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He left it unspoken as we drifted off to sleep together.
31
Heather
“So let me get this straight,” Maurice whispered. “You havethreesexy Army hunks. And I have none.”
“They’re Navy SEALs. Not Army.”
He waved a dismissive hand. “Same treat, different wrapping paper.”
We were at Mr. Howard’s acting class. He had broken us up into pairs to practice reading lines from the movieIndecent Proposal,which neither Maurice or I had seen. So instead, I was catching him up on everything that had happened.
“This settles it,” Maurice said dramatically. “There is no God. Jesus is a fraud! You stumble your way into the arms of three gorgeous hunks, and Maurice Wittman hasnobody.”
“What about the cook from work?” I asked.
“He’s just a cuddly bear. But I’m bored with him now. You got better toys for Christmas, and now I want to play with them too!”
“I promise to ask if they have a gay SEAL friend who canstorm your beaches.”
He leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek. “That’s all I ask, sweetie.”
After class, I met with Mr. Howard individually. He immediately greeted me with a question: “How was your audition for the commercial?”
“It… went okay,” I said. “I haven’t heard back yet.”
He looked at me with dramatic disappointment. “You are my star, Heather Hart. And yet you are distracted. What’s wrong?”
“Sorry, Mr. Howard,” I said. I did feel bad about disappointing him so much. “I have a new job. It’s taking up most of my time.”
“You need to focus on your career. What’s more important to you: this new job, or acting?”
“Well… Kind of both,” I admitted. “I’m nannying for these guys who run a private security company. They have lots of connections. They promised to hook me up with people in the industry. I might be able to skip commercials and go straight to bigger roles.”
He gave me skeptical eye-roll. “Let me tell you a secret about Hollywood: lots of promises are made, but very rarely are they kept. And besides, there are no shortcuts in this town. The industry rarely allows someone to slingshot ahead. Unless you’re the daughter of a famous director.” He coughed discreetly into his hand and muttered: “Bryce Dallas Howard.”
Then he leaned across the desk. “I’m working on finding other roles for you. In the mean time, keep your fingers crossed about that last audition.”
I faked a smile as I left the office. I knew I had bombed that audition and wouldn’t get a call-back.
Brady’s sister, Patty, was watching the children while I was at acting class. I climbed the stairs to the residence and could hear the boys shrieking inside. I opened the door and found Dustin and Micah pummeling each other with pillows while Patty shouted at them to stop. Nearby, Cora was quietly reading to herself.
I groaned internally at the sight. I was gone for two hours and everything went to hell.
“Miss Heather!” Micah shouted when he saw me. Both boys dropped their pillows and ran over to hug my legs. “We missed you!”
I’m surprised to hear that, since Aunt Patty is letting you act wild,I thought. But I was trying to be a nice person today, so I smiled at Patty and asked, “Thanks for stepping in while I was at class.”
Patty had the same curly black hair as Brady, the same Boston accent, and she even had the same lighthearted chuckle. “No problem. It wasn’t hard at all. The boys were great.”
At first, I thought she was being sarcastic. But she was dead serious.
“They weremuchbetter than last week. I can already tell you’re having a good influence on them! Brady should’ve hired youyearsago.”
I ruffled Dustin’s and Micah’s hair. “I wish they had too. Then I wouldn’t have had to work at Outback.”
“What’s Outback?!” Dustin demanded.
