Katy studied him. He looked honest, and she had no reason to doubt him. The fact was incredible to her. Dayne Matthews, Hollywood’s hunk, sitting home alone watching movies? It was the last thing she expected him to say. It made her like him more, made him easier to connect with.
And it did something else. It shook her view of the Hollywood life.
“So . . .” Dayne interrupted her thoughts. “You didn’t stop auditioning because you were afraid of the attention, the fame?”
Katy took her time. “No, I guess not. Something . . . something happened to a friend of mine, but it wasn’t the fame that caused the problem. At least not directly.”
Dayne waited, and Katy had the feeling he wanted her to tell him the details. But she wasn’t ready. She still barely knew him, and the story about Tad was something she hadn’t shared with anyone since leaving Chicago. She took a bite of chicken and held her piece up. “It’s good. You should try it.”
He relaxed his shoulders and picked up his plate again. They ate in a comfortable silence, talking only once in a while about the pretty campus and the wonderfully sunny afternoon and the geese.
“They’re actually attack geese.” Dayne finished up his mashed potatoes and wiped his mouth with a napkin. He pointed behind them to the pond. “Really. Look.”
Katy glanced over her shoulder at a cluster of geese. They were swimming toward the shoreline, climbing out of the water, and heading in a line straight toward them. She let out a light scream and slid toward him a few inches. “Are you serious?”
“Yes—” he reached into the bag and brought out two biscuits—“but that’s why we have these.” He stood and met the geese head-on. Then he broke the biscuits apart and tossed them ten yards in the other direction. The geese attacked the food, pushing and pecking at each other to get to the big pieces.
“There you go.” He dusted off his hands and sat back down beside her. “Once they know the food’s gone, they’ll leave us alone.”
“Good.” She shuddered a little. “Keep an eye on them, will you? I’d hate to be attacked by a Pepperdine goose.”
Dayne laughed. “I don’t think they have teeth.”
Their laughter mingled, and for a while neither of them said anything. Then Dayne gave her a thoughtful look. “So where were we?”
She smiled. “The past, you mean?”
“Mmm-hmm. What are your dreams, Katy? What makes you tick?”
Her stomach felt suddenly queasy. She couldn’t share that either, not exactly. She pursed her lips and thought of an answer that would work. “The tick part’s the easiest. I’m a Christian; have I told you that?”
“I figured.” He made a funny face, as if he were calculating something. “Let’s see, Christian Kids Theater?” He grinned. “Yeah, I had a feeling.”
“I guess.” She laughed, and the feel of it made her heart soar. All the tensions of the play and Heath Hudson and the parent committees felt like they belonged to someone else. She looked at Dayne again. “Anyway, my faith’s what drives me. God and I are sort of best friends, I guess.”
Something changed in Dayne’s expression, but it was too subtle to read. Whatever caused it, Katy had the feeling faith or maybe Christianity had hurt him somehow. He stroked his chin, a smile tugging at his lips. “Okay, so what does your faith say about coming to Hollywood and auditioning for a part in a big film?”
“I’ve prayed about it.” In the distance she saw a couple walk out onto the grassy bluff and sit down. If it was strange before—having lunch with Dayne Matthews on a hillside overlooking Malibu Beach—now that they’d ventured into her faith, it was downright surreal. She lifted her hands a few inches and let them fall on her knees again. “I’ve asked God to make it clear. He can either shut the door or open it. I don’t want it unless He wants it for me.”
“Okay.” His smile grew. “Well, then maybe this’ll be a sign.”
“What?” A pair of noisy seagulls flew overhead and out toward sea. “What sign?”
“Well, to start with, the scene turned out pretty nice. I mean, the chemistry and all.” Dayne grinned, and for the first time she had the feeling he was flirting with her. Then, though his eyes were shining, he grew more serious. “The part’s yours, Katy. Mitch and I both want you to take it.”
“What?” Her head was spinning, her heart racing. She had no idea what to say, no sense of whether it was even really happening or not. He was waiting for her response; she could feel it. But the words wouldn’t come. He was offering her the part! It was hers! And suddenly she did the only thing she could do, the thing that felt most bizarre and most natural at the same time: She shouted and threw her arms around Dayne’s neck.
Wait until she told Rhonda! And the Flanigans and the other CKT families! They would be happy for her, wouldn’t they? If she took the part it would only be one film, one brief commitment. She could return to CKT if she wanted to. But as she hugged Dayne and he hugged her in return, another thought occurred to her. One that was even stronger than every other unbelievable thing that had happened since she arrived at the studio this morning.
If the way she felt now was any indication, she might never go back at all.
Chloe was fuming.
Whoever the new girl was, neither Chloe nor Anna had seen her before. Some sweet-faced blonde with a cute smile. Another floozy, for sure, even if she didn’t look like one. Chloe’s binoculars let her capture every detail of the little picnic lunch between Dayne and the girl. She was parked just a few spots down from the girl’s car. And it had to be hers, because Dayne had never driven a sedan once in the three months they’d been together.
Married, not together.
She would’ve missed him, but once she returned to her place on the hill overlooking the studio, she decided to check every car that came and went. That way she could see the women vying for a part that should’ve been Chloe’s alone. She hadn’t noticed the blonde enter the studio lot, but when the silver four-door sedan pulled out of the parking area, Dayne was driving and the blonde was seated beside him.
The hussy.
Hers wasn’t a face Chloe recognized. Probably someone new. And that meant she’d only just met Dayne, but already she was willing to head off with him. Maybe even go home with him.
She felt the knife, ran her finger along the sharpened blade. It wasn’t in her pocket anymore. Not when she might need to use it anytime now.
Something wet was on her finger, and she looked down. She was bleeding. The knife must’ve cut her when she was feeling the blade. She chuckled to herself. Good thing it was sharp. She might get only one chance at a girl like Kelly Parker.
Or the blonde floozy down the hill on the bench.
She’d already made up her mind, and she’d ordered Anna to keep quiet or else. The competition was too stiff, too aggressive. If Dayne was ever going to take his rightful place beside her and live with her as her husband, she had to get rid of the competition.
A golf cart turned into the parking lot, and Chloe studied it. She swore. Security guard, of course. Bring out a pair of binoculars and everyone thought you were a weirdo. Fine. She looked one last time at Dayne and the blonde.
Then she tossed the knife and the binoculars onto the seat beside her and started the engine. She wouldn’t get the job done here, in broad daylight on a public campus. But she would get the job done. Once and for all.
The golf cart was approaching. She backed her car up, turned it the opposite direction, and squealed away. The blonde better enjoy her lunch, because if she continued seeing Dayne Matthews, she didn’t have many meals left.
Katy called Rhonda first, but she didn’t get the reaction she was looking for.
“That’s fantastic, Katy. Really.” A hint of sorrow colored her tone. “You’re going to take it, right?”
“Rhonda, you’re supposed to scream or throw the phone or do a dance. Dayne Matthews wants me to star in a film with him!” Katy squealed. “Can you believe it?”
 
; “I know. That’s great.” Rhonda hesitated. “Will you move to LA, then?”
“No . . . of course not.” Suddenly Rhonda’s hesitancy was understandable. She thought she was losing a friend. And there was a possibility of that, wasn’t there? If the feelings she’d had at Pepperdine were any indication. She kept her thoughts to herself. “I’ll be gone six weeks at the most. You can direct the next show for me, and then I’ll be back and everything’ll be just like it’s been.”
“Okay, Katy.” Rhonda didn’t sound convinced. “If you think so. But, hey, whatever. I’m happy for you. Everyone’s going to be thrilled when they find out.”
“You didn’t tell anyone, did you?”
“Of course not.” Indignation rang in Rhonda’s voice. “You asked me not to.”
“I know.” Katy felt bad for bringing it up. “I was just checking.”
The conversation stalled after that, and Katy brought it to an end.
Now she paced in her hotel room, a deluxe suite on the eighteenth floor of the Sheraton Universal, wondering who she could tell. Her parents didn’t even know she’d gone on the first audition, so she’d have a lot of explaining to do. Besides, it was eleven o’clock in Chicago. She’d have to wait and tell them when she had more time.
She sat on the edge of the bed. The day had been amazing, something from a dream. After lunch, Dayne had taken her for a drive along the beach and then back to the studio. They looked over the first half of the script and picked up dinner at the commissary. Just after seven o’clock, they went their separate ways, and now she had so much nervous energy she could’ve flown around the room.
Instead she stood and kept pacing.
Her feelings were a jumbled knot, and she wasn’t sure where to start unraveling them. Every few minutes she’d catch herself reliving the movie scene—the leisurely walk, hand in hand, his kisses. Always she would stop and chide herself. It was acting, nothing more. Dayne was a professional, and that meant a romantic scene now and then.
She went to the window, opened her blinds, and looked down at the millions of lights. That was okay, right? Performing romantic scenes as an actress, so long as it was fairly low-key?
God, help me know what to do. She allowed herself to be mesmerized by the stream of traffic below on Hollywood Drive. It’s okay, right? What I did today?
Daughter . . . above all else, guard your heart.
Guard her heart? The words felt so clear she was tempted to look up at the ceiling and see if there was a hidden microphone somewhere. First the reminder about holiness and now this. Guard her heart.
Well, she was guarding it. She wasn’t falling for Dayne, at least. Yes, he was attractive and fun to be with. But he wasn’t someone she’d fall for, not when faith was everything to her.
“God,” she whispered against the cool pane of tinted glass, “is that You?”
Daughter, guard your heart.
A chill ran down both her arms. Once in a while, she was absolutely sure she heard the voice of God respond to her. Not in audible words the way it first seemed and certainly not in a booming tone. But in the quiet recesses of her soul, where she had to be very still to hear Him.
This was one of those times.
If God wanted her to guard her heart, then that meant He wanted her to be careful. But He wasn’t shutting the door on the idea of kissing Dayne for a movie scene, was He? And He especially wasn’t shutting the door on the idea of her taking the part, right? She gripped the windowsill and stared up. The stars weren’t visible, not in contrast to the city lights. Still, she imagined seeing them the way they looked in Bloomington.
God, I still mean what I said the other day. I don’t want this if You don’t want it for me. If it would change me or make my life worse or farther from You, please . . . shut the door on it. Show me Your will, Father. That’s all I want.
Her cell phone rang just as she finished. She flipped it open. “Hello?”
“Hi. It’s Rhonda.” Her friend sounded sheepish. “I’m sorry. When you called, I don’t know, all I could think about was that everything would be different now.” Sorrow and a little fear filled her tone. “You’re my best friend, Katy. I don’t want to lose you; that’s all.” She sighed. “Still, I should’ve acted more excited. Forgive me?”
“Of course.” Katy sat on the edge of her bed again. “I understand. It is scary. Who knows where this will go or whether I’ll even take the part, but I feel the same thing. Like everything’s about to change. And that’s not always good. Especially if you like your life pretty well the way it’s been going.”
“Exactly.” Rhonda gave a sad-sounding laugh. “I knew you’d understand. You always do.”
Katy smiled. “Thanks for calling. I wasn’t mad.”
“Well, I’m sorry. I couldn’t go to sleep until I told you that.”
“You’re a good friend, Rhonda.” Katy leaned back on the pillow. She pictured Dayne, the way she’d felt when he told her the news. Then just as quickly she pictured her life in Bloomington. “Don’t worry; I’m not going anywhere.”
There was a pause. “So . . . you didn’t tell me the details. You know, the audition with Dayne.”
“It was sort of a love scene.” Katy giggled. “I wondered when you were going to ask about the good stuff.”
“A love scene? Katy Hart, what are you trying to say?” Rhonda sounded intentionally indignant, but she couldn’t keep up the act. She laughed. “Say it quick—you’re killing me.”
“Well, it wasn’t that involved, thankfully. Dayne’s character is walking me home from work, and both of us are falling for each other and—”
“You are?”
“Rhonda! Not me and Dayne! The characters!”
“Oh, right.” She laughed again. “Sorry. Go ahead.”
“Okay, so we’re walking home and we get to my apartment door and he kisses me.”
“He kissed you?” Rhonda screamed. “Dayne Matthews kissed you?”
“Twice.” Katy laughed harder this time. It was fun sharing the details with Rhonda. This was the sort of conversation she’d been looking for earlier.
“He kissed you twice? Was that in the script?”
“Of course, silly.” She sat up and planted her elbows on her knees. She thought about mentioning the part about her hair and how he’d told her she was beautiful. But that was only Dayne’s character talking, his way of going freestyle through a scene that he knew inside and out.
“So . . . you know what I’m going to ask next.”
Katy knit her brows. “No, I don’t.”
“Is he a good kisser?”
“Rhonda!” Katy exhaled hard. “It was acting.”
“Please.” Rhonda gave a sarcastic moan. “Give me a break, Katy. You spent the morning doing a romantic scene with the man. Can he kiss or what?”
“Well, let’s just say he’s had a lot of practice.”
“So he’s good at it, right?”
“The truth?” Katy slid her feet around on the cool bedspread and slipped her free hand beneath her head.
“Of course the truth. The whole truth.”
“It was amazing, Rhonda. For about three seconds I completely forgot where I was or what I was doing. Seriously.”
“What’d the director say?”
“We got it right on the first take. He didn’t think chemistry was going to be a problem for the two of us.”
“No wonder they offered you the part.” Rhonda’s voice took on a dreamlike quality. “I can’t believe it, Katy. This is really happening to you.”
“I know.” Katy’s smile faded. She would tell her about Pepperdine and the rest of the day later. When she had a chance to sort through her feelings. “But that doesn’t mean things will change, not for me and not for us.”
“Okay. Thanks for saying that.”
The conversation ended, and Katy got ready for bed. But as she lay there awake she wondered at herself. If she really was desiring God’s will, then she’d have to list
en carefully. Otherwise she wouldn’t hear Him above her own excitement.
And that night proved just how excited she was, because she could hardly sleep. She kept replaying the scene from the movie in her head and imagining six weeks on location with Dayne. She still believed what she’d told Rhonda a few days earlier. He was the last person on earth she’d fall for. She knew nothing about him, except what the public knew.
But he was fun to be with, and that told her two things—first, that the six weeks with him would be a blast. But second, she’d have to be careful.
Very careful.
The next morning Dayne sent a car for Katy, and she met him in the snack room across from the soundstage.
“Ready to look over the second half of the script?”
“Definitely.” They had something easy between them now, as if in the past day they’d made a connection that was comfortable for both of them. She pointed to one of the tables. “Should we stay here?”
“No.” He grinned. “This place gets too busy.” He nodded to her. “Follow me.”
He gave her a tour of the studio first. While they walked, their shoulders touched every once in a while. He showed her where various sitcoms and movies had been shot, and he explained that Dream On would probably be filmed in two locations—New York City and Thousand Oaks, a suburb of Los Angeles.
“Why?” Their pace was slow and casual, not too different from the way it had been in the scene the day before.
“Thousand Oaks can pass for a small town, especially if you get out into the farmland areas between there and Moorpark.”
Suddenly she thought of something. This was her opportunity, her chance to talk to him about his visit to the theater. “Hey, I have an idea.”
“What?” They were walking past the most beautiful flower garden. Dayne stopped, picked a petunia, and handed it to her. “What’s your idea?”