Page 12 of Cast to be Mine

“Unless she fades into the background and is completely overshadowed by Jack,” Dad countered.

“She won’t fade. Trust me.” I met his eyes. “I know talent when I see it. I learned from the best.”

That softened him slightly.

“When does she start?” Mom asked.

“We’re signing contracts tomorrow. She’ll have the full script by tonight, and then we start rehearsals next week.” I ran my hand through my hair again, knowing it mussed my hair more than the style I aimed for. “It’s tight, but we’ll make it work.”

“Tight is an understatement,” Dad muttered. “You’re taking a massive risk, Micah. Unknown actress, compressed timeline, and no time for screentests.”

“I don’t need screentests. Grace Stone is what I need. She’s perfect for this role.”

Mom smiled at me. “We believe in you, sweetheart. Don’t we, Max?”

Dad was quiet for a long moment, his jaw working as he processed everything I’d said. Finally, he sighed.

“I believe in you,” he said. “I just wish you believed in yourself enough to let your family help you.”

“This is me believing in myself,” I said softly. “This is me proving I can do it.”

“Fine.” He picked up his wine glass. “But when this film tops the box office and everyone’s talking about the unknown actress you discovered, don’t forget who taught you how to spot talent in the first place.”

I smiled despite myself. “I won’t forget.”

“And, Micah?” He raised his glass slightly. “Don’t screw this up. You get one shot at a first impression in this business. Make it count.”

“I intend to.”

The table had been quiet while my parents did their little interrogation. My brothers hadn’t jumped in to save me, but now that the tension between Dad and me had settled a bit, they found their voices again.

Jeremy shot me a grin. “So are you nervous? Directing your first movie?”

I shrugged. “Excited. But also freaking out a little, yeah.”

“A little?” Beau snorted. “You look like you haven’t slept in a week.”

“It’s been more like two weeks.” I chuckled. “It’s different when you’re the director running the whole show, you know? This movie has a lot of moving parts.”

“What’s the schedule?” Beau asked. “Three months? Four?”

I cringed because I knew my dad was going to shit a brick when he heard about the tight schedule. But my budget was limited and shooting days were expensive.

I cleared my throat. “Four weeks.”

Drew’s head popped up. “Four weeks. Total?”

“Yep. Including a week of shooting in Hawaii. But that’s why we did lots of preproduction. So everything would be ready.”

To my surprise, Dad nodded. “It’s tight but totally doable. Plenty of great films have been shot in a month.”

Mom put her hand over his and gave it a squeeze, like she was proud of him for being supportive instead of negative.

“Hawaii?” Hollis perked up. “That sounds amazing.”

“It would be if I wasn’t going to be working eighteen-hour days trying to nail down every shot.” I rubbed my temples, feeling the familiar tension headache building. “We’ve got action sequences, underwater scenes, location shoots across three islands. And Jack Montana, who requires his own dedicated team just to manage his ego.”

Callum laughed. “Nice guy, but yeah, he’s high maintenance.”