As we sat, I felt more and more out of place, especially when several people turned to do the classic “stretch and stare” move. They weren’t fooling anyone, especially when I saw one of them do a double take. It was half hilarious, half insulting.

I hunched my shoulders, wishing I was shorter.

“I don’t belong here,” I said under my breath.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Gabe said.

Apparently, I hadn’t been quiet enough.

“You’re impressive,” he said.

I blinked.

“Me?”

“Yeah, you,” he said. “You write all these articles and you have your blog and you’re also doing lots of other stuff too. You’re smart and creative. That’s impressive.”

I wanted to argue with him. Wanted to tell him that among my peers I wasn’t impressive at all. I didn’t have a book contract, I didn’t have a readership. I had to scramble and hustle for every single interview I got, had to prove myself each and every time.

But the expression on his face was so genuine, so earnest, that I held my tongue and let his words sink in. And when I did, I realized, with a certain pleasant surprise, that to someone like Gabe, I might actually seem impressive. Because I made my living off my writing. It wasn’t a good living by anyone’s standards but I was surviving. I didn’t have to work a day job. My writing was supporting me just enough that I didn’t need to do anything else.

I didn’t know what to say.

“Thank you” is what I finally settled on, just as the lights went down.

Film Fans

BREAKING OUR SHARED HEARTS
[EXCERPT]

By Evan Arnold

THERE’S SOMETHING THAT ALL US cynical, stone-hearted reviewers seem to agree on when it comes to the latest Oliver Matthias film: Bring tissues. The movie is a tearjerker to the highest degree and it earns each and every one of those sniffles it pulls out of you.

If you saw him in Tommy Jacks and thought, Wow, this is acting, well, viewers, you haven’t seen nothing yet.

Shared Hearts is a lush romantic film with an astonishingly talented cast, but Matthias stands out. He always stands out.

He will break your heart as Jonathan Hale, a down-on-his-luck salesman in postwar Britain, who stumbles into an ill-fated romance with Barbara Glory, who may or may not be a former spy.

Matthias is making a point with this movie. He’s telling the audience—which presumably contains the very same people that made the world’s worst casting choice—“This could have been your Bond.”

One can only imagine the regret they’re feeling right now.

Chapter 13

Chapter
13

THE MOVIE WAS AMAZING.

“You liked it?” Gabe asked as we were pulled into the crowd of people leaving the theater.