“You sure they’ll come?” the bartender asked, frowning.

Picking up her bomber jacket, Anna fished into a pocket and grabbed her phone. The small, outdated screen taunted her.

“Definitely,” she said with too much enthusiasm.

The bartender shook his head and walked away, going to close out with his other customers.

Anna tapped her fingers on the bar. Shouted conversations and loud guffaws intruded on her thoughts. She had never left without paying a tab. She wasn’t going to start now, no matter how dire her financial situation. Anna spied her reflection in the tarnished mirror behind the bar, like a smudged copy of the real thing. Her black cap obscured her face, and her faded striped T-shirt appeared ghostly. Ignoring her own image, she turned to look at the autographed black-and-white photos of long-forgotten Hollywood stars lining the back of the bar. Aristocratic men in sharp tuxedos and dazzling women in clinging gowns, they beamed glamourous smiles, giving off an aura of carefree nonchalance. No troubles on their side of the screen.

There were no pictures of female directors. We’ve always been a rare commodity. But before she could focus on her dim career prospects, she needed to pay her bar tab.

Anna knew plenty of people in Los Angeles. Certainly during her marriage, a number of people in this town would’ve been happy to help her. Now was different, though. She wasn’t sure who would take her call in the middle of the day.

She picked up her phone and called her best friend—her only friend, if she were being honest.

“You’re back from London,” Jenny exclaimed. “Are you on your way over here?”

“I stopped to get a beer and read a TV pilot.” Anna spit out the words, wincing like Jenny could see her through the phone.

“Wait a minute,” Jenny mused.

Anna easily pictured the expression on Jenny’s face—green eyes narrowed in concentration, long red hair framing her freckled cheeks, fingers paused on the keyboard as she considered the facts.

“Did your credit card get declined? Again?”

That was the terrible thing about old friends. They knew each other, and Jenny had known Anna a long time.

“An Oscar nomination is worth two beers,” Anna said casually, as if she’d never mentioned it before.

“When you came to me in a panic,” Jenny said then laughed at the memory. “I saved your movie.”