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“I’m thirty-two. How am I supposed to have a sixteen-year-old son?”

“I know we had the birds and bees conversation before. When Lucy Langford tried—”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“If you’ll recall, in Hollywood, there’s this thing calledmakeup, and it’s really useful for making people look younger—or older—than they are.”

“But what happened to John Nealon? Why isn’t he playing Noah’s father?”

“He’s playing NoahJunior’sgrandfather. The studio’s idea is that the OG fans will go crazy for all this character continuity, and the new fans will appreciate the meta, because that’s how kids are now, but we all know they just want to watch Fallon and Billie shaking sheets.”

“Shaking…sheets.”

Ellery felt like his head was spinning, which was probably appropriate, though the wrong film franchise. He asked faintly, “Billie who?”

“Billie Watson. You’ve seen her in everything. She’s adorable. You’ll love her.”

“Yeeeeeah. No. I really don’t think so. I mean, I’m retired from acting, Ronny.”

Instead of arguing, Ronny began to rattle off numbers like an old-fashioned calculator with a short in the wiring. Ellery would not have been surprised to see cash register paper unfurl from his cell phone. As the numbers sank in, he gulped.

“That makes no sense. I’m—I’d be—supporting cast.”

“Honestly? I think they want you all in on this. They’re anticipating a huge success, and—”

“Why?”

Ronny ignored that. “—since they’ve only got the rights for three films, they want to be able to come back to you and cut a deal. Also, as you pointed out, you’re only thirty-two, you’re still hot, and you bring a devoted fan base in a demographic they’d love to capture.”

“Comeon.” Ellery was pained at the very thought.

“Also,” Ronny said in a careful sort of tone, “it’s in the contract they signed with Brandon.”

“What?”

“Per the contract, you get first right of refusal on the part of Noah Junior’s dad.”

“If that isn’t just like Brandon! He knew how I felt about those films.”

“Those films made usalla lot of money. And that was without the benefit of an A-list director, writer, and art director. This is not the worst thing that could happen to you.”

As much as Ellery wanted to shoot the whole idea down, the figures Ronny had quoted held him silent.

At the same time, he was fully invested in his new life as bookstore owner. He had not only come to terms with the fact that his acting career was over, he was relieved about it.

Still. That money.

But being away from Jack for…who knows how long? A month? Longer? No way.

“I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful, but—”

“Just think about it,” Ronny urged. “You don’t have to answer right now.”

“When does filming begin?”

“Next summer. They haven’t locked the production schedule yet.”

“I don’t want to do it. That’s the truth.”