Before Caitlin could change her mind, she pulled out the poster-sized rectangle and uncovered the frame that she had taken from her college dorm room after leaving her sophomore year. A scattered collection of her past appeared in color before her eyes, revealing everything she had lost from another life.
Caitlin’s breath caught as she traced the edges of the photo collage with her eyes. There they were, she and Gemma, immortalized in youth. Laughing in Westmore’s quad, legs intertwined, and Spanish notes scattered around the grass. Posing front-to-back in matching royal blue at their senior prom. She remembered that Gemma had insisted on blue, saying that the color made Caitlin’s eyes irresistible. Her heart throbbed. And there was the one from their last summer together, tangled in blankets on a rainy afternoon, arms wrapped around each other. The girls in these photos were so vibrant that it almost hurt to look at them. Their smiles had been effortless then, untouched by the weight of what was to come.
She felt the ache settle in her chest, quiet and familiar. She missed them. Not just Gemma, but herself, too. Caitlin missed the version of herself that had existed in those moments—the girl who had still believed in forever.
A ringing on Caitlin’s phone in the bedroom pulled her out of her nostalgic spiral.
She wasn’t exactly sure what time it was, but it had to be after one o’clock in the morning, considering that she had left Soho House around twelve-thirty. Not many people called Caitlin this late, so she knew that the universe was trying to protect her from traveling further down memory lane. She threwthe old blanket back over the photo frame and pushed it deep into the closet.
“Hey Sandy,” Caitlin greeted her agent. “Do you ever sleep?”
“You know I can’t disclose if I’m a vampire. I need you to clear your weekend plans.”
Caitlin sighed. “Do I have to? I was planning on relaxing since it’s my last two days off until this movie wraps.” Her agent and public relations team were always sending her to events that she didn’t want to attend.
“Yes, you do, because you have a flight to New York.”
Caitlin was lost. “Why?”
“Your chemistry read forForbidden Love.” Nothing Sandy was saying made any sense.
“But I already got the part.”
“You did. That hasn’t changed. But unfortunately, there was a, um, problem with your co-star. She will no longer be doing the film. The producers have already found someone else, but they need you to go in and read with her replacement. It’s just to make sure the chemistry works, you know how it is. Hopefully, once that’s settled, shooting will finally get started. I’ll send the flight info to you and Lara as soon as I have it.”
Flying across the country again for this movie was not something that Caitlin particularly wanted to do, but unfortunately, it was part of the job. The production team was in New York, so she had to suck it up and go whenever they needed her. This role could change the course of her career, so she’d do anything that they asked of her.
“Thanks, Sandy.”
When Caitlin got the offer a few months ago, she had been thrilled. But nerves soon began to lace her excitement as she realized the impact this film could have on her career. This wasn’t just another job. It was a chance to break free from thebox that the industry had kept her in for years.
TheTicket to Rioproducers had promised to be different, but in the end, the only difference between this movie and every other had been an increase in jungle scenes and a decrease in clothing.Forbidden Love, though, could be career-defining. No special effects, no stunt doubles, no jokes made at her character’s expense. This was a script with moral complexity and emotional depth. It was the kind of role that could shift how Hollywood saw her, not just as a pretty face, but as a serious performer capable of nuance and vulnerability. It could change everything.
CAITLIN LANDED IN NEW YORKthat Saturday evening with a stomach tangled in a ball of nerves. She always felt unsettled here, in the city that had become home to her ex-girlfriend. While NYC was undoubtedly big enough for them both, there was always a slim chance of an encounter that Caitlin wasn’t ready for. If she were being honest with herself, there had been times when she wished the universe would make the two of them cross paths again. Not because she felt ready. She knew she wasn’t. She had no idea what she’d even say to Gemma if fate made them bump into each other on a New York City sidewalk. Assuming that Gemma would even stop to talk to her. The thought made her queasy with guilt. Knowing that she would only be in town for a night, she reassured herself that the odds of confronting her past during this particular trip were unlikely. She would allow herself to worry the next time she returned to Manhattan for the scheduled three months of filming.
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, CAITLIN ARRIVEDfor the chemistry read fifteen minutes early. She wanted to make this as quick as possible so that she could get back to LA and use the rest of her weekend off, lounging on her sofa.
As they waited for the replacement actress, she looked over the scene they would be reading. She recognized it as the two women’s breakup scene. Interesting choice.
Caitlin must have been locked into the script because she hadn’t even realized that her new co-star had entered the room until she heard the assistant introduce the two of them.
The words paralyzed Caitlin as the producer announced the name of the other actress. All the blood rushed to her brain. The past began to flood her mind—Gemma smiling and laughing, the two of them in high school and college, every memory popping up like her old MacBook screensaver, formulating each image and shooting them sporadically in front of her eyes.
Then, Caitlin slowly turned. And there she was. The warm golden-brown eyes that had lived only in her dreams for nearly a decade locked onto hers. For a heartbeat, time stopped.
Caitlin’s breath caught in her throat as they tore their eyes apart and scanned each other, rediscovering the contours of the woman in front of them.
Gemma was older now, but achingly familiar.Gemma. Her dark, straight slick-back, which once never had a hair out of place, was now in unruly waves that flowed naturally around her face. Those soft, pillowed lips that Caitlin had once traced with reverence now gleamed with a clear gloss, catching the light like a memory. Caitlin’s eyes drifted to the toned arms that she used to caress, remembering the smoothness of Gemma’s skin. Her stomach fluttered, the way it always had whenever Gemma walked into a room. Nine years had passed, but somehow, impossibly, she looked even more beautiful, and Caitlin had still been intensely drawn to her.
It had to be a dream. Caitlin blinked once, then twice, trying to dispel the apparent hallucination. But Gemma remained, solid and real, standing in front of her.
Then she noticed it—the color draining from Gemma’solive skin, her expression frozen in horror, as if she was looking at a ghost. And just like that, Caitlin deflated, feeling the surge of warmth in her chest turn to ice. She saw the old wound flash across Gemma’s eyes before they steeled into an expressionless mask.
A storm of emotion swept through her, mixing heartache with remorse and confusion. Caitlin didn’t know whether to run to Gemma and wrap her in the embrace that she had imagined a thousand times or turn around and disappear before the dream shattered.
After an awkwardly long silence, Gemma reached out to shake her hand. Caitlin was taken off guard by the move until she remembered the panel of producers behind her, watching their interaction. Unsure what else to do, she played along.
Forcing her feet to do their job and carry her toward Gemma, Caitlin was on edge as she got closer. She was only heartbeats away from feeling the comfort and connection of Gemma’s hand again. Willing herself to get through this scene, she reached out for Gemma.
