“No, don’t,” Laurinda said quickly, turning back to Hayley. Elbows on the table, she spoke into the side of her hand. “You can look, but don’t make it obvious. I don’t want that actress coming in to see me.”

A middle-aged man and a striking woman in her twenties walked past, following the maitre d’ to a private table in the corner.

Hayley stole a glance. She didn’t want to admit it, but she had no idea who the actress was. And she felt it was her job to know all the famous faces. “Oh…,” she began, then decided she should be up front. As Laurinda said, there were enough phonies in the world. “I’m sorry, Laurinda, but I don’t recognize her.”

Laurinda’s expression was blank as she looked into Hayley’s eyes. “I like you, Hayley,” she finally said. “You’re honest.”

Unlike that jerk Scott, Hayley thought. “Thank you.”

“I mean it. There are people in this business who would have pretended they knew who she was. But the fact is, not many people do. Her name is April Dockton. She’s done a few little films but nothing’s clicked. She’d do anything to get her career going. That girl is scary.”

“Really?”

Laurinda nodded. “She auditioned for my play but wasn’t right. I kept hearing from her and hearing from her, she kept asking if she could audition again. She should play a stalker.”

“Is she talented?” Hayley asked.

“She can act. But does she have that certain something that will make her stand out from all the other talented, beautiful young women her age? I don’t know. What she needs is a lucky break.”

Like me in the dating world, Hayley thought.

“All it takes is one …”

Yup, Hayley mused.

“… one role in a movie or play that gets noticed.”

Hayley nodded. “All it takes is one.” She put down her fork. “I love reading about unknown actors who made it really big after one role. Then you learn who turned down those very same parts, actors who had careers going, but never enjoyed the success they might have had if they had been smart enough to take that one role. It must be so hard to live that down.”

“This business is full of coulda, shoulda, woulda. It’s all about being able to judge what’s a good script, what’s going to be a good production.” Laurinda’s eyes darted in the direction of April Dockton, who was fawning over the man she was with, tossing her hair, smiling a little too happily, touching his arm. “She’s working it,” Laurinda murmured.

“What?” Hayley asked.