“Yep. Sure. Tomorrow. First rehearsal.”
“Great.”
They stood looking at each other, as they’d done in front of the theater.
“Sophie?”
“Yeah?”
“You can get in your car now.”
Right. Okay.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Okay, everyone, I’m going to give you a brief overview of the show and how this all works, and then Angie is going to work with the guys on the first big scene as far as stage placement and so on.”
Sophie paced across the front of the stage, addressing everyone who had gotten a part in the play. Finn sat with Tripp and Colin in the row behind the bulk of the players. There were several firefighters and two or three cops as well as some of the theater regulars who wanted to be a part of raising the money the playhouse needed to get back on its feet.
Finn hadn’t been to a play since elementary school, but watching Sophie move with grace and confidence, her blond hair glowing around her head and her smile bright and enthusiastic, he knew he could get used to it. If she was up there, anyway.
“It’s a love story,” she went on. “Tony is from a blue-collar, working-class background. He’s a cop.” The cops in the seats let out a cheer. She grinned. “Angel is from a wealthy family. She’s been raised to be proper and to hang out with the upper crust of Boston society. One night her parents are hosting a big dinner party when they discover some of her mother’s jewelry is missing. They call the cops, and one of the cops on the scene is Tony. He takes one look at Angel and he falls head over heels. This is their love story and how they each work to fit into the other’s world.”
She beamed at the audience. She paused and then frowned slightly, and Finn imagined she wasn’t seeing a lot of beaming in return. She sighed. “There are also a couple of fight scenes and a couple of major make-out scenes.”
Some of the guys sat up straighter. “Fight scenes?” one of them asked.
She nodded. “Tony’s a cop, and some of his buddies are giving him a hard time about spending time with the snooty rich people Angel’s family socializes with. He attends a black-tie event as Angel’s date, and he gets into it with one of her old boyfriends. A few of his cop friends are the ones who are called in to break it up.”
There were some whistles and hoots at that. “Attaboy, Tony!” someone called out.
“And tell us more about the major make-out scenes.” This came from Colin, of course.
But Finn wanted to hear more about those too. Colin had taken the news of Finn being cast as Tony very well at Kelly’s Pub last night. Of course, Finn had bought the next two rounds after he’d broken the news. Still, Colin was…Colin. He rolled with the punches and very little got him really wound up.
Finn could see Sophie’s cheeks get a little pink even from that distance, and he grinned.
“Angel and Tony have a lot of…passion. Things between them get pretty intense.”
“Let’s do this thing,” Travis Franklin, one of the cops, said, pushing to his feet.
The other guys followed him up onstage. Sophie stopped Finn on the steps, though. “You’re not in this scene, actually,” she told him. “But you and I have a scene that your mom wants to go through later, okay?”
“Absolutely.” He gave her a quick grin and retreated to the seats again. He was perfectly fine with watching the rest of the guys instead of performing himself. He was going to have to get over that, of course. But he was good with easing in.
“Okay, let’s start at the top of page four,” Sophie told them. “We’ll read through the scene, then go through the blocking.”
“The blocking?” Tripp asked.
“Where you’re going to stand and move,” Sophie explained.
“Got it.” Tripp gave Finn a look that said, “You owe me.”
Finn just waved to him.
Then Angie stepped to the center of the stage. “Okay, boys, top of page four.”
Sophie left the stage and came to sit next to Finn. He was tempted to stretch his arm across the back of her seat but kept his hands to himself. For now.
“What scene are we going to work on later?” he asked quietly, so as not to interrupt the read-through going on.
“Um, scene eight,” she said, her eyes on the stage.
“Oh. Because I like scene four.” It was the first scene where Tony kissed Angel—after pulling her back in while she was trying to climb out through the window.
Sophie looked over at him. “Scene four, huh?”
“I’ve got those lines memorized already,” he told her with a nod.
“So you for sure want to work on scene four?”
“Yes. Seems like a great scene.”
She turned her attention back to the stage. “Have you read through scene eight?”
Busted. “Um, no. Not yet. But I’ll read through the whole thing tonight.”
She smiled and nodded. “That makes sense.”
“What does?”
“That you haven’t read ahead. Because scene eight is pretty good. And I really like scene nine.”
Finn reached for his script and started thumbing through the pages as Sophie chuckled beside him.
A few minutes later, he had to agree. Scene nine was going to be a favorite. It was one of the make-out scenes she’d mentioned. Unfortunately, to get to scene nine, he had to get through scene eight. That one was going to be tough. Angel and Tony were fighting in that scene, and at one point, Tony loses his temper and pins Angel to the wall. Not the way Finn had done to Sophie last night. This was much more aggressive, and he didn’t like the words leading up to that action.
“Can we talk about scene eight?” he whispered to her as she watched Angie arranging the guys on the stage.
She glanced over. “Talk about it? What do you mean?”
“I’m just…He calls her a stuck-up bitch? Is that necessary?”
Sophie turned in her seat. “Yes. It’s the story. Tony is a blue-collar, rough-around-the-edges guy. Angel is a high-society girl who’s always gotten her way. It contrasts their personalities.”
Finn sighed. “That’s just not me.”
“No, it’s not,” Sophie agreed. “That’s why this is called acting, Finn.”
“I just don’t know if I can pull it off.”
“We haven’t even been onstage yet,” Sophie told him. “It will be fine. You just need to think of something, a personal experience that is real to you, that can help you tap into that feeling of frustration and desperation. I’m sure you’ve experienced those things before, right?”
He shrugged. He’d pinned plenty of people to the wall at work. But they were criminals, or at least suspects, and typically they were mouthing off and needed someone to show them who was in charge. “At work, I guess.”
She shook her head. “How about with your family?” she asked. “Hasn’t anyone in your family ever done something or made a choice that made you want to shake them? Hasn’t anyone ever pushed you into that frustration because you care about them and they’re not listening and they’re going to do something to hurt themselves if you don’t make them see what they’re doing?”
He frowned. “Well…yeah.”
“That’s the emotion here,” she said. “Not just anger, but that feeling that they’re going to get hurt and there’s nothing you can do. That desperation pushes you to the point where you want to physically restrain them, to keep them safe.”
“Is that what Tony’s feeling?” he asked.
“You didn’t read scene seven?”
He sighed. “I skipped to scene eight.”
She smiled. “It’s a story. One thing leads to another. Why don’t you go back to scene one and give it a try?”
“But Tony isn’t actually angry with her then? He’s not just being an ass?”
She shrugged. “He’s being an ass. But he’s desperate. He thinks he’ll never see her again if she walks out his door.”
“Nothing else is working,
so he decides to literally hold on to her,” he guessed.
“Exactly. He’s trying to make her see that he needs her and that he’s willing to do anything to keep her.”
“Got it.” And he felt a niggle of understanding about his character suddenly. “And you don’t worry about scenes like this at all?” he asked. “These are easy for you?”
“Not always, but I don’t worry about them, no,” she said.
“Because you’re a pro?”
“Because I have a perfect roundhouse kick.”
He grinned. That she did. “You won’t let me go too far then?”
“No chance.”
He hoped that applied to things offstage as well. Because he knew the boundaries here—they were spending time together only for the play—but he really did feel like he needed someone keeping him in line. He wanted to go way outside the box with this woman. Which was crazy. He was the one who kept others in line.
“Finn?”
“Yeah?”
“You should probably start on page one.”
He nodded when he realized he’d been staring at her. “Well, I read through scene four. I’ve just got five, six, and seven to go.”
She laughed. “Better get to work.”
Finn flipped the pages and started to read. And he even comprehended 80 percent of it in spite of the delicious scent in the air when he was sitting so close to Sophie.
But ten minutes later, he found his full attention on the antics on the stage. His friends and coworkers were simply too distracting.
“Wow, they really suck,” he said.
Sophie grinned and nodded. “They do. They’re totally awkward up there.”
Finn looked at her. There was a glow coming from her that reminded him of how she’d looked in the spotlight. But they were sitting in the shadowed seats now. Still, it was clear that she was in her element. “You really love this, huh?”
“Oh, yes,” she said with adorable enthusiasm.
“Even when they’re terrible?”
“Especially then.” She met his eyes. “This is why I do this. To get people like those guys up on the stage for the first time. To show them what it’s like, to push them outside of their comfort zones a bit, to get them to try something new. They won’t all fall in love with it or maybe ever do it again, but if even one of them decides to come to a show because of this experience, or encourages one of their kids to try theater at school, or even just walks out thinking that they had a little fun, then this was a success.”
He wanted to kiss her. Plain and simple. When she got all gushy like this and was lit up from inside, the only thing he could think about was kissing her.
He cleared his throat as memories of the kiss from last night came flooding back. “So you don’t care that they could ruin the show?” he asked, not really meaning it.
“They won’t,” she said confidently. “For one thing, part of the draw is seeing these guys hamming it up. I don’t want them to take it too seriously or be perfect. They’re real, everyday guys coming in to do something nice. The audience will love it, and the more real they can be, the more the guys will love it too. And that’s what I really want—everyone to leave this theater feeling better than they did when they walked in.”
Wow, he really liked her.
And that might be more dangerous than wanting to kiss her.
He shifted in his seat and shuffled his script pages to cover that he suddenly wanted to drag her up onstage and demand they work on scene nine. Because if he didn’t get his hands on her soon, he was going to do something stupid. Like put his hands on her out here in the seats where it was completely real.
“Hey, Sophie, you know—”
Suddenly she stood up, put her fingers to her mouth, and let out a loud, shrill whistle.
Finn blinked up at her. And all the guys on the stage blinked down at her.
“Okay, guys, listen up. The person who talks during a blocking is the director or the assistant director. That’s Angie and me.” Sophie made her way down the row and then down the aisle to the front of the stage.
Finn watched as the guys all quieted and shifted so they could see Sophie. His mom stepped back and let Sophie take the lead on…whatever this was. Angie had an affectionate smile on her face as she watched the younger woman, and Finn felt a thump in his chest. Angie really loved Sophie.
That was not, of course, a good reason to get involved with Sophie. In fact, it was the very reason that he should not get involved with her. But he did like watching them together.
He diverted his attention by examining the blackened wall of the theater on his left. It was bugging the shit out of him. He wanted the theater put back together. And he wanted to know that no one had set the thing on fire. But he also wanted to know what had caused the blaze. If it was faulty wiring or something, they needed to get that fixed too. He didn’t want it to happen again, especially when he knew that Sophie was here alone so much.
He pulled out his phone and shot a quick text off to Chuck, who was still investigating. Now that Finn was hanging out here on a regular basis, maybe he could help get things moving. Because whatever was going on had his cop instincts riled up. And that wasn’t all. The gorgeous blonde on the stage had him riled up too.
“I think we need to do some shifting,” Sophie said to the guys. “Kevin, you seem uncomfortable just sitting on the chair. I think it would be better if you were up pacing.”
Kevin was one of the firefighters. He was a big guy—tall and wide—and he shifted on the chair as if it didn’t quite fit.
“And Dan, you’re so funny. I love the expressions that you’re making, but I need you up front where everyone can see them. Let’s put you stage left.”
Dan smiled at her as if she’d just given him a gold star and moved into position.
“Bruce, you are clearly totally at ease with the props. Let’s have you and Aaron trade places. You can be the one who’s doing the cooking at the counter, and Aaron, I’m going to have you take Kevin’s chair. You have this laid-back vibe. I think you can slouch in that chair and deliver your line perfectly.”
Sophie continued to shift the guys around to different places and even switched some roles. Finn watched, impressed. He’d been completely distracted by her perfume and the idea of scene nine while she’d been seeing the big picture and honing in on specifics about each guy and his strengths and weaknesses.
“Let’s run through it again from there,” she said, taking a seat in the front row. “And Colin?”
“Yeah?” He gave her a big grin.
“Do you and Tripp need to be separated? You guys can’t be trying to make the other one laugh the whole time. If you can’t control yourselves, I’ll have to make some casting changes.”
Finn laughed out loud as his best friend and his brother gave each other sheepish looks and then grinned and moved apart. “We’ll be good, Sophie,” Colin said. “I promise.”
“I’m watching you,” she told him, and he nodded.
Finn settled back in his chair and took in the scene. Sophie might not have a big family of her own, but she could certainly handle a large, rowdy crowd. She had just the right combination of sweet and salty to deal with the Kellys.
Not that she would need to have anything to do with the Kellys in general, as a group, outside of the theater, Finn reminded himself. Because he was not going to get involved with this woman.
* * *
After about an hour, the guys were dismissed with homework and asked to be back the next night around seven.
Finn stopped a few as they headed out. “How about we make it five? Let’s get some work done around here first?”
When he had a crew of about ten, he started for the stage where Sophie and his mom were chatting. “Scene eight?” he asked.
Angie nodded. “I wanted you to be aware of that scene,” she said. “I thought a run-through without everyone around might be good.”
Sophie squeezed Finn’s arm, and he fel
t the electricity shoot up to his chest.
“He’ll be fine,” she assured his mother. “He knows it’s just a play.”
Yeah, he did. On a cognitive level. But he wasn’t so sure that was the part of him that was going to be responding to Sophie.
“Well, let’s go through it,” Angie said with a nod.
Finn and Sophie took the stage and flipped to the right page.
“So, summarize the scene for us,” Sophie said to him. “What’s going on?”
“We’re fighting,” he said. And she nodded. “You’re upset that I didn’t introduce you to my friends when I had the chance, and you’re threatening to walk out and forget the whole relationship.”
She nodded. “Right. And I’m determined to leave, and you’re desperate to get me to stay.”
“Got it.”
“Okay, so how do you want to block it?” Sophie asked Angie.
They talked through a few options, moved Finn around, had him stand next to Sophie, in front of Sophie, behind Sophie…He just did what he was told. But he was taking notes. Like noting the fact that Sophie used a very kind tone of voice and always asked Angie what she thought, but that the little blonde was absolutely in charge. She got her way on every point. Of course, it could have been that his mother was acquiescing to the more experienced director. But he had an inkling it was that Sophie was proving the old adage true—you could catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
The Kellys used a lot of proverbial vinegar when they disagreed. Angie probably didn’t even realize what Sophie was doing.
“Okay, so let’s walk through it then,” Angie said when they’d decided on the positioning and placement.
“Great.” Sophie faced Finn. “Ready?”
“As I’m gonna be,” he told her honestly. And a flash of What am I doing? went through his mind as Sophie started the scene.
“If that’s how you feel, I’ll just get out of your way,” she said, starting for the door on the other side of the stage.
“I don’t want you to leave,” Finn read. He followed her and grasped her upper arm. “I’m sorry.”
She shrugged off his hold. “You don’t have to apologize. We’re just…too different.”
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