Page 86 of Now or Never

“I’ll go talk to her this week and end things for good.”

twenty-five

Chelsea was making her way down the to-do list the first AD had given her, prepping for the all-important scene they were going to shoot in thirty minutes. She could feel the tension in the air. Everyone was rushing to get their jobs done so they could shoot the scene before the thunderstorm set in.

Chelsea had been slammed all morning. She hadn’t been sure she’d get to the set that day. When Ben had woken up, he’d still been complaining about his stomach ache, and Jae was out of town for a meeting. She was going to keep him home and call in sick, but Ben had insisted on going to school since it was Bring Your Stuffy Day.

She was looking down at her phone to check the time when a loud sound rang out from across the lawn at Ethan and Natalie’s house, grabbing her attention. The construction crew had been there since the break of dawn and were supposed to wrap up as soon as they were going to film. God, she hoped that was the case.

Actually, she’d been looking for an excuse to go over there and talk to Adam. She was desperate to feel out the situation after he ghosted Ben’s birthday party, but he was nowhere in sight.

There was an older gentleman with a long beard and a limp now wearing the white hardhat that had set Adam apart and holding the clipboard that Adam had always held.

She assumed that was the guy who was supposed to be on site from the beginning.

She looked away with a sigh, eyes landing on Jasper. He was standing with Winter, going through the scene, probably giving her an overview of what he needed from her. When he saw her looking at him, his face broke into a smile, and he waved.

She returned an awkward smile and looked back down, confused. Best not to think about Jasper.

She finished her to-do list just as the construction crew wrapped up, so they were all set to film. The first AD and Jasper were with Vincent with the shot all set up. Jasper had just yelled action when her phone started vibrating in her pocket. She slipped it out and saw that it was Mapleton Elementary calling.

Shaking off the initial motherly panic, she stepped away from the set and answered in a hushed tone. “Hello?”

“Hi, this is Mapleton Elementary. Is this Chelsea, Ben’s mom?”

“Yes,” Chelsea said. “Is everything okay?”

“No, I’m afraid not. I have Ben in the office here. He seems to be in a lot of pain.”

Chelsea’s stomach plummeted to her toes as the clawing heat of panic wrapped around her neck. She could barely get words to surface. “A lot of pain?”

“Yes. We’re all quite worried about him.”

Oh no.

Words evaded. She started walking toward her house to get her keys.

“Can you come down to the school, Chelsea?”

She was nodding, hadn’t realized she hadn’t spoken.

“Chelsea?”

“Yes,” she squeaked out. “I’ll be right there.”

She hung up the phone in a daze and had broken into a jog when she heard Jasper’s voice calling her. She whipped around and realized she had said nothing.

Fuck.

She ran back toward Jasper. “Sorry, I have to go get Ben from school. He’s sick.”

She was about to turn and run to the house when Jasper’s voice came, hard and mean. “You can’t leave. We’re shooting.”

It was enough to cause her to pause. She stopped and stared at him, shocked. “He’s sick. It seems bad. I’m going to get him.”

“Get Jae to do it. You can’t leave.”

She wanted to slap him. Wanted to run. But she ended up just staring at him in disbelief. Why wasn’t he worried? Didn’t he care?

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