2
I lean against the side of my trailer and take a deep breath. There’re dozens of people walking in every direction as they work to get everything ready for the scenes we’re shooting today.
“Amy… you ready?”
I turn around and smile as Harriet, the director of Day One, walks toward me.
“Yeah… I think so.”
She frowns, but the expression fades from her face just as quickly as it appeared.
“You think so?”
“Yes… I’m ready.”
“You know your lines?”
“Yep.”
“Good.”
I knew my lines before we took a break and I looked over them a few times while I was gone, and on the plane, but I still tend to worry that I’ll forget them. So far during shooting Day One I’ve been on point… so I’m not really that worried.
“How have you been?” I ask.
She shrugs and runs her hand through her hair.
“The studio is pressuring me to… never mind. Excuse me, please.”
She looks down at her phone, the screen of which is lit up, and walks away. I’m sure the studio wants her to get us back on schedule, which I doubt is going to be easy after what happened. I don’t pity Harriet at all. What I do seems so easy compared to what she does every single day.
Harriet walks to her trailer, shaking her head as she talks into her phone. As much as I like her, it’s going to be nice for lots of reasons to be done with this film. I’m just happy that Jarvis seemingly pulled his act together, apart from getting hurt… because it would have made all of this almost unbearable.
“Well… don’t you look nice.”
Jarvis. I turn around and face him. He’s got a smile on his face as he walks toward me. I look at his clothes and then down at mine. We’re both done with makeup and wardrobe… which is still consisting of us being covered in all manner of dirt and mud. I’m starting to wish my character could come across a body of water and clean herself up… but I know it’s not in the script. It had never crossed my mind before, but I’m starting to feel like I’d be horrible in a post-apocalyptic world. The lack of indoor plumbing is not something I’m sure I’d be able to overcome.
“How are you feeling?”
He shrugs and rubs the back of his head.
“Some stitches and rest… I’m pretty much back to normal.”
“Good.”
“How are you?”
“Fine.”
“I heard you went to Europe.”
“I did. Prague.”
“To visit Spencer?”
“Yeah.”
I’m not sure why Jarvis is so into making small talk right now, but I don’t feel like being a jerk and walking away.
“Sorry I missed your party,” I say.
He shakes his head and smiles.
“I postponed it… it’s actually going to be this Friday.”
“Really?”
“Yeah… and I’d like you to be there.”
“I… I’ll have to check my schedule.”
I already know I have no plans for Friday, but I don’t really feel like going to his party if I can help it.
“Oh… well… let me know.”
“I will.”
“Jarvis! Amy! We’re ready for you!”
We both turn and look at the assistant director, who is waving us over. Here we go.
I kick off my shoes and plop down on my bed. I’m so gross… covered in a mixture of sweat and dirt and I kind of don’t even care.
Harriet pushed the production hard today, but she seemed happy that we managed to pick up right where we left off and were even able to shoot and extra scene. I’m glad that we might be able to get back on track, for her sake, but it also meant I never got a chance to take a nap during the day and now I’m beat.
I groan and push myself up in bed and head to the bathroom for a quick shower. I’d love to just go to bed, but it’s like seven and I’m supposed to have dinner with Dex and Rose. I’m sure they’d understand if I bailed… I just feel like it would be nice to catch up with both of them and I’m hungry. We did have a ten-minute break for lunch, but I’m sure I still burned twice as many calories as I ate today.
There’s no message from Spencer on my phone as I stand up and walk toward my door. I thought about texting him, but it’s the middle of the night and he likely went to bed as soon as he got back from the set.
Gina is in the kitchen when I walk in. She turns around with a smile on her face.
“Ms. Amy… you look tired… and hungry.”
“Hey, Gina. Yes… I’m both of those things.”
“Good… I’m just about finished with dinner.”
“Is Dex around?”
“No… I haven’t seen him since this morning.”
“Oh.”
“He did tell me it would be the three of you for dinner… so I assume he will be here.”
I nod and sit down at the table. A few minutes pass as I sit there, just staring off into the distance, but my attention is pulled back to the present when I hear someone walking into the kitchen behind me. I turn around and see that it’s Rose. I’m honestly a little disappointed that it’s not Dex… and I’m starting to wonder if he’s been held up by whatever project he’s working on right now.
“Hey,” Rose says, as she sits down at the table.
“Hi.”
“How was your day.”
I sigh and shake my head.
“Long. It was good, though.”
“Jarvis is better?”
“Yeah… he seems fine.”
“That’s good.”
“It is. It was a pretty nasty fall. I’m kind of surprised he’s back to work so soon.”
“Wasn’t it just his birthday… or something?”
“It was,” I say, nodding, “but he canceled his party because of his accident. He had invited me to go, before, so I figured I got out of it since I went to see Spencer. Then today, as soon as I saw him, he invited me to come on Friday.”
“Nice… are you going?”
I shrug and shake my head.
“I doubt it. I told him I had to check my schedule… so… I’m hoping that will be enough of an excuse to get me out of it.”
“You don’t want to go?”
“Eh… no… not really.”
Rose frowns for a brief moment and then looks down at her phone.
“He’s just… I don’t know. We got off on the wrong foot, which changed when I knocked him down a couple of pegs. We’re fine, but it’s not like we’re good friends or anything.”
“That makes sense.”
I pause for a second and I look at Rose. I’m not sure why she’s so interested in Jarvis and his party. Is it possible that she’s hoping I’ll go so that she can go, too? Hmm. I guess there’s probably going to be a decent number of Hollywood people there… and it might give her a chance to meet some of them.
“If I do go… do you want to go with me?”
She smiles and nods.
“Yeah… it could be fun.”
Dex walks into the room and we both turn to look at him.
“Sorry… I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”
“It’s fine,” I say, shaking my head, “we were just talking… and I only got home a few minutes ago.”
“Good.”
He smiles and sits down in his normal chair.
“Dinner will be ready in five minutes,” Gina says.
“Perfect. So,” Dex says, looking at me, “how was your trip?”
“It was… amazing. Spending time with Spencer was so worth the trip… even though he was shooting the whole time.”
“What did you do while he was on set?” Rose asks.
“Relaxed… walked around the city… that was kind of it.”
“Did you go see that clock?” Dex asks.
“I did.”
I unlock my phone and pull up one of the pictures I took of it. Rose nods and smiles as I hold up my phone for her to see and then turn it toward Dex.
“Nice.”
“Yeah… it was very cool.”
I spend the next five minutes telling them every detail of the trip that I can remember and finally stop as Gina approaches the table with a plate of food for each of us. I smile and lean back as she sets mine down in front of me.
“Thanks.”
I yawn as I walk into my room and close my bedroom door. It’s only like nine, but I feel exhausted and I’m totally ready for bed.
My phone starts to vibrate in my hand as I walk toward the bathroom and I stop to check it. Spencer is calling me. A smile forms on my face as I slide my finger across the screen to answer the call.
“Hello?”
“Hey… I wasn’t sure if you’d be awake still.”
“I am… barely. How come you’re awake so early?”
“We were shooting at sunrise, so I had to be up at four. We’re actually taking an extended break and shooting a scene tonight.”
“Oh… that makes sense.”
“How are you?” he asks.
I walk over to my bed and sit down.
“I’m good… just a little worn out from today.”
“Long day on the set?”
“Yeah… you could say that. The studio wants Harriet to get back on schedule, so we pushed it pretty hard today. I’m feeling pretty jet lagged… and I was hoping to get a chance to nap this afternoon, but we shot through the whole day.”
“Sorry, baby.”
“Whatever… it’s all good.”
“And Jarvis is back to normal?”
“He is… which is good.”
“Good. How is everyone else?”
“Fine.”
“Did Rose get that part you were telling me about.”
“No… she didn’t.”
“Dang, that sucks.”
“She seems kind of bummed out, but I told her that she’ll get another chance.”
“She just has to keep trying… that’s all there is to do.”
“Yeah.”
I lie down on my bed and kick off my shoes.
“So, anything else going on?”
“Umm… my new car was at the house when I got back… so that was nice.”
“Good. Did you hear from the insurance company?”
“No, but I can call them.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Spencer says.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind.”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it.”
“OK, thanks.”
“Of course, baby.”
I smile and close my eyes. He takes such good care of me. I cover my mouth as I yawn. As much as I’d like to keep talking to Spencer, I’m starting to feel pretty tired and I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be another long day on set.
“I should let you go, so you can get some sleep,” Spencer says, as if he read my mind.
“Do you mind?”
“No, of course not. Yes, I’d love to keep talking to you… but I’m sure you’re feeling the jet lag right about now and you need the sleep.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Goodnight.”
“Bye.”
I pull the phone away from my ear and end the call. It takes a surprising amount of effort as I force myself to get up and go brush my teeth. I really hope I can get more sleep tonight.
There’s a knock on my door as I walk back into my room. I pause for a second, then walk over and open it. Dex is standing in the hallway and he looks up from his phone as the door opens.
“Hey,” he says, “you got a second?”
“Yeah… what’s up?”
I stand aside and he walks into my room.
“I wasn’t sure you wanted to talk about it in front of Rose and Gina… but I was able to get your mom transferred to that treatment center I was telling you about.”
“Oh… yeah… I was kind of wondering, but I was feeling overwhelmed by the flying to Europe for a short time and then going right back to filming.”
She hadn’t entered my mind since I got back, which I feel guilty about… and I didn’t really feel like telling Dex that.
“I totally get it, it’s a lot of traveling for just a couple of days.”
“Yeah.”
“Anyway,” he says, “everything went fine. I made a few calls when I was in Napa and they actually just moved her yesterday.”
“Thank you so much for doing that, especially when you were away.”
“No worries,” Dex says, smiling, “I felt like it would be easier for me to take care of it, especially with everything else on your plate right now.”
“Do you think I should go visit her?”
“That’s up to you, but I’m sure she’d like to see you at some point.”
I nod as I think about the last time I saw her… and how unstable she seemed. I hope Dex was right about the place she was moved to because she really didn’t seem anything like her old self when I talked to her. I guess it can’t’ be any worse than the place she was just in.
“I think I might… maybe in the next few days. Where is the treatment center?”
“I’ll text you the address.”
“OK, thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Dex turns and walks toward the door.
“Oh,” I say, “how was Napa?”
“It was good.”
“Just good?”
He opens his mouth to say something, but closes it and nods instead. He gives me a quick wave and pulls my bedroom door closed behind himself. I wonder what that was about. Hopefully something didn’t happen between him and Brenda because they make such a great couple, at least I think so.