There she was. I had actually dreamed about her face. I saw her face wherever I went. In the doctor’s waiting room, I saw her reading an old issue of Redbook. I saw her sitting in front of the Coffee Bean on Sunset, and strolling down Larchmont. But when I’d look again or double back to see if it was really her, it was just some pale and freckled chick. But there was no mistake today. Here she was in the flesh, all freckle-faced with “amazing eyes.” Mick must have thought they were amazing, too, because he was shooting her tight, just as Dave had done.

“Cut!” Mick yelled. “That’s great, everybody. We’re going to break for lunch now, and we’ll all be back here in an hour for scene thirty-three.”

Chloe had been crouching with the two detectives, but after Mick’s cue she stood and started doing some sort of yoga asana to loosen up the tight muscles. I stood observing her. I thought maybe I would see her do “the thing,” whatever special thing that made Dave decide that blowing it with me was incidental.

Steve roused me from my staring. “Hey, Dani, come here.” He was gesturing for me to come over for an introduction to Chloe. This should be good, I thought. I wasn’t nervous anymore. I felt like I was in that scene in Gladiator where Russell Crowe turns around and surprises Joaquin Phoenix, who thought he was dead.

“And here’s the person who you have to thank for the lovely words . . . Dani Hale.” Steve patted me on the back.

Chloe reached her hand toward me and broke into a smile.

I had never seen her smile, and it lit up her face. We were shaking hands and she was actually talking to me. “Dani, it’s so nice to meet you,” she was saying. “I love the material.”

We were shaking hands and her little hand was cool in mine. She was pretending she had never seen me before, never sent me Dave’s photo of her freckled breast. So we’re going to play it that way, I thought. I could be cool, too. “It’s so nice to meet you, finally.”

We stopped shaking and she asked me something else, but I couldn’t concentrate on her.

“You’re joining us for lunch, aren’t you?” she asked as she turned with Steve and headed toward the craft service table. “I’m famished, as usual,” she said, holding her stomach and smiling up at Steve. I noticed he was smiling back. “I’m just one of those people who eats and eats and fortunately doesn’t gain any weight,” she said.

I knew I was totally invisible as they started to move away.