All That Lies Within (33 page)

Dara caught herself staring at Rebecca and busied herself pretending to go over the script.

“She really seems to know her stuff, eh?” Sam leaned against Dara’s chair.

Hmm? Oh, you mean Reb—the professor? She does.”
Oh, yes indeed. She certainly does.

“What about that mess with Cal? Crazy stuff. I can’t remember the last time I ever saw something like that on a set.”

“It was wild, but I have to say, I’m liking the new direction of the script.” Dara looked up at Sam to gauge his reaction. “Did you read the novel?”

“As a matter of fact, I did. Loved the book. That’s why I signed on to play Harold. I’d read the novel and I heard they were looking to bring it to the big screen. I knew it was the best role I’d get at this age.” He winked at Dara. “You’re not nearly there yet, but trust me when I tell you that when you get to be this old, really well-written, meaty roles are much harder to come by. And,” he said, pushing off as the conference between George and Rebecca broke up, “I agree with you. The changes accentuate the depth of the original material in a way Cal’s version simply didn’t. Nothing against Cal, of course.”

“Of course.”

“I heard this was the professor’s first ever look at a screenplay. Could’ve fooled me. She’s like an old pro. I’ll have to remember to tell her that if I get a chance.”

Dara smothered a grin. “I bet she’d appreciate hearing it from you, Sam. I imagine all this is pretty overwhelming to her. Knowing that we’re behind her might give her a real boost. I’ll remember to say something to her too.”

“All right. Why is everybody standing around?” George joked. “Back to work with the lot of you. Here’s what we’re going to do…”

“If you keep mooning like this, everyone on the set is going to know something’s going on,” Rebecca mumbled, admonishing herself. It was a conversation she’d been having with herself, with limited success, most of the day.

Rebecca couldn’t help herself. Dara was astonishing in the part, now that it was written as she’d intended it to be played, and the shooting was going exceptionally smoothly.

At the moment, Dara and Sam were sitting on a park bench, watching some trained pigeons peck at breadcrumbs on the manufactured sidewalk in front of them. Three cameras focused on the action while Harold spoke of longing for his wife as he dropped off to sleep at night and the unfairness of losing her while they still had so much living left to do.

“And, cut! Print that,” George yelled.

“Okay, everybody,” Audrey yelled, “that’s a reset for the extreme close-ups. Take ten.” As everyone started to move away, she added, “But be back here on time! Ten means ten.”

 Dara walked directly toward her, and for a moment, Rebecca thought she would pass without acknowledging her. Instead, she stopped right in front of Rebecca.

“I just want you to know that you’re doing a fantastic job with the script. You’ve created evocative dialogue that makes it a pleasure to play the character.”

Rebecca beamed. “It’s easy to envision writing dialogue for a great actress who breathes life into every word and whose expressions alone speak volumes.”

“Is it okay if I join this mutual admiration society?” Sam slid between Rebecca and Dara and put an arm around each of them. “Dara is a great actress, and believe me,” he stage whispered to Rebecca, “I’ve seen and worked with my share of those. But what she says is true—an actor is only as good as the material he or she has to work with. You’ve done wonders with the pages so far. Keep up the good work.” He patted her shoulder and walked away, leaving the two women alone together again.

The scent of Dara’s light perfume wafted toward her, and Rebecca inhaled deeply. “Was that rehearsed? The two of you, I mean?”

“No. In fact, Sam was the one who wanted to say something to you first.” Dara looked over Rebecca’s head and her expression changed, becoming more closed. “Well, as I said, thank you for excellent adjustments. Keep up the good work.”

Rebecca tried to process the reason for the change in Dara’s demeanor. When George walked right past them, she understood.
Oh. Remember where you are, Rebecca, and remember who she is here on the set.

Dara nodded to her one last time, and took off in the direction of her trailer.

“Let’s just get one last set of extreme close-ups and we can call it a day,” George said. “Dara, we’re going to start with you. Take it from the line, ‘Life is what happens when you’re looking the other way.’ Got it?”

Dara closed her eyes and breathed, summoning up the emotion that would be necessary to play this scene. With the camera positioned literally right in front of her face, every blink, every facial tick, every shift of the eyes, every emotion would be plainly visible. She needed to be fully, completely immersed in Celeste.

Which means you have to stop stealing glances at Rebecca and thinking ahead to tonight. Stay present. Stay focused. Isn’t that the message that Celeste is trying to get across to Harold? You should take her advice.

Watching the ease with which Rebecca interacted with her students and the obvious respect and esteem in which they held her warmed Dara’s heart. Seeing her interact with George on set all day and problem-solve lines on the fly was downright sexy.

“Dara,” George said. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Dara schooled her expression. In this moment, she was imparting to Harold the most important lesson she’d learned while traveling around the world.
The sooner you get your head in the game, the sooner you can spend time alone with Rebecca.
That was more than enough incentive to get the scene right in as few takes as possible. 

Rebecca gathered her things and checked around to make sure she had everything she needed for the night.

Knock, knock.

Rebecca flew to the door and opened it to see Dara on the other side, still in full makeup.

“Hi.”

“Hi, yourself.”

“Um, I didn’t have a chance to give you my phone number this morning, so…” She handed Rebecca a slip of paper. On it was her phone number and her address.

“Thank you.”

Dara looked around nervously. “I’m going to be about half an hour to forty-five minutes while I get the makeup off, shower, and change. You can wait for me and we can ride together, or—”

“I’ll wait. Unless you don’t want me to. If you don’t want to be seen driving together I can catch a cab.”

“No. I don’t want you to have to take a taxi. That’s ridiculous. Wait here and I’ll come get you when I’m ready. If that’s okay with you.”

I hope we’re not going to be this careful with each other all night.
“That’s fine. I’ll work on the next scenes until you’re done. That way, I’ll be free and clear for the night as soon as you sign off on the pages. Unless you want to work on them together.”

“No. No. You did a great job today. I’ll look forward to seeing what you do with tomorrow’s pages.”

“Then I’ll see you in a little while.”

“Count on it.”

She shooed Dara away from the door. “Hurry up, will you?”

Dara’s laughter echoed in her ears as she shut the door. Rebecca pulled her laptop back out of her briefcase and got to work. Based on the adjustments she and George made during today’s shooting, she scrolled through the next few scenes and tweaked various lines and setups that she created last night. Then she did the same for the other two scenes she had worked on, as well.

Just as she finished, Dara knocked on the door again. “I hope you’re decent in there, because I’m coming in.”

The door flew open as Rebecca reached it and the two women were standing inches apart. “Good thing I was. Decent, I mean. That wasn’t much notice.”

“Good thing.” Dara’s eyes sparkled with mischief. After several seconds she said. “Okay, then. What do you say we blow this pop stand?”

“I’m not the one who’s been holding us up.”

“Oh, sure. Blame it on me.”

“Who else would I blame it on?” Rebecca packed up the laptop and the briefcase, turned out the light, and locked the door behind them. “You look and smell very nice, by the way.” And she did. Dara was wearing a low-cut tank top that showed off ample cleavage and her toned arms, a pair of stylish stonewashed jeans, and worn cowboy boots.

“Thank you. You don’t clean up so bad, yourself.”

“I’m wearing the same thing I was wearing at four o’clock this morning.”

“And your point is?”

“Never mind, I’m sure I didn’t have one.”

“Since you’re not from around these parts,” Dara affected a southern drawl, “I thought maybe I’d take you for a drive and show you the sights. Then we could grab some dinner and dessert.”

“That sounds amazing.” Rebecca bit her lip. “What about the pages for tomorrow?”

“That’s easy. You’re going to read them to me on the way so that by the time we get to dinner, where there will be WiFi, by the way, you can just e-mail them to Audrey and George.”

Rebecca hesitated.

“You don’t like that plan?”

“No. It’s… You want me to read every part to you? Me?”

“Absolutely. Not only that, but I want you to read it in character.”

“You’ve lost your mind, you know that?”

“You wouldn’t be the first person to tell me that.”

“And probably not the last, either. Okay, if you’re sure that’s what you want.”

“I’m sure.” Dara unlocked the car. “And they better be good. Did I mention that?”

“No. You conveniently left that part out. No pressure here.”

As they pulled onto Sunset Boulevard, Rebecca opened the laptop and began reading the pages. She continued reading through Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills, Bel Air, and Brentwood, occasionally looking up when Dara pointed out some significant landmark. Finally, she finished reading when Dara took a short turn and stopped the car at a scenic overlook at the Bel Air Bay Club just off Sunset.

Dara put the car in park and applauded. “Brava! Brava!”

“Very funny.”

“I’m serious. I got all of the intonation and the intent of the scene. It was inspired. I loved it. All of it. And there wasn’t one U-N-E-Q-U-I-V-O-C-A-L-L-Y in the entire scene.”

“I can add one in, if you’d like?”

“What I’d like,” Dara said, gazing deeply into Rebecca’s eyes, “is to find a WiFi spot so that you can e-mail the file and stop working for the night.”

Rebecca swallowed hard. “Oh. Okay.” She glanced out the window at the ocean and the darkening sky. “Do you have a spot in mind?”

“I do.”

Dara threw the car in reverse and headed back out onto Sunset and then down the Pacific Coast Highway. “I really think you’re going to like it.”

“I’m sure I will.” Rebecca admired the breathtaking scenery, soaking in the hues of the skyline as the sun set into the ocean, setting it on fire. “This is gorgeous.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

The car stopped and Rebecca glanced around. They were parked in the circular drive of a spectacular beach house. Rebecca glanced around in confusion. “Who lives here?”

“I do,” Dara tossed over her shoulder as she hopped out of the car. “Remember? I told you I had a beach house. Are you coming in, or do you just want to sit there? And bring the briefcase.”