“Yeah?”
“Are you ready?”
Dana knew Samara was asking about driving her back to her hotel, but it felt like such a loaded question that she just nodded to avoid answering it.
CHAPTER 31
“We’ll see everyone back here after the holidays. I know it’s a little strange, filming for a few weeks, then taking a break and coming back to finish up, but this was the only time of year we could get our locations for our budget, being that it’s the off-season, and well, we’d already waited over a year to get this thing filmed, so we were a little eager, too,” Reed said, laughing. “Have a great break, everyone, and we’ll see you all in the new year.”
She held up a glass of champagne.
It wasn’t a wrap party or a holiday party, but something in between. Technically, it wasn’t a party at all. They’d been filming all day, their last shot in one of their locations, and Reed had just gathered the cast and crew that were there for a quick goodbye before people left for the holidays. Some people were sticking around. A lot of the crew was local, and the assistant director would lead the B unit to film some establishing shots and B-roll footage around town for another week, but Samara was wrapped for the year, and so was Dana.
After their first night together, they hadn’t spent one apart until last night, and Samara hated to admit it because she was leaving and Dana was staying, but she’d missed her. She’d fallen asleep eventually, but it hadn’t been restful, and she’d woken even earlier than usual, going to the hotel gym at four-thirty to get in a run before a long shower. None of that managed to get Dana and their impending separation off her mind, though.
“Hey, want a ride back to your hotel?” Dana offered. “I know I don’t have a fancy SUV with temperature control, but I’m great in bed.”
Samara wanted to laugh at that, but all she could musterwas a forced smile as she stood in her trailer, packing the few things she had there to bring back to her hotel and add to her bag.
“I’m okay,” she said. “I’m sure you have things to do.”
“Uh… No. It’s your last night before you fly out. I was thinking about keeping you up for hours since you can sleep on the plane and have the next couple of weeks off.”
“So, you want to have sex because we won’t be having sex for the next two weeks?”
Dana followed Samara into the bedroom and said, “No. I was thinking about spending your last night here together. We can have sex or not have sex.”
“I’m really tired,” Samara told her, and itwastechnically true.
“Are you going passive-aggressive on me because I said I needed to think about going to LA with you?”
“I’m not going passive-aggressive on you. Iamtired.”
“You didn’t sleep well?” Dana asked and sat on Samara’s bed.
“No. How could I have slept well? The woman I’m dating turned down a trip with me and then just dropped me off at my hotel, despite the fact that we only had a couple of days together before I leave.”
“It’s only a couple of weeks, Samara.”
Samara leaned against the wall and asked, “So, you’re good with that? Being apart for a couple of weeks?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. But if we keep dating, you will be in Vancouver at some point soon, and I’ll be here, so we might as well get used to it.”
“Silly me; I was thinking that we should take advantage of the vacation we have and spend time togetherbeforeI have to go to another country for work.”
“It’s not that I won’t miss you. I will,” Dana said. “I… didn’t sleep well, either.”
“So, why won’t you at least go to LA for a few days? I know it’s Christmas and you want to spend the holiday with your family, but what about New Year’s Eve?”
“Whataboutit?”
“Dana, are you daft?” she asked. “It’s the holiday where you kiss someone at midnight. I was thinking about kissingyouat midnight.”
“Did you just ask if I wasdaft? Are you British all of a sudden?”
“Don’t joke with me right now,” she said quietly.
“I thought you had some party to go to.”
