Chase’s hands fell to her side. “Wait, what do you mean pack? Why can’t we stay here?”

“It’s time for phase two. We pull out at one p.m.” Olivia picked up the sandals she’d set aside, turned away from the beach, and started back toward the house.

“Wait a second!” Chase called behind her.

Olivia kept walking. She felt movement at her side, and Conrad fell into step beside her. “That was a dirty trick.”

“It’s not a trick. It’s a necessity. Chase signed the contract. You paid the money. I’m going to deliver an insurable actress.”

“Do you really have to leave LA to help her throat-punch her demons? Lorna isn’t really on board with Chase going off into the wild,” Conrad said.

Olivia glanced at him. “Lorna is not my concern. Chase is. And I have to take her from here so she can see what the real world is like, so she can see who she really is. She can’t do that here, in a plastic world where nothing is real. Do you know that she’s twenty-five years old and twenty-five percent of her body is not her own? And this . . . it’s all so far beyond what a normal person experiences.” She waved at the huge glass-and-concrete beach house worth millions, then spun around to include the Hollywood Hills.

“So where are you going to show her the real world? You going to take her back to our old hood? Lots of real there.”

“No, I’m taking her to the cabin I just inherited from my grandparents. In Cotter’s Creek.”

“I forgot about that place. You loved your summers there. You always said that it was the place you knew yourself best.”

Olivia smiled. “Which is why I’m taking Chase there.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Chase threw her Louis Vuitton duffel bag into Olivia’s stupid grandma mobile and climbed into the front seat. “This is so ridiculous.”

Olivia adjusted the air-conditioning vent, totally unfazed by Chase’s irritation. “I’m sure you think so, but in truth, it’s very much part of the Square One process. In your case, it’s important to remove you from the world you know. Think of it as research for acting. Many actors do just this sort of thing in preparation for a role, but instead of trying to create a character, I want you to focus on digging beneath the one you’ve created for yourself to the very essence of who you are. It’s time to strip away facades, learned behaviors, and experiences that crippled you, to see who you are at your very core. If you don’t like who that person is, we’ll work from there. It’s a process.”

“Sounds awesome,” Chase drawled as Olivia shifted the car into reverse and backed out of the driveway. The rolling ocean and hazy horizon beyond the beach house disappeared as the agave and rock in front of the house took its place. The FOR SALE sign swayed in the sea breeze, and for a moment, Chase felt something she’d not felt in a long time—a sense of regret. Or perhaps it was more a longing to stay in this place.