Page 28 of Full Contact

“No. It’s fine.”

“You were giving it considerable thought.”

“I like to be thorough.”

We worked through the rest of the dates. He corrected one, approved the others, and drank his own coffee—black. When I turned the screen toward him, he leaned forward, resting his forearm on my desk. His cologne was faint, warm and woody beneath the smell of coffee. I took my time explaining the schedule.

“She won’t wear a birthday hat,” Trier said.

“I’m not asking her to.”

“I’m getting ahead of it.”

“Would you?”

He looked at me.

“Wear a birthday hat for the birthday episode?”

“You’ve got forty-eight hours to reconsider that proposal.”

I laughed and took another sip. He smiled into his cup.

***

Late in the preseason, I went back to Trier’s condo to plan the road-trip installment with Anna. She let me in, carrying a mug of tea. The dishwasher hummed in the kitchen.

Peaches watched me from her window bed.

“Hello, Peaches.”

She turned back toward the courtyard below.

Anna and I sat at the dining table. Trier was in the kitchen, filling glasses. Anna had agreed to appear in the road-trip episode.

“One question,” she said. “Do you need me talking to the camera, or just doing what I normally do?”

“Normally.”

“Good. I don’t like to talk to a camera.”

We wanted Peaches’s usual afternoon while Trier traveled. Anna would be reading, brushing Peaches, and putting out her food. Priya and Ben would attend one session, and I’d meet them and stay throughout.

Trier set a glass beside me. A few drops ran down the outside, and he put a folded napkin underneath it before sitting.

“Anna sometimes has her in the courtyard at the time you’ll be arriving,” he said. “You should have a key. Let yourselves in and get settled.”

“I can collect the spare before the shoot.”

“Keep it for the season. Otherwise we’ll spend half our time arranging for you to hand it back.”

Trier was looking down, opening the travel schedule on his phone.

“For the production visits,” I said.

“Yes. Text Anna before you come.”

That was the whole ceremony. He offered a key to his home, and he didn’t need anything from me in exchange. No speech and nothing to manage.