Page 64 of Love On and Off Set

Andreas had a way of stepping on my last nerve while smiling at me innocently.

First, he’d gone out both last night and the night before. I couldn’t say how I knew, but I just knew. Scouring his social media hadn’t netted me any hits, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t hit the town. His hotel was a nice one near Lonsdale Quay. From the Quay, he needed only to hop the SeaBus to get across to downtown Vancouver. Then a quick bus ride to Davie Street and he’d be in the heart of gay living in our fair city.

A trip I did infrequently.

I lived in a nice townhouse in North Vancouver. An inheritance from a maiden great-aunt I’d spent a lot of time with as a kid netted me her home when she passed. I never had a thought about what might happen to her things when she died. I’d only ever cared about making her smile whenever we were together.

She lost her battle with cancer while I was away at school in the States. I didn’t blame California—or Andreas. She hadn’t told me she was sick. Likely because the diagnosis was terminal and, just as likely, because she thought I was having such a great time.

And I had been.

Until Andreas dumped me.

I watched as he held hands with Norah and they strolled through a busy street on our first day of shooting. Vancouver was, of course, standing in for Seattle. I loved when movies filmed here were also set here, but we’d been many different places over the years.

Andreas had tomorrow off while Norah did some solo work. Then the filming schedule called for us to shoot more scenes outdoors for the subsequent two days. Then three days in the studio, and then off to Mission City where several small-town scenes were going to be shot. The town was close enough to Vancouver that we could commute. So, lots of time with Andreas in my SUV over the next week or two.

Yay.

Fun.

Movement coming from the left caught my eye.

Before I could react, Andreas tugged Norah out of the way of a bicycle courier.

That wasn’t in the script. Thank God for his quick actions. Losing either of them to a dumb accident would be horrible.

I expected the director to call cut, but filming continued.

Andreas cupped Norah’s cheek, cheating toward the camera.

She gazed up at him with luminous emerald-green eyes.

He lowered his head.

She went up on her toes.

Their mouths connected.

My heart stirred for just a moment. I remembered, of course. What kissing him was like. He was an amazing kisser. Like, perfection. I had it all once. Then he dumped me and my life went in a different direction.

I always tried to take life’s pivots as a positive. Clearly I was on the right track, but now I was heading in the right direction.

Yeah, although I couldn’t regret where I was today, I could acknowledge some rough terrain to get here.

“Cut!” The director bellowed her instruction and, fortunately, everyone heard. Traffic from the nearby street filtered through to us—including a bus laboring up the hill from Lower to Upper Lonsdale. I didn’t envy those drivers. I found the route harrowing enough in my very sturdy SUV.

Andreas met my gaze.

Then looked away.

Guiltily.

Yeah, he was out last night.

“How are you doing?” Valentino Langston, our executive producer, positioned himself beside me. “I always love the first day of shooting.”

“I admit, it’s exciting.”