Chapter 42
Derek hid a yawn behind his notepad as Th ? o led the actors through vocal warm-ups. Next she’d walk the cast through the song they’d finished writing last night.
He gulped the fresh coffee Heather had made for rehearsal and texted Zoe.
See you at the designer run aka our first stumble through. We start after lunch at one.
It wasn’t the first time he and Th ? o pulled an all-nighter, and it wouldn’t be the last. They’d drunk obscene amounts of coffee as they finished writing two
songs, including the pivotal duet between the sisters. Besides the opening number, this one had been the most difficult to
write because his Vietnamese wasn’t good enough to help Th ? o refine the lyrics. But he trusted her judgment on them.
It was also the sisters’ most emotional moment of the show. The duet began with T ? m’s impassioned plea to her stepsister to break free from their stepmother’s abusive hold. Cám is paralyzed by the fear that
her mother’s anger instilled into her as a child. Eventually T ? m wins her over and they hatch a plan to bring Cám to the safety of the palace.
Today’s designer run would be rough with the two new songs, but with only twelve days until opening night, they had to stay
on schedule. Rehearsing the entire show from beginning to end with as few stops was a tall order right now, but it wasn’t
called a stumble through for nothing. At the very least, their design team would have a better idea about the show’s staging
and emotional beats in order to finalize the lighting, sets, sound, and costumes.
Derek tapped his phone. Nothing from Zoe.
The last time he’d checked in at the costume shop, she and TJ had also stayed late to work, but then actually went home before
the sun rose, unlike him and Th ? o. Zoe should be awake by now because the costume shop started work an hour before rehearsals began. But the app gave no indication
that she’d read his message, nor were there bouncing dots to indicate she was forming a reply.
Missed you last night.
His thumb hovered over the on-screen keyboard after he hit send. Screw it. They were dating. He could send her multiple texts without coming off as needy.
I sleep better when you’re in my arms
One—no, two—nights without spooning Zoe and he was already heartsick. He hoped she felt the same way, but the last conversation
between them had been awkward at best. What if she was still mad at him? He hadn’t meant to imply that she wouldn’t be able
to handle the pressure.
Th ? o handed out the new sheet music, which was still warm from the copier. He didn’t have any more time to fret about texts from Zoe. He had only an hour or so to block the new songs then give the actors a chance to rehearse them one more time before lunch.
Zoe was an adult and would show up on time. She was too professional to show up late or, worse, not at all. He had to trust
her the way she trusted him to get this musical in shape for opening night.
“Okay, folks,” he said after Th ? o was finished running through the songs. “Let’s block these numbers and make the audience fall in love with Cam.”
“Calling it a train wreck is too kind,” Derek muttered so only Heather, who sat next to him, could hear. “That was the worse
stumble through of my life.”
Her expression didn’t change except for a slight cheek twitch. Damn, that woman was a pro. She cleared her throat.
“Do you want to give notes now or after the break?” she asked.
Twenty minutes wasn’t long enough to fix all the problems that had walked across the rehearsal room.
“Give them an extra-long break. An hour, okay?”
Heather nodded and penciled a note into her binder.
“Let’s take an hour break so I can chat with our design team. Thank you for your hard work!” He clapped his hands. “Be prepared
for notes when you return.”
The tired and sweaty actors weren’t happy with their performance either. They quickly shuffled out of the room with their
shoulders slumped. Hopefully the break would help.
Derek turned behind him, where Greg and the designers had observed the full run through of the show. Zoe waved at him and
pointed to her phone to indicate she’d texted him.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket. She’d sent him three.
Need to get back to costume shop. Come down later?
I missed you, too.
Wanna stay at my place tonight?
Like magic, her words soothed the disappointment of the designer run. He couldn’t think of a better way to destress than to
spend the night in her bed. He could even put up with Mr. Bobbins’s glare to hold her in his arms.
He smiled at Zoe and mouthed Yes twice in response to her text. Her red lips curled into a bright smile. She waved and left the room with TJ.
Derek invited the other designers to sit at the stage management table. Thankfully, Greg didn’t come down with them, but Th ? o joined them.
“That was fantastic,” exclaimed Eugene Wang, his lighting designer. “I knew your retelling would be different but to see it
come to life—wow!”
“It’s going to be amazing,” agreed set designer Amy Lê. “I’m a little emotional. I can’t believe even more people will learn
the story of T ? m Cam.”
The sound designer, a man of few words, nodded in agreement.
“Um, thanks, it was a team effort.” Derek flipped through his notes to hide his surprise. Maybe the rehearsal hadn’t been
as terrible as he thought.
Eugene and Amy asked very thoughtful questions. Amy was almost ready for them to come onto the stage and rehearse on the set.
She offered some ideas on how to use the wider space they’d have for dance numbers. Heather took copious notes during their
meeting.
“Wow, that was awful,” Th ? o groaned after the design team left. “It was as if we hadn’t rehearsed for eight hours a day, six days a week for two and
a half weeks.”
“I know.” Derek sighed. “Maybe having an audience combined with all the changes confused them.”
“Are you sure we’ll be ready in time?” Th ? o whispered as she glanced back at Greg, who hadn’t moved from his chair.
Derek bent his head closer to Th ? o. “We don’t have a choice.”
“After you give the actors their notes, I’ll pull the sisters aside to work on their music while you focus on the other scenes,”
she suggested.
“Derek,” boomed Greg, who had somehow snuck up on the three of them. “Can we talk? Alone?”
Greg looked pointedly at Th ? o, who looked as if she might bolt. Derek placed a hand on her arm to steady her. Heather kept her head down as she scribbled
something in her big binder.
“I’m meeting with my composer. We can meet at the end of the day,” Derek said firmly. He met his mentor’s eyes and dared him
to push back. “We have a lot to do before opening night.”
Greg huffed, then laughed. “Finally, you’re becoming a real leader. I’ll come back to watch the end of rehearsal. We’ll talk
then.”
“Thank you.” Derek hoped his tone didn’t betray his shock that Greg had actually listened to him.
“Look at you!” Th ? o exclaimed after Greg was a safe distance from the rehearsal room. “Finally growing a pair.”
“Hey!” Derek feigned hurt. “After that stumble through the last thing I needed to hear was Greg’s criticisms.”
“Well, we’re proud of him, aren’t we, Heather?”
“Uh, I need a bio break.” But a smile slipped out onto Heather’s usual poker face. She winked at Derek.
If Derek had known it’d be that simple to get rid of Greg, he would’ve stood firm sooner. Unless Greg was biding his time to give Derek worse news. He wouldn’t worry about that right now because after rehearsal, he was heading straight to the costume shop to kiss Zoe and take her home.
As long as things were good with him and Zoe, then everything else would fall into place.