Hollywood Flirt - Alexa Aston Page 0,70
stood his ground. “You’ve seen the dailies, Ron. What do you think? How fast could you replace me—and then re-shoot everything up to this point? That would cost you a buttload of money and that’s not even counting what court costs you’d rack up suing me. This is my role, Ron. I was born to play Paul. If you want to keep me in the part and keep costs down, then you’ll hire Sydney.”
She saw Ron considering the proposal. Then Dash sweetened the deal.
“I’ll forego my salary if you’ll make Sydney the director. Give me a couple of more points on the back end. That’s all I ask.”
“Dash! I can’t let you do that,” she protested.
He gave her a stubborn look. “It’s not up to you. It’s my call now. And Ron’s.”
Ron turned to her. “Call me crazy, Sydney, but at this point, Dash makes the most sense. Are you up for it?”
Sydney locked her knees, afraid she’d collapse like a rag doll at any moment. Her pounding heart made her feel as if she were the next candidate for a heart attack. She glanced to Dash. He nodded encouragingly.
“I’d be happy to take over on No Regrets.”
Sydney only hoped she wouldn’t have any regrets when tomorrow came.
CHAPTER 22
Sydney prepared herself to enter the hospital room. Dr. Barbosa had just left the waiting room. Her report was encouraging but Sydney’s head still reeled from taking on the helm of the film as she tried to deal with her father’s heart condition.
Cassie said, “I’m glad Monty came through surgery so well. I know you want to spend time alone with him now.” Her friend hugged her tightly. “You know I’m in your corner. You can pull this off, Sydney. I’ll be there every day of filming if that’s what you need.”
“Thank you. I’ll text you later to let you know. I’ll see you soon.”
Cassie left. Sydney turned to Dash. “Would you like to go in with me to see Dad?”
“I’ll wait here. You go ahead.”
“Do you think he’ll be mad about me taking over his movie?”
“Do you think that?”
She wrung her hands nervously. “I don’t know.”
“Go see him. He may not even want to talk about the movie.”
Sydney snorted. “Yeah, right.” She hesitated. “Will you be here for a while?”
Dash cupped her elbows and leaned in to kiss her forehead tenderly. “I’m not going anywhere, babe. Take your time.”
“Okay.” She left the intensive care waiting room and walked down the hall to where her father would be for the next couple of days. After a few deep breaths, Sydney pushed open the door.
It was a single bed room. She was glad for the privacy it would give him. The steady beep of a machine welcomed her as she entered and crossed to the bed. Monty Revere seemed smaller than he usually did. He was pale but alert.
Sydney slipped her hands around one of his. “How are you?”
“How do you think?” he rasped. “At least they took out the breathing tube. I hated that. Otherwise, it feels like a Mack truck ran over me.” He sighed. “My chest hurts some but my damned leg is what’s killing me.”
“That’s where they took the blood vessel from,” Sydney explained. “Dr. Barbosa attached one end of it to your aorta and the other end to an artery below the blockage that you had. She said the graft will create a new path for blood to travel to your heart. It was single bypass surgery. Not great, but not nearly as bad as it could’ve been.”
“How long do I have to stay in this prison?” he complained.
“In the IC unit for two days, then you’ll be transferred to a regular hospital room for a few days. After that, you’ll come home with trips for rehab worked into your schedule.”
“I remember the doc told me I couldn’t drive for a couple of months.”
“I can take you wherever you need to go. Or Jayla can.” Sydney paused. “Dr. Barbosa said once you go through the twelve weeks of rehab, you’ll feel even better than before. That this surgery has added years to your life.”
“Not if I’m worrying about No Regrets,” he snapped. Sydney wrote off his impatience to the fact that he’d just had major surgery performed—and was probably still scared. “I’m sure by now Ron Sampson already got himself a new director.”
Bracing herself, she said, “Dad, the new director is me.”
His jaw dropped. Then a huge smile spread across his face. “That’s my girl. What a perfect