“Well, he is her husband!” she laughs. Then she pauses, the smile slipping off her face. I wonder if she’s thinking about her own ex. Is this what he was like as a father and husband? Did he ever take her seriously or meet her needs emotionally? Or did he also use sex as a tool for distraction? I feel my jaw clench at the thought.
“No, you’re right,” Marissa says after a beat. “That’s a good note. My character doesn’t rebuff him, but they do split up later in the movie. I think the acting choice here is in her body language. She lets it happen, but it should be clear early on that she isn’t quite happy with this partnership.” Satisfied with the analysis, she grins. “Wow, thanks for that. You’re a great partner.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Does this mean I’ve passed the chemistry test?”
“I’ll show you chemistry.”
She crawls over to my lounger, swinging one leg over to the other side as she straddles me.
“You look cute in my hat.”
“Is that so?” She twists the brim, swiveling the hat backward. “How about now?”
I tsk. “Even cuter.”
I cup her neck, bringing her down to me. Her lips brush against mine, soft at first. When I part them with my tongue, she breathes a tiny sigh into my mouth, and I nibble at her bottom lip. My hand slides under her shirt, ghosting against her rib cage.
She pulls back, shooting me a wicked grin.
“I don’t think this beach is private enough for that.”
With a frustrated groan, I drag my hand out from beneath the fabric.
“You’re right. The township needs to invest in cabanas.”
I shift into a seated position, dragging her into my lap. “Okay, enough funny business. We need to get you ready.”
Her eyes turn soft as they roam over me.
“Thank you,” she says softly.
“For what?”
She gives me a tiny smile. “For believing in me.”
“I always have.”
“I know. I remember.”
She leans forward, pressing her lips into the hollow of my throat, and I slide a palm down her back, drawing her closer.
“Sometimes I wish I could have a do-over,” she murmurs into my skin. “There are so many things I’d do differently.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
Marissa lifts her head to meet my eyes. “How much time do you have?”
I turn my wrist over and pretend to study the bare skin. “You’ve got a few minutes.”
Marissa grins and then extracts herself from my arms slowly. She repositions herself on her own lounger and flings an arm over her eyes, blocking out the sun.
“I’ve been an island for the past few years when I should have built a village. There were opportunities for autism community support in Los Angeles. Play groups and mommy meetups. I guess I thought I didn’t need it. But when I was at Zara’s, I realized what I was missing.” She shrugs. “Granted, the community in LA is different. Everyone is hyper-focused on career and there’s so little connection and community. People are nice, but it’s all surface-level charm. I’ve never felt like I could let down my guard around them the way I have here. It felt like any show of weakness would be weaponized. But not everyone is like that. I could have tried harder to expand my circle, you know?”
I nod but don’t say anything. One thing I’ve learned about women is that they don’t always need solutions. They just want you to listen.
“And maybe my career pivot didn’t need to be so extreme,” she continues. “I wanted to be present for my kids, but I could have found something to fill my own cup as well. But it was also clear that Rocky wasn’t going to be taking any time away from his career, so it felt like it was all on me and I didn’t want my kids to be raised entirely by nannies. So, I went on hiatus and gave my family my full attention. And I loved it, at least at first. It just got to be so isolatingat times. And after a while, I started to think I didn’t even know who I was anymore outside of being a mom.”
“That all makes sense,” I say.
