“Wow,” I softly breathe. “I always got the impression you were right where you wanted to be.”
“I know,” she says, wrinkling her nose. “I was probably sub-consciously trying to give that impression.”
There’s a noise in the house and I glance over my shoulder.
“I’m gonna go,” she says, taking a step back. “Text me and we can hang out.”
“Okay,” I agree. “Bye.”
She hesitates. “I hope it works out for you guys. You’re good for him. Bye, Sydney.” She waves and then goes around to her Jeep, climbing inside and turning the headlights on. The car makes its way around the circle and disappears down the drive.
I clutch the envelope and head inside.
Simon’s voice comes from the study. “Was someone out there?”
“Yes, it was Dana.”
There’s the sound of a chair being pushed back and a second later, he comes through the doorway, a slight frown on his face. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I bite my lip, not sure how he’s going to take Dana’s resignation. “Here.” I hand the envelope over. He takes it, studying the flap, but doesn’t open it.
“It’s her two-week notice.”
His head snaps up. “Did she say why?”
“She got a job working on a play… it’s what she wants to do.”
He cocks an eyebrow and doesn’t say anything, just fingers the envelope again.
I speak up. “Are you upset with her?”
His eyes shift up to the ceiling as he thinks about it. “No.” He looks back at me. “It’s hard to be mad about anything when my life is suddenly going so well.”
His words bring a hot flush all over my body. He must sense it because he steps forward and pulls me close to him.
His face drops down close to my neck, his lips grazing the top of my ear, and I think he’s going to kiss me. Instead, he speaks.
“Your screenplay isn’t even half done yet.”
Another flush comes over me, but it has nothing to do with his close proximity. “Yeah… I know.”
“You should finish it.”
I pull back just enough so I can look up at him. “You didn’t read all those pages just now, so there’s no way you can fully critique it.”
“I didn’t have to read all the pages.”
I roll my eyes. “Also, you don’t have to humor me. I’m going to have sex with you again whether or not you liked my writing. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not humoring you.” He puts a hand on my shoulder and turns me to squarely face him. “I’ve read enough scripts to know when there’s something there. It’s a great story, and I think it can become even better.”
I take in a breath, taking my time to weigh his words.
“Remember what I just told you at the table?” he asks. “Some people’s skills are just obvious. You can see it in the eloquent way they describe even the simplest things.”
I finally believe him, but still don’t know what to say. I spend so much time being self-conscious about my writing, the idea of people actually responding positively to it sometimes doesn’t seem like much more than a fantasy.
“If you finish it, we could make it,” he says.
Surely I’ve heard wrong. “What?”
He nods. “We can make it into a film. The script has to be finished, of course, but I could help you.” He starts talking fast, like he’s getting excited. “And if we need to, we can hire other writers to help flesh it out. The only thing missing so far is some romance, although I’m not entirely sold on the pacing. Unless the romance is coming in the second act. Is it?”
“I-uh, I planned on it.” My tongue feels so numb, I can’t believe I was able to say the words.
He looks closely at me. “I won’t do this if you don’t want me to. I wasn’t trying to intrude. It’s your story.”
I smile, and at first it’s forced, but then it turns into a genuine one of appreciation. I’ve never seen Simon so excited as he is right now, talking about making this film. There’s no way his enthusiasm can be anything but real.
“This is just taking me by surprise. I didn’t even expect you to like it.”
“I more than like it,” he says, his voice husky thick.
The low tones send little tremors through me, heating me up from the inside out. Simon edges closer to me, his face swooping in.
Our lips collide, the motion so perfect it seems we’ve rehearsed it a thousand times. We know the routine so well now that all we have to do is show up and trust the magic will happen.
Trust.