“Your food,” she noted.
“It’s fine back there for a while. I’m not all that hungry anyway. I bought it more to have something for later, and I wasn’t ready to go home yet.”
“Why not?” Samara asked as they started walking on the sidewalk.
“I don’t know. I guess I’d just be alone there. I went to get coffee with Lainey, and everyone kind of showed up and wanted to go get a drink, but I didn’t want that, either. I wanted to talk to my sister and not have half of her friends get in the way.”
“Herfriends?”
“I guess they’re sort of mine, too, but I don’t hang out with them all that often now that Lainey’s engaged. And believe me, Iamhappy about that. Paige is the best, and I love them together. I can’t wait for them to finally get hitched. But when they started dating, I knew Paige was the one for her,and that meant that my life was about to change forever. My big sister found her person, and the nights we used to have, where it was just the two of us, were pretty much gone. She dated Maisie first, and I thought maybe they’d grow apart when Paige entered the picture, but Lainey and Maisie only got closer when they figured out that they were supposed to be friends. It felt like I lost my best friend. Lainey never had any trouble making friends, but it hasn’t always been the easiest thing in the world for me, so I couldn’t just go out and find a new person to hang out with. When I was dating someone, I never felt what Lainey and Paige seem to feel for each other, so, in the back of my mind, I guess I always knew those relationships would end, even if I thought I was in love. Now, they’re buying a house together, they’ll plan the wedding, and then, there will be kids. And I can’t wait to be an aunt, but everyone’s moving on. Hell, even my parents are moving on.”
“What do you mean?” Samara asked.
“They want to move,” Dana explained. “They’ve been talking about it for years. My dad is retired now, and my mom is a nurse, so she can get a job pretty much anywhere. They’ve mentioned a few places for their retirement, but they started talking about this small town in Alabama. They drove through it last year and really liked it, I guess. There’s a small hospital there, a lake for my dad to fish on, and they could afford land there. My dad also likes woodworking and sells stuff sometimes, so he could even have a little shop there. I saw them a few weeks ago, and they were looking at listings.”
“For land?”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t want them to leave, do you?”
Dana shook her head.
“And your sister is moving on with her life at the same time…”
“Yeah,” Dana repeated.
“All of your excuses would be gone, huh?” Samara said, hoping she wasn’t crossing a line.
“My what?” Dana asked.
“Your excuses for not giving acting a real shot.”
“I’m working with you on a movieright now, Samara.”
“That you didn’t even audition for right away, despite knowing the writer and it being filmed in your hometown,” Samara pointed out. “You only auditionedafterVanessa had to pull out andafterI suggested it.”
“Do we have to talk about this now? I feel like we have more to talk about than this.”
“We do. I was merely suggesting that at some point, you won’t have anything you can use as a reason for not moving. You said you wanted to move to LA; that it was part of your plan.”
“It was, yeah.”
“So, Lainey and Paige will get their house, get married, and have their kids. Your parents will move to a different state. You can always come visit. The flight isn’t that long. Besides, everyone will be busy with their lives, so it’s not like you’ll see them every day anyway. What will you do then?”
“I’m already thirty years old. If it was going to happen for me, it would’ve happened already.”
“And how would it have happened, Dana? You haven’t even really tried.”
“I went to school for this. People in the industry were there. They saw me perform. No one came calling, offering me jobs.”
“Would you have accepted them if they had?” Samara asked. “I know you had to come back here because your mom got sick, but you barely tookthisjob, and it was essentially handed to you, Dana. It’s scary, what we do. It’s not for everyone.”
“You think I can’t hack it?” Dana asked, stopping in her tracks. “Is that what you mean?”
“No,” she replied, stopping, too. “Iknow you can. You don’t have to convinceme. You have to convince yourself.”
“I’m a work in progress,” Dana said and started walking again. “Can we talk about that thing where I kissed you and you ran away? Not as complicated.”
