“Not yet, but don’t worry, I’ve got my feelers out there. Are you free for lunch tomorrow? We can go over this offer.”
“I should be. I’ve got the fitting at eight, but I should be done by noon.”
We arranged to meet for lunch near his office before I was given the sign that the break was over. I’d have to call Sarah back tonight.
Terry was a great agent, persistent and clever. It helped that he was a genuinely nice guy on top of that, a rare trait. Plus, he understood what I wanted, and he was good at pushing me to think about what I was going to do next. Not that the show wasn’t going great, but it was not going to be around forever.
Having a hit show these days didn’t guarantee anything.
I wasn’t ignorant enough to think I had the luxury of time in this industry. Here today, gone tomorrow, was very much a job hazard.
By the time we finished the reading, I was tired and ready for home. During the last scene, Wes had texted me “Your fly’s undone”. It wasn’t, and when I’d looked over to scowl at him, I knew he’d done it on purpose, as the film crew was directly behind him, and they’d perked right up when they saw me giving him the evil eye. Bastard loved pulling shit like this.
From his smug grin, he could tell which finger I’d imagined giving him.
I only hoped I’d hidden it well enough that I didn’t get scolded by the PR team.
Despite my exhaustion, I loved days like today. The work, the process, the thrill of another season. Working like this, surrounded by the creative team, always felt like a real collaborative effort. The cogs all working together.
That said, I was looking forward to getting home. It probably wasn’t the smartest idea to go to a bar the night before the read. It hadn’t really been worth it; the dim atmosphere made it impossible to see anything. Which, yes, had the benefit of helping me keep a low profile, but it had made it difficult to catch the eye of anyone who wasn’t three feet in front of you.
Still, there had been one woman. A good sense of humour and incredible thighs. Pity her date had rocked up when he had.
4
Jackson
Once home, I returned Sarah’s call, shucking my leather jacket over the back of a chair while it dialed.
“There’s my favorite brother,” she said. It was Sarah’s custom to answer my calls as if we were already in the middle of a conversation. Somehow it made me love her more.
“I’m your only brother.”
“That just means I’m obligated to love you. Not to like you.”
“And yet you manage it anyway.” Her giggle was swift and made me miss her.
There were six years between us, but Sarah and I had always been close. Growing up, our parents both had to work long hours to make ends meet, and I’d taken it upon myself to look after Sarah to help them out, even if Sarah had treated me more like an annoyance than an authority figure. We’d spend hours watching movies and arguing over our favorites. Sarah must have made me watchNotting Hilla million times until I finally had to embargo any Julie Roberts or Hugh Grant film for at least six months. Then I repaid the favor by forcing her through a Wesley Snipes marathon.
We’d lost touch a little bit when I’d first started acting. The grueling schedule of audition, audition, audition had left me little time for a life. I felt guilty anytime I wasn’t working towards my goal, which meant missing time with my baby sister. Once I’d signed with the show, she had been the first person I’d called, and we’d arranged to meet for brunch every Sunday. It was by far my favorite part of the week.
“How was your first day back?” she asked.
“Good, good. It’s good to see everyone, you know. Good to be back.”
“Sounds like it’s … good.” She emphasized the last word, playfully mocking me.
“How did it go with the celebrant?” It was still hard for me to believe that my twenty-three-year-old sister was going to be getting married in two months. Whereas I couldn’t remember my last long-term relationship. Or even my last short-term one.
“It was wonderful. He’s given us homework to fill out, like questions on our favorite things about each other and stuff, so that he can start putting them in the ceremony. Matt’s already stressing about it. He’s probably going to have it finished by tonight.” Hearing how happy she was made it easier not to worry that she was rushing into this.
“That’s great. Dad gave the green light then?” Our father didn’t hold too many traditional values, but he stood firm that the father of the bride paid for the wedding. It was sweet, but considering our parents didn’t have a lot of money to start with, both Sarah and I had tried to talk him out of it many times.
Needless to say, we hadn’t managed it yet.
Of course, that didn’t stop me from going behind his back and helping out. It had taken some convincing on my part, but I was earning enough from the show that my own expenses were taken care of, and even if they weren’t, I would have made it work so that Sarah could have the wedding she wanted.
This year the cast was planning to ask for a pay raise, and my first act would be to repay Dad all the money he’d spent on the wedding. After all the years he and Mom had spent making sure Sarah and I had what we needed, I wanted to make sure they were able to retire comfortably.
