What I Did for Love

the way of your normally excellent judgment.”

“In your opinion.”

“Caitlin Carter has gotten greedy. If you wait until my option expires, you’re going to spend a lot more money for Tree House than you will now. How are you going to explain that to your board of directors?”

“I’ll risk it. And you’re the one who’s being stupid. If you turn over Tree House now, without any restrictions, you’re guaranteed a credit as associate producer-”

“Meaningless.”

“-and you’ll actually make money on your initial investment. But if you stay stubborn, you’ll end up with nothing. I can get that picture made. What more do you want?”

“I want the picture that’s in my head to get made.” He fought to stay cool, but this meant too much, and he could feel himself losing it. “I want to play Danny Grimes. I want a guarantee Hank Peters will direct.” He came out of his chair. “I want to be on the set every day making sure the script I’m delivering is the one that gets shot instead of some studio asshole stepping in and deciding he wants to add a fucking car chase.”

“I wouldn’t let that happen.”

“You have a studio to run. You wouldn’t even notice.”

She rubbed her eyes. “Bram, you’re asking too much. To put it bluntly, you’re only known for three things: Skip and Scooter, a sex tape, and being an undependable party boy. I’m starting to believe Georgie when she says you’ve outgrown that last one, but you haven’t scored big with anything since the show ended. Can you really imagine me going to my board and telling them I’ve entrusted a project like Tree House to you?”

“I have a fucking vision! Can’t you understand that?” The veins in his neck throbbed. “I know exactly how this film should be made. What it should look like. How it should feel. I’m the only one who can deliver the movie you want. Is that so hard to understand?”

She gave him a long, steady gaze. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I can’t do it.”

The genuine regret in her voice told him he’d finally reached the end of the road. He’d done everything he could to convince her, and he’d lost. He was shocked to realize his hands were shaking, but somehow he managed a shrug. He wasn’t going to beg.

His office offered the only refuge in this overcrowded house, but as he turned away, a movement near the door caught his attention. It was Georgie. Even from fifteen feet away, he could see the concern in her furrowed brow and the pity in those green eyes.

She’d overheard every word. He hated that nearly as much as he hated losing his dream.

Dinner was torture. Lance kept trying to charm his way back into Paul’s good graces, but Paul remained unresponsive. Jade launched into a powerful lecture about the child sex industry that left all of them depressed and guilty. Georgie barely spoke, Rory seemed preoccupied, and Laura kept darting anxious glances at Paul and Georgie. Bram’d be damned if he’d let Rory see she’d beaten him, so he forced himself to tease Meg, the only person at the table who didn’t look as though she’d rather be anywhere else.

The helicopters finally flew away for the day. Chaz served a gooey caramel dessert so rich that only Georgie ate her entire portion, forking it down with a dogged determination Bram didn’t entirely understand. Jade, who didn’t seem to care much about food, left hers untouched and, when Chaz reappeared, ordered a quarter of an apple. Her demand must really have pissed off Georgie because she hopped up from the table and slipped into her Scooter Brown act. “It’s barely eight o’clock. Let’s all go into the living room. I have a special entertainment planned.”

That was news to him. Bad news. All he wanted to do was escape.

“I’m not playing charades,” Meg said. “Or any other game you actors like to play.”

Laura and Rory looked pained, but Georgie wasn’t giving up. “I have something a little more interesting in mind.”

“Hold it right there,” Bram said, determined to make sure Rory understood she hadn’t gotten to him. “You promised you’d never let anybody see you dance naked except me.”

“No dances,” she replied, without missing a beat. “The last time I worked the pole I pulled a tendon.”

Even Paul cracked a smile, and all the women laughed except Jade, but Bram had the feeling life weighed too heavily on her to take anything lightly. Lance immediately grew solemn in support of his wife. What a dick.

As everyone else cleared the table, Jade demanded Chaz make a second pot of mint tea because the first wasn’t hot enough. He was getting the idea that Jade preferred directing her humanitarian instincts to the world at large while ignoring the people waiting on her. Eventually Georgie, still doing the chipper act, herded them into the living room and assigned seats, giving Bram the armchair by the fireplace. She pointed Rory toward the couch next to him and arranged the others in a fashion that might have made sense to her but not to anyone else. He wished like hell she’d consulted him before she began playing her little parlor games.

And then Aaron came in with a pile of scripts, and it all became clear.

Georgie handed the first script to him. “Surprise, honey.”

He gazed down at the cover. It was Tree House. What did she think she was doing?

“Some of you may have heard by now that Bram has optioned Sarah Carter’s Tree House.”

That caused more than a few heads to shoot up.

Georgie’s hand dropped to his shoulder. “But as far as I know, he’s never heard it read, so this afternoon I had Aaron make copies for us. With all this amazing talent in one place, I think we should give our host a treat, don’t you?”

All this amazing talent in one place…And Rory Keene sitting next to him. Georgie had thrown the dice. She didn’t want him to give up, even after the conversation she’d overheard. She’d arranged the ultimate audition for him.

And then he woke up.

She wasn’t doing this for him. She was doing it for herself.

He saw exactly how she hoped this would play out. She knew Rory would snap up his option the moment it expired, and she intended to use tonight as a private audition to get the inside track on Helene.

A ballsy plan, he thought bitterly, even though it wouldn’t work. Georgie didn’t have it in her to play that part. She dug her fingers into his shoulder. “Honey, if you don’t mind, I’ll play casting director.”

He had to hand it to her. She was doing exactly what he’d have done under the circumstances. So why did he feel so disappointed?

Because he was the selfish jerk, not her.

She began passing out scripts. “Bram, you’ll read Danny Grimes, of course. Dad, why don’t you take Frank, Danny’s dying father? Lance, you’re Ken, the abusive next-door neighbor. Playing the bad guy will be such a nice change for you. Jade, you read Marcie, Ken’s doormat wife.”

The most thankless role.

She held a script out to Laura. “Call on your inner child and read Izzy, their five-year-old. And Meg, you read Natalie, the home care nurse who’s Danny’s love interest, but don’t get any ideas.”

“I’m not an actress.”

“Pretend.”

He couldn’t blame Georgie for wanting a shot at Helene. It was the kind of role that turned careers around. But Helene needed an actress like Jade, who’d cut her teeth on strong characters. Even in a cold read, Jade would be fantastic, something Georgie knew as well as he did, which was why she’d assigned Marcie to her.

Georgie took a straight chair at the opposite end of the living room. “Aaron’s agreed to pick up the slack with the leftover male characters. I’ll read the action and handle the female leftovers.”

Helene was hardly a leftover. His confusion turned to shock as Georgie handed Rory a script. “You never get to have any fun. You read Helene.”

“Me?”

“Try out your acting chops,” she said with a bright smile.

“I don’t think I have any.”

“Who cares? This is just for fun.”