“She said she could. So did her agent when I spoke with her earlier,” Faye replied.
“Do you need me here for this?” Samara asked.
“Oh, no. Sorry, Samara. You can go for now. Can you hang out, though? I’ve got one more I’m calling, and it’ll be awkward, but I might be able to get her to do a virtual audition with you here.”
“Sure. I’ll just be in my trailer if you need me.”
“Great. Thanks,” Faye said.
???
A few hours later, Samara had finished the strangest audition of her life. The poor actress had done the best she could, trying to act with Samara on the other side of a computer in a room with Faye, Bryce, and Reed, and once they finishedreading three scenes together, Samara had been dismissed for the three of them to discuss whatever it was that they needed to discuss, which was fine by her. She was tired and ready for dinner and a bath. Well, maybe a shower. She hadn’t yet tried that tub and wasn’t sure how clean it was, so when she got back to the hotel, she decided to do something about that.
“Hi,” she said to the front desk agent.
“Miss Barber, hello. What can I do for you?”
“Tomorrow, while I’m at work, can you have someone deep clean the bathtub for me? I don’t just mean how housekeeping wipes things off with a dry rag and calls that clean. I mean with the stuff that has bleach in it and a scrub. Then, open the windows to let the air in. I won’t be back until late, so just have them closed around six for me. I don’t want it tosmelllike bleach, just be cleaned with it.”
“Um…” He looked at his computer screen as if it would tell him the answer. “Yes?” he asked more than told her.
“Great. Thank you. And if you could have someone run out and pick up some things for me tomorrow as well, that would be amazing. I can have a list for you tomorrow morning.”
“Things?”
“From the store,” she said.
“Oh, I don’t think we can do that,” he replied. “We have our own store.”
Samara took a few steps to the right and looked at the alcove that they called a store. There, they had a glass freezer and refrigerator with TV dinners, ice cream, and frozen burritos, and next to that were racks of travel-sized amenities and snacks she’d never eat.
“Not exactly what I meant, but never mind. I’ll make a PA do it and bring it over tomorrow. Can I just have an extra key for my room?”
“Oh, sure,” the front desk guy replied.
Key in hand, Samara headed up the stairs, not wanting to test her luck again with the elevator. When she got into her room, she placed her bag on the kitchen table and checkedthe clock. Dinner would be arriving in about thirty minutes, but if she called now, she might be able to swing it. Quickly, she got her phone out and dialed.
“Hello,” Dana answered.
“Hi. It’s Samara.”
“Yes, I know.”
Samara sat in the chair by the table and asked, “You’re bringing my dinner later, right?”
“Yeah, I was just about to head out.”
“Can you bring two?”
“Two what?”
“Meals.”
“You want two meals? We only made one. We can cook you another one, but it’ll take time.”
“What do you want?”
“Sorry?”
