Page 24 of If the World Was Ending

“Oh. Well, I wanted to know when you might be coming home to visit. I was hoping you’d say Christmas.”

“Mom, tickets are insane at Christmas, and last time I talked with Leandra she wanted to go to her parents’ place in Oregon,” Hunter told her, trying to keep his tone gentle. “What about… Canadian Thanksgiving?”

Flights would likely be cheaper.

“It’s just called Thanksgiving, Hunter,” Catherine scolded lightly. “An early October harvest makes sense. A late November one is ridiculous.”

“So then how about if I look into flights for Thanksgiving?” Hunter suggested. He could hear his credit card whimpering at the idea of it. He was already precariously close to his limit, and charging a flight would definitely max him out.

“That is probably better since it’s sooner,” she replied. “I miss you. Your dad misses you. We’ll pay for half the ticket.”

“You don’t have to do that.” The words flew out of his mouth with zero conviction. It would be great if they could pay half.

“We talked about it, and we both agree. Although Thanksgiving might be riskier for your dad,” Catherine surmised, and then she sighed. “If it’s what works for you, then he’ll have to figure it out.”

Figure it out was code for deal with his new family. It wasn’t until Hunter was in his late teens that he figured out Greg Law had cheated on Catherine. Greg married the mistress because she’d been pregnant. That had been like vinegar in an open wound for Catherine, who had fertility issues, hence adopting Hunter. They tried hard to make it a non-issue in front of Hunter, which actually made it more of an issue. But he didn’t tell them that. “Okay. I’ll look into it later this week.”

“How did the audition go?”

“What? Oh today? Yeah. Okay. I think.”

He could hear the frown in her voice as she replied, “There’s always the next one.”

She was trying to be supportive. She never asked him to quit or told him to give up. Though he knew she dreamed of him going back to school for something more stable. But she tried. It was more support than many creative kids got. For example, Colby’s parents didn’t support him at all. Hell, even Leandra’s parents didn’t like her being a yoga instructor. They’d wanted her to concentrate entirely on nursing.

“Yeah. How are you? How’s Zeus?”

“Oh, he’s the same. Freeloading like a champ. If he wasn’t so warm and cuddly, I would kick him to the curb,” she announced, and Hunter laughed. “But he keeps me warm during the frigid winters.”

The only thing Catherine loved as much as she loved Hunter was her nearly twenty-pound black cat, Zeus. She’d gotten him a couple years after the divorce, and he was now pushing sixteen, but he was in great shape because he only ate organic food that his mom cooked herself. The cat literally got poached wild salmon and free-range chicken.

“Well, give him extra pets from me. Tell him I’ll see him in October.”

“I love you, honey. Give Leandra my best.”

“Will do.”

He hung up with his mom and shoved his phone in the holder clipped to one of the air vents. It pinged before he could pull out into traffic, so he checked it. A text from his agent Margo asking him to call when he could. He lived always wondering when she would dump him. Margo was a pretty big deal. She wasn’t with one of the mega agencies like William Morris Endeavor or Gersh or any of the acronyms like CAA, UA, UTA, ABC, but she had a couple of heavy hitters and a bunch of steadily working mid-list actors. She ran her own agency, Horizons, and had two other agents working for her. When Hunter submitted a reel to her, he fully expected to never hear a word. He did it on a whim the last month of his program at UCLA. He’d finished what he thought was a particularly solid job in an indie film and just went for it. She didn’t respond to him, but when he did a play first thing after graduation at some shitty theater off the Sunset Strip in Silverlake, she came to watch it and asked him to come to her office the next day.

She signed him. She said she saw a lot of potential in him. Since then, he’d booked five jobs. All small. She also got him a couple exclusive background jobs that paid more than the Central Casting stuff. She never wavered or acted like she was going to dump him, but his anxiety told him she was regretting her decision at every turn.

“Hey, Margo. Hunter here,” he said as soon as she answered. He had her cell, which not all her clients got. That said something, right?

“Hey kid, I know. Your name shows up.” She chuckled lightly. “You got booked, kiddo!”

“I did? For the thing today?”

“No. The thing last week!” she said, excited.

“The commercial?”

“Yep! Two-day shoot. SAG spot baby!”

SAG. Fuck. That was awesome. Hunter grinned. “Thanks, Margo. That’s great news.”

“Don’t thank me. You’re the one who got booked,” she reminded him. “The details are still coming in, but I think it shoots next Thursday and Friday in Pasadena.”

“Great! Awesome. Let me know when you have call times.” Hunter was excited even though the role itself wasn’t thrilling. He was playing half of a young married couple on a disastrous vacation, but everything was saved by their credit card, which had trip protection. Ironically, the same credit card company refused to give him one when he applied six months ago.