Page 17 of Love: Take Two

"I already know the most important phrase.Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?"

My risqué words have her biting her lip and averting her gaze. I chuckle in response.

"Making you blush is way too easy, Awa. I'm barely trying."

She flicks me off, and there it is, that unexpected laugh.

I'm still laughing when I close her bedroom door behind me and head to the elevator. I'm smiling when I reach the ground floor and the cool November air hitsme, slipping inside my light jacket. It's not until I take my phone out to text that my grin finally fades.

Crystal

U up?

Chapter ten

Awa

Present Day

"Why exactly can't Tabitha's agent be on set with her? She has a whole team, but it's always you who has to drop everything."

While Tabitha's out to lunch with cast members playing the rest of the hotel staff, I hide out in her trailer to take a call I've been avoiding.

Mamanmeans well. She always has. And I know she loves me, even if she rarely says it. But ever since high school, being her daughter has felt like a job. I was rewarded for making an A on a test or winning class president, but if I ever fell short, I felt the distance between us. Like her love was something I had to earn through success and prestige. It's driven me to achieve so many great things, but lately, I wonder if it's also beenkeeping me from becoming the woman I truly am, without the obligations and constant expectations.

I idly twirl the pendant hanging from my neck as I contemplate my next words.

"She has a team, yes, but I've been with her the longest. More than anyone else, she trusts me to handle the studio's demands while still keeping her protected. I do it for all my clients; A-list or not."

Her silence speaks volumes. She's never fully understood why I waste time with what she calls "the softer side" of law. To her, it should only be about making deals and cutting checks so I can move on to the next deal, the next check. Anyone who wants that kind of service has their pick of lawyers, but I stand out by standing up to the studios and casting directors who would happily exploit actors and athletes and any other entertainers until they were nothing. The unions help too, but in this industry, everyone wants a cut. My job is to make sure that cut doesn't bleed my clients dry.

"And what do the partners have to say about your absence,ma chou? They don't mind that Tabitha has you sequestered, unable to help all your other clients?"

"I will still be helping my other clients," I answer, just barely keeping the frustration from my tone. She nitpicks me as if I'm still a child who needs her mother to lay out my clothes and drive me to debate club. "I have my laptop and my cell, and once things settle down here, I'll be back to taking meetings and going on work trips."

Not that I'm looking forward to it. I'd much rather stay here and deal with an angry studio and a floundering actor than be at the office. No matter how much money I bring in, it somehow isn't enough to get a review meeting with the board to hire another partner. I'd much rather remain in the field.

"Just make sure you still stop by the office once in a while. They can't make you a partner if you're never there."

I'm still recovering from her parting blow when my father comes on the line.

"Ma princesse, how are you?" he asks in his warm, booming voice that always soothes whatever hurtMamaninflicts.

"I'm OK,Papa. Better now that I'm talking to you. But what are you doing home right now?" It's the afternoon, and my father is the only person I know who works more than I do. I don't think he's taken a day off from the insurance agency inyears.

"The men working on the road outside the building accidentally cut the fiber," he says with a sigh. But he doesn't seem disappointed, so I allow myself to relax. "I'm hoping your mother will let me take her out to dinner to celebrate the unexpected free time. Or maybe dancing!"

Mamangiggles in the background, and I can't help but smile. Her love, though conditional to me, has always been genuine forPapa. They were the first love story I ever knew, and the reason I can't settle for anything less in my own life.

"Well," I say, smiling, "I'll let you two get ready for a night on the town. I think they're going to try to shoot some of Tabitha's scenes with side characters while they sort everything out with her costar."

"OK,ma princesse. Don't work too hard.Je t'aime."

"Je t'aime, Papa."

Two steps from the trailer, I run into the man Rory believes can save this production. Me? Not so much.

"Awa Faye. What's it been? Twenty years?"