Page 85 of Act Three

“We’re fine, but the souffles aren’t. I hope you don’t mind ice-cream for dessert?”

“Sounds fine.” Kyla wiped her tears away and smiled as though nothing had happened, and I wondered how many times she’d done that in the past to protect other people’s feelings. It certainly explained why she’d found her groove as an actress so quickly.

After we ate our ice-cream, we cleaned the dishes and Kyla hugged me from behind, pressing her breasts against my back.

By the time we’d finished, her dad was on the couch with a beer in his hand and the television on, its light flickering around the room. Kyla’s forehead scrunched as she watched him.

“I’d invite you all to stay over to watch that movie but…”

“We understand,” Dean said.

“All good,” I added. “It wasn’t like we expected to do anything crazy with your dad in the house.”

Kyla’s shoulders relaxed, and she smiled.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“Of course.”

We each took turns kissing her and then stepped out into the night air, which felt unseasonably cool for summer.

The evening had been incredible, and it made me realize that we had a big problem.

The movie was almost finished, and unless we found a way to either stay in Australia or bring Kyla to Hollywood, we were running out of tomorrows.

We could have called a taxi to take us back to the motel, but since the night wasn’t too hot, we walked.

“I don’t want to go home,” I admitted. I’d hoped Dean and Wyatt would remind me how important my career was like my agent would, but neither of them did.

“Neither do I,” Dean said. “I’m sick of running on this hamster wheel, and I don’t want to give up what we have with Kyla.”

“What else can we do, though?” Wyatt asked, and we all fell into an uneasy silence.

As far as I could tell, there were only two options. Stay here and give up the role my agent had found for me last week with a director who was willing to take a chance on a known alcoholic, or convince Kyla to return to Hollywood with us.

But I had no idea if she wanted to be with all three of us long term.

And after seeing how much she loved her dad, I wasn’t sure she would want to leave Australia.

40

KYLA

Iwasn’t ready to acknowledge that the movie was almost finished. We’d worked so hard, for so long, that it felt likePushing Daisywas just part of my life now.

Scratch that: it had become myentirelife.

So when the final day of shooting rolled around, I was unprepared for the heavy sense of loss I felt when I woke up and drove to the set for the last time.

As I pulled up in the parking lot, I wiped away the tears that had sprung up while I drove. I was a professional actress with a job to do, and there was Wyatt, grinning and walking toward my car. No matter what, I couldn’t let him see me cry.

“Ready for your last day?” he asked, and that was all it took for my resolve to crumble.

“No.” I choked back tears, mad at myself for not having more self-control.So much for my professional acting skills, I thought. But then Wyatt pulled me into a hug and said something I wasn’t expecting.

“Neither am I.”

He breathed those words into my hair and I hugged him tighter, never wanting this moment to end. But we had aschedule to follow, and Wyatt checked his watch behind my back.

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