Olivia steered away from the small town and its cobbled main street lit with old-fashioned lantern light posts and toward the darkness that ensconced the rustic cabin, which was looking a little better with their cleaning efforts. “Helping kids is why I started doing what I do. There are a lot of children who can’t change their circumstances, the same way you couldn’t change yours.”

Chase stilled at those words. “I could have done something to help myself if I hadn’t wanted a part, like throw my audition or something, but back then, I liked pleasing my mother. And my dad.”

“Everyone likes pleasing their parents when they’re young. When you’re a child, you trust that your parents are doing the right thing for you. Do you think your mother didn’t do right by you?”

“I’m not sure. Before I started acting, I was normal, I guess. My mom took me to the park and played games with me. I remember her reading books to me. She was a regular mom. Then someone suggested that she take me to try out for a children’s shampoo commercial. I mean, we didn’t have much money. My mom had started doing billing for a medical office because she couldn’t afford to put me in day care, and she couldn’t get any acting jobs because, well, of me. What was she going to do with me? My dad worked on sets occasionally, so I couldn’t stay with him. They fought a lot over me, over each of them being unfulfilled because they couldn’t get work.”

“You felt like if you weren’t in the picture, they would be successful?”

Chase stared out at the dark trees swishing past. “My mother was a good actress. I’ve seen her in some of the sitcoms and made-for-TV movies she was in. She was never in a big role, but whatever she got cast in, she brought it. So, yeah, she might have been successful. My dad had too many issues. He was messed up. Died messed up.”

Olivia made a sympathetic face. “That’s hard to live with.”

“Yeah, but then I got the commercial, and my mom realized she didn’t have to work if I did. So I sold myself on every casting call. I could size up the casting director, almost know what they were looking for. After a while, my mom didn’t have to worry about money. I brought in enough for us to get a nicer place.”

“Did that make your mother a bad mother?”