America was used to seeing Dustin Toms in a totally different way, but forTenured, he would be a revelation. That’s what the studio was saying. That was what Goldie could see each day they filmed.
Goldie and Dustin had chemistry, and it wasn’t an act. The long shoot, in dozens of locations across the country, had pushed Dustin and Goldie together. There weren’t any five-star hotels in South Dakota where they shot for ten days. They were in hotels, dive restaurants, and in the middle of nowhere, just like their two characters.
Eventually, the on screen chemistry turned into a kiss, and the kiss turned into a passionate affair.
It was a dangerous path, Goldie knew, but she found herself in love with Dustin Toms. The real Dustin, not the one the public knew.
They had a secret between them, and it made the scenes they filmed that much more electric. Her agent told her the studio was talking Oscar buzz for them both.
But Dustin Toms was married. Famously married. It was easy to forget in South Dakota, away from the spotlight. Heck, away from decent phone service. It was also easy for Dustin to minimize when Goldie expressed her worries.
The problem of Dustin’s wife, an actress turned talk show host, wasn’t a problem, Dustin insisted.
“It’s been a sham for three years. She just doesn’t want me to announce a divorce during sweeps, but it is over. It’s just paperwork at this point.”
The things you’ll believe when you want them to be true. She believed Dustin. It was a piece of paper, a business arrangementbetween Dustin and his wife. Nothing more.
The location shoot had taken three months. The affair ignited almost immediately.
It had been an amazing experience. Creatively, Goldie knew she was turning into something more than the typical ingenue character. She knew Dustin was, too, bringing something special to this story. They were creating art. She felt it. This was the first time she believed that about one of her roles.
But the last week of shooting, the director commented on her figure. She was used to that in her business. This comment wasn’t out of the ordinary, but it did get her thinking.
“Wow, your rack looks great in this. Wardrobe should have had this top for you the entire shoot.”
Sexist comments were normal. She was a puppet, after all, in someone else’s puppet show. That was the price of the job. The more famous she got, the more it appeared the directors wanted to be sure to show her she was nothing but a pretty face and hot body. No matter how high her star rose.
She could ignore comments easily enough. Really easily, since her career was going like gangbusters, and she was in love with a movie star she used to dream about as a kid.
It was her fantasies come to life on the set ofTenured.
But that comment about her chest did make her look at herself more closely in the full-length mirror of the wardrobe trailer.
She was decidedly bustier all of a sudden.
And then she did the math and realized why.
Her life was about to get one more glorious step toward a fairy tale come true!
She was going to have Dustin Tom's baby!
Goldie
Present Day
Goldie’s walk down memory lane was interrupted by water all over the floor.
The area rug was soaked.
“What the heck?”
Then she heard the spraying. She made her way to the laundry room, and a hose was flinging around wildly as though it was a snake.
“Oh, man!”
Goldie put her hands up as the spray shot water directly into her face.
She screamed and tried to figure out what to do. What had she done wrong?
