“If there’s anything else you need, please let me know,” Liza said to Charlotte. “We want to make your stay as comfortable as possible.”
“I will, Liza, thank you. But I’ll try not to bother you too much. I’m sure you must feel as if this place was just invaded by aliens.”
Liza had to laugh at the apt comparison but quickly denied it. “Not at all. It’s all very exciting. Part of me still can’t believe it’s happening.”
Charlotte smiled knowingly. “That’s the movie business. It feels unreal somehow. I still pinch myself once in a while,” she confided as she set the black binder on the desk.
Liza could see that she was eager to get to work and quickly left the room. She stood in the hallway a moment, thinking about the day’s surprises.
So far, Charlotte Miller seemed the most genuine and down-to-earth person in the group. Really sweet and unspoiled. Was that just an act? She’ll be here long enough for me to find out, Liza reflected. This was going to be one unforgettable week at the inn. If only I had time to pull out the video camera, I could make my own movie about it.
Chapter Three
THE wide canopied bed, with its flowery cover and inviting mound of pillows, was lovely but too tempting. Charlotte knew if she stretched out there to study her lines, she would be fast asleep in no time. She’d hardly slept at all the night before, memorizing the script and working on her character’s accent.
She settled instead at the small writing desk and chair near a large bay window that framed a view of the beach across the road. The drifts of foggy clouds obscured the view but couldn’t hide it completely. The fog was beautiful in its own way, she thought, smoky and mysterious. Behind the gray mist, she could still make out the rugged outline of the cliffs above the beach and the shifting dark blue sea.
Charlotte loved the ocean. Her house on the beach in Malibu was her special retreat. There, the sight of the Pacific calmed her and helped her feel in touch with something vast and greater than herself. It helped her put things in perspective.
Yes, this role was going to be a challenge for her. Bradley didn’t really like her. She hadn’t been his first choice for the role, though he hid it well. He wasn’t her first choice for a director either, but she was determined to be professional. All I have to do is knock him off his feet with an amazing performance and he’ll like me fine, she decided.
At least the film’s location was beautiful. She’d loved the little town of Cape Light as soon as her car had pulled down Main Street. And this island was fascinating. She hoped there would be some downtime to explore it. She was happiest when she was near the ocean and beach. She could never get enough of it.
She sometimes joked that she had a landlocked childhood and was ocean deprived. But it was true. She had grown up in Ohio, and her family rarely took vacations. The closest she had ever been to a beach was the sand trucked in to the lakefronts. When she ran away to California, the first thing she did when she got off the bus was to go straight to a beach. Charlotte would never forget the first time she saw the ocean. She had picked up as many seashells as she could carry home in her knapsack. She still kept them in a jar by her bedside, a reminder of her first sight and scent of the blue Pacific. Sometimes she still couldn’t believe she had wound up with a house in Malibu. She had always wanted to live with the ocean in sight, and now she did.
Her cell phone rang and she pulled it out to check the caller ID, hoping that she wasn’t being summoned down to work already. It was her sister Lily and she quickly answered. “Hey, Lily. What’s up?”
“Not too much. I just wanted to say hi. How’s the movie going?”
“It’s going. Slowly but surely. I’m on an island in New England. We’re shooting outside today, on a beach. We’re just waiting for some fog to clear. I wish you could see it here, Lily. It’s a really beautiful place. Tell you what, I’ll bring you back here sometime.”
“Maybe …” Lily didn’t seem to believe her promise. Probably because I’m hardly ever able to keep them, Charlotte thought with a pang.
Lily was so young, only sixteen. She has no idea of what it’s like for me. She’ll get it someday. Someday we’ll have more time together, too.
“So how is everyone at home, Lil? How’s Mom?” Charlotte tried to keep her tone even and natural, but Lily was smart. She knew how Charlotte worried.
“She’s doing fine, keeping up with her meetings. When are you coming home for a visit? You said you would come this summer, Charlie. It’s already August. I have to go back to school soon. I just got my new schedule.”
“You did? Wow … I didn’t realize.” The summer was flying by. Charlotte had been meaning to go home for a visit since May. It would have to wait now until this film was done. But she didn’t want to make any more promises she couldn’t keep. She quickly changed the subject. “I can’t believe you’re a junior already.”
“I know. It’s a big year for me.”
“All you have to do is study hard. You remember our plan, right?”
Lily was off-the-charts smart. Charlotte wasn’t sure where all those brains had come from in their family, but the girl could be anything she wanted if she put her mind to it.
Their mother didn’t really care where Lily went to school. She thought any building that had the word college on the sign would be good enough. But Lily deserved the very best, a place where her intelligence and talents could flourish. Charlotte could afford to send Lily to any school, even Harvard, without sweating scholarships or student loans. She wanted Lily to choose a school in California, like Stanford or Berkeley, so they could be closer. That was the plan. She hoped Lily would keep up her end of the bargain.
“Don’t worry. That’s all I’m thinking about. Graduating and getting out of this place.”
“I know it’s hard, honey. You’re growing up. You want to be out on your own. The time will go quickly, believe me.”
“Charlie, you always say that,” Lily groaned.
“I know I do, but it’s true,” Charlotte promised.
It was true, but it still pained Charlotte to hear her sister talk that way. She wasn’t sure if Lily was desperate to escape from high school and the small town, or if it was their family that Lily needed to escape from. Charlotte had felt the same way at that age. She couldn’t wait to get out of that house. She had barely waited to graduate high school before she bolted for the West Coast, never mind college plans. But Charlotte had been lucky, blessed. She knew now that she’d been too young to be on her own in a strange city. It could have turned out very badly.
“As soon as I’m done with this film, I’ll take the first flight out to Ohio, and we’ll have a nice, long visit,” she told her sister.
“Okay, that’s cool. I hope it goes well for you, Charlie. I’m sure you’ll be great.”
“Thanks, honey. I’ll do my best.”
They said good-bye, and Charlotte put down her phone. She missed her little sister and loved talking to her. But their conversations always left her with a bittersweet feeling. Not exactly homesickness. Once she had stepped out that door, she never had the desire to go back. But she did feel lonely. Which was ironic, since she was surrounded by so many people so much of the time; she hardly had a moment’s privacy. But even with everyone buzzing around her, she felt lonely for people like her sister, who really knew her, who knew the real Charlotte, not Charlotte Miller, the picture on the magazine cover, or the flickering shadow on a movie screen.
Charlotte let out a long breath. She couldn’t figure it all out now. She had work to do and flipped open the script to the pages she’d marked with orange stickies. Meredith had brought the tea and scone just after the innkeeper left. Her assistant had wanted to stay and help, but Charlotte needed to be alone.
She stared down at the script and tried to focus. Bradley was not only hard to please but asked for rewrites every five minutes. The dialogue was always changing. Charlotte hated to flub her lines or miss her marks. She arrived on the set t
otally prepared and ready to work. At least she knew that Nick Dempsey had the same approach. He seemed like a cutup and a bit of an airhead at first, but Nick was a total pro and a great ally, especially when Bradley got in a mood.
There was definitely more going on behind the scenes on a movie set than she’d ever imagined in acting school. But even if she knew then what she knew now, she would never trade her life with anyone. She knew she was lucky to be where she was. The work was hard but she knew that people back home worked harder and never got the attention and comforts that her work brought her. But sometimes if Bradley was in one of his impossible-to-please moods, he could make her feel so small and pathetic. And it seemed the more he pushed her and asked for new takes, the more she tightened up. She got too self-conscious trying to please him. Which was the very antithesis of a good zone for acting.
Charlotte hoped the fog would clear soon. She was eager to get to work today. She was a good film actress, even if Bradley didn’t agree. And she could be even better if she could take on more complex roles. She desperately wanted to break out of romantic comedies, but those were the roles coming her way and she couldn’t risk being picky. That’s what her agent warned. She was hot and sought after now, but the clock was ticking, and the next young new actress would soon arrive on the scene, and Charlotte’s ride on the grand Ferris wheel of fame could end all too soon.
Everyone at home depended on her. Without the checks she sent, they would be back to square one—living in a trailer park, her younger sisters and brother with no chance to go to college or do anything worthwhile with their lives.
She knew her mother sometimes squandered the money, never realizing it might not last forever. Still, Charlotte had given them a new place to live and a real chance at a brighter future. Maybe she hadn’t won any big awards yet, but that recognition would come. She was sure of it. She just had to keep at it and keep studying her craft.
Charlotte took a sip of tea and stared out at the sea. The fog had begun to melt away and the sky was brightening. It wouldn’t be long now. Someone would be up to get her any minute. She looked over the script pages for the scene they would shoot next on the beach, and placed herself in the head and heart of her character, Alexa. It was almost like meditating, but not quite. It was a matter of opening herself to a well deep within, where the power and authenticity of a performance came from. Some actors were so adept at “getting there,” their performances left her in awe. But she was getting there, too, and starting to live in Alexa’s skin. Sometime soon, even Bradley would have to notice, she thought with a grin.
A short time later, she heard a sharp knock on the door. “Charlotte? It’s Meredith. They want you in makeup. We’re going out soon.”
“Okay, I’ll be right down.” Charlotte grabbed the script and a few other essentials, ready to start her workday.
WHEN Judy Kramer told everyone to go down to the beach, Liza thought it looked like an army, breaking camp and marching on. The movie crew swept out as fast as they had swept in, leaving coffee cups, tea mugs, water bottles, and drifts of scone crumbs in their wake. If this was a mere coffee break, what was serving a real meal going to be like?
Liza and Claire were back in the kitchen, trying to sort out the mess when Nick walked in. “Sorry to interrupt you. Is the kitchen off limits to guests?”
“Not at all,” Liza replied. As if it would ever be off limits to Nick Dempsey! Was he teasing her? she wondered.
“Can I get something for you?”
“You can tell me the secret to those scones. I’ve already eaten two and I’d have two more … but we actors have to watch our weight.”
“It’s one of Claire’s recipes,” Liza told him. She glanced over at Claire, who stood at the sink, rinsing dishes.
Claire gave Nick one of her serene smiles. “It’s a fairly simple recipe,” was all she said.
Liza noticed that Claire did not offer to give him the recipe. This wasn’t really a surprise. Claire was very protective of her recipes, even secretive about them.
“Really? I thought you must have brought them in from a special bakery.” Nick Dempsey stared at her, as if testing the truth of her claim.
“They were baked right in this kitchen, Mr. Dempsey. We don’t buy anything in a bakery.”
“That’s cool. I like to cook, too. And bake. In my spare time. It’s one of my hobbies. Have you seen my website?”
“I’m not a computer person,” Claire replied. Which Liza thought might be the understatement of the year. She wasn’t sure Claire had ever looked at a computer screen.
“Oh, you ought to visit it. You, too, Liza. I’d like to open a restaurant, maybe a whole chain.”
“That would be … impressive,” Claire said evenly. If it ever actually happened, Liza knew she meant.
Nick merely smiled and puffed out his chest a bit, oblivious to Claire’s meaning. “Well, thanks for the recipe, when you get a chance. You can e-mail it to me … or well, since you don’t have a computer, just give a copy to Jason, my assistant. I’m sure you’ll see him around.”
Claire looked as if she was about to answer—to tell him she didn’t give out recipes. But Nick didn’t wait for a reply. He smiled again and disappeared out the kitchen door.
Once he was gone Liza said, “Looks like you’ve won another fan, Claire. Maybe you should have a website.”
“Oh, that’s not my style, Liza. You know that. Besides, there would be nothing to put on it. You know that I rarely give out my recipes.”
Liza did know. She just wondered if the famous heartthrob Nick Dempsey would prove an exception to that rule.
CHARLOTTE walked down the long flight of stairs to the beach, following Nick and Brad. Brad wanted to speak to them about the scene before the first take. Charlotte took a few deep, calming breaths. She had her own ideas for the scene and didn’t want to argue with Bradley. She tried not to bite her lower lip, which was her bad habit. She didn’t want to ruin her makeup. It took a long time to get that natural look for the camera. Even her hair, which was naturally curly in humid weather, had been treated with salt spray and a blower to create loose, wind-tossed waves.
That step would prove futile. She could already feel her hair curling more tightly as she walked down the steps. Wisps of fog still clung to the shoreline, and piles of dark clouds had settled on the wide horizon. The fog was not going to clear, after all. If anything, the weather was getting worse.
Down on the beach, Bradley trotted over to the camera crew. She heard them murmuring, strategizing the camera work for the scene. Bradley came over to the actors next.
“Nick and Charlotte, sorry for those last-minute changes in the script. But I feel the dialogue is stronger now. Did you guys get a chance to look it over?” The two actors nodded quickly. “Any questions?”
“I’m ready to go. How about you, Charlotte?” Nick asked her.
“I’m good,” Charlotte replied with a curt nod.
“Great. So, you’ll start off there, in front of the rocks. We’ll take a wide pan of you walking together down the shoreline. Then the camera will move in as you begin to argue. By the time you reach those big rocks, where Jerry is standing with the reflector, it should really be heating up. You stop and face each other. That’s where you’ll throw the ring,” Brad said to Nick. “The water is very shallow there. So you go right in, Charlotte. It won’t even be up to your ankles.”
It would definitely be over her ankles, and probably freezing, but Charlotte nodded stoically. This was her job. She was too well paid to refuse to jump around in ice-cold water.
“This is the turning point of the film,” Bradley went on. “Alexa has just found out that Tom has betrayed her. Everything that happens in the story comes back to this scene, this single conversation in their life together.” He paused and looked at them. “Are you ready?”
Charlotte quickly nodded again, trying not to shiver. The wind off the ocean had kicked up, blowing a cold mist. She wore only a yellow sundr
ess and a thin white wrap.
A gust of wind blew down one of the light reflectors, and a flock of technicians rushed to fix it. “Oh, this is going well,” someone muttered.
Bradley wasn’t fazed. “I know it’s a little raw out here,” he said, “but believe me, it will be worth it. You can’t pay for weather like this. The way the clouds are gathering … it’s a perfect metaphor for the end of this relationship.”
Charlotte had to agree with that. Of course, Bradley wasn’t the one in the skimpy sundress, she noticed. He wore a thick fleece pullover, zipped up to his chin. He then retreated to his position behind the main camera.
Nick and Charlotte found their marks. “Are you okay? You look a little cold,” Nick said quietly.
“I’m okay. But thanks.” Charlotte shot him a quick smile, then went inward to focus on her character. She didn’t take to Nick when she first met him. He seemed shallow and vain. But she soon realized that was just a pose. Underneath, he was a sweet, caring guy. A real family man, too.
“Alexa and Tom, start walking,” Bradley said. The actors started down the beach, exchanging their dialogue as the waves swept in and out. The water and sand rushing at her feet was a little distracting, but Charlotte tried to work it all into her performance as her acting coach had taught her.
A camera and microphone on a special dolly that tracked through the sand followed on one side, and two handheld cameras were filming as well.
The argument between Alexa and Tom peaked at the big rocks, just as Bradley had directed. Nick’s character pulled off his wedding ring and screamed at Charlotte’s character.
“You want this? Here it is. Catch, Alexa. If you can find it, you can keep it.” Nick angrily threw the ring into the ocean, right at Charlotte’s feet.
She was standing knee-deep in water by now, the bottom of her dress drenched and dragging, her wrap lost somewhere in a passing wave.
“Tom, no … please … Why did you do that?” She delivered her lines as she knelt in the water, grabbing at the ring. Which, of course, was nowhere to be seen. Just as Charlotte had reached the end of her dialogue and action, a large wave rushed in and knocked her over.
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