It wasn’t very often that they met in his office. Their working relationship had always been more informal, with him crashing her space as they quickly hashed out daily details like scheduling, budget, or interpersonal matters. The more official meeting in his rarely visited office intimidated Lauren, which was downright ridiculous. This was Wilks! Her Wilks. That reminder didn’t calm her churning stomach, though the twirl had helped.

Once inside, Lauren took a seat. As he walked around to his side of the desk, she nervously grabbed the Rubik’s Cube in front of her. “Mastered this one yet?” she asked. He grabbed the cube, worked the whole thing in under a minute, and tossed it back to her. She whistled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“What do you think I do all day in here?”

Just another testament to Wilks’s ability to deliver. She sat up straighter, because this felt like she’d been called to the principal’s office.

“Well, here’s the crazy thing.” He sat back in his fancy leather chair. “Ethan wants to make a change in his cast.”

“Okay. What kind of change?” It wasn’t a real question. She already knew where this was headed. Hell, it had kept her up all night. What Ethan was angling for was unprecedented. Fear struck first and it landed hard. She was an imposter. For some reason, they seemed to think she was this amazing actress, when in all honesty, she wasn’t. She hadn’t booked a decent job in all the years she tried. Then, the fear danced away and swapped places with a twinge of excitement that twisted, turned, and vibrated pleasantly. She ordered the dueling emotions to stand the hell down, and take twenty. Given it was her job to remain calm at all times, she luckily had the ability to mask the cascade of emotions in front of Wilks. Yep, that was her, completely not in control.

“I don’t know if this is going to shock you or not. It shocked me.”

She nodded but said nothing, probably because she was holding her breath.

“He wants you to step into the role of Mandy effective today. There’s an official offer on the table.” He held up a hand before she could speak. “I know it’s a little out of left field, and I told him so myself. We went over it from every angle last night. Took hours, but we came up with a deal for everyone that makes sense.”

Lauren exhaled slowly. “Wilks, I haven’t acted in years. I was just filling in for our sick cast members.”

“But you have acted before.” He held his hand out as if presenting a very obvious point.