Page 81 of Cast to be Mine

“We did.” I took another sip of whiskey. “You’ve been doing good work, Toby. I appreciate it.”

His face lit up like I’d handed him an Oscar. “Really? Thanks, man. That means a lot.” He ducked his head, suddenly shy. “Honestly, this whole experience has been… I don’t even know how to describe it. Getting to see how everything comes together, being part of making something real—it’s been incredible.”

“Thought you were all about the social media stuff.”

“I mean, I’m good at it.” He shrugged. “But it’s not my dream, you know?”

“What is your dream?”

He grinned. “I’m doing it.”

“But you’re good at the social media stuff.”

He nodded and took a drink. “I am. It’s my backup plan.”

“You know what, I could actually use some of those social media skills.”

“Yeah?”

I smiled and nodded. “Yep.”

27

GRACE

Isipped the coffee Patty brought me. I got to set early, wanting to go over my lines. My phone rang halfway through a scene I wanted to nail. I’d be working with Jack and it was supposed to be a tender scene.

Gag.

I checked the screen and saw Loretta’s name.

“Hi, Loretta.”

“Grace! Tell me you’re sitting down.”

I laughed. “I’m sitting. What’s going on?”

“What’s going on is that my phone has been ringing off the hook for the past forty-eight hours.” I could hear the excitement crackling through the line. “I’ve got three studios asking about your availability after Breathless wraps. Two streaming services want to discuss potential projects. And Entertainment Tonight is begging for an exclusive interview.”

I blinked, trying to process. “Wait, seriously?”

“Seriously. This Jack Montana thing has been a goldmine. You went from a nobody to trending on Twitter in the span of a week. Everyone wants to know who Grace Stone is.”

My stomach twisted. “But it’s not true, Loretta. None of it is true. I didn’t kiss Jack. I’m not having an affair with him.”

“I know that. You know that. But you haven’t lied about anything, sweetie. These people made their own assumptions based on some grainy parking lot photos. That’s not on you.”

“It feels dishonest,” I said quietly. “Building a career on something that never happened.”

“You’re not building a career on it. You’re getting attention because of it. There’s a difference. What you do with that attention—that’s where the talent comes in. And honey, you’ve got talent in spades.”

I stared out the window of my trailer at the beautiful surroundings. I thought about the many other sets I might get to be on if my career really took off.

Part of me wanted to tell Loretta the real reason this bothered me so much. There was someone else. Someone I actually cared about. I had to hide that situationship because the whole world thought I was wrapped up with Jack fucking Montana. And that was why it was stuck in situationship territory.

But I couldn’t tell her because we were still working together.

“I don’t want to make a name for myself because I supposedly kissed a married co-star,” I said instead. “I want to do it on talent. That’s the whole point. That’s why I changed my name in the first place.”