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“Ethan Moore, who I’ve been trying to get on our season for years.I finally managed it. He’s a fabulous director who knows what he’s doing. He’lldo great things here, but he wants Daniel. Insisted.”

Lauren could understand, to an extent, why. She was a goodactress, layered, and watchable as hell with how pretty she was. Laurencouldn’t argue that fact. Lauren wished she had half of Carly’s talent—maybethings would have gone differently for her. As far as Ethan Moore, of courseshe’d heard of him, too. He’d directed multiple times on Broadway in the pastfive years but would be new to The McAllister space. “Okay, so Carly Daniel,problem child, is starring in our next one. Sounds like a done deal. Keep herfrom dancing on top of tables and you’ll be fine. Why do you want me?”

“You can handle her, and I want more than anything for Ethan tohave a good experience here. I’d love to foster this relationship with him forfuture projects, and if Carly Daniel comes in and makes this productionunsavory for him, he’ll always remember his time here as…undesirable.Ultimately, we’ll pay the price for it.”

She closed her eyes. “And Matty can’t make that happen for you?I’m hours from a beach and a piña colada,Wilks. Hours,” she practically squeaked. Anything to not have to lose hervacation. She needed this vacation. She’d planned for it for over a year now.She had a bundle of little brochures all in a folder.

“Not the way you can, Lauren. No one has your cool head and skillwith people. I was nervous about not having you with Ethan already, but nowthat Carly Daniel has been attached to the project?” He shifted and stuck hishands in his pockets. “I really need you and will buy you eighteen piña coladas when this is said and done.”

She glanced at the clock apologetically. “I need to get thisperformance going.”

“Of course. I’ll scoot-scat out of your way.” He did a littledance to lighten things up, which Lauren appreciated. Wilks, who had to be inhis late sixties, could be cute despite his otherwise distinguished persona.She wanted to pat him on his head while still carrying great respect for him.“Think about it? You’d be the hero of this place.” He backed away. Morescoot-scatting. “And you’ll be compensated appropriately.”

“You should have led with that.”

He pointed at her. “I will next time. And Lauren?”

“Sir?”

“You’re the best goddamned stage manager in the business.”

“I will remind you of that someday when you forget.” He nodded andsnuck away so she could do her job for the next three hours and give this showa proper closing. The compensation part of his offer didn’t sound half bad. Asa stage manager, she was a member of Actors’ Equity, and there was a minimumpay scale in place. Hearing Wilks say he’d go above and beyond did carry someweight. Maybe if she put off her vacation a bit, she could take a few extraperks for herself. Fly first class. Upgrade her reservation to one of those upscaleall-inclusive places with private cabanas and butlers that brought the fruity drinks.She closed her eyes and imagined herself in a bikini, the sun caressing herskin. God, could she really give that up?

“Lauren, we’re at fifteen,” Trip informed her.

“Right, right, right. My fault entirely.” She made thefifteen-minute call to everyone backstage and checked in via headset with herhouse manager, who reported everything out front was on schedule for an on-timecurtain.

Twenty minutes later, they were wandering their way through aSondheim journey, the audience on the edge of their seats. From the booth thatoverlooked the house, where she called each and every show, Lauren couldoccasionally catch a glimpse of an audience member’s face as they went alongfor the ride, gasping and glancing at their seatmate for each plot twist orturn. She loved that about theater. Back when she used to be an actressherself, she’d taken great pride in affecting those who took in her shows. Whenan audience member cried or laughed loudly, she carried that energy with herand brought it back out again in appreciation of that relationship. Thatactor-audience connection was like nothing she’d ever experienced. Those kindsof thoughts always made Lauren’s heart squeeze.

She missed life onstage. Not to say she didn’t love her job. Whenacting hadn’t panned out after college, she’d made a choice for herself thatwould keep her in the business she dearly loved, working to tell stories everyday. Her skill set fit nicely into stage management. She’d started as aproduction assistant at a lower level regional theater in Missouri, worked herway up to assistant stage manager after a couple of years, and eventuallybecame a PSM. Landing a resident gig at The McAllister had been a dream cometrue. Well, a second-choice dream come true after that first dream didn’t pan out.People could have multiple dreams, couldn’t they? And she didn’t take anythingfor granted. No, sir.

Four and a half hours later and Lauren swirled her lemonade margaritaand adjusted her burgundy cocktail dress. The cast party, always traditionallyheld at the upscale Argyle Hotel, was fully underway. Everyone was doing thatthing where they reminisced about how far they’d all come together, huggingeveryone else to excess, and professing how much they were going to miss eachother. Though it was definitely a routine process for the closing of a show, itdidn’t make the sentiments any less sincere.

“Lauren, I don’t know how I would have survived without you,”Emily Heitner said with a flutter of dramatic hand gestures. She was awell-respected actress who’d played the role of The Witch. Kisses and kindwords followed.

“Oh my goodness, Lauren. I might miss you most of all,” a malecast member gushed. More kisses and kind words. There was a welcomepredictability to it all that she truly cherished.

They danced and sang with the music as the beverages flowed morefreely, and when most of the cast and creatives cleared out, Lauren did, too.

She walked to her sky blue Mini Cooper with the white top justafter eleven that night and heard footsteps behind her. When she turned to seewho followed so closely, she wasn’t surprised.

“Hey, there,” Tinsley said. “That was a lot of fun.”

“Hey, Tins. It was. Headed home?” Tinsley Worth was anup-and-coming scenic designer who was currently working under their head of department.She lent her artistic talents to their main stage sets and got to design someof the smaller children’s shows in the adjoining space.

Tinsley leaned against the Mini and smiled. “I was actually seeingwhere you were headed. Thought maybe you’d want to grab a drink?”

Lauren considered the offer. Tinsley was cute, and friendly, andher crush on Lauren seemed apparent. Lauren just wasn’t sure she had the timein her life to offer to someone right now. It was possible all Tinsley wantedwas a hookup, but wasn’t that a bad idea with people you worked alongside?Hadn’t she just given Trip that same advice? As tempting as it was, Laurendecided to sidestep the offer.

“You’re sweet, but I’ve had such a killer day, you know?” Shetapped the top of the Mini. “Gonna head home and play sock tug-o-war with RockyIV, and maybe have a Baileys on the rocks before bed. Still debating whetherI’ll wear the footie pajamas or not, wild child that I am. No photos, please.”

Tinsley laughed. “You definitely have the pajama fashion down. So,I’ve been wondering about something. Is Rocky your fourth dog named Rocky?”Tinsley asked, flashing her smile again. Yep, she was looking for some action,and Lauren just wasn’t prepared to go there with her. She was a pretty girl,and friendly, and gay as hell, but that didn’t necessarily mean Lauren wantedto take her up on the apparent offer. Maybe her romance mechanism had bustedsomewhere along the way. She should be all over this chance yet wasn’t. Thatsaid something.

“No, I just prefer the fourth movie. Rocky just wants to retire,but then his friend needs justice. Then there’s Adrian having all thesefeelings, and Dolph Lundgren is a fantastic villain, and I’m here for it. Doesthat make any sense? My brain is compartmentalized.”

“I think I translated.” She nodded. “A very cute explanation. I’lllet you get to those footie pajamas.”

“I better hurry. Have a great night.” Lauren slid into the driver’sside and wondered if that had come off as rude. She’d tried to explain theRocky IVorigins with agrin attached, but maybe she was just awkward. After her long day, who knewwhat her face said to Tinsley? To help punctuate her lightness, she waved throughthe windshield just before speeding away. It would have to do.