She smiled, both at her internal reasoning and at the students who still watched her expectantly. “Come on. I’ll walk you back to my office where Archie can collect your contact information so we can stay in touch.”

“Stay in touch?” the local boy asked. “What for?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure yet, honestly, but whatever it is, I have a feeling I better take some time to refine it before that meeting with my parents this evening.”

••••

“Cut,” Brian called in the same monotone he’d used all day.

Sophia and Tommy both relaxed and took a step back.

“Did you get it?” Talia asked as Brian reviewed the small screen in front of him, then shrugged.

“It’s not terrible. We can move on.”

Talia shot Sophia a worried glance. They’d both come in hoping to find him more agreeable while still braced for the prospect of petulance. Neither of them had considered the possibility of pure listlessness. At first, Sophia worried he had another massive hangover, but as the day wore into late afternoon, she suspected he’d simply given up and intended to phone in the rest of the scenes for the film.

This, of course, left her and Talia in the uncomfortable position of having to direct their director without doing so in a way that would set him off again. She didn’t want to make that mistake twice, but she couldn’t let him turn in a subpar performance, either. She’d already given up too much in order to make this film great. The thought of exactly what she’d sacrificed to get back to work made her stomach lurch, and it must have shown on her face because Talia stepped closer.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” She waved her off. Nothing was okay. She wasn’t sure anything would ever fully be okay again, but she hadn’t made her choice for her own benefit. For once, she’d put someone else’s needs and goals above her own, and she would stay the course, but she had never expected selflessness to feel so terrible. “Can we take five?”

“Sure.” Brian looked almost relieved at the suggestion. “I need a smoke.”

Once he was outside, Sophia turned to the cameraman. “Can I see the playback?”

He nodded to some other techs, who provided her with a headset and directed her toward an open screen that flickered to life with her likeness.