Chapter Five
“You have to say yes,”Beverly said the moment Griffin opened the door Thursday afternoon.
“I do?” He leaned casually against the doorframe. “Color me nervous.”
“Very funny.” She reached out, then put her hand on his shoulder to push him back and was gratified to see that he didn’t flinch. On the contrary, he followed her lead, stepped back, and let her enter. Of course, she’d pushed against his left shoulder, not his right. But still, she considered it progress.
“So what am I agreeing to? Because I’ll tell you right now, skydiving is out of the question.”
“Noted.” She plunked the massive Louis Vuitton tote bag she used as a purse onto the small table in the entrance hall, then started to rummage around inside. “I know we should dive straight into revisions, but look what I have. Ta-da!” she said, as she pulled out a hot-off-the-press DVD of Crypto Games. “Movie night?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve been dying to see it. But it’s only two. Should we work first and then watch?”
“Hell, no. I want to see it now. Chris promised he’d send me a copy before I head to LA on Saturday for the premiere, and I just got this. And we can work afterwards. We’ll be inspired. I love this movie, but we need to show Chris that we can be even better.”
“Sounds good to me. I live to impress Christopher Deaver.”
She rolled her eyes and gathered her things, pleased that he was down for this plan. She’d been afraid that he saw their relationship only as work, and even though they’d talked about watching the DVD, she’d wondered if he was going to suggest that they wait until an evening when they could invite a dozen or so friends to join them.
“There’s just one hitch,” he said. “I have a tiny house.”
“I don’t take up that much room.”
“Yeah, well, in case you hadn’t noticed, there’s no TV in the living room.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t noticed. “If you don’t have a television, that’s okay. We can go to my house. Or we can just pop the DVD into your computer.”
“Or we can watch it on my sixty-four inch high def television. The one that takes up pretty much an entire wall of my bedroom. Which has no furniture except a bed, a dresser, and two side tables.”
She called upon all of her acting skill and managed to not react one tiny bit. “Works for me,” she said. And then, because she couldn’t resist teasing him. “Just wait until after the movie if you’re going to ravage me. I hate getting interrupted during a film.”
For the space of an instant, he said nothing, and she feared that she’d put her foot in her mouth, and he was going to conveniently have a forgotten conflict that kept them from watching the film at all, much less on a bed.
But then his lips twitched, and he met her gaze dead-on and said. “No problem. I’ll set a timer.”
Delighted as much by the quip as by the fact that he was joking about sex, she burst out laughing. “Fabulous. Now come on. Let’s get set up. We can have popcorn, right? You don’t have some weird no popcorn in bed rule, do you?”
“I wouldn’t dream of making my bed a no popcorn zone.”
“Good. So, you set up the DVD, and I’ll go make it.” She’d done it before. Popcorn was her dietary weakness, and sometimes when they were working, she’d crave a batch. Usually without butter, which drove Griffin nuts. Tonight, she’d butter it. Just for him.
“We’re ready,” he said a few moments later, coming into the kitchen and talking over the loud popping of the old-fashioned popcorn maker with the clear yellow lid that doubled as a bowl. “What do you need me to do?”
“Pass me the butter from the microwave. And then I’m thinking wine. It’s not everyday a girl gets a copy of a movie she starred in.”
“True that. But will we get any work done later?”
“Possibly, no. Is that a problem?” She tilted her head and propped her hand on her hip.
“We’ll make it work,” he said, and she forced herself not to do a victory lap around the kitchen island. She had no idea if this was a sign of a growing friendship, if there was romance on his mind, or if he’d simply turned a corner and was super comfortable with her around. Frankly, she didn’t care, although she was hoping for romance.
No matter what, it was an improvement.
They gathered up their things, headed into the bedroom, and as soon as they were settled, Griffin pushed the button to play the movie. At first, Beverly was hypersensitive, and not just because he was beside her and she was noticing every move, every shift, every breath. But also because she was on the screen, and she wanted desperately for him to like her work.
Soon enough, though, she became lost in the movie, enjoying both the wine and the popcorn, not to mention the nice little buzz she was getting.
Although she’d read the script, she was fascinated by how different the experience of watching the movie was from the actual process of filming. Because, of course, movies are almost never filmed in story order. After a few more minutes, she forgot those details, stopped noticing that it was her on screen, and simply fell into the suspense of a well-told story.