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Just when I’m sure she’s bound to say no, Dori Cantrel surprises the hel out ofand she says, "I’ive her the chance to slip froate re

"Reid, maybe I--"

Oh no you don’t "Pul in and park al the way to the right, I’l be right out"

My bright idea: If we don’t actual y go out, the paparazzi wil have no way to photograph us together Sadly, that’s as far as I got with the devious plotting, and this wil only last as long as we can occupy ourselves insidenot to think about the activities hich I’d most like to occupy her time

"Hey," I say Her Honda is at least ten years old The door squeaks when she opens it, and herbehind e that could possibly contain her entire house, she’s speechless Her eyes range over the rest of the place and I iine it from her perspective I want to i and inti I take her hand and push the car door closed

"Stick-shift, huh? Sick" I’ve never irl who can drive a stick That is unbelievably hot Down, boy

Pul ing her hand fro onto her shoulder and tucks her hair behind her ear on one side

"Yeah, my dad loves manual transmissions for some reason, and we share the car, so I kind of had no choice" She’s stil staring at the back of my parents’ house

Hands in my pockets, I ask her to fol ow and turn to walk inside It’s like a reverse of our very first interaction, right after I convinced her of what a co her froo house that day wishing I’d just go away, or worried that Inow that she’l abandon the whole idea of spending the evening here, get back in her car and peel down the long driveway

Immaculada left dinner in the warmer as I requested, and I adly skil ed at table-setting We eat in the kitchen, and I tel her about the two projects I’ next falI can’t do both, but I can’t decide which one to reject

"Ignore the critical regard thing for a minute," she says

"Because honestly, I’m not convinced you care so much about that" We’ve pushed our es are folded into her chair, one knee poking up She fixes me with an earnest, direct look, one elbow on the table as she leans forward "When you talk about the first one, your eyes light up Like they could almost not pay you to do it, and you’d stil want to" God, she reads et up toto do it?

Not tortured artist enough for you?" Her voice is teasing, and right next to ht the dishes to the sink If I don’t stop her, I bet she’l wash them, too

I take the plates from her, set thenition It’s in our natures

--it’s e step on stage, get in front of cameras We want admiration, approval We want to be the best at e do And Oscars say ‘You’re the best’ like nothing else in the filrinds the beans, empties theainst the counter and she leans next to uys He’s sitting on your nized by your peers, and al manner of critical acclaim is yours

From now on, you’l be solicited to do more of the same type of work, al the time How do you feel about that?"

"Bored," I answer, surprising myself She smiles at me like my dad did the first time I tied -round-the-hole trick in his arsenal He taughtdivision, too Somewhere after that, we lost each other The first time Mom failed out of rehab, maybe

"Reid?" Dori’s head is cocked to the side, a smal crease in her forehead