Page 53 of Never Forever

“Sorry,” I winced.

She opened her big blue eyes wide and blinked them at me, putting on heryou can’t say no to me voice. “I was hoping you might stop by sometime for a little pre-rehearsal pep-talk.”

“Of course.”

“Maybe you could watch rehearsal too.”

“Sure.”

“And give some tips?”

“Weidman,” I said. “Everything I learned about acting I learned from you.”

“Well, that can’t be true,” she said.

Except it was. That acting coach Mom had hired was total bullshit. I could see that in retrospect. Weidman was the real deal.

“I’d love to come by and help out. Does tonight work?” I asked.

“Oh my, yes!” She cried, a delighted animated owl. “Six-thirty out at the bandshell.”

The bandshell, I thought. I’d been back in Calico Cove for eight months and I’d managed to avoid it up until now. Except there was no reason to stay away. It was just another boogieman I needed to put in the past.

“Right. Of course. I’ll be there tonight.”

She clapped her hands and breezed off and I practically ran into the bookstore.

“Oh my God,” I said, when I got inside and was punched by the air conditioning. I had to brace myself against the nearest thing, which was the face of a giant stuffed spider.

My sister, Annie, looked up in shock. Her employee, Alex, did too. I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything except getting this gear off my body. I went to Annie’s little tea corner with the seating. A little kid sat there, enjoying a board book and a cookie. I didn’t mean to scare her, but one look at me, sweaty, red faced and losing my shit, and she took off for her mom.

Excellent. I could add that to my resume.

Can terrify children with a single glance.

I unwound the scarf, shook off the gloves, unzipped the winter parka and dropped it all on the floor. My sister gathered up all her salty snacks along with a Gatorade she stashed in the little fridge and joined me in the tea nook.

“Okay, seriously, how much longer is this shoot?” she asked me. “I’m worried about you.”

“Worried?” I asked, tearing into her bag of pretzels like a raccoon raiding a camp site. Sweat dripped into my eye and I made the rookie mistake of rubbing it. I could feel the mascara smearing along my cheek. “What do you mean?” I asked with my mouth full.

She smiled because she knew I was joking, but she was still worried.

“I’m fine, seriously. We’ve lasted this long. We can finish the last couple days.”

“Are you all right to go to the island tomorrow to meet with the contractor?”

“Of course. I have to work in the morning, we’re trying to beat the worst of the heat.”

“Good.”

“But I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

Annie had been carrying the load of Mom and Gran and the house on the island that was literally falling apart. All while I’d been blithely unaware of it, flying between New York City and Los Angeles, playing pretend.

The guilt was a lot.

Luckily, I had the money that could solve a lot of these problems and make the worst of my guilt go away.