”
“Except Cinco de Mayo! You’re coming, right?”
“Are you going to ban guac due to your green aversion?”
“No.” I stick my tongue out at her.
“Then yes, I’ll be there.” Her gaze jumps over my shoulder, and she tenses. “I’m glad we won’t be at this studio for a while.”
I peek over my shoulder to see Kristen, Preston’s assistant, in line.
“She looks at me like I’m the other womanwho stole you.” Ashleigh sighs and takes a bite of her lemon loaf.
“Except she dumped me, which I shall be eternally grateful for. I cannot imagine my life without you.”
Her cheeks turn pink as she averts her eyes. “For the immediate future, it looks like you only need me for hanging out and margaritas.”
“Do not downplay that need.”
She rolls her eyes. “Seriously. Are you going to take some time off like Lisa suggested?”
I groan. “I guess.”
“Poor you.”
“You’re one to talk! You like to stay busy too.”
“No,” she says, “I like to stayproductive.Those are different things.”
“I think you’re splitting hairs, but fine.”
“Rest and self-care are productive.”
“So people claim.” I wave a hand dismissively. “Writing is self-care.”
“Except when it isn’t.”
“Whose team are you on?”
“Yours! I’d like for you not to die.”
I grin at her. “You know I don’t have room in my schedule to die.”
She balls a napkin and tosses it at my nose.
“Okay, I’ll make you a deal,” I say. “I can take a break. Don’t look at me like that. I will.” Seriously, her glare is going to come in so handy if she ever has kids. “But I need to know what’s coming next or I can’t relax.”
“All right.” Ashleigh claps her hands together. “We can work with that. Do you want to breathe new life into an old script, or do you have something new to write?”
There are new ideas pinging around in my head, but none that beg to be written at the moment. I could force one out, but according to Lisa, that’s been the problem lately. The dusty finished scripts were loved once. Opening some back up will be like taking a trip back in time to when I had less experience as a writer and in life. It’ll be nostalgic, or cringey, or both. But there’s always a little warmth in old stories.
Chapter Six
