The Promise of Change - By Rebecca Heflin Page 0,79
to his comments in a teasing manner, hoping to take the edge off—”
Before she could finish, Michael said, “Amelia doesn’t want to take the edge off. She wants to impart the full measure of her contempt.”
Their argument went on in the same manner for another minute, before Alex interrupted. “Why don’t we ask Sarah what she intended? After all, she wrote it.”
Sarah’s head snapped up when Alex said her name. Other than the obligatory polite exchanges, he’d carefully avoided speaking to her directly. Everyone turned to look at her.
“Well, when I wrote it, the feeling I’d intended to convey was Amelia’s disdain for Christen’s superior attitude. I believe the adverb I’d use is acidly.”
Sarah was uncomfortable at first with giving her opinion, but she warmed to it in short order. “Amelia may be lively and witty, and in other circumstances, and perhaps with another kind of man, she might flirt, but at this juncture, Christen is the last man in the world with whom she would want to flirt.”
“OK, that settles it.” Michael said. “Let’s do it over–Sarah’s way.”
Brooke gave Sarah an irritated look. Good, Sarah thought, maybe she could channel that irritation into the appropriate delivery of her line.
After a few more takes, Michael called for a break. The caterer kept food and refreshments available in the kitchen at the back of the townhouse, and since Sarah had skipped breakfast, she headed in that direction. She was just placing a scone on her plate when Alex walked in. He walked over to the coffee pot with his back to her. So much for her appetite.
Alex wasn’t in the mood for coffee. He just wanted an excuse to follow her into the kitchen, and once there, he needed something to distract him while he worked out what he wanted to say. Tongue-tied. Another first for him.
His jealousy had cooled. Watching Michael’s excuses to touch her, his attempts to kiss her, were like taking a knife in the gut. But witnessing Sarah’s gentle rebuffs of those advances, and of course they would be gentle, as would be expected from one so gracious, he now thought there was still a chance.
Although after his abominable treatment of her these two weeks, he couldn’t blame her if she didn’t want anything to do with him.
Sarah couldn’t stand the cold shoulder anymore. “Alex, I want to thank you for asking my opinion on that last scene. I didn’t like the first take, but I didn’t want to butt in . . .” She trailed off, unsure what else to say.
“You shouldn’t be afraid to speak up. It is your book.”
“Well, thank you anyway.” She turned back to her now-undesirable scone, thinking that was the end of their conversation.
“Sarah.” He said her name so softly that she was startled when she turned and saw how close he was. “I want to apologize for my inexcusable behavior the night of the party, and well, these last two weeks. It was rude and uncalled for. Will you please forgive me?” His eyes were sincere, but guarded.
“You’re asking me to forgive you,” she asked in disbelief, “after I ran out last year?”
“Yes.” He gave slight shrug. “I suppose I am.”
“Does that mean I’m forgiven?”
“Don’t push it.” His teasing look took away any sting the words themselves might have inflicted. “But it’s safe to say I’d like to call a truce.” He extended his hand.
Sarah hesitated, not sure how she would react to his touch. “Truce then.” She shook his hand. His grip tightened when she tried to pull her hand back, causing her to look up into his eyes in confusion.
He wanted to lean in, to brush her lips with his.
“Oh. I’m sorry, am I interrupting?” Brooke stood in the doorway wearing a disingenuous polite expression.
Sarah jerked her hand away as if it’d been burned. “No.” She grabbed her plate and returned to the sitting room for the next scene.
The beautiful Brooke Bellamy is starting to get on my nerves. She’s a good actress, I’ll give her that. No one who sees her portrayal of the quick-witted Amelia would ever know what a self-centered, insipid little creature she is.
She’d just finished her word-for-word e-mail account of the kitchen encounter with Alex when she began venting her frustration with Brooke to Ann and Becca.
I hate to admit it, but I’m jealous of her interactions with Alex. I know they are only acting, but she gets to spend time with him in rehearsals and be close to him on the set,