Page 17 of How To Plot a Payback

Swallows.

“Let me get this straight. You’ve personally undertaken the task of getting homes for all of them.”

My heart skips a beat as I hear his tone. “There was nobody else to do it. Look at them.”

He frowns slightly and his eyes tick to the clock on the wall.

I know what he’s thinking. We’re both supposed to be in our chairs; he in ten minutes, me—I cut a glance to myself in the mirror—two hours ago.

“Leave ’em here.”

My hands fly to my chest. “What are you saying, Kye? You’ll take the Bernards?”

He draws a line between us with his hand. “I’m committing to nothing, Lavie. But leave them here. All of them. I’ll do my best to find them their”—he throws air quotes around the words with the merest hitch of his brows—“‘forever homes.’”

His voice is rich and deep with assurance, and I know I should push back. I know I should fight tooth and nail to see it all through myself, to claim independence and all that, but frankly, the moment the words come out of his mouth, I feel something inside me crumble. I am a damp towel dropping to the floor. A world-weary traveler who didn’t realize just how exhausted she was until offered the opportunity to sit and take off her shoes.

The mental offloading ushers in a wave of relief I didn’t anticipate.

I bite my lip.

“If you’re really sure . . .”

He nods, and I lunge for a hug around the neck. Squeezing tightly, I grin and say, “What would I ever do without you, Kye Walker?”

He gives a breathy laugh, his arms wrapped tight around my rib cage. “Explode, I suppose.”

Chuckles on both our parts mingle in the air, then I break off and make for the door.

It’s an inside joke (and by inside joke, it’s understood that it’s an inside joke between us and three-quarters of America). Those words have circled through our characters across a decade as we’ve been thrust together and then thrust apart. But it’s true, isn’t it? Without Sonya and Kye, I most probably, definitely, would have exploded by now. That’s what best chums are for, after all.

The dogs begin to bark, and I pause with my hand on the door.

I should take at least half of them to my dressing room.

I could pull at least some weight.

But as my eyes meet Kye’s, he gives a firm shake of the head. “Go on, Lavie. You’re telling me that I’m going to space today, and I can’t take you seriously with that hair.”

I roll my eyes but then remember something. “Don’t find a home for the Bernese.” I point to the fluffball curled up on the floor. “He’s for Sonya.”

“Does she know that?” he calls after me as I head six doors down the hall.

“Does that matter?” I call back as I throw open my own dressing room door, a free woman.

Ten dogs rescued and one step closer to their forever homes. Another joyous day of making the world just a little bit brighter.

Weekly Staff Schedule

NEIGHBORS

Monday:

9AM Final Script Edits, Writers Room

11AM Shooting Before Live Audience, Stage 2

Tuesday: