Lake Edenites, or whatever the proper collective noun was for citizens of Lake Eden, Minnesota, believed that dessert was the best part of a brunch. Hannah and Edna had just finished bringing every dessert they’d made out to the serving table, turning it into a true groaning board, when Andrea rushed up to Hannah.

“I’ve got great news! Do you have a minute?”

“Sure. Just let me get a cup of coffee.”

“I need one, too.”

“Okay, I’ll get coffee for both of us. You go stake out a place at one of the tables.”

When Hannah, a cup of coffee in each hand, looked around for her sister, she found Andrea sitting at one of the overflow tables, a small two-person round pedestal affair that was barely large enough for two plates and two cups of coffee. As she headed over, Hannah assumed that her sister’s news wasn’t for public consumption and she’d deliberately found a place to talk where they wouldn’t be overheard.

“Where’s Tracey?” Hannah asked, setting her sister’s coffee down in front of her.

“With Mother and Carrie. And I left Bethany home with Grandma McCann,” Andrea named her live-in babysitter. “She was sleeping like a little angel when I left.”

Andrea waited until Hannah had settled into her chair, and then she leaned forward for a private conversation. That was overkill on her part because even though there were two long tables on either side of them, they were completely empty. Everyone who’d sat there for the first part of the brunch was off getting dessert and there was absolutely no one within earshot. “Michele just told me that you know him!”

“Ross?” Hannah guessed. It was an educated guess based on a process of elimination since Ross Barton was the only movie man she knew.

“I took Tracey over to meet him when he pulled into the lot. We just happened to be getting out of the car.”

“How long did you have to sit there freezing?” Hannah asked, not believing a word of it.

“Only a little over a half hour, and we ran the heater every ten minutes or so. Anyway, we walked in with Mr. Barton, and he invited us to the auditions this afternoon. Isn’t that fantastic?”

“Yes, it is,” Hannah said, impressed with her sister’s ambition. Only a truly dedicated stage mother would sit in a parked car in the winter so that she could waylay a producer in the parking lot. “Is Tracey going to try out as an extra?”

“Only if she doesn’t get the part of Amy as a child. I think she looks just like her, don’t you?”

“Who?”

“The female lead. She’s the gorgeous blonde in the aquamarine dress. Another actress is playing her as a teenager, but they need someone for the child’s role.”