To the Moon and Back

by Melissa Brayden

“You don’t even have to finish that sentence,” Carly said, pointing at her. She softened. “Good night, Lauren. You saved me today.”

  Lauren studied her. “You’re welcome.”

  “You can bet I’m not going to forget it, and you know something?”

  “What’s that?”

  “You’re an awesome person. I may not make that clear in how I behave, but I’m spoiled and working on a recovery strategy.”

  “I appreciate that,” Lauren said, with a twinkle in her eye. “I have all the faith in you.”

  As Carly walked to her rental in The McAllister’s parking lot, it was already dark outside. That extra hour she’d stolen with Lauren had been the most productive of the rehearsal day, and entirely unexpected. She’d gone from furious with Lauren that morning, to eternally grateful to her this evening. What a difference a few hours and some alone time made.

  Carly had already known Lauren was many things, but a decent actress hadn’t been one of them. She closed the car door behind her and sat in the cold car. She’d enjoyed tonight. She’d made friends since she’d arrived in Minneapolis. She and Kirby and a couple of other actors from out of town had gone out for dinner a few times, and of course, the meetups at Put Upon Pete’s had been fun. Yet they’d all paled in comparison to the time she’d just spent with Lauren Prescott, when it felt like everything was right with the world. She was leaving for the night fulfilled, invigorated and inspired by the story of the younger Lauren’s love for the art. Perhaps, if she paid enough attention, she’d walk away from this experience with that same kind of passion. She already felt it blossoming. Maybe there was something special to this whole theater thing. Maybe there was something special about Lauren Prescott.

  She looked back at the large white building. Maybe it was both.

  Chapter Five

  “I brought doughnuts.”

  Lauren nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of the cheerful voice behind her. Her hand flew to her heart and grasped the fabric of her shirt as she turned around to see none other than Carly, standing in the doorway of the rehearsal room, holding a greasy looking white bag. Lauren checked her watch, and checked again to be sure it actually was Carly and not an apparition. Yep, still her. “What are you doing here at nine a.m.?” She placed a hand over her heart. “Oh God. Did hell actually freeze over? I never even got to see it.”

  “You’re funny.”

  “Rarely. But I do keep trying.” Lauren eyed her. “What gives?”

  Carly inclined her head to the side and dropped off the bag on the table next to Lauren. “You said we could run lines.”

  “And we can.”

  As Carly breezed past, she smelled fantastic, like lemon and maybe…cupcakes? The same scent Lauren remembered from the billiards lesson. If Carly smelled amazing, she looked even better, wearing perfectly fitting jeans and a lime-green flowy blouse, paired with boots with a modest heel. She topped off her outfit with a long, intricate silver necklace that might have been expensive. “Great,” she said, flipping around to Lauren. “I was hoping we could back up to the beginning of the play and run those scenes.” She glanced around the room with her hands out, like she was figuring out what to touch. “I can also help with your stage manager-y stuff.”

  Lauren laughed. “My stage manager-y stuff?”

  Carly grinned, and when the sunlight touched her skin, her face glowed. Lauren wasn’t sure she’d ever seen anyone glow quite like that. It stole her next breath. To cover, she reached for the bag of doughnuts.

  “Yeah, you know, all the furniture moving, and laptop typing, and cross-referencing, and highlighting. We can do that while we run lines.”

  “Where in the world did you get these doughnuts?” Lauren asked, amazed at the flaky goodness she was tasting. They were still warm. These doughnuts weren’t just any doughnuts—they were perfection, and from her own city? How? She’d ordered a million doughnuts for her companies over the years. None had been these.

  “Oh. I read about them on Yelp. Danny D’s Donut Diner on Donato Street. Heard of them?”

  “No,” Lauren said, around a heavenly mouthful of dough.

  “Tiny place. No tables. Couple of guys behind the counter, working hard.” Carly pointed at the stand-in airport chairs. “Shall I place these for act one?”

  “Yes. That would be fantastic.” Lauren’s brain hadn’t quite caught up. “Wait. So, you’re telling me that you woke up early, got dressed, drove to Danny D’s Donut Dynasty.”

  “Diner. But you’re right. They missed a great naming opportunity.”

  “Drove to Danny D’s Diner and made it here an hour before rehearsal is set to begin?”

  Carly slid the chairs onto the blue spike tape on the floor that marked their intended home. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

  “How?” Lauren asked in amazement. “Why?”

  “Because I wanted to run lines. Why aren’t you listening to me?” Suddenly, it became crystal clear. Carly needed proper motivation, and when she had it? She responded in spades.

  Lauren nodded her head sagely. “So with a little carrot waving, you’re up and at ’em.”

  “I do lots of things for the right carrots.” Carly made the statement as if it was the most basic of understood facts. Well, it was now. “Lines?”

  “Let’s do it.”

  They went back and forth on the first scene between Ashley and Mandy at the airport when they first met.

  “Wait. So we’re stuck here. As in overnight?” Carly balked.

  “That’s what I’m telling you,” Lauren said gently.

  “No, no, no. I have a presentation in Boston in the morning. I need to be on that plane.”

  “We all have somewhere to be, but sometimes you have to accept defeat. Cinnamon pretzel bite?”

  “What are you doing? Why are you getting comfortable with the pretzel things? We should argue. Or call someone. Someone important.”

  Just like Lauren had noticed the night before when they’d read, Carly’s version of Ashley came alive. Not that it wasn’t good before. It was. But the readings they did together were other-level for Carly. It’s because she has something more to respond to. So Lauren continued to give, and Carly continued to come up with new and exciting line deliveries. By the time they’d worked their way to the end of the scene, Lauren noticed that she’d abandoned her stage management duties and had lost herself in the world of Starry Nights and Ashley and Mandy. The result was her standing face-to-face with Carly when the scene ended.

  “You have no concept of how helpful that was,” Carly said quietly. Lauren’s focus fell to Carly’s bottom lip and the subtle pink lip gloss that gave it a small shine.

  “Well, that’s what I’m here for. To help.”

  “Then you need a raise,” Carly said sincerely. “I really feel like last night and this morning have amounted to a major breakthrough for me. I can see the path to this character now, and it’s because of you.”

  “Good. That makes me happy.”

  They stared at each other.

  Lauren closed her script and remembered herself, heated cheeks or not. She had only a short amount of time to finish her rehearsal prep, yet she found herself completely out of sorts. She wasn’t complaining. The buzz she got from reading lines with Carly reminded her of the days she used to act herself, and with such a capable scene partner, her enjoyment level only doubled.

  Reading Mandy’s and Ashley’s lines as they discovered each other in the play reminded Lauren so much of her personal journey with Carly, who she had yet to fully figure out. Just when she thought Carly was a spoiled, entitled starlet, Carly would do something to showcase her humanity and kindness. She was beginning to care about this production, and seeing her cry yesterday had been eye opening for Lauren. No, she hadn’t pinned Carly Daniel down just yet, but Lauren also understood that was part of her appeal. Carly was a lot of things, some of them unexpected.

  “All right. I’m back with some scheduling deta
ils from Chuck.” Lauren blinked. Ah, yes, she’d sent Trip to speak to The McAllister’s resident technical director about their transition to the theater. Chuck was known for his grumpy side, and she’d come to learn that Trip’s cheerful disposition offset it nicely.

  “What did he say?” she asked, trying to ease back into her PSM role, despite the fact that the back of her neck felt warm and she could still feel Carly’s gaze all over. She stole a final glance at Carly but felt that connection from minutes ago still very much intact.

  “He said that if the scenic folks would speed the hell up, we’re on time to move in this week. Yet he’s grumbling about Tinsley demanding more money for paint.”

  This wasn’t the first time those two had butted heads. “Tins is always very particular about her mixing, and sometimes that requires additional coats we didn’t budget for.”

  “Sounds like she’s our holdup. Other than that, we’re good to go.”

  Lauren set out the sign-in sheet and nodded. “I’ll talk to her.” It wasn’t technically her job to wrangle an assistant designer, but if Tinsley was going to be a monkey wrench in the works, she could always mention it to Wilks so he could get ahead of the problem.

  “So, this is yet another thing you do,” Carly said, grinning. “You look ahead to any problems.”

  “Part of my job. Yes.” The answer seemed to intrigue Carly, who stole a doughnut and wandered a few feet away to study her lines.

  Trip pointed at Carly silently with a shocked looked on his face and his jaw fully dropped. Lauren nodded back at him wordlessly with wide oh-my-God eyes, as if to say, yes, an early Carly Daniel was something to behold. The morning had been a unique one. Yet Lauren couldn’t wipe the never-ending smile off her face. Their one-on-one work sessions invigorated her just as much as they did Carly.

  In fact, she wondered when they’d find some alone time next. She told herself that the thought was a harmless one and allowed it. Underneath, concern crept in, because with Carly, Lauren felt out of control, and there was nothing Lauren craved more in life than structure and control.

  “You okay in there, Lala?” Trip asked quietly, as the cast members began to trickle in.

  Lauren grinned at him. “I think so.” She didn’t have time to dwell on her status, however, as her phone danced in vibration where she’d left it on the table. They were two minutes from the official start of rehearsal and the actors who had been called were already engaged in vocal warm-ups. “This is Lauren.”

  “Lauren. Evelyn.”

  She glanced down at the sign-in sheet and saw that she’d yet to sign-in. “Hey, there. Everything okay?”

  “Definitely not.”

  “Okay. What’s going on?” Lauren walked a few feet away, out of earshot of the group, sensing this might need to be a private conversation.

  “I’m not coming in today. Food poisoning. Really bad.”

  “Oh no. Do you need anything? What can we do?”

  “I’ll be fine,” Evelyn said in a curt voice. Even sick, she apparently wasn’t the warm and friendly type. “Just can’t quite keep anything down, so I better…Oh no. I have to go.” Lauren winced as Evelyn clicked off the call out of clear necessity. She made a note to check in on her later in the day, and moved to plan B. “Evelyn’s out today. Food poisoning,” she told Ethan.

  “Fan-fucking-tastic. I get Carly here on time, and Evelyn can’t make it.”

  “I know,” Lauren said sympathetically. “But we have Nia ready to step in.” Nia Blankenship had been cast as the standby for both lead roles. She was a sturdy understudy, which was why The McAllister recommended her readily in the casting sessions. You could always count on Nia, and with a wild card like Carly Daniel in the mix, having a solid backup was key. No, she wasn’t the most charismatic actress, but she was serviceable.

  Ethan sighed. “All right. Put her in.”

  After briefing an eager Nia, rehearsal was finally off and rolling. Their agenda was a run of act 1, and with only a few hiccups, they stumbled their way to the end, blandly. Carly looked defeated by then and walked away to a quiet corner alone. Ethan appeared weary, almost as if he hadn’t slept in a week. Nia looked nervous as hell. Apparently, working with a celebrity rattled her more than Lauren would have guessed. Today was feeling like a wash.

  “And that’s lunch, everyone,” Trip announced to the company. “See you back here in an hour.”

  Lauren could feel the low energy in the room as the cast quietly filed out. The run-through had run flat without Evelyn, but honestly, it hadn’t been much stronger with her. The production, while still afloat, wasn’t exactly thriving, and she could feel Ethan losing his patience as the days went on. They opened in just over two weeks, and while the set, costumes, and publicity were all on track, the narrative needed a jumpstart. Even Lauren could see that much.

  “Hey, guys?” Kirby said, returning to the rehearsal hall. “Nia’s in the women’s restroom in really poor shape.”

  “What do you mean, poor shape?” Lauren asked.

  “I think it’s her stomach.” Lauren deflated and exchanged a look with Trip. It was starting to look like they had a stomach bug on their hands, not the food poisoning Evelyn suspected. This was not good news at all.

  “Aren’t you two friends?” Lauren asked Kirby, who nodded. “Would you be able to help her into an Uber? I don’t think it’s a great idea for her to be around the other actors.” The idea that she’d already been in such close proximity to Carly was a bad thing, and Lauren was now in save-the-cast mode.

  “Yeah, I can do that. No problem at all.”

  “If you’re late back from lunch, it’s okay. We’ll make it work,” Ethan said. Once Kirby headed out, Ethan turned to Lauren and Trip. “I’m thinking we work everything that doesn’t involve Mandy’s character, and then call it a day.”

  “Can I make a suggestion?” Carly asked from across the room. She leaned against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest.

  “Of course,” Ethan said.

  Carly pushed off the wall and straightened. “Have Lauren fill in. We’ve run lines together, and it’s always gone smoothly.”

  Lauren felt her cheeks heat. “No. I don’t think that’s a good plan. I need to be on book for lines, and—”

  “I can be on book,” Trip said.

  Ethan waved them off, still not over his catastrophe of a rehearsal. “If that works for Carly, I’m fine with it.” He stalked away with his hands shoved into his pockets, probably already conceding defeat.

  “Is that okay?” Carly asked her quietly.

  Lauren nodded. “It’s fine. Whatever you need to salvage the afternoon. We’re down two Mandys and have to get creative, right?”

  Carly squeezed Lauren’s wrist and smiled at her with gratitude. That smile filled Lauren’s half empty cup to full. She was happy to help and would do her best for Carly and Ethan.

  When the company returned from lunch, they moved backward to act 1 at Carly’s request. Lauren played the role just as she had in her two rehearsal sessions with Carly, only this time, instead of just the lines, she followed the set blocking. As stage manager, she was intimately familiar with Mandy’s path in the show, as it had been her job to track and record it. Rehearsing the scenes face-to-face with Carly was at first a little jarring. She found herself staring into those light blue eyes and losing herself in them as Mandy, something she’d never allowed herself, as Lauren, to do. The liberties she could take as Mandy were startling, freeing. She could reach out and touch Carly briefly, study her when she spoke, smile like Carly affected her, and even lay her head down in Carly’s lap when Mandy was called to do so. She loved every second of it so much that she lost herself in the afternoon. Before she knew it, they were done with rehearsal for the day.

  She sat up from Carly’s lap, where they’d concluded, and turned to face her. “Was that okay?”

  Carly chuckled. They were the only two left at rehearsal apart from Ethan and Trip. The others had been rele
ased one by one. “I’d say so. Wouldn’t you?” She stood and moved toward her belongings with a triumphant smile on her face. Lauren wasn’t sure what that meant, until she turned to Ethan, who still sat behind his director’s table, beating a pencil against the top of his lips.

  She joined him and Trip at the table and opened her laptop, prepared to record Trip’s times for the day and get Ethan’s input about who to call first thing tomorrow.

  “We have a problem,” Ethan said, finally turning to her.

  Her heart sank. She couldn’t take any more setbacks. If one more person was struck ill by this virus, they’d be hobbling along at best. “What’s wrong?”

  He pointed at the makeshift set with his pencil. “That was fucking amazing.”

  Lauren blinked. “Today?”

  He swiveled in his metal chair to face her. “Yes, today. The whole thing lit up like a Christmas tree. The story came alive. The relationship mattered. I know the whole fucking story word for word, and even I was rooting for them, and this was only the first portion of act one.”

  Where was she supposed to go with this? On one hand, Ethan’s words were incredibly flattering. On the other, they didn’t really matter. She was the fill-in for the fill-in. “Well, maybe we can talk about why it worked so well today with Evelyn and recreate—”

  “Do you really see that going well?” Ethan asked, now up and moving with purpose, except he didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Just extra energy he needed to burn off.

  Lauren grimaced. “Not exactly, no. But if she’s a professional, she’ll try to take the notes.”

  “I’ve given her eighteen thousand notes since we’ve started,” he said, with a hand extended outward. “She’s cold and unfeeling when playing a character who should be warm and lovable, which I’ve seen her pull off nicely in a dozen different roles. She hates Carly and it reads all over the scene like spilled blood on a white carpet.”

  She watched Trip wince at the reference.

  Ethan noticed, too, and pointed at Trip. “What did you think? You were here.”

  Trip hesitated and passed Lauren a look, as if to ask for permission to speak honestly. She nodded at him, granting it. “I loved everything about the run today. They had fun together, but there was still this ball of sexual tension that kept me engaged. It’s the first time I’ve been sucked in by the story since we started.”