“I’m still looking for another job, so I don’t have to take it, but...”

“You can stay here for as long as you need to.”

Anna hated asking her friend for help, but she knew her only other option was moving in with her mom. Anna wasn’t ready for farmers markets and canned jams.

Jenny turned around. Her wavy red hair fell past her shoulders, and her green eyes sparkled in amusement. Her curves looked lovely in the black halter dress that hugged her hips and fell to midcalf. She sat at her antique vanity table, setting her makeup brushes in a neat row. It reminded Anna so much of their college apartment that she might as well have entered a time warp.

“Are they sending you to Rome?” Anna asked. Jenny had turned in her rewrites on the vampire movie the day after Anna had called her from the bar.

“The producers still haven’t decided if they’re going to fire the director and move on to the new script.”

Producers were notorious for hedging. They’d all rush for credit when a film was a success, but the rest of the time, they shifted blame while pursuing the next big thing.

“Tom must not be involved.”

“Tom would’ve gotten the director fired the minute he went over budget.” Jenny paused, setting down her brush. “Have you talked to him?”

“Not since before London.” Regardless of what the press implied, Anna’s divorce from her high-powered agent husband hadn’t been melodramatic, but just two people too invested in their work to find the time to invest in their relationship. “I’m much too small-time now.”

“Didn’t he try to get you a job before London?”

Anna didn’t want to have this conversation again. For all his tenacity in pursuing her, their marriage had been more of a business arrangement for her ex-husband than anything else. “I told him I could find my own way.”

“I hope he listened,” Jenny said, frowning.

“He has. My career hasn’t really interested Tom since we were married.” Anna glanced down at her phone, steeling herself for the question she had to ask. “Has he made it difficult for you?”

The divorce was amicable, but Hollywood was a company town. Tom and Anna hadn’t asked friends to choose sides, but most of them had chosen Tom anyway. Their careers had depended on it. Jenny and a meager number of other friends had stayed loyal to Anna.

“No, and I told you I don’t care if he does. I’m much too small-time for him to worry about.” Jenny glanced at her friend. “I heard the TV studio asked to keep you for another season.”

Anna stiffened. “How?”

“Reed and I talk.” Jenny applied her lipstick with far more focus than was required.

“You and Reed? Talking?”