She missed life onstage. Not to say she didn’t love her job. When acting hadn’t panned out after college, she’d made a choice for herself that would keep her in the business she dearly loved, working to tell stories every day. Her skill set fit nicely into stage management. She’d started as a production assistant at a lower level regional theater in Missouri, worked her way up to assistant stage manager after a couple of years, and eventually became a PSM. Landing a resident gig at The McAllister had been a dream come true. Well, a second-choice dream come true after that first dream didn’t pan out. People could have multiple dreams, couldn’t they? And she didn’t take anything for granted. No, sir.

Four and a half hours later and Lauren swirled her lemonade margarita and adjusted her burgundy cocktail dress. The cast party, always traditionally held at the upscale Argyle Hotel, was fully underway. Everyone was doing that thing where they reminisced about how far they’d all come together, hugging everyone else to excess, and professing how much they were going to miss each other. Though it was definitely a routine process for the closing of a show, it didn’t make the sentiments any less sincere.

“Lauren, I don’t know how I would have survived without you,” Emily Heitner said with a flutter of dramatic hand gestures. She was a well-respected actress who’d played the role of The Witch. Kisses and kind words followed.

“Oh my goodness, Lauren. I might miss you most of all,” a male cast member gushed. More kisses and kind words. There was a welcome predictability to it all that she truly cherished.

They danced and sang with the music as the beverages flowed more freely, and when most of the cast and creatives cleared out, Lauren did, too.

She walked to her sky blue Mini Cooper with the white top just after eleven that night and heard footsteps behind her. When she turned to see who followed so closely, she wasn’t surprised.

“Hey, there,” Tinsley said. “That was a lot of fun.”

“Hey, Tins. It was. Headed home?” Tinsley Worth was an up-and-coming scenic designer who was currently working under their head of department. She lent her artistic talents to their main stage sets and got to design some of the smaller children’s shows in the adjoining space.

Tinsley leaned against the Mini and smiled. “I was actually seeing where you were headed. Thought maybe you’d want to grab a drink?”