“What?” Emma stopped trying to pull the door closed on his foot. “How?”
Rusty sighed. “As I understand it, your other employee—”
“Goddammit, Hazel. Is Daisy okay?”
“She’ll be back tomorrow.”
Emma looked longingly at the paperwork she’d just been stressing over. “How long will this last? I’m busy.”
“Just a few takes.”
She eyed him. Rusty had been all smiles when he met her yesterday, but they were all perfunctory. Fleeting. He had completely ignored anyone unless he thought they were important. Exactly the kind of LA bullshit Emma had expected out of him.
He examined his watch. “We’re kind of on a schedule. So either you come with me, or I start scouting the other cafés, and I’d really rather—”
“I get paid as an extra on top of my usual renting rates?”
He shrugged. “Sure.”
Emma stood, her wheelie chair bouncing off her desk. “Let’s get this over with.”
* * *
She held still for the makeup artist. She even put up with one of the assistants fixing her collar, getting up in her personal space without asking. But she drew the line atgiggling.
“It’s just a little giggle,” Rusty said, a look on his face like he regretted not grabbing someone from Creature Comforts. “You go over, he says the line, and then you—”
“Giggle, no, I heard you.” Emma glared over at Arthur, who was currently sitting at a window table with his costar seated opposite him. They were talking idly between takes, the costar reaching over to bat his shoulder.Shewas a giggler. She looked adorable, nose scrunching up like a chipmunk, head tipping back. The kind of girl who put up with Arthur’s bullshit. She was probably charmed by it. Just like the girl that Rusty was telling Emma to be.
“I’m not an actor,” she reminded Rusty. “You said I’d just be standing there.”
“Script rewrites.” Rusty rubbed his cap tiredly. “Fine. No giggle. Just…havesomereaction. Alright? Some realistic reaction that shows how much his flirting affects your character.”
Emma stared at the back of Arthur’s head. Did he put his director up to this? Would he really go that far? She wouldn’t put it past him to try something like this. But it seemed…cruel. He was nevercruel—not on purpose, anyway. Just careless.
“I thought he was romancing blondie,” she said.
“He is. He’s showing her how seductive he can be.”
Emma laughed bitterly. “Sure. And why am I carrying all the plates?”
“It shows how busy you are. Which makes it all the more effective when he makes you pause.”
Emma regretted ever giving Luna Musgrove the time of day.
An assistant handed her the plates of cold food. Emma stacked three along one arm, then took the cold coffee with her free hand.
“Alright,” Rusty called over the still café. “Everybody in place? Great. Action!”
Arthur and his costar started talking, leaning over the table like something was pulling them together. Even fuming, Emma had to give it to him—he played his role well. Hollywood had typecast him as the handsome, charismatic chimera who could either save the day or reveal he was the bad guy at the end of the movie. But he was always smooth, no matter what. Always dazzling and confident.
That was what Emma had heard, anyway. She hadn’t watched any of his movies.
Rusty nudged her. “Your cue,” he whispered.
Emma blinked. She hadn’t been listening for the line.
She walked toward the table.Act like you usually would during the lunch rush,Rusty had told her.You’re expecting a normal interaction, in and out.
