“So, now I keep a few options of ice cream in the freezer for them. But for tonight, I had my assistant stock my freezer with freshly bought ice cream.”
“I’ll have the cookie dough.”
I jut my head to the living room. “Make yourself comfortable while I spoon out the bowls.”
Soon, we’re on my couch with our dessert bowls in hand.
“How was filming today?” she asks, looking up at me. We’re both sitting with our bodies turned toward one another. Her legs are tucked underneath her, one arm propped over the back of the couch. She looks comfortable.
Having her here feels right.
“Long.”
She grins. “That’s it?”
I shake my head before swallowing a spoonful of my dessert. “To be honest, filming is going great. Quicker than we all expected. The entire cast works together so well.” I pause before my next statement.
“Something wrong?”
“The opposite,” I answer without thinking. “Everything about this film feels right. From the cast and crew, the scenescoming together almost seamlessly to …” I trail off, lifting my eyes to meet hers, “meeting you.”
Not until I speak those words out loud do I register that what I’ve said is the truth. Everything about this movie has gone well. From the casting, to pre-production, and filming. But especially meeting the woman I know will have a major impact on the rest of my life.
Ivy clears her throat at the same time she breaks eye contact with me. “But something’s nagging at you.”
She changes the subject slightly, but she’s dead on the mark.
“You know when things are going almost too well. Like you know the other shoe’s about to drop?”
“More than I wish I knew.” Her words are so low that if it weren’t for my excellent hearing I would’ve missed it.
I move in closer before placing my half-eaten bowl on the coffee table and taking hers to do the same. I grasp Ivy’s hand.
She watches her hand in mine for a beat before asking, “What’s the shoe?”
A smile crests over my lips. I squeeze her hands lightly because I like the way they feel in mine. Ivy leans forward, interested in what I have to say.
She holds her gaze on me as if I have her total and complete attention. It’s the honest concern in her eyes that makes having her attention completely different from everyone else’s.
“There’s a scene.”
“The breaking windows scene,” she says.
“That’s the one.”
In the scene, Shawn, the main character, has a complete and total meltdown. But it’s also his ‘come to Jesus’ moment. The same scene I’ve worked on tirelessly with Victor.
I’m ready for it, but I also want to nail it more than anything I’ve done in my career up until this point.
“It’s going to be an intense one,” she says when I tell her as much.
I nod. “Every scene we’ve filmed so far is building up to this moment. The thing is, it’s easy to overact this type of emotional scene. I’ve seen it done countless times. Yet, I don’t want to play it so subtle that I fail to convey the seriousness of the moment.”
“You won’t.”
Her words surprise me. Not the actual words, but the conviction in them.
“Can I make a confession?” She looks up at me between her eyelashes, all bashful and cute, which makes me want to do very nasty,uncutethings to her.
