She joined him and Trip at the table and opened her laptop, prepared to record Trip’s times for the day and get Ethan’s input about who to call first thing tomorrow.

“We have a problem,” Ethan said, finally turning to her.

Her heart sank. She couldn’t take any more setbacks. If one more person was struck ill by this virus, they’d be hobbling along at best. “What’s wrong?”

He pointed at the makeshift set with his pencil. “That was fucking amazing.”

Lauren blinked. “Today?”

He swiveled in his metal chair to face her. “Yes, today. The whole thing lit up like a Christmas tree. The story came alive. The relationship mattered. I know the whole fucking story word for word, and even I was rooting for them, and this was only the first portion of act one.”

Where was she supposed to go with this? On one hand, Ethan’s words were incredibly flattering. On the other, they didn’t really matter. She was the fill-in for the fill-in. “Well, maybe we can talk about why it worked so well today with Evelyn and recreate—”

“Do you really see that going well?” Ethan asked, now up and moving with purpose, except he didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Just extra energy he needed to burn off.

Lauren grimaced. “Not exactly, no. But if she’s a professional, she’ll try to take the notes.”

“I’ve given her eighteen thousand notes since we’ve started,” he said, with a hand extended outward. “She’s cold and unfeeling when playing a character who should be warm and lovable, which I’ve seen her pull off nicely in a dozen different roles. She hates Carly and it reads all over the scene like spilled blood on a white carpet.”

She watched Trip wince at the reference.

Ethan noticed, too, and pointed at Trip. “What did you think? You were here.”

Trip hesitated and passed Lauren a look, as if to ask for permission to speak honestly. She nodded at him, granting it. “I loved everything about the run today. They had fun together, but there was still this ball of sexual tension that kept me engaged. It’s the first time I’ve been sucked in by the story since we started.”

Ethan snapped his fingers and pointed at Trip. “Thank you. That’s what I’m talking about, too.”

“Ethan, I’d be happy to keep running lines with Carly.”

“Can we do some right now?” He looked at his watch. “I know we’re off the clock and rehearsal is officially over, but if you’ll show me the final scene of act one, I can know more.” He ran his hand over his scruff as he waited for her answer.