Loved In Pieces
Authors: Carla J Hanna
[Type text]
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Loved In Pieces
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~
a novel
~
By Carla J Hanna
To Kaylin Marie and Carson Michael
, my reasons for asking ‘what if?’
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
LOVED IN PIECES. Copyright
©
2012 by Carla J Hanna. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
I called Mom
during
my drive from my trailer on the San Diego set to
my
house
in Santa Monica, California
.
We were both
talented
actors
living separately
.
Mom
reminded me that I was the web that caught the flies to feed the spiders. She praised me for playing my role so well. I felt more like the fly but didn’t dwell on it. Being clueless about how well
she
spun the web helped. I would have abandoned my passive perspective and crumbled into pieces otherwise.
I loved
my
home
on the Santa Monica Canyon ridge, north of San Vicente Boulevard
. It was a cute two-
bedroom house with a guest suite downstairs
overlooking
the Pacific Coast Highway and the canyon between Santa Monica and the Pacific Palisades. Every time I experienced another place in the world, I was shocked that
my
little house
could be worth
several
million
dollars
. But
the beautiful view
was worth it. It calmed me
.
My spirit lifted as soon as I entered the kitchen from the garage. Even though it was
just after dawn
, I walked to the windows in the living room and merged my memories of the view with the silhouettes I made out of the trees and connected with nature again.
I sunk into the couch and watched the subtle, changing colors transform the shadows.
I was at peace for the
few minutes
I had to myself before
preparing
for
the
stressful
Sunday
. T
hat was what I
want
ed
—no interaction, no dialogue
.
I was home.
BROKEN
UP
I heard a door close behind me as I
gaze
d out the windows.
I glanced
to see if it was
Sage, my
manager
,
coming early
to
fetch me
for the Golden Globe Awards
.
Only people I trusted had the code to the front door.
I flew off the couch when I saw that it was
Evan
Pasteur,
my
loving
boyfriend and gorgeous co-star in
Romeo
&
Juliet
.
Evan was a wonderful person.
His dad was American.
His
actress-
a
unt
,
Renee
Dupree,
was his French mother’s sister
, Mom’s best friend,
and my co-star
. H
is father was a professor of
l
iterature in Paris so he grew up around the performing arts.
Evan
starred in several plays and musicals in
Paris,
New York
and London, but
Romeo & Juliet
was his first Hollywood project. He and I were both surprised that the movie was such a huge hit and had
fun promoting it
. We
shot
the movie the summer after I turned sixteen
. He was
eighteen
. W
e
dated during
the February
premiere
tour before I turned seventeen and while I
filmed
Jefferson’s
Muse
with Matthew
Thorne
and Grant
Bell
. Evan and I continued to date all of last summer when we could
see each other. We often double-
dated with either
Manuel and Kate
or
Mitch and Beth
,
my childhood
friends
.
We rarely saw each other this past fall when Evan
filmed
his spy thriller
and I
started
my latest drama
with Renee
.
He grinned at me, arms extended. “Hey, sweetheart!
I have a minute before I have to get to the Globes.
”
Evan was a presenter for the Golden Globe
Awards that evening in Beverly Hills
.
He chuckled as I stopped his words w
ith my lips. I flung my arms around his neck and continued to kiss him
.
“I missed you so much, Evan!” I smiled as we separated.
I
had not seen him since his
twentieth birthday, which was in December, before the holidays
and
the
start of the grueling
“
UARY
”
months
.
Jan
uary
and Febr
uary
were the award m
onths where good dramas became more
profitable dramas based on the recognition they received
.
Cast and crew reputation
s
, royalties,
distribution,
and return on investment all relied on the
credibility of the movie awards to get viewers to download or buy DVDs
for years to come and
get
investment for future projects
.
I used my sarcastic acronym: Use Awards to Reward Yourself in referring to the most political time of the year for we dramatic actors.
Evan’s
face had thinned but his chest and arms were more muscular. I liked his new haircut. He started his role with
un-kept
hair and an unshaven look. He played
a college student turned
international spy in his latest project and had just wrapped the film. Surely the director and producers must have thought he needed to transform into a
frat boy
-type
spy instead of the
unlikely hero scholar
-type they had first envisioned.
I asked, “You look all GQ?”
“
Yep
. I didn’t tell you?
Crazy.”
He laughed and
hugged me again
.
We talked everyday but
rarely
about our jobs.
He had been reading sonnets to me.
“
We
re
-
shot the whole third act of the
film after the
new
haircut.
It follows formula now; so much for breaking stereotypes. Social media changes everything. The movie is judged before it’s even
screened
.
”
He held my hand as he walked me to the windows.
“Beautiful.”
He
exhaled while he looked at the view and then explained, “
The ladies hated the hair.
They thought
I was too pretty to look ugly.”
I didn’t see Evan as an action hero because he was the best dramatic actor I knew. He was better with scripts than I was because he actually knew what he was saying. He rocked each take in
Romeo & Juliet
, and even made his Shakespeare lines flow like he was singing them. But he was incredibly good looking, my number two on the Hollywood hotness
list
, so his agent pushed him into a heartthrob role. He was six feet tall with a runner’s body. He wasn’t really
muscular, certainly not like Manuel, just thin with a nice chest for the screen. His shoulders were narrow and he had a large head which I noticed in person but not
on-
screen
.
I kissed him again, hoping his warmth could fill my emptiness.
Evan and I had lived as adults for several years. We connected on every level and wanted respect and honesty
in our relationship
. We
worked
endless hours
on set
and spent the weekends promoting
our
film
s
that w
ere
currently in the theaters and building
our
brand
s
as successful, award-winning
young
act
ors
.
My project was also affected by public opinion. We had to switch locations from Istanbul to a set north of San Diego and were weeks behind schedule.
I agreed, “There’s just too much money at stake to take risks
o
n an action film. Maybe next time you can
change
the hearts and minds of movie-goers
.”
“Marie, I love to work, so whatever. But I will make a difference someday.”
