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“You have no idea how wonderful it is to finally meet you,” Tony said warmly.
“You too. And I’m so sorry for being late! There was an accident at the theater.”
“Braden was telling us about that!” Tony replied. “An actress was injured?”
“Fell through a trapdoor,” I confirmed.
A waiter brought a fresh basket of bread. “Would you like me to open another bottle of Camus, Mr. Williams?” he asked.
Mrs. Williams finished the rest of her wine. “Might as well since we finished the first bottle while waiting.”
Tony gave his wife a pointed look. “A trapdoor. That sounds terrible, Nadia.”
“It was.” I grabbed a piece of bread and bit into it. I was starving, and my tequila-filled stomach was screaming for solid food. “But it’s actually good for me, in a morbid way. I’m her understudy. Not that I was wishing for this, but hey, a break is a break.”
My comment was met with stares.
“But it’s terrible what happened,” I added. “It could have happened to any of us.”
Braden cleared his throat. “Nadia is a wonderful actress. Assuming the worst for Tatiana, she’s going to really shine in the lead role.”
“So you two will be working even more closely together?” Mrs. Williams asked. “In my experience, couples should never work together.”
Tony made a noise. “When have we worked together, honey?”
“Who says it was you?” Mrs. Williams gave me a wink. Happy to have any sort of connection to her, I grinned back.
“Who, then?” Tony asked.
She shrugged. “I’m just saying, I’ve heard things about this. First you’re working together, then you’re living together, then before you know it you can’t stand each other.”
Tony put his arm around his wife and smiled sweetly. “I can still stand you after 30 years. Maybe even 30 more, God-willing.”
“Not if we worked together!”
“Don’t worry about Braden and me,” I said as the waiter opened a second bottle of wine and began refilling glasses. “We’ve only lived together a couple of weeks, but we get along very well. Except when Braden puts empty milk cartons back in the fridge.”
Tony’s smile flickered. Mrs. Williams blinked.
I realized what I’d said a heart beat later.
Shit.
“You two are living together?” Mrs. Williams asked.
Braden gave me a look: why did you have to say that? “I was going to wait to tell you guys…”
“You don’t think that’s a little soon?” Tony asked.
“It was my fault,” I said. I’d screwed up our backstory, so I needed to fix it. “Braden wanted to wait, but I had a terrible roommate situation in Queens. So he swept me off my feet.”
“I see,” Tony said.
Mrs. Williams was staring intently at me. I steeled myself for whatever snide remark she was going to say, but instead she clapped her hands together. “I love it! Sometimes when you know, you know. Braden’s father and I moved in together after only two months, and we lied to our parents so they wouldn’t disown us!” She reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “What are your thoughts on children, Nadia?”
“Mom…” Braden complained.
We had planned on deflecting any questions about this—questions Braden knew would come up—but I was so desperate for their approval that I decided to go off-script. “I want three children. Two boys and a girl, ideally.”
