Chapter 49
Shay
Landon and I spent the night together, and I begged him not to bring it up the next day when we were on set.
That morning, I did my best to shake Mom and David’s engagement news from my mind. I also tried to shake Landon away from my brain, but he always seemed to linger in my thoughts. Lucky for me, Sarah kept me busy at work so Landon couldn’t occupy all of my thoughts.
“I need you to run lines with him,” Sarah instructed me after she finished getting ready in hair and makeup.
“With who?”
“Landon.”
“What do you mean run lines with him?” I asked, sitting at her table.
“You know—run lines,” she echoed as if I were straight-up dumb. “He asked me to do them with him the other day, but I’m too busy. I have a Reiki master coming in to give me a session.”
“Can’t his assistant Willow do it?”
“Yes, she can,” Sarah agreed, but she gave me a devilish grin. “But it should be you. That way you can get me some more information on him. Like his new favorite hobbies or foods. I want to plan something for him, but I need more dirt.”
“To be honest, I don’t really feel comfortable doing all of this, Sarah.”
The last thing I’d ever wanted to do was help hook Landon up with another woman.
For a split second, I swore I saw flames flash in Sarah’s eyes before she returned to her normal, sweet—yet odd—self.
She took in a few breaths and released them slowly.
“Shay. I know this might not be the most normal job position for you, but this is part of what it entails, all right?” She walked over to me and handed me the script.
“Please do the job without complaints. We get along so well,” she chimed, smiling from ear to ear, but I could tell she was forcing it.
“I wouldn’t want any of that to change. OK? ”
It sounded more like a threat than anything else.
I swallowed hard and took the screenplay from her. “OK.”
She went back to her bubbly personality and clapped her hands together. “Oh, wonderful! I’m glad we’re all on the same page. I’m glad I was able to make myself clear.”
I smiled through gritted teeth. I knew if I didn’t take that script, I probably would’ve been out of a job by the end of the day. And my bills would’ve been so pissed off at me, since I quit my other job at the café.
I headed over to Landon’s trailer and knocked twice before Willow opened the door with a wide smile.
“Oh, hey, Shay. What’s up?” Willow had been my saving grace over the past few days, coming off as a mentor around the set.
It was clear she’d been working in the industry for a long time based solely on how she moved as if she belonged.
I was still tripping over my feet, trying to act normal even though I felt like a clown with oversized shoes on at all times.
“Hey. Sarah said she was supposed to run lines with Landon, but she couldn’t make it over. So she sent me to do it.”
Willow paused for a second with a confused brow, but then she smiled again. “For sure, come on in. I was just going to head out for a while to go find some breakfast.” She hopped out of the trailer and made way for me to enter.
I walked up the steps of the trailer and was pleased to find that Landon’s space was the complete opposite of Sarah’s. There weren’t major signs of hippie mojo going around. Just calming music and a television on ESPN.
I could handle that.
Landon looked up from the couch, where he was comfortably seated, scribbling in a notebook, and stood to his feet. “Shay. Hey.”
My fingers raked through my hair as butterflies settled into the pit of my stomach.
“Hey. Sorry to bother you, but Sarah said you needed to run lines with her? But she’s too busy right now, so she sent me to do it with you.
” He raised a curious brow, and I smiled.
“I know it doesn’t make much sense, but I’m learning to just go with Sarah’s requests. ”
“That’s probably a smart thing to do. She can be quite a handful if someone goes against her.”
“Something I’m learning daily.”
“Come in, take a seat. There are only a few scenes I have to go over, but your help would be great.”
I did as he said and began flipping through the script. Holding someone’s actual script in my hands felt very surreal to me. I was holding another’s dreams against my fingertips and secretly hoping that someday, I’d do the same with my own on a set.
Landon didn’t pick up his script but instructed me to go to page thirty-three, as if he knew each scene and page number by heart. It didn’t surprise me because when we were in Romeo and Juliet together, he was off script in a matter of days.
I flipped through to the location he recited, and the moment he began the scene, I was fully enamored by his persona.
Landon was a fantastic actor as a teenager, but as a grown man?
He owned every word that came through his lips.
He never overacted or underacted in a scene.
He delivered the words with conviction and poise, and when he was meant to fall apart due to the words, he fell apart in such a way that it brought tears to my eyes.
Landon Harrison was meant to be an actor.
He excelled at it, and it was a gift to watch his performance in the trailer that late morning.
It felt like a secret that I wanted to keep solely for myself, but soon enough he’d find his way to the set, and everyone else would be able to take in the excellence that was him.
“You were amazing,” I gasped, my breaths catching in my chest.
He frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I feel as if I can do better.”
“Says the perfectionist.”
“What can I say? I learned it from you. I remember how hard you used to be on yourself back in high school when you were acting.”
I laughed. “That’s because I didn’t have anywhere near the talent that you did. I swear, you have more talent in your pinky than I do in my whole body.”
“Liar,” he said so sincerely that it sent chills up and down my spine.
I shifted my feet around. “This script is beautifully written, though. I got chills reading the words. It’s powerful.”
His eyes widened with intrigue. “Your words are more powerful. You should really let me pass on one of your scripts,” he offered for the millionth time.
“Once again, hard pass. I want to try to do this on my own first, and it feels like I’m moving in the right direction.”
He nodded. “I’m proud of you, Chick.”
“Nothing has happened,” I said.
“Not yet.” He smiled. “But it will soon enough. I just know it.”
His belief in me sent my mind for a spin. “Well, I should let you get back to whatever it was you were writing. I need to go—”
“Hang out with me,” he cut in.
“What?”
He blinked a few times and shook his head back and forth. “I don’t mean right now, but I’d like to hang out with you. Outside of work, outside of the bedroom . . .” His words faltered off, and he shrugged his shoulders. “Just hang out with me, Shay.”
I said the only thing that came to mind. “OK.”
His eyes widened as if he was surprised by my agreement.
He brushed his hands through his hair and then cringed from doing so.
I was sure his hair person took a good amount of time to get his waves just right.
Thank God this movie no longer had him as a blond.
He looked best with his deep-brown locks.
“Great, OK, good. I’m taking a yoga class at your grandmother’s studio this afternoon. Maybe you can join me there and we can grab a late dinner after?”
“How about yoga and we’ll go from there,” I offered.
“I’ll take whatever you give me.”
A knock fell against the trailer door before Willow popped her head in. “Hey, sorry to interrupt, but they are calling for you on set, Landon. Sarah is already out there.”
“Which means I’m not where I’m supposed to be,” I joked. “Job well done, Landon,” I said, holding my hand out for a shake.
He shook my hand with a smile and thanked me for helping him out.
All three of us headed toward the set, and I couldn’t ignore the attack of the butterflies in my stomach as Landon walked beside me.
Once we made it to set, Willow and I hung back as Landon went ahead and fully became his character as he stepped on stage.
The way he transformed his body was unlike anything I’d seen.
How he rounded his shoulders, how he curved his back and fiddled with his fingers.
He was no longer Landon; he was now Samuel Wilson—the broken hermit who was too afraid to live.
Watching Landon perform made tears rush to my eyes. He was so good at what he did, completely in the right field of profession for his life.
When he messed up, though, he stepped offstage and took a breath. Each time, he’d reach into his pocket, take something into his hand, and take a few breaths with his eyes closed.
“What is that?” I asked Willow, staring at Landon with wonderment. “What is it that he holds in his hand?”
“Oh, it’s his tradition. He’s been doing it for as long as I can remember. Whenever he needs to center himself and breathe, he pulls out a banana Laffy Taffy and holds it in his hand while taking a few breaths.”
“A banana Laffy Taffy?”
She smiled. “He said it was because of a girl he once loved. It was her favorite candy, and when he held it, it calmed him because it reminded him of well . . . you.”
Her words stilled me.
He carried Laffy Taffys in his pockets—banana Laffy Taffys.
Still a complete and utter favorite of mine.
Memories came rushing back as I thought about when we were in high school and he filled my locker with all those banana-flavored candies, along with peonies.
The flashback sent a wave of warmth through me.
It was one of my favorite moments of us.
I considered that the beginning stage of the Landon and Shay story.
Back then, I had no clue where it was going to take us.
I never imagined we’d end up the way that we did.