Page 104 of Now Their Starlet

“Fine, fine,” Edison grins. It’s obvious from the spark in his eyes that he’s soaking in every bit of this banter with his daughter. I imagine that no amount of time will ever make up for the time they’ve lost, but at least now, they’re able to try.

“Could you show me the footage you have from when I was a kid?” Andi asks.

“Of course! Here, follow me.”

“Should I help clean up the dishes or something?”

“Nah,” I say. “We’ll get one of the others to do it. Probably the one that’s up latest.”

“You snooze, you lose, literally I guess,” Andi giggles as the two of us follow Edison into his office.

He gestures to two office chairs that we drag beside his seat, in front of his large monitors. The main monitor is so large, it’s practically the size of a TV. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what it was. Makes sense that he’d have a screen like that to edit with.

“The password to the servers I have in the garage is 1111,” he explains as he navigates his digital file system.

Andi blinks at him with wide eyes.

“Does that number have some sort of significance, Sweet Tea?” I ask, gently nudging her shoulder.

“That’s—that’s my birthday. November 11th,” she breathes out.

“It is,” Edison says, offering her a warm smile. “I know cybersecurity experts would probably throw a fit, but I couldn’t ever bring myself to change it.”

I have the pleasure of watching him show her how to navigate the system, but the tutorial session is cut short by his phone ringing.

“Who’s that?” Andi asks, going still at the sound.

“Ah, sorry, Andi. It’s a business associate. I’m working as a consultant on his film and I think he’s calling me to go in to check some of the things on set,” he flashes her an apologetic smile, obviously torn between wanting to spend more time with his daughter and the work that he so clearly values.

“Have fun,” Andi says after a pause. “I wouldn’t want my being here to stop you from your work.”

“You’ll be okay without me?” he says, relief crossing his expression.

“Yeah,” she nods before jerking her thumb over her shoulder at me. “I’ll just annoy Cameron instead.”

“You’re never annoying,” I say with a soft chuckle.

“That sounds like a challenge,” she says, flashing me a cheeky smile.

“Have fun, kiddos,” Edison says, standing and answering the call. “Yes? Ah, I’ll be there soon.”

As Edison leaves the two of us alone in his office, Andi takes a second to just stare at his massive monitor. The hundreds, maybe thousands, of videos from her childhood are labeled neatly and organized in a way that’s wholly unsurprising.

“You want to watch something?” I murmur, when she just stares blankly at the screen.

“Yeah,” she nods, her voice tight. “Sorry, I’m just—yeah.”

She reaches out and clicks one of the folders labeled Andi’s Fifth Birthday.

The video itself is a little grainy, courtesy of the camera technology available almost twenty years ago, but Andi’s dark head of hair is clear as day. She’s standing against the door she crouched down in front of when we first visited, her smile nearly blinding.

“How old’re you turning, Sweetheart?” Edison’s voice asks from behind the camera.

“Five!” Andi says, holding up five fingers as the child version of her bounces on her toes.

The adult Andi lets out a choked sound from next to me, ripping my attention away from the screen.

“Oh, Andi,” I murmur.