Filmed_ An Alpha Bad Boy Romance(8)
Chapter Four
That night, after climbing the stairs to my apartment, head still reeling from finding out about Noah, I immediately called my mom. We’d always been pretty close, especially when I was younger, and I talked to her about everything. Well, almost everything. I hadn’t told her about Noah’s nickname for me, or even about his existence yet, since I had no clue what I even thought about him yet. But since I was going to be working with him, and his dad was a famous producer, I figured I might as well mention the name and see if she knew who he was.
“Hey, Lindy,” Mom said when she answered.
“Hi, Mom, how are you?”
“Oh I’m fine, just dealing with the start of the new semester. How’s school? Professor Johnson giving you any trouble?”
Sometimes it was a little odd that Mom knew everyone in the film department. She taught at the University of Pennsylvania, which was across the city in west Philly, but pretty much everyone knew each other in her field.
“He’s fine, just pretty weird.”
“Yeah, well, he’ll get even weirder. Trust me.”
I laughed. I couldn’t imagine how that was possible, but I believed her.
“How are your classes?” I asked.
“They’re fine, you know how it goes. Same students ever year, just different faces.” My mom had the theory that the same twelve students took her class every year, but they got lots of plastic surgery between semesters. She was always complaining how she couldn’t tell them apart.
“They’re probably aliens,” I said.
“Oh, that’s a good idea. Shape shifting aliens.”
“Start on the script.”
“Already halfway through.” We laughed together. We always had a really good relationship, and I thought my mom was the funniest person I knew.
“So anyway, I got a job,” I said carefully.
“Great! What are you doing?”
“It’s in the new movie theater.”
“Oh, that’s fantastic sweetie. I heard it’s pretty nice.”
“Yeah, it is. My boss is this crazy lady named Miss Havisham.”
“It can’t be Lacey Havisham, can it? Dramatic, lots of perfume, feather boas, acts like a silent film star?”
That cracked me up. I remembered the feather boas hanging on her coat rack and the thick perfume she wore.
“That’s exactly her!”
She whistled. “Good luck with that one. She’s a character.”
“How do you know who she is?”
“Lacey and I go way back. She’s been in probably hundreds of movies starting back when she was young, but she never really broke out. Anyway, a few years ago she retired from the screen, and I had heard she moved into the city to produce plays.”
“Now I guess she manages the theater.”
“You make sure to tell her I said hello.”
“I will. Actually, I have a question for you.”
“What’s up?”
I thought for a second, wondering how I should play it. I could be honest and tell her exactly what I was thinking and feeling, which wouldn’t have been the first time I talked with her about boys, but something about Noah held me back.
“Do you know the name Carterson?”
“Well, I’m guessing you’re talking about the Carterson who financed the theater you’re working at.”
“Yeah, exactly. I work with his son.”
There was a short silence on the other end, which confused me. My mom usually had nothing but amazing things to say about everyone in the business, but the fact that she paused before saying anything spoke volumes.
“That’s interesting,” she said, sounding reserved.
What the heck was going on?
“Yeah, apparently I’ll be working closely with him.”
“Very good, that’ll be fun.”
I had no idea why she wasn’t taking the bait, asking a million questions about him, maybe even giving me the dirt on his family. My mom wasn’t the type to be reserved in her opinion, and yet there she was, acting like it was no big deal.
“Do you know his dad?” I asked, deciding to press a bit more.
“Only a little bit.” She paused, then said, “Hey, I have to go, I’m really sorry.”
“Okay, sure. Talk to you later?”
“I’ll give you a call tomorrow. Bye sweetie.”
“Bye, Mom.” She hung up.
I looked down at my phone, shocked. My mom rarely dodged a question so obviously, let alone got off the phone in less than ten minutes. I really couldn’t believe it. What could possibly have happened that made my mom act so weird? She clearly knew who the Cartersons were, and I guessed she had some experience with them in the past. And yet she wanted to avoid all mention of him. It was completely unlike her.