“My mom and her wife are always inviting me to their place. I think they don’t like that I just move to wherever the next shoot is. I feel better on the road, though. Staying in one place has never suited me.”

“I don’t want to go home until I have something to show for myself.” John ran a hand through his hair. “As soon as I can get this movie sold—the right way this time—I’ll think about going back.”

“What do you mean ‘the right way this time’?”

John glanced up at her. He sighed. “I really didn’t want to tell you about the first script I sold.”

Anna narrowed her eyes. He had already sold a script? “I never Googled you. Maybe I should have.”

John huffed a laugh.

“It can’t be any worse than Here We Go!”

“I wouldn’t know,” John said, his humor back. “I haven’t seen it.”

“Please, in the interest of our friendship, tell me that you never will.” Anna paused. “Tell me what happened.”

John ran a hand through his hair. “It was a coming-of-age story. Looking back, it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible either. I got an agent. I really thought, ‘This is the time I’m going to make it.’ I thought it would be quick. I was such an idiot. So when the agent said I had an offer, I took it. Didn’t check out anything—the studio, the producers, nothing. I just thought, ‘I will sell my script, get my movie made, and be done.’”

Anna winced. There was only one way this story was going to go.

“I didn’t realize just how bad things were until my agent invited me on set and I saw for myself just how much the script had changed.” John glanced up at her. “Have you heard of School’s Out for Summer?”

Anna laughed at the title before she could stop herself.

John looked stricken. “Please tell me you haven’t actually seen it.”

“Oh God, no. But it sounds familiar. Must have come out when I was in London.”

John nodded. “I still got a writing credit, even though only a small amount of my original script remained.”

“That must’ve been awful.”

“In the interests of our friendship, please tell me you’ll never see it.”

“I swear on all that is holy, I will never watch School’s Out for Summer.”

“That’s all I could ask for.”

“It could be worse. You could’ve turned down an award-winning film in order to work on a movie for three years that never went anywhere.” Anna hated remembering that time of her life, and how foolish she’d been. “After The Castro, I had my pick of projects, and I ignored opportunities in front of me in blind pursuit of a passion project.”

“Fighting for the projects we want is what we’re supposed to do.”