"I see," she agreed, nodding.
Ty glanced at Sam when they said that, and Sam felt a rush of some warm feeling in is chest.
They went through the motions of getting into positions and talking about Sam's entrance, and then Alex spoke to the crew and asked them to film the first take of rehearsal so he could review it for proper positioning. He said that we should notpause for mistakes so that we can get a general feel of how long the scene will take.
Sam could tell Ty was nervous, and he gave her a reassuring smile as he walked away. He went to stand on the other side of the door, waiting for Alex to call for action. Sam would listen for her to crack the first egg into the pan, and that was his cue to come into the room, carrying a box. He knew she would do other things first. He could see Cameron from where he was standing, and she would give him the cue if he missed the sound of the egg.
Alex called for action, and Sam waited patiently, holding his prop, a box of supplies from his store. He listened, imagining Ty moving into her place waiting for the sound of her cracking the egg.
Sam found himself closing his eyes and centering himself in that familiar backstage feeling. There were nerves and anticipation, but Sam was assured that he was the best person for the job. He knew the lines, and he knew what to do.
Knowing that gave him quiet confidence, and he hefted the box he was holding, freeing one hand so that he could open the door and go inside. It was the first time to rehearse this live and in person, but they had talked about it, and everyone was going through the motions they had planned. The box of goods was from his store, things that he was dropping off to Lottie's family.
Suddenly, he was Tommy. There were cameras and crew everywhere, but suddenly, Sam was unaware of those things. It was Lottie and him in that kitchen—the girl named Chloe who had just changed her name to Lottie. And he was in love.
He did a double-take, looking her way as he came into the kitchen. He started to say something to greet her, but then his face fell when he noticed what was in her pot. He set down his things. "That's not how she makes the eggs," he said sweetly, crossing over to her, going to help her out.
In one motion, he came to stand behind her, placing his hand on hers. She flinched a little in stunned amazement at his proximity, but she didn't dare move. This made him smile. He stirred slowly from the instant he was there. He was already beginning to help her scramble the eggs in the pan when he said his next line. "They eat their eggs scrambled."
"Who eats their eggs scrambled?"
"All of your family does," he explained.
"I don't know how to cook that. I've only ever done it with the yolks."
Sam helped her hold the wooden spoon, and they stirred for a few seconds with him standing directly behind her. He was attracted to her, and his body reacted to touching her. He felt like he was touching someone he liked and not just someone he was acting with.
"My mom didn't trust me with the cooking. All I did was clean and take care of the kids."
"Well, you'll cook quite a bit over here. I’m sure you'll do your share of cleaning and caretaking, too."
She paused but then moved to stare up at him. "I think they know I'm not Lottie," she whispered, blinking at him. "I think they know and they just don't care."
Sam reached up and smoothed a piece of hair near her hairline. He looked at her with a tender, regretful smile as he whispered back to her. "Lottie told you it wasn't great over here. That's why she wanted to leave."
"Well, the life I left wasn't great either."
"Oh, no?"
"No. I was scared to death to go to California."
"I didn't want you to go to California either," he said.
She stared at him.
"I just hope you like it here." He reached out and turned the fire off since the eggs were almost done.
"Right now, I'm feeling really thankful I stayed."
They stared at each other like a kiss was imminent. It was scripted, but the tension existed, there was no denying that.
Alex yelled for them to stop the action and the cameras. Sam let her go, taking a step back as Alex approached them.
"Okay, and right when you guys get close to kissing, little Katherine's going to walk in and interrupt you. Tommy will talk to Katherine, follow her out, and then he comes back for the kiss.
They nodded, and then Alex paused before taking a dramatic deep breath. He clasped his hands in front of him and exhaled, looking back and forth from Ty to Sam like he was trying to figure out how to say something.
"Yeah, uh, you guys, uh, did all the right things and said all the right things, but with the way you were standing… it just sort of comes across as… tim-id. Sam, I think you should move even closer and really embrace her. Because by this point, you two have built trust. That's what this whole moment is about. And, you know, we're working up to the kiss. This is our biggest kiss of the series, so we're building up to that in this scene."
