Life was perfect. Her gaze strayed to Evan where he was entertaining a group of folks with what appeared to be a super amusing story. Tam sighed. Almost.
chapter twelve
Tam considered the row of packing cubes lined up on her couch and consulted her list again. At this point, she should have the thing memorized, but she insisted on obsessively checking it and adding things as she went. Nearly everything that was left to pack was currently drying in the machine. She wanted to take a load off and relax while she was waiting, but she was just too amped up.
She pushed the cubes aside so she could have room to sit on the couch and picked up the remote. She’d had a few freakishly awesome weeks since the wrap party. As promised, Schenecki’s agent had called her in for a meeting and to sign her contract. They’d gotten on famously so she was pretty certain that she would keep him as her rep going forward.
Once things were all official, she’d turned her attention to her day job. She still had the bulk of the fee from her freelance episode in her bank account so she wasn’t too worried about getting by until Schenecki opened the writers’ room.
She wasn’t good with sitting around so she planned to give notice in a month or so. However, her boss had given her a hard time over her vacation request so she could go to her high school reunion because it had come on the heels of her sudden time off to travel to the location in Atlanta.
It had been a total power play because Tam was extremely diligent in everything she did despite her job being in no way related to her actual career. There was nothing on her desk that couldn’t wait a few days. Confident of the “Fuck You” money she now had in place, she’d resigned that day instead. Tam had never felt better.
Absently, she flipped through the channels, but wasn’t paying attention to anything on the screen. Her mind drifted instead to her trip. This time tomorrow, she’d be back in her hometown. Or close enough anyway since she was staying with her best friend, Vivian, who’d moved about an hour away from where they’d grown up.
If Tam were honest with herself, she’d admit that she had mixed feelings about attending her twentieth high school reunion. It would be great to see everyone again, especially in light of her recent career success. However, she hadn’t been back to Iowa since she’d buried her father a few years ago. Stopping by her parents’ graves was high on her To Do List, but she wasn’t sure she was up to the task.
Growing up, her biggest fear had always been that something would happen to her parents. When her mother had been diagnosed with cancer, that fear had been realized. Secretly, she held the hope in the recesses of her heart that she’d be married and have someone to lean on before losing one of her parents. Unfortunately, that had not been the case.
Instead, her father had leaned on her when they’d buried her mom and she’d stood alone a few years later when it was time to bury him. After that, she’d returned to Los Angeles and thrown herself into her work. Despite pleas from old friends, mostly Vivian, she hadn’t made any real effort to return. With her parents gone, it was no longer home.
Tam sniffled and swiped at the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. She really didn’t need to dwell on this right now. She had a lot to do before catching her flight out first thing in the morning.
Restless, she hopped up to check the progress of her laundry. Her timing was perfect since the machine dinged as she entered the room. She unloaded her freshly laundered underclothes and took them back to the living room to finish packing.
She was just getting into a good rhythm when a knock at the front door startled her. She clutched a pair of panties to her chest and tried to calm her rapidly beating heart. She didn’t get many visitors. No one ever just dropped by. Whoever it was knocked again. She tossed the panties on the couch and tiptoed to the door to see who was there.
She frowned when she saw a man wearing a fedora pulled low. He checked the phone in his hand then lifted his head, presumably to double check the number on her door. She gasped when caught a good look at Evan’s face. What was he doing there? On her doorstep. Unannounced.
He knocked again. She stood frozen on the other side of the door. What in the world? He couldn’t call, text or email, but he could show up out of the blue like this? And how did he know where she lived anyway? A million other questions crashed around her mind. She saw him check his phone again. After a couple swipes of his finger, her phone rang. Busted.
Tam whirled to see the traitorous device light up on her coffee table where it was charging. She cringed when she checked through the peep hole and saw that Evan had heard the ring, too.
“Tam? Are you home?” he called.
She couldn’t very well deny it now. She needed a plausible reason for taking so long to answer the door. She raked the clean laundry back into the basket and moved for the door. Then she realized that it was a load of her cotton bras and panties. Crap.
“Tam?”
She grabbed a couple packing cubes and tossed them on top of the clothes. Trying to look nonchalant, she answered the door with the basket on her hip.
“Evan? What a surprise.”
He pushed his fedora up and smiled that sexy smile of his. She couldn’t help, but smile back despite the weirdness that was the wrap party.
“Do you have a minute to chat?”
She looked at her packing chaos then shrugged. “Sure. Please forgive the mess. I’ve got a flight to catch in the morning.”
He stepped inside. The moment he crossed the threshold, he took off his hat. She couldn’t help thinking that her dad would approve. Then she was mad at herself for that even mattering. He’d let his hair grow out a bit since he was on hiatus. The shaggy look suited him. Tam shook her head. She had a feeling that bald or hair down to his waist wouldn’t make a difference. It would still suit him.
Evan looked at her luggage all spread out everywhere. “Where ya headed? And are you going for a year?”
She rolled her eyes. “Funny. No. I’m going to my high school reunion this weekend.”
He grimaced. “This weekend? Wonderful. It would seem that my timing is impeccable as usual.”
He cleared a space on the couch and invited himself to sit. As he did, he pulled a thick sheaf of papers from his back pocket. Tam was caught off guard by how he was making himself at home after avoiding her all this time.
“What does timing have to do with anything?”
He held up the paper. “I’ve gotten an opportunity to direct a low-budget indie film.”
Tam couldn’t help the smile that blossomed on her lips. She was happy for him. “That’s great. Congratulations!”
“I don’t think it’s going to go forward.”
She put the laundry basket down and sat on her tall duffel bag to face him. No way was she going to share the couch. “Why not?”
“The script is… well…” He paused and seemed to be searching for the most diplomatic word. He threw up a hand when he gave up. “Screw it. It’s fucking awful. I want you to rewrite it.”
“Oh.” Tam had to concentrate so she wouldn’t tumble off the bag in surprise. “Who wrote the first draft? Can’t that person do the rewrite?” Tam couldn’t believe that she was talking herself out of a writing job. Had the offer come from anyone except Evan, she probably wouldn’t be. But until she could reconcile the weirdness between them, she figured keeping her distance was the best course of action.
Evan gave her a side eye. “He could. If he wasn’t a total nut case.” He held up the papers again. “He refuses to email the script to me. This is my one and only copy. That he printed himself and dropped off to me personally.”
Tam frowned. “That does sound a little clandestine.”
“You don’t know the half. We had to meet in an alley behind a coffee shop at 2 a.m. for the hand off.”
“And you went? What if he’d planned to attack you? How’d you hook up with this person, anyway?”
Evan looked a little sheepish when he said, “Craigslist.”
“Evan, what the hell?”
He held up a hand, forestalling the lecture she was ramping up to give him. “I know, I know. But the concept. I had to have it.”
Tam bit back that lecture and reached for the script. He held on to it and squeezed her hand causing her to meet that piercing blue eyed gaze of his.
“Thank you.”
She wanted to stare into them all day, but she mustered up some dignity and said, “Don’t thank me, yet. I’m just curious to see what kind of story is worth risking your life over.”
“You’re being so over dramatic.”
“And you’re not being dramatic enough.” Tam unfolded the script to do a quick read. Before she even opened the pages she noted the three metal fasteners holding the spine of the script together. She pointed the center one out to him. “Three brads? Really?”
He nodded. “Yes, I know. And the writing is predictably bad as that extra brad would indicate. But you already knew that. It’s why I need you to rewrite it.”
Tam kept her face neutral, but she was really enjoying busting his balls like this. Served him right for not even bothering to text her in all the time she’d been back from Atlanta and then just showing up on her doorstep like this. She skimmed through the script.
The pages were full of stilted dialogue, wooden characters and unfilmable action paragraphs that liked to run on for days. She stumbled across some pretty intriguing visuals, however. Still, those weren’t enough for her to want to jump in to try to separate the good from the bad to make the thing at least readable.
“You realize this is the guy’s manifesto, right?”
“Yes, but it can be salvaged. There are some great scenes in there like the moment when the protagonist realizes he has to make his wife fall in love with him all over again when her amnesia doesn’t seem to be going away. C’mon, Tam. I know you can do this.” Evan pleaded.
She frowned. “This is a love story?”
He nodded. “When we’re done with it, it will be. All that other crap, we’re tossing out the window.”
Tam snickered. “You mean it’s not Obama’s fault that the wife slammed into a Dunkin Donuts billboard two blocks away when she decided to try windsurfing in a hurricane?”
“Ha, ha. Yuck it up now. This thing has some serious potential. I figure we spend the next few months developing it. Schenecki is giving me some episodes to direct next season so I get some practical experience. Then we’ll shoot it next year.”
Tam frowned. “You sure are brandishing that “we” word quite liberally. I haven’t agreed to this. In fact, I think it’s a horrible idea.”
He sat back, the wind taken out of his sails. “The script is horrible or us working together is horrible? ‘Cause you know that Elvis has left the building.”
She was tempted to retort with a witty quip, and he’d certainly set her up nicely with that Elvis reference, but she noted how tense he’d gotten. He didn’t look to be in the mood for jokes at the moment. “It’s a given that the script is horrible. That’s why you’re here. I’m more concerned about the writer. How’s he going to take being rewritten?”
Evan’s frown told her that he hadn’t even considered that angle. “He’s been paid for his work.”
“You paid for—” She stopped herself. What he did with his money was not her concern. “Did you make it clear that he would not have any further input into the story? Does he know that what you end up filming may not be exactly what’s on the page? Is he expecting to be on set while you shoot?”
“We did a standard boilerplate. I bought the script outright with no expectation of his further involvement. Any professional would know he’s done.”
“But that’s the problem. This guy isn’t a professional.” Tam gestured with the script. “I’m betting he poured years into this one, single project. It’s his child and he’s not going to understand otherwise. Not unless you flat out tell him. And even then, I can’t be sure he’ll hear you because, judging from this, he’s not exactly sane.”
Evan sat back on the couch and looked to be digesting everything she’d said. Her phone buzzed a reminder on the table. She reached over him to pick it up. She had yet to put a hold on her mail. She scrolled through her travel To Do List and was happy to note that she’d almost taken care of everything. She still needed to run to the store to grab some snacks for her trip. Road trip, plane trip, they were all the same to her. She liked to have food with her at all times.
“Okay. So let’s say I get the guy completely out of the picture. You’re in.”
Tam shook her head and stood up. She headed around the coffee table to sit on the other end of her couch in front of her laptop. She was glad of the packing cube barrier between them.
With a couple mouse clicks, she’d pulled up the postal service website and found the form she needed to fill out. “No. Other than ‘love’ and ‘amnesia,’ I know nothing about this story. Not enough to be excited, anyway.”
“That’s easy to fix. I’ll walk you through the concept. Show you the scenes that resonate with me and…”
“And I’m on a plane first thing in the morning. I can’t possibly do this now.”
“Where are you going again?”
“Iowa. High school reunion.”
“High school reunion, huh?” He grinned. “Going to rekindle some old high school flames?”
Tam was slightly taken aback by the sudden personal turn the conversation had taken. It took her a moment to realize that they’d never talked more than business before. “So what if I am?”
His eyebrows shot up. She frowned. What was with his surprise? She could have left tons of broken hearts in her wake when she’d left. “For all you know, I could’ve been the femme fatale of Carlisle Falls.”
“No one here is contradicting you. Just trying to figure out if you may have left some pieces of your heart back home.”
“Did you?”
“Absolutely.” He said, surprising her. She was just trying to be a smart ass. She didn’t think it was possible for Evan to ever be the dumpee. “Lucy Donner. Her parents got her a four wheeler for her tenth birthday. She let me drive it and I was in love. Then, one day, she took the keys back and next thing I know, some other guy was driving her around. I’ve never been the same since.”
Tam shook her head. “So you’re saying that all a girl has to do is let you have control and you fancy yourself in love.”
Evan laughed. “I guess you could be on to something.” He angled his body on the couch to face her squarely. “Your turn. Anybody back home that you still got a torch going for?”
She shook her head. “Not really. I’m good at making a clean break.”
“Oh come on. You mean to tell me that there’s not one single guy you’re planning to look up when you arrive.”
“Yep. That’s what I’m saying.”
He gave her a disbelieving look. “You expect me to believe there’s not a single person you’re expecting to impress with your new title?”
Tam shook her head.
“No guy you’d like to take a second crack at?”
She could tell that he wasn’t going to give up any time soon so she admitted, “There might be one guy I’m interested in seeing again.” So that was the understatement of the year. She’d spent all four of her high school years wishing that one Teddy Craig Mason would finally notice her the way she’d noticed him.
He sat forward and rubbed his hands. “Okay. Now we’re talking. Who is he? The star quarterback? The star point guard?”
Tam chuckled. “Why can’t he be some regular Joe who was just a nice guy?”
“That’s not your style. Regular Janes tend to be attracted to regular Joes. You’re not a regular Jane.”
“Is there a compliment in there somewhere?”
“Is he a regular Joe?”
Tam wrinkled her nose. “No.”
Evan nodded with a little bow. “So, answer the question. What was his claim to fame in high school
?”
“Actually, he was both, quarterback and well, small forward, not point guard. And the anchor of our 4x100 relay team that went to State three times.”
“Triple threat. Nice. Did you guys go out?”
“Not even close.” Tam shrugged. “I was just a band nerd with a crush.” Although, that crush had taken a few hits when she witnessed firsthand what a complete jerk Teddy Craig could be. Still, she’d put it down to youthful exuberance and harmless pranks. She and Vivian might have been guilty of a few of those themselves. Now that they were adults, she couldn’t imagine that he hadn’t matured. Huh. Maybe she should be looking forward to getting reacquainted with him. Check things out now that they were all grown up. It would be a nice distraction from visiting her parents.
“And now that you’re a successful, in demand writer-producer, are you going to make another run at him? See if the old spark is still there.”
She was about to become such a cliché and her soul burned with embarrassment to admit it to Evan, but she was a big girl. Sort of. Tam looked away, pretending to be coy. “Maybe.”
Evan sat forward suddenly. “I just had the craziest idea.”
Tam gave him a wary look. “Why am I terrified to ask?”
“I should go with you. Think about it. You’ll have nothing to do on the flight there and back—”
“Except sleep,” she chimed in, but he continued like he didn’t even hear her.
“If I go with you we can talk out this story then. We’ll make the most of your time.”
Tam frowned at him. “You can’t be serious. You’re going to fly all the way to Iowa with me just to pitch a story? Why can’t this wait until I get back?”
“I’m meeting with some investors at the top of next week. I want to have a solid handle on the story before then.”
Tam took a moment to study him. He was dead serious. “You’re crazy. You know that.”
“I prefer the term, ‘problem solver,’ but okay. And just think… If things don’t work out with your long-lost love, I can fill in as your date.” He gave her a stern look. “You don’t want to show up to these kinds of things without one. Trust me.”
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