As Carly breezed past, she smelled fantastic, like lemon and maybe…cupcakes? The same scent Lauren remembered from the billiards lesson. If Carly smelled amazing, she looked even better, wearing perfectly fitting jeans and a lime-green flowy blouse, paired with boots with a modest heel. She topped off her outfit with a long, intricate silver necklace that might have been expensive. “Great,” she said, flipping around to Lauren. “I was hoping we could back up to the beginning of the play and run those scenes.” She glanced around the room with her hands out, like she was figuring out what to touch. “I can also help with your stage manager-y stuff.”

Lauren laughed. “My stage manager-y stuff?”

Carly grinned, and when the sunlight touched her skin, her face glowed. Lauren wasn’t sure she’d ever seen anyone glow quite like that. It stole her next breath. To cover, she reached for the bag of doughnuts.

“Yeah, you know, all the furniture moving, and laptop typing, and cross-referencing, and highlighting. We can do that while we run lines.”

“Where in the world did you get these doughnuts?” Lauren asked, amazed at the flaky goodness she was tasting. They were still warm. These doughnuts weren’t just any doughnuts—they were perfection, and from her own city? How? She’d ordered a million doughnuts for her companies over the years. None had been these.

“Oh. I read about them on Yelp. Danny D’s Donut Diner on Donato Street. Heard of them?”

“No,” Lauren said, around a heavenly mouthful of dough.

“Tiny place. No tables. Couple of guys behind the counter, working hard.” Carly pointed at the stand-in airport chairs. “Shall I place these for act one?”

“Yes. That would be fantastic.” Lauren’s brain hadn’t quite caught up. “Wait. So, you’re telling me that you woke up early, got dressed, drove to Danny D’s Donut Dynasty.”

“Diner. But you’re right. They missed a great naming opportunity.”

“Drove to Danny D’s Diner and made it here an hour before rehearsal is set to begin?”

Carly slid the chairs onto the blue spike tape on the floor that marked their intended home. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

“How?” Lauren asked in amazement. “Why?”

“Because I wanted to run lines. Why aren’t you listening to me?” Suddenly, it became crystal clear. Carly needed proper motivation, and when she had it? She responded in spades.

Lauren nodded her head sagely. “So with a little carrot waving, you’re up and at ’em.”

“I do lots of things for the right carrots.” Carly made the statement as if it was the most basic of understood facts. Well, it was now. “Lines?”

“Let’s do it.”

They went back and forth on the first scene between Ashley and Mandy at the airport when they first met.

“Wait. So we’re stuck here. As in overnight?” Carly balked.

“That’s what I’m telling you,” Lauren said gently.