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April had known me for years and could tell I was lying. She stared at me through narrowed eyes and loaded more food onto her fork.
I watched her enviously — I’d almost finished my meal, and I was still hungry.
“All right, keep your secrets.” She popped food in her mouth and chewed. After she swallowed, she added, “I know what I saw. You guys weretotallyinto each other.”
I frowned as I remembered how awkward the whole experience had been. Where had she gotten that impression? But I was too hungry to argue and if it looked hot from someone else’s perspective, wasn’t that what mattered? If it looked passionate to April, surely it would look hot on camera, too.
We finished our meals and returned our plates to the stack that was destined for the dishwasher. My stomach gnawed at me, begging for more food, but I ignored it. This was my job now, and I was going to take it seriously — even if Dean wasn’t going to act like the professional I’d thought he was.
Still, I felt dizzy and listless as we filmed the next scene, where Daisy tried to drive Wyatt’s character’s tractor but kept screwing it up. Luckily, we were filming in front of a green screen and footage of a stunt double driving a real tractor would be edited into the movie later, because not only did I have no idea how to drive heavy machinery, but I was so tired and hungry that I would have been a hazard to anyone around me.
When we finally finished for the day, I walked back to my car, feeling flat. I’d intended to pull Dean aside after we finished filming so we could talk, but just like this morning, he’d pulled out his phone and disappeared.
His attraction to me had felt real yesterday, but now it felt like something I’d invented.
He’s an actor, I reminded myself.Pretending to feel emotions is literally his job. Plus, as far as I knew, everything he’d told me about his fake relationship with Brooke might still have been a lie. Perhaps they were madly in love and he’d just wanted to get into someone else’s pants for the night.
It wouldn’t be the first time in history a man had lied to get sex. It wouldn’t even be the first time it had happened to me.
“Kyla!”
It was a male voice behind me and I spun on my heel, hoping to see Dean. But it was Isaac walking towards me, his serious-looking face half-covered in shadow.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I gave him my brightest fake smile.
“Of course!”
“Bullshit.” He stopped walking and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You’ve been out of sorts all day. Is Preston being a dick?”
“No — not at all.”
Isaac gave me a skeptical look.
“You can tell me if he is. He’s known for putting too much pressure on actors. Especially women.”
“It’s not him.” I didn’t want to give away anything that had happened between myself and Dean, but I didn’t want Isaac confronting Preston over something he hadn’t done, either. “Acting is just harder than I thought it would be.”
Someone with less maturity might have said “I told you so”, but Isaac wasn’t that kind of guy. Instead, he nodded.
“Why don’t we grab dinner and talk it through?”
18
KYLA
There were a few nice restaurants in town, but I decided that after the day I’d had, I would feel most comfortable at Bob’s Bites and Books. I parked out the back and led Isaac through the laneway that led to the front entrance, and my stomach growled as soon as I smelled the food.
When we walked in, I was completely unprepared for the customers’ reactions. None of them reacted to my presence, of course, but as soon as Isaac came in behind me, every single person stared at him. A few even dropped their silverware, which made an audible clatter since everyone had stopped talking at once and the place was silent except for the soft jazz music that still played softly through the speakers.
“Hi,” Isaac said, giving a small wave.
“Kyla!” Bob came rushing out from behind the counter. “It’s great to see you. How’s the movie going? April said you’ve been promoted?”
Like everyone else in the cafe, even though he spoke to me, his eyes were firmly on Isaac.
“That’s right,” I said, and gestured to the dark-haired man next to me. “Bob, this is Isaac Williams. Isaac, this is Bob, my boss.”
