“If you’re late back from lunch, it’s okay. We’ll make it work,” Ethan said. Once Kirby headed out, Ethan turned to Lauren and Trip. “I’m thinking we work everything that doesn’t involve Mandy’s character, and then call it a day.”

“Can I make a suggestion?” Carly asked from across the room. She leaned against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Of course,” Ethan said.

Carly pushed off the wall and straightened. “Have Lauren fill in. We’ve run lines together, and it’s always gone smoothly.”

Lauren felt her cheeks heat. “No. I don’t think that’s a good plan. I need to be on book for lines, and—”

“I can be on book,” Trip said.

Ethan waved them off, still not over his catastrophe of a rehearsal. “If that works for Carly, I’m fine with it.” He stalked away with his hands shoved into his pockets, probably already conceding defeat.

“Is that okay?” Carly asked her quietly.

Lauren nodded. “It’s fine. Whatever you need to salvage the afternoon. We’re down two Mandys and have to get creative, right?”

Carly squeezed Lauren’s wrist and smiled at her with gratitude. That smile filled Lauren’s half empty cup to full. She was happy to help and would do her best for Carly and Ethan.

When the company returned from lunch, they moved backward to act 1 at Carly’s request. Lauren played the role just as she had in her two rehearsal sessions with Carly, only this time, instead of just the lines, she followed the set blocking. As stage manager, she was intimately familiar with Mandy’s path in the show, as it had been her job to track and record it. Rehearsing the scenes face-to-face with Carly was at first a little jarring. She found herself staring into those light blue eyes and losing herself in them as Mandy, something she’d never allowed herself, as Lauren, to do. The liberties she could take as Mandy were startling, freeing. She could reach out and touch Carly briefly, study her when she spoke, smile like Carly affected her, and even lay her head down in Carly’s lap when Mandy was called to do so. She loved every second of it so much that she lost herself in the afternoon. Before she knew it, they were done with rehearsal for the day.

She sat up from Carly’s lap, where they’d concluded, and turned to face her. “Was that okay?”

Carly chuckled. They were the only two left at rehearsal apart from Ethan and Trip. The others had been released one by one. “I’d say so. Wouldn’t you?” She stood and moved toward her belongings with a triumphant smile on her face. Lauren wasn’t sure what that meant, until she turned to Ethan, who still sat behind his director’s table, beating a pencil against the top of his lips.