Pooja shades her eyebrows as she peers out into the horizon. “It sure is beautiful here,” she says, mercifully pivoting to a different topic. “So peaceful.”
“It is.” I follow her gaze to study the landscape stretched before us. Wispy white clouds clot the cerulean sky. Sunlight filters through the branches, glittering across the lake and dabbling spots of warmth across the grass. Tree-lined mountaintops stretch as far as the eye can see.
“Are you sure you don’t see yourself living here long term?”
I balk at her. “Livehere? In Pennsylvania?”
“Why are you saying it like that? It’s not like you’d be the first celebrity to move to the sticks. Superman lives out here. And it’s good enough for M. Night Shyamalan and his creepy imagination.” She tilts her head to study me. “Besides, you seem happy here.”
I lean back against the swing’s rattan headrest. “Listen, of course I prefer this to Los Angeles. The people are genuinely nice. There aren’t any assholes driving around in pretentious cars or gossipy women fighting for appointments with the best plastic surgeon. There’s less traffic and pollution, and there are actual seasons. Who wouldn’t be happy here?”
Pooja nods. “I bet these mountaintops are stunning when it snows. I wouldn’t mind lighting that fireplace and curling up with a blanket and a cheesy Hallmark movie.”
I frown. “I’ve never spent a winter here. But I always wanted to.”
“What’s stopping you?”
“The kids, what else? They need stability. I can’t keep uprooting them from their lives.”
Pooja places her hand on mine. “And what aboutyourlife? When was the last time you did something for you?”
I open my mouth, but no words come out. The truth is, I’ve prioritized motherhood for so long that I can’t conjure a recent memory of putting myself first.
Well, until Jesse. Being with him makes me feel like a woman, not just a mother, for the first time in ages. It’s intoxicating.
Pooja gives me a knowing smile but keeps any further comments to herself. Instead, she reaches into her tote bag and extracts a bound manuscript.
“Listen, I know you haven’t wanted to read scripts in ages, but I have a new project that might interest you.”
She hands me the book, and I read the title on the front.The Felix Files.
“What’s this?” I ask, turning it over.
“A young adult novel written by a debut author on the spectrum. It’s about an eleven-year-old autistic boy who discovers an alternate dimension beneath his middle school. It’s a magical realism mystery. Like if Murakami wroteThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I’m planning to make an offer for the rights.”
I raise my eyebrows. That does sound intriguing. And right up my alley. I’ve always loved a good mystery.
“Maybe you could read it and tell me if you think I should go for it. In the meantime, I’d love a quick nap. I’m wiped from travel, especially the drive to your house. The Uber driver talked to me the entire way. Is everyone in Pennsylvania this friendly?”
I laugh and shoo her away, and she heads upstairs. When she reemerges two hours later, I’m halfway through the manuscript andso enraptured that I don’t hear her until she’s standing right in front of me.
“Caught up in a good book?”
She plops down on the sofa, and I lay my head down in her lap.
“Seriously, Pooja, this is incredible. I haven’t been able to put it down. I can’t even fathom how great an adaptation would be.”
“Right? Seeing the underground world on the big screen will be so cool.”
I glance up at her. “Will be? Wait… have you already put in an offer?”
She grins. “I did, and it was accepted. We own the rights. I’ve already hired a screenwriter, who is putting the finishing touches on a script as we speak. And when you sign on to play Felix’s mother, the package will be snapped up by a major studio in no time.”
My mouth drops open. She played her hand perfectly. Presented it in a nonthreatening manner, allowed me to hook myself, and then reeled me in. I never saw it coming. And now, there’s no chance I’ll say no. Damn her and her flawless ability to read me.
Pooja seizes my momentary shock to continue her pitch.
“You’ve read most of the book, so you know the role would be relatively minor. But I think it has the potential to reboot your career. On your terms. And with your support, we have a real opportunity to put autistic stories on the big screen and to do it right. I don’t have to tell you how important that would be.”
