Page 22 of Cast to be Mine

I could see it in his eyes—the doubt creeping in. He was trying to decide if he should believe me or cut his losses before this turned into a complete disaster.

“Have you been crying?” he asked quietly.

The genuine concern in his tone almost undid me completely. I opened my mouth to tell him the truth—that yes, I’d been having a minor breakdown in his bathroom. I wanted to tell him Jack Montana’s words had cut deep.

But instead, I forced a smile and nodded. “Does it look genuine?”

He frowned, confusion flickering across his face.

“I’m just practicing for the emotional scenes coming up,” I said as brightly as I could manage. Method acting in the powder room. That was a thing, right?

I kind of liked that he noticed what nobody else did. That he cared enough to check on me instead of just writing me off.

“Okay,” he said.

When we returned to the table, I expected him to push through more scenes. To make me suffer through another hour of Jack’s barely concealed disdain and my own inadequacy.

Instead, Micah clapped his hands together. “Alright, everyone. I think that’s a good start for today. We got a feel for the material, identified some areas to work on. Let’s call it and reconvene Monday for a full day of rehearsal.”

Buzz looked up in surprise. “We’ve only been at it for an hour.”

“And I think that’s enough for now,” Micah said, his tone leaving no room for argument. “I want everyone to have time to really dig into their characters, memorize their lines, come back fresh.”

I felt my face flush. He cut the day short because of me. I was the weak link.

Jack stood immediately, clearly relieved to escape. “Sounds good. I’ll see you all Monday.” He grabbed his sunglasses and was out the door before anyone else had even gathered their scripts.

Lisa gave me a sympathetic smile as she packed up. “Don’t let it get to you. First table reads are always rough. You’ll find your rhythm.”

“Thanks,” I managed.

Buzz clapped me on the shoulder as he passed. “You’ve got good instincts. I could see it in there, even when you were fighting the nerves. Just trust yourself.”

Then it was just me, Micah, and Toby, who busied himself with cleaning up the coffee station.

“Grace.” Micah waited until I looked at him. “You’re going to be great. I know it.”

I wanted to believe him. I wanted to feel the confidence he seemed to have in me.

“Monday,” I said. “I’ll be better on Monday.”

“I know you will.”

He said it like there wasn’t an option. If I didn’t get my shit together, I was fired. That was the thing about Hollywood, easy come, easy go.

I left before I could embarrass myself further, practically running to my car. The moment I was alone, the tears I’d been holding back finally spilled over.

I wiped my eyes, started the car, and drove home. I had work to do.

I got home, made myself coffee, and set my phone up on the little holder to record me. I needed to see myself.

I went through every line. Every scene. Every character’s dialogue.

If I knew what Jack was going to say before he said it, I wouldn’t be thrown off by his delivery. If I understood the full context of every scene, I could react authentically instead of just waiting for my turn to talk.

I’d been at it for six hours straight. My eyes burned. My throat was dry from reading aloud. But I couldn’t stop.

“You think you can threaten me?” I said, delivering Jack’s line with all the menace I could muster. Then I switched, becoming Elena. “I think you underestimate how much I have to lose.”