Now That I've Found You - Kristina Forest Page 0,64
his hand. “Come with me. Let’s take a little drive.”
“Wait, what?” I say, but he’s already walking down the steps toward his car. His driver, George, waves at me as he opens the door for James. “A drive to where?”
James glances back at me. “We’re just going to Bryant Park. They’re showing Every Time We Meet tonight. I’d like to continue our conversation, and as much as I enjoy standing in Peg’s hallway, I am running a little late to my Q&A.”
He doesn’t know where Gigi is. I don’t need to go with him. But now I’m intrigued that he wants to be in my company, so I hurry to sit beside him in the back seat of his car.
Once George begins driving, James turns to me and asks, “How are you, Evie Marie? Really?”
I shrug a little, glancing out the window as we drive through the city. I’m unsure of how to answer his question. “I’m trying my best.”
“I hope you haven’t let all that Paul Christopher stuff truly get you down.”
“My career was about to take off, really take off,” I say, frustrated, “and then that stupid video leaked, and suddenly I became public enemy number one. I’m Evelyn Conaway’s granddaughter. The daughter of Andrew and Marie Jones. I can’t go down in history as the bad egg who screwed with the legacy. My parents are disappointed, and Gigi seems like she’s not bothered by what happened, but how could she not be? Now she’s gone, and I have no idea where to find her. I just want to make everything right again.”
“Is that why you finally decided to accept my call?” he asks.
Again, I don’t try to deny the truth. I nod. “But I think the better question is why you offered the role to me in the first place.”
“What do you mean?” He genuinely looks confused. “I’m a producer too. I have talent scouts on my roster just like everyone else. I specifically sent a few to your school, and they confirmed that you were quite special. I’ve had this remake in the works for a few years, and it only made sense that you’d play Diane. It just wasn’t easy to get ahold of you.”
I look away, thinking about how I’d purposely told Kerri not to accept any meetings from James or his team. It took me being desperate with no other options to finally answer.
“I don’t blame you, of course,” he says, and I turn to him again. “Your loyalty is to Peg. I understand that.”
“She doesn’t know about our deal,” I say. “We don’t have her blessing. She left before I could even tell her, all because we had a stupid argument.” I look down at my hands and bite my lip. “Are you going to give the role to someone else now?”
He’s quiet for a beat. “Let’s just wait and see” is all he says, which isn’t that reassuring. “It might take Peg some time to come around to the idea of it, but she’ll support you.”
His words should make me feel better, but Gigi’s disapproval isn’t the only thing eating away at me. “What if no one else wants to see me play Diane?” I say. “What if you make a mistake by casting me?”
“Why do you want to act?” he asks suddenly. “It’s not just because you want to be like your grandmother or because you want to be a part of some legacy. What is it that’s making you fight so hard right now?”
I blink and try to think of an eloquent, profound answer. But I decide to go with the basic truth. “I love performing,” I say. “I love turning into someone else and entertaining people. It makes me happy, more than anything else.”
He gets that thoughtful look on his face again and doesn’t say anything for such a long time that I wonder if he’s going to respond at all.
“Let me tell you something,” he finally says, “and I want you to listen good. I’ve thought that my career was over plenty of times. When I was addicted to drugs. When I went to rehab and thought I couldn’t trust myself to be around people in this industry ever again. I thought I should just give up and try something else. What was the point? Everyone already had their opinions about me, and I didn’t have the strength to prove them wrong. But underneath all that, I still wanted to act. It’s what I love and what