“You’re not mad at me?” she asked when she arrived in the bedroom and watched Dana push her bag off to the side of the bed Samara had slept on when she’d stayed over.
“No,” Dana said. “I’m mad at myself.”
“Why?I’mnot mad at you.”
“The pictures got to you, didn’t they?” Dana asked and sat down on the end of the bed.
“Yes, they did.”
“Then, youshouldbe mad at me. I wasn’t thinking, Sam. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” Samara replied, moving to her. “Babe, it’s okay. Can you tell me what’s going on with you right now? You’re acting a little strange.”
“They don’t need me,” Dana said.
“Who doesn’t?”
“My parents. My sister. Hell, even Maisie doesn’t need me to cover at the bookshop anymore now that it’s making real money, and she can hire someone for real.”
Samara knelt in front of her and asked, “What do you mean?”
“I’ve always been this way,” Dana told her, shaking herhead. “I don’t know why, but I’ve always been so scared that something bad would happen to them. I never told you this, but you have no idea how hard my parents had to push me to go away for school. My mom had to tell me they’d visit every month or would pay for me to fly home in order to convince me. I putmyselfas their in-case-of-emergency contact in their phones. All three of them. I don’t remember ever not feeling this way, and I thought they all needed me. My dad is great, but he’s kind of inept at a lot of things. My mom is the one who’s always taking care of them, and I’ve tried to help take care of her. Then, there’s Lainey. She has Paige, and they’ve been together for years, but today was the first time I think I’ve really noticed Paige taking care of her, which isn’t fair to Paige, because, of course, she takes care of her. Lainey’s right, though. She hashernow. She doesn’t need me.”
“Baby, she’ll always need you. You’re her sister.”
Samara rubbed Dana’s legs.
“But not in the same way, and that’s okay. That’s how it’s supposed to be. I just left there, though, and I realized I have nothing to do until we’re back on set. Nothing. My parents are at home, getting some rest, and they don’t need me. Paige is there with Lainey. And–”
“Ineed you,” Samara said.
“No, you don’t. You have drivers, Kyla, PAs, and–”
“Dana, you’re my girlfriend. It’s different. I need you. I… need you to be my Paige.”
Dana swallowed and said, “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too. I should’ve come sooner. I’m sorry. I wanted to.”
“I know. I pushed you away.”
“But then you said you wanted me here, and I took too long.”
“You’re here now,” Dana replied.
“Can I stay here? I have the hotel, but I don’t want to be there. I want to stay with you. I want to stay with you every night until we’re done filming.”
“That’s a long time,” Dana said.
“Too long?”
“No, but I’m going through some stuff, and I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t want it to negatively impact you.”
“But that’s part of it, right? Part of being with someone? Checking on that because I’m really new at wanting to be with someone like this. I mean, my stuff might impact you, and your stuff might impact me, right? Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Babe, have you ever thought about talking to someone about the worry thing?”
