Assuming he was only talking to Tripp, I remained silent.
But Tripp answered for me. “She’ll have a water with fruit in it.”
How does he know what I like?
Oh. Right.
Maddie.
Pushing away thoughts of my blabbermouth bestie, I contradicted my new boss. “I’m all set.”
“Nonsense.” Tony looked over his shoulder to where the pretty woman waited expectantly in the open doorway. “Fruit water, Suze.” He glanced back at Tripp. “You want anything?”
Tripp shook his head, making me the only one being a pain.
A pain with a fussy drink preference.
“I’m fine with plain water,” I tried, but it was too late.
Suze was gone with an efficiency I would need to learn.
Tony gestured again to the couch, and I sat at the very far corner to observe from a distance.
Or so I planned.
But Tripp sat close.
Tooclose.
Not actually. He was closer than he needed to be since there was a good chunk of free space on the other side of him, but it was his tall, muscular body that made him dominate the space.
Suze rushed back into the room with a lidded cup filled with ice water and citrus slices. She could’ve easily handed it to me, but Tripp took it and passed it over.
Weird.
I shot him a questioning look, but his focus was aimed across the way as Tony crossed one leg over the other so his ankle rested on his knee.
Unlike me, he wasn’t irritated at the late start. He didn’t even look surprised by it. His tone was filled with teasing humor whenhe asked, “Busy day?” His eyes darted to me with a look I didn’t understand. “Or we can talk about this a different time.”
Tripp didn’t share his caginess, and his tone sounded like he was reminding Tony of something he already knew. “Today was the meeting with the director forSummer.” I thought he was talking about the season before he added, “The table read is next, and as long as there’s no script overhaul, we start filming in a month or two.”
As he spoke, I opened my book to a fresh page and jotted down notes.
Filming.
Maddie is going to flip when I tell her.
IfI can tell her.
“I forgot you booked that.” Tony tilted his head. “Chick flick?”
“Drama.”
“But you’re playing a love interest, right?” At Tripp’s nod, he gave a dismissive scoff. “Then chick flick. Who’s in it with you?”
Tripp ran through a short list of names, none of whom I recognized.
I thought that was amething until his agent echoed my thoughts. “That’s a list of nobodies.” Seeming to belatedly remember I was there, he gave me an unapologetic shrug. “Sounds heartless, but it’s the truth of the business.” He returned his focus to his client. “I’ll get you out of this.”
