Chapter 5
Chapter Five
I t took eight hours to finish the first read-through for a two-hour movie.
Eight hours during which Piper struggled to sound like she knew what she was doing while everyone around her breezed through line after line like the experts they were, and Rachel paraded through the room at regular intervals, making sure everyone remembered she existed.
By the time they reached the end, Piper was exhausted from analyzing everything she said, everything everyone else said, the reactions to her various attempts at “feeling” the character’s emotional set, and, most of all, she was annoyed by Blake’s cavalier approach to, well, everything.
He slipped in and out of character so easily it gave her whiplash. She couldn’t figure out how he did it, which left her following along helplessly while he pushed her buttons and toyed with her emotions. Everyone else seemed very happy with the result, but she finished the day feeling frustrated, intimidated, and cranky .
By the time she got home, she was starving on top of everything else.
She’d had no idea doing the voice for an animated character would be this hard, but the not-so-subtle hints that Rachel might take the part away from her only made her want to dig in her heels and try harder.
Piper dropped her bag and keys on the kitchen counter and opened the fridge. She really should have eaten something during the day because she had was yogurt, sour milk, and leftover soup from lunch with Mattie last week.
She dumped the soup and the milk, grabbed a strawberry yogurt, and carried it along with her phone into the den.
The two-story Cape Cod-style house she’d bought five years ago looked like something out of a holiday movie, and it came with a ton of history since it was the former home of old Hollywood royalty, but she’d bought it because she’d fallen in love with the decked-out kitchen that led to the open living space the second she saw it.
The walls in the den were white shiplap with rich mahogany accents. A burgundy rug grounded the space, and the old upright piano that had been in her family since before her mother was born stood as a centerpiece on the wall where a fireplace would normally be.
She’d filled the room with comfortable furniture that invited her to linger. A framed poster announcing The Bellamy Sisters’ first world tour hung on one wall, surrounded by pictures of her family. The other walls featured hanging sculptures she’d picked up along the way at various stops on the tour.
The room was a scrapbook and a tribute to her family, and more than any other place she’d ever been, it reminded her of her childhood home. She could picture her Daddy in this room. She could hear the music and the laughter, but most of all, she could imagine her mother loving this space .
The window overlooked her private courtyard, which led to a thick expanse of thorny bushes and a fence high enough to stop even the most aggressive paparazzi from catching a glimpse of her through the window.
Piper relaxed into the sofa, shoved a spoonful of yogurt into her mouth, and checked her phone. She’d left it in her bag all day so she wouldn’t be distracted, which turned out to be a wise choice.
There were fifty unread texts and three voice mails, all from her sisters. She’d expected nothing less. Everyone knew today was a big day.
She poked Play on the voice mail from Mattie.
“Hey. I heard Della finally popped the question. Of course she did it today. Look, don’t let her push you. I support your decision, whatever you choose. I’d love to be back on stage with you two but I’m also doing just fine writing songs with Adam, so this is your call. I told Della to back off and let you think. That should last for a couple of days.”
“More like a couple of minutes,” Piper muttered.
“ Oh, and Lizzie wants to host Christmas at the Belhurst. You up for that? Let us know. ’K bye.”
Piper ate another spoonful of yogurt and listened to the voice mail from Lizzie.
“Hi. I just wanted to check in and see how everything went. Della said she stopped by and said some things that maybe didn’t sit well. I take it she finally asked you? I’m sorry she picked your big day to push that. Give me a call if you want to talk it out. Also, do you have plans for the holidays? I wasn’t sure if your schedule would allow it but I’d really love to see you. Let’s touch base this weekend, okay? Love you.”
Piper finished off the yogurt and licked the spoon clean.
Christmas at Belhurst would be a lot of fun if the movie premiere didn’t interfere. She’d have to ask Tamar if she knew the premiere date because there was no way she would miss the red carpet. She’d been picturing that moment for over two years.
Another unheard voice mail taunted her. She was actually surprised Della hadn’t left a dozen or more after how this morning had gone.
“She probably wants to psyche me out. Make me think she’s backing off so she can pounce later,” she told her phone.
She eyed the voice memo like it was a snake in tall weeds. Then she sighed and hit Play.
“Pipsqueak, pick up the phone. I know you’re avoiding me.”
Piper hit Pause. “No, I’m not avoiding you, I’m busy. I have a life, you know.”
She shook her head at how ridiculous that was and hit Play again.
“I’m sorry, my timing sucks. It really does, I know that. Look, I’m not going to push you or anything.”
Piper barked out a laugh at that. Della wouldn’t know how not to push. It was a foreign concept to her.
“ I’m not going to even bring it up again, so there’s no need to keep ditching my calls. Let me take you out to breakfast Sunday to make up for it. We can grab Mattie and go to The Flower Pot. Wait, no we can’t. Mattie’s heading to the island this weekend. Anyways, we can do something just the two of us. I want to hear all about your first week in actual production. What’s it like? Is Blake Ryan as ridiculously hot as he looks on screen? Call me back. Let me know about Sunday.”
“Della, Della, Della.”
Piper leaned back and closed her eyes. She loved her sisters. But she didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to deal with Della today, and judging by how the day had gone, she wouldn’t have it for the next three months.
She put the phone down and pulled out the script. There hadn’t been enough time to really analyze what her character should be feeling, though she’d done her best to figure it out on the fly with a lot of prodding from Blake.
She already knew what the first two scenes should be. She flipped ahead to the third and fourth. Jewel and Jesse were being chased by minions of the evil sorcerer until they were deep in the forest, where they had to cross the raging river. They had a fight over exactly how to do that, of course, with his magic compass providing snide commentary and her magic map insisting they go in what they both thought was the wrong direction.
The next three scenes were basically more of the same, with mounting tension along the way as they got closer to the dragon’s lair.
What emotions went along with all that?
She tried to picture the scenes, but all her tired brain would show her was the smirk on Blake’s face. He made her so…so…she’d never met someone who had irritated her so much so quickly. It had taken Della years of constant living to tie her into knots like that.
An alert buzzed on her phone announcing an incoming face chat with her agent, Neil Calahan. She’d expected his call thirty minutes ago. The man had an uncanny ability to sense when a gig ended, and he always wanted details because, as he put it, it takes a lot of underwater action to move the duck.
She hit Accept, and his face popped up on the screen. He looked pleased with himself and extremely smug about something.
“Hey, Neil. What’s up?”
“I’m at your gate. Buzz me in? I have gossip, and I have drunken noodles from Pailin.” He singsonged the name of the restaurant to emphasize the temptation. “And if that’s not enough, I also have red velvet banana pudding from Magnolia.”
Her mouth instantly salivated at the mention of her favorite comfort foods. “Did you bring spring rolls? ”
He tsked. “Of course. What kind of friend do you take me for?”
“It was silly of me. How could I ever doubt you.” She grinned. “Point me at the gate.”
The gate guard, Romi, former Israeli military turned bodyguard and head of security, raised a dark eyebrow. “You want me to let in this horrible person who just gave me a dozen cookies? I told him I cannot be bribed but he insisted you would say yes.”
Piper laughed. “Yes, let him through. I hope he brought you the double chocolate chip. If he didn’t, feel free to send him back out.”
From off-screen, she heard Neil protest, “As if I would bring anything less.”
Romi wrinkled her nose, then broke into a smile. “He knew better than to show up without double chocolate. Next time, I would like to try the macadamia nut explosion. I hear good things about that one.”
“Anything for you, my sweet desert rose.” Neil spun the phone around so Piper could see his face. “Be right in.”
He clicked off.
Piper got up to pull out plates, wine glasses, and silverware. She had it all on the table by the time the doorbell rang. She touched the unlock button for the door on her phone, then shouted, “I’m in the kitchen!”
Neil waltzed in with bags of food in his hand and a giant smile on his face. He wore his usual impeccable gray suit with a crisp, white button-down shirt. The man could walk down any runway in Paris and feel at home.
She snatched the Magnolia bag out of his hand. “How do you not sweat to death in this heat wearing that suit?”
“Hey, you can’t eat dessert first!”
“Watch me,” Piper told him. She fished the banana pudding out of the bag and ripped off the top .
“Heathen.” Neil proceeded to lay out the rest of the meal in a more dignified fashion while Piper ate her dessert first. “And this isn’t a suit . It’s an Audrey Vidal original. It’s linen. It breathes.”
“Uh-huh.” She fished out a yummy mound of decadence, which she popped into her mouth with a heavy sigh of pleasure. “Oh…my…God. This is perfect. Exactly what I needed.”
“Do I know my girl or what?” Neil placed the drunken noodles and spring rolls on a plate and pushed it over in front of her. “You can’t just have dessert. You have to eat a real meal too. Now tell me all about today. I need all the details.”
Piper downed another heaping spoonful of pudding and shook her head. “You go first. I know you spent the last hour getting all the gossip, so spill.”
Neil took a delicate bite of noodles. “Gossip is such an ugly word. I prefer to think of it as an accounting of the day’s events with information from reliable sources.”
She reached for the chopsticks. “And those sources would be…”
Neil picked up the bottle of wine and examined the label. “Belhurst private label? Nice. I adore your sister. How are she and the new hubby?”
“They’re basking in wedded bliss.” The drunken noodles were perfect and still hot. She had no idea how Neil had managed to drive so far to fetch them and arrive with them tasting fresh out of the kitchen. The man had magical powers when it came to food delivery. “They want to host Christmas at Belhurst Castle.”
“Oh, holidays at that inn would be fantastic. You have to go, and you have to take me with you.” Neil poured them both a glass of Belhurst Castle’s best wine. “Though I suppose I should ask Rupert first. His family does this big thing, but it’s always so awkward. It’s the one time during the year they all actually speak to each other and it’s like they’ve forgotten how. But if I could kidnap him away to go to your family Christmas, I wouldn’t have to go to his.”
“I’ll tell Lizzie that you’re both coming,” she told him.
Neil and his husband were fun to have around, and they provided excellent buffer for her own family drama.
Neil placed a glass of wine in front of her. “Drink, then tell me how you think the day went. I want your perspective, then I have some interesting news for you.”
“Come on, Neil. I’m too tired. Can’t you just tell me what the news is first?” She had a feeling she knew exactly what the news was. Her performance today had been cringe-worthy enough to get Blake to give her acting lessons, after all. “Do they want to fire me? That’s the news, isn’t it. Rachel talked Tamar into kicking me out.”
Neil frowned. “Of course not. Why would you think that? Tamar Shurer wouldn’t let anyone talk her out of talent she’s committed to. Besides, your contract is iron tight. I wouldn’t let you sign anything that wasn’t.”
She thought about that. Had Blake been serious when he’d said that, or had it been part of his scheme to stir up her emotions? Everything she knew about Rachel made her believe he’d told the truth, but now…he’d said it right before he sauntered off with that shit-eating grin on his face.
“Blake said…never mind. What’s the news?”
Neil picked up both wine glasses. “Come on. Bring the noodles and let’s go sit somewhere you can actually relax.”
She took one last bite, grabbed another banana pudding and a spoon from the bag, then followed him into the den. She’d left the script spread out over the coffee table, and the empty yogurt container lay on its side, dangerously close to the edge of the table.
“Okay, clearly someone was having a moment.” Neil set the wine glasses down, stacked the script into a neat pile and set it aside, then carried the yogurt container to the trash. “Was it that bad today?”
“It was horrible.” Piper set the pudding down on the coffee table and dropped onto the couch with a groan. She buried her face in one of the pillows. “Vomit-inducing awful. I felt like a kid on the first day of school in a foreign country.”
“Really? That’s not what I heard,” Neil said in a far-too-casual tone. He was baiting her.
It worked.
She looked up.
Neil peered at her from over the edge of his wine glass to hide the smirk that made his eyes twinkle.
“What did you hear? From who?” Piper pushed the pillow aside and reached for her pudding. “I think I might need another dozen of these. And some cookies.”
“I have it on good authority that while the morning might have been a little rough, you and Blake Ryan were seen having a cozy conversation all by yourselves in the corner during lunch.” His tone insinuated that there might have been something sexual going on.
“I wouldn’t call it cozy. Blake thought I was so bad that I needed an emergency acting lesson.” Piper glowered at the memory. “He was right, too. I was that bad. But that’s all it was. There was nothing cozy going on. At all.”
“You know, I don’t think that pudding would pair well with the wine.” Neil took a sip. “It’d basically make a fruit salad in your mouth.”
“That wine pairs well with everything.” Piper proved her point by taking a sip. It was even better than she remembered, with hints of apple and spice, but the spice didn’t exactly set off the bananas and chocolate very well. “Okay you may be right.”
“Of course I’m right. I was raised in Napa Valley.” Neil sniffed the wine, then took another sip. “Anyway, don’t beat yourself up about this morning. According to Tamar she saw a real connection between you and Blake that carried the afternoon. She said your performance improved so much it inspired the writer to change some of the dialogue to match. Apparently you two went off script several times.”
“ He went off script,” she said, disgusted. “I just followed.”
“Tamar said it was ‘a vast improvement.’ Paul called it ‘inspired.’ He was downright gleeful at how much better you did after your little chat with Blake. I got the sense they were both relieved, actually.” Neil leaned back into the pillows and examined the wine in his glass like it was a diamond. “I must remember to tell your sister how spectacular this is.”
“Well, if they think I improved it’s all thanks to him , which is just annoying. Nothing I did on my own worked.” She thought back through the afternoon read. “I’m still not sure exactly what happened. One minute we’re just saying the lines, the next he’s dragging me around the room, pretending like the tables are trees and the people are rocks or bushes or animals. Somehow we wound up dancing a disjointed sort of waltz which made everyone in the room laugh. Well, almost everyone.”
Neil tilted his head. “Was he supposed to do that? Was it in the script?”
“ None of it was in the script. It was like having an out-of-body experience. He teased me and taunted me and flirted at me until I forgot there were a hundred other people in the room. I didn’t feel like me anymore. It was like I was her . I was Princess Jewel, trying to save my sister while having to put up with this annoyingly obnoxious, ridiculously handsome man who kept insisting on getting in the way. It was the strangest thing I’ve ever done. But I have to admit it was fun, in a confrontational sort of way.”
“Interesting.” Neil’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “I see what they meant by chemistry. ”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “That wasn’t chemistry, it was irritation.”
“Mhmm.” Neil sipped his wine. “So, after all that, you didn’t think the afternoon was better than the morning?”
“It was definitely better,” she admitted. “The basic mood of the room shifted from worried to enthusiastic, so that was encouraging, but it wasn’t exactly what we were supposed to be doing, so I’m not sure it counts. Sooner or later we’ll have to say the real lines.”
She stopped short of telling him her real worry, that she might not be able to repeat what she’d done today. Not by herself. That thought made her nerves twinge. She took another sip of wine and ignored it.
Piper leaned back against the pillows. “The best part of the day was Rachel Morris. She went from rolling her eyes and making little huffs of annoyance to shooting me sullen, dirty looks. I’d say I must have done something right.”
Neil laughed. “Now that I would have paid good money to see. She’s so used to being in the spotlight she probably thinks she’s being punished.”
“Do you think she’s really trying to take my role? Blake said she was but I don’t know if he was serious.”
“She might try, but it won’t work. Trust me, after what I heard from Tamar and Paul, there’s nothing that would convince them to walk away from you and Blake. You two clicked, which is worth more than gold in this town.”
“We didn’t click.” She frowned at the very idea. “That’s not what we did.”
“I’ve seen clicking and that is what it sounds like you did.”
Piper drained the rest of her wine glass, then set it down on the coffee table with a slight thud. “Blake Ryan is a pain in the ass who spent all day putting me through an emotional roller coaster that somehow made me better at doing the lines, but I have no idea how he did it or why it worked. He didn’t explain anything, he just played me like I was some kind of instrument, which is just wrong .”
“On what planet is that wrong?”
“You’re saying you wouldn’t mind being manipulated?”
“Honey, that’s the kind of manipulation I can totally get behind. I love Rupert, don’t get me wrong, but I sure as hell wouldn’t mind Blake Ryan playing me like an instrument.”
Neil poured more wine into her glass.
“Ugh, not like that. I’m not doing anything like that with him .” Piper tried to chase that image out of her head.
Neil emptied the rest of the bottle with a look of regret. “You can argue all you want but from what I heard you two were hot together today.”
“We were not hot.” She thought about everything Blake had done today. He’d leered at her ass, taunted her with the loss of her job, and teased her about how inexperienced she was. That wasn’t hot. “At best, we were antagonistic.”
“The look on your face does not match your words.”
He clearly wasn’t getting it. This had been one of the longest days of her life, not a date.
“Blake is a smug, arrogant, misogynistic shit of a man with no sense of personal boundaries. There’s no way I’m hot for that.”
“No way,” Neil agreed with a nod. “Right. Got it.”
“He’s annoying!” She pushed her message home. “Don’t make that face at me.”
“What face?” Neil blinked with false innocence.
“That I’m-older-and-wiser-and-I-know-better face.”
“It’s all true.”
“You’re only older by seven years, and even if you were a lot older than me, it wouldn’t make you any wiser.”
“I hear what you’re saying. ”
“Do you? Do you, really? Because you don’t sound like you believe what I’m saying.”
Neil looked at her. “Oh, I believe you believe it. Plenty of people live in denial.”
“I’m not in denial. I’ve known him one day, and during that day we’ve done nothing but argue.”
“People have a word for what you’re describing,” Neil said with a knowing smirk. “Foreplay.”
The statement caught her off guard just as she was taking a sip of wine. She spilled a little on her chin and quickly wiped it away. “It was not foreplay.”
“Not that I don’t totally get it. On a scale of one to hot, Blake Ryan is off the charts.” Neil picked up the script and fanned himself with it. “He’s got those dreamboat eyes and that killer smile and those abs…I’m an abs man.”
“He’s…”
She bit her tongue before she said the rest of that sentence.
The truth was, Blake Ryan was, by anyone’s standards, an incredibly good-looking man. He had blond hair made even lighter by the California sun, piercing blue eyes, and a smile that could melt the entire polar ice cap. More than that, he had an invisible it-factor, a cloud of charisma that constantly surrounded him.
That didn’t mean she was going to swoon. “It doesn’t matter what he looks like, it’s an animated movie.”
“All I’m saying is I’d totally do him.” Neil winked.
“Well I wouldn’t. He’s not taking the music seriously at all. He hammed up the first one, and the duet was more talk than song. He spent all that time lecturing me on my reading skills, but he’s obviously not put in the work where vocals are concerned.”
“I’m sure when you get him into the studio next week you’ll whip him into shape.” Neil stood and picked up the empty bottle of wine. “Do you have any more of this? I’d love for Rupert to try it.”
“I don’t think so. Take him the black label. It won awards last year.” Piper finished off her glass and followed Neil into the kitchen. “Did I mention that Della stopped by this morning? She finally asked me to come back to the group. I’ve been waiting for a year for her to pop that question. Can’t believe she did that today of all days.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her no. I can’t live like that. Not now.” She put her glass into the dishwasher, followed by the dirty coffee cups from this morning that were still in the sink. “I swear it’s like she can’t let me have this one thing without putting her foot in it.”
Neil put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “She can’t take this away from you, Piper. Nobody can. You’ve more than earned your place.”
She stayed where she was, absorbing his simple support while she sorted through what was really bothering her. “What if I haven’t? What if I get in the studio and I screw it all up? I was a wreck this morning, and this afternoon was all Blake.”
“Not all him. You were good , Piper. Everyone I talked to said that and more. They wouldn’t have cast you if you didn’t have the right instincts for it. Blake might have shown you the way but you took it from there. Trust me, I’ve done improv before. It takes two to do the tango you did today. You had a Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers moment. You were both dancing.”
“I don’t know.” She wrinkled her nose. “Music never felt like this much work.”
“That’s because you’ve been doing it since you could crawl. You were too young to understand just how much work it really was.” Neil busied himself tidying up the trash. “This is new, that’s all. As hard as you work, you’ll figure out what you’re doing in no time. Even if it turns out you can’t do this without Blake, I guarantee he can’t do it without you, either. It’s the two of you together that made magic today, and it’ll only get better from here.”
She smiled gratefully at her friend. “Thanks.”
Neil gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I have to run. I’m taking Rupert to Safari tonight to celebrate. He got that promotion I told you about. He’s now CFO of Fun Times, Inc. The next time you need an event hosted, he’ll hook you up.”
“Oh, that’s awesome! Tell him congratulations for me.” She crossed to the wine fridge and hunted for a particular gold label that indicated a short run. “Here, give him this. Tell him it’s Mark’s signature. He only puts out a few hundred of them.”
“Thanks, sweetie.” Neil tucked a bottle under each arm. “Get some sleep. Maybe Blake will visit your dreams and teach you something else.”
She knew he was teasing, but an image of Blake flashed through her mind. He stared into her eyes and a slow smile lit his face and she didn’t want to look away.
Then she heard Blake say, “You look hot in those leggings.” She shoved his face out of her thoughts.
“Oh God, I hope not. I need a break.” She escorted Neil to the door. “If you keep harping I’ll tell Romi to up the price of admission to two dozen cookies.”
“I’d bring her ten dozen if she asked me to. She’s a gem.”
After Neil left, she tried to remember how Blake had managed to get her into the right mindset during the read. That transition had been fun, despite the irritations. For the first time, she’d experienced something so foreign to what she was used to that it had boggled her mind.
Her childhood had been spent pretending to be a singer until that first day on stage, and then it simply became who she was.
Today, though…today, she’d been Princess Jewel, and being so meone else for a room full of people who did that for a living was life-changing.
Blake had told her to relate her character’s journey to something in her own life.
“Okay, if I were Princess Jewel trying to cross the raging river, how would I feel?” she asked the empty room.
She paced while she worked the problem out loud.
“What if that raging river was my life. On this side, I’m a singer. If I make it across, I get to be an actor too. But the river is fast and deep and filled with piranhas, and I don’t know how to swim.”
She stopped pacing. “We’re both facing an impossible task with no background and no tools but our wits.”
Something clicked into place. She knew exactly how her character felt. “Jewel’s intimidated by the challenge of the river. Determined to face it anyway. Worried that she won’t do a good job. Terrified that she’ll fail. Hoping the guy next to her won’t do something to screw it all up. Excited to see things and do things she’s never done before, and secretly relieved to finally be taking control of her own destiny. Now all we both have to do is figure out how to cross the damn river.”