I can’t believe that after six seasons we’re ending the show. Every day on set with my husband has been better than the next. He sits behind the camera as the hair and makeup tech fluffs my hair and powders my nose. Archer started directing and producing more and acting less. The storyline shifted so that I became the star and he sort of filtered into the background, playing my ex-boyfriend, the one who got away. Which is a vast difference to our lives. We were married a year after our first official date, the day after our pilot wrap party.
“Last looks.” Archer calls out to the crew. The lady finishes up and shuffles off camera. Archer rises from his director’s chair, heading toward me with a smile.
“This is it.” He smiles down at me. His gray t-shirt stretches across his massive chest. “Last scene, babe. Are you ready?”
“My feet are swollen, I’ve got heartburn from lunch, and there’s a soccer player inside of me kicking my bladder.” I look down to my pregnant belly, our first child. Archer places his hand on my stomach and waits for the movement.
“I don’t feel anything.”
“Funny, how this little one always stops kicking as soon as you touch me.”
“It must be my calming demeanor.” He teases, leaning down and kissing my cheek.
“It’s probably a girl. You have that effect on females.”
He feigns offense. “Who me?”
I scoff, but nothing about it bothers me. I’ve gotten used to women staring him up and down everywhere we go. It’s kind of fun, really. He thinks I get jealous, so he always holds me a little closer, kisses me a little deeper. But, I know that Archer is mine. No one in the world could ever break our bond. It’s like we’re meant to be.
My husband gives my belly a final rub and plants a series of playful kisses on my cheek. Enough to make me wiggle away from him. “Alright you two, get a room!” Someone yells from the dark set.
Archer taps me under the chin. “You look beautiful, Billie.” He can’t be serious. I’m bloated and nasty, but dammit if the look on his face doesn’t make me believe him. “And I have a little surprise gift for you after we’re done for the day.”
“Tell me it’s pizza with pickles and ice cream.”
His smile still sends waves of wetness into my panties. My hot movie star husband. “We can order that later, if it’s on the room service menu.”
“Oh la la.” I raise my brows. “Our townhouse isn’t enough these days?”
“Well, it’s the anniversary of our first…you know.”
I gasp, how did this slip my mind? “Oh my God. You’re right! You didn’t?”
“I did.”
“Same room?”
“You know it, honey. I can’t wait to get you naked and make you purr.”
My nipples stiffen in my thin shirt, and I’m about to tell him he needs to cut it out, when another voice comes booming from off-set. “Your mic is on, Billie.”
My head shoots in the direction of the sound guy. He’s blushing, standing next to his boom mic. I close my eyes, shaking my head at my husband’s faux pas. “We’re at work, Mr. Director. Get over there and do your job please, and stop embarrassing me.”
Archer turns to face everyone in the room. “I love this woman and I don’t care who knows it! Yes, we’re going to have some seriously hot and dirty sex tonight.”
The crew whoops it up, cheering and whistling at us. I roll my eyes and give Archer a tap on the butt. He hustles over to his chair, puts on his headphones and looks in my direction. I never believed in dreams coming true. I thought I’d be hustling for the rest of my life, getting bit parts as the fat, funny friend. Archer Bain is the best thing that ever happened to me.
“I love you,” he mouths. I wiggle my nose at him, our secret language that lets him know that I love him right back. More than words could ever say.
“Quiet on set.” His voice booms, and I assume my starting position. “Roll sound.” I lick my lips, hoping I can remember all of my lines for this scene. Pregnancy brain is real. “And action…”
With a deep breath, I perform like it’s the last job I’ll ever have. With me stepping into a new role, a mother, I’d be a-okay if it were. So long as Archer is by my side, I’ll always be his star, and that’s more than enough for me.