I put the last mushroom on and smile back at her for an extended moment. Then I get nervous about the silence and the extended moment and Jamie, so I pick up the pizza and shove it into the oven. Twenty more minutes and we can finally eat.

“So,” I ask, “how did you get so good at improv? Do you want to do stand-up too?”

Dawn vacates her stool at the island and comes over to where I’m now carefully moving things into the sink. “Can I help with this?” she asks.

I wave her off. “No, I like to do dishes; it’s soothing.” I flip on the water and dig into the sink.

Dawn props herself up and sits on the counter right next to the faucet. “I teach a 101 and 201 course at QCZ in West Hollywood. I want to be a comedy writer. I’ve written a bunch of spec scripts for some of the big sitcoms, and I’ve got a couple of pilots I’ve written these past four years. Haven’t sold anything though.”

My mouth pops open as I’m scrubbing the sauce pot.

“That’s so cool. What sitcoms?” For a second, I try to imagine being a writer. But I can’t. I need something I can go to every day. I want structured hours of focus.

Dawn looks down at her knees instead of my face. “The first one I did was for Modern Family. That show’s done, but I loved that spec script. I have one for The Big Bang Theory. Also, over. I have one for Young Sheldon, one for Grown-ish.” She shrugs. “I’ll keep trying. One day I’ll make my way in. For now I’m working QCZ, captaining Duck Waterfall … and doing pre-nursing courses part-time to keep my mom happy. We’re Filipino and basically my entire family is in the medical field. There’s a lot of pressure from all sides to take my career in that direction.”

I look up from my sudsy measuring cups. “Does your mom not like all the comedy stuff?”

Dawn leans her head side to side. “She definitely isn’t big on the comedy writer idea, but we’ve had this argument out multiple times over the years now and settled on a compromise.”

I nod, setting things to dry on the rack next to the sink. “You must have a packed schedule.”

She hunches forward slightly, shrugging. “I’ve made it work by scheduling classes all on one day of the week and leaving the other days open for work, practice, and studying. Jamie and I make a great team with Duck Waterfall … when it fits her whimsy.”

Dawn’s expression falls. She’s putting up a happy front, but she’s still upset.

“Do you need another hug?” I ask quietly.