“Then she asked Lynne to please not mention it to her mother, because the program was on after her bedtime and she sneaked downstairs to watch it.”

“And Lynne promised?”

“Of course.”

Hannah just shook her head, remembering a psychology class she’d taken in college. The professor had said, “Get someone to do a favor for you, and their opinion of you will rise.” At first that hadn’t made sense to Hannah, but then she’d thought long and hard about it. She believed that she was a good judge of character and if she took the time and the trouble to grant a favor to someone, then that someone must be worthy. Asking for a promise from Lynne was a favor, and Lynne had granted it. That meant her opinion of Tracey had risen. Tracey might not know the psychology behind manipulating people, but she’d accomplished it with amazing acumen. Of course she’d learned from a master, her mother. And also from the grand master of manipulation, her grandmother Delores.

“So Tracey charmed everyone?” Hannah asked, certain that Ross’s answer would be in the affirmative.

“Even Erica and her mother, and they were sitting there glaring at each other before Tracey came on the scene. She had both of them eating out of her hand and smiling at each other within two minutes. If she does a good job of reading for the part, I’m going to cast her.”

“You won’t be disappointed,” Hannah promised. “Tracey’s a talented girl with a sunny personality, and she gets along with everybody.”

“I can see that.”

Hannah smiled as they walked over to the table where Delores and Carrie were sitting. As coincidence would have it, she’d watched a documentary about stage mothers on television last night and they’d mentioned several who’d been positively spiteful when the demands they made for their child stars weren’t met. And as Ross greeted Delores and Carrie, Hannah couldn’t help thinking, I just hope Andrea isn’t like that!

“Just between the four of us, I think she’s perfect for the part,” Ross said, glancing over at Tracey, who sat two tables away with her friend, Karen Dunwright. “I wish I’d brought a copy of the script with me. Her mother could read it to her.”

“You mean, she could read it to her mother,” Hannah corrected him. “Tracey reads on a fifth-grade level.”

“I thought Tracey was in kindergarten!”

“She is. She taught herself to read about a year and a half ago, and she’s been checking out library books ever since.”

“Maybe I should run back to the trailer and get her a copy of the script.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Delores said, and a bit of guilty color rose in her cheeks. “Carrie and I gave Andrea our script. She’s upstairs in the library, copying it.”