Breaking Free

by Cara Dee

  As predicted by a certain smug director, Tennyson and Max were becoming buddies, and even Daniel was accepted by Max—as long as Max never felt crowded.

  Every once in a while, though…Karen's words returned to pierce through Sophie.

  Eight days had passed since they'd left the beach house, but that pain remained as fresh as ever.

  Sophie growled and threw her hairbrush at the wall. "Suck it up, Pierce," she told herself. "Be strong."

  Max moseyed out of the bedroom, having heard the thump from the hairbrush, no doubt, but he soon went back to sleep.

  Sophie faced the mirror in her bathroom, knowing something had to be done. It had gone too far if the mere thought of losing Tennyson made her fall apart.

  "Fuck," she whispered, burying her face in her hands.

  She had to end it, didn’t she? Now—not in two weeks. Now. For the sake of her mind, because…she honestly didn’t believe she could handle more, and she knew the pain would only grow the longer she stayed with him.

  Checking the time, she cursed because she was late, and this was part of the problem. She was here to work, not get distracted.

  She was due on set in an hour, but she was going to the office first. So she got dressed in a pair of yoga pants and one of Tennyson's T-shirts and then left her trailer.

  Daniel was waiting outside the office with a huge grin on his face.

  "Is everything ready?" She couldn’t muster any enthusiasm.

  "It sure is, darling." He opened the door to the office. "Why aren't you happier? This is big."

  It was big—monumental. It had sort of snowballed since Asher had offered her two parts in two productions, and now Sophie had a lot of things to look forward to. But it would be a while before she could appreciate it.

  She was glad she'd be able to afford Daniel on her own because she'd need him for a long, long time.

  The office was empty, so Sophie and Daniel sat down at a table where all the papers had been sorted by the best PA she could ever wish for.

  "Agency contract." He slid the first stack of papers her way. "Everything's been okayed by your lawyer, aside from two additions he made on the third page."

  Sophie nodded and signed the dotted line on each page, which made it official. She had her own agent. Some hotshot who ran a big agency with his wife. Daniel was also looking into finding her a publicist.

  He continued to the next item. "This is the production schedule for the first project—still untitled. I'll fax it to Asher, and then you'll get your check and tickets next week after your production physical."

  This one made her nervous. She blew out a breath and eyed the contents, nodding at the dates. Her heart sank, but this needed to be done. Filming began in Toronto merely two days after they wrapped here in Vancouver, and she'd be gone for two weeks. Then she'd have a couple weeks off before the next project, which was due to start August 25th.

  For that production, where she had a bigger part, she'd be on location in Barcelona for several weeks.

  "Are you okay?" Daniel asked, concerned.

  Sophie realized she was hesitating with the pen. For some reason, it was impossible to sign the schedule. And it sure as fuck wasn’t because of the script.

  "Sophie." Daniel placed a hand on top of hers. "I've kept my mouth shut because it's not my business, but I'm gonna say this, okay? As a friend, not your PA." She managed a jerky nod, and Daniel went on. "Something is obviously going on between you and Tennyson, and I'm guessing you're holding back now 'cause you're gonna miss him—"

  "We're not together."

  Daniel's expression told her he didn’t believe her for crap.

  "No, I mean…" She released a frustrated breath. "We're…casual, I guess. It's not a relationship."

  "Oh." Daniel frowned and gave her hand a squeeze in sympathy. "Got it. But you don’t want it to be over?"

  "No," she admitted for the first time out loud. "I…I think I'm in love with him, but I can't…" She choked up and looked down at the contract. "It wouldn’t work."

  She'd heard too many stories about how Tennyson enjoyed his solitude in the house he'd bought in Mendocino. He spent months there looking for his next project, surrounded by scripts, and he disliked LA something fierce.

  In the meantime, Sophie needed to take this chance to get her career started. She'd gotten so fucking lucky with Asher's projects, and if this continued, she could be the kind of actress she wanted to be. Not the child star has-been who'd gotten too "promiscuous" for kids' TV.

  "Damn," Daniel sighed. "I wish I knew what could make you feel better, but we've all been there." He squeezed her hand again. "Is long-distance not an option?"

  Sophie bit her lip, hesitating, then shook her head. "It would hurt even more."

  She had no reason to think Tennyson wanted anything serious with her, anyway.

  "No," she said firmly, mostly to herself. "This is about me. My career, my life. I have a lot of shit to make up for and a new reputation to build."

  Daniel smiled in wonder. "You're so much more than you give yourself credit for, Sophie. I'm proud of you."

  Sophie swallowed and managed a small smile.

  Then she finished signing all the papers.

  "How long do you think it'll be before my dad finds out?" she asked as she signed the last contract.

  "We'll keep this under wraps until you're off to Barcelona."

  Good.

  *

  Thank God for work, Sophie thought. Despite that today's work involved more waiting around than acting, it still helped keep her focused. Otherwise, it would've been easy to run over to Tennyson and tell him she'd signed on for Asher's two productions.

  Tennyson already knew she was gonna sign, but he didn’t know the details.

  "One more take!" Tennyson announced.

  The motel room set cleared, leaving only Claire, Chris, and one cameraman. In the scene, Sophie was supposed to be in the shower, hence her damp hair, poorly washed-off makeup, and wearing pajamas. But for now, she sat in the background and just waited for her scene.

  Behind her, Noah walked in and headed toward Tennyson, looking urgent. Noah had been gone most of the week, shooting with the second unit. In a small town a few hours from here was the motel they'd used as a model for this set, and everyone would be going there tomorrow for exterior shots.

  Tennyson listened to whatever Noah said to him; it was too quiet for Sophie to hear.

  "Call Ash," Tennyson replied quietly, holding up a finger for Steph to wait a sec. "That’s for the studio to fix, and they better fucking do it today." Noah nodded in understanding before leaving again, and Tennyson gave Steph a nod to proceed.

  "Roll sound! Roll cameras!" she hollered.

  The scene started, and Sophie watched as Chris checked his wallet for money, wanting to buy alcohol.

  Claire was on the phone with the police, and she hissed into the receiver. "What do you mean, you won't search for her anymore?"

  The recorded response of the actor who played the police officer came out over the speakers, which was merely for Claire's sake with the timing of her lines. "Ma'am, every one of your daughter's friends who we have interviewed has repeated over and over that Josephine wanted to leave Denver and get away from her family." The man who portrayed the police officer kept it polite, but there was an underlying current of "I've heard about what kind of parents you and your husband are, and I'm not sure Jo should be found by you."

  "She could—" Claire instantly lowered her voice and looked in the direction of where Sophie was supposed to be in the shower. "She could be lying dead in some ditch, and you won't do anything about it?" she whispered furiously into the phone. "You're the police, for fuck's sake. Do something!"

  Sophie glanced over at Tennyson as he scrubbed a hand over his jaw, something he did when he was in thought.

  The police officer's voice came on again. "Your daughter is over eighteen, there's no indication of any crime taking place, and Josephine's boyfriend
has even admitted that she had plans on leaving—without him. Mrs. Miller, your daughter has most likely left town, like she said she would."

  Claire let out a shrill curse and threw her phone at the wall.

  Tennyson let a few seconds pass and then called cut, only to announce they were done for the day.

  "But…" The word left Sophie automatically, and Tennyson had obviously heard her.

  He sighed and tucked away his shades, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "There's a permit issue for the location tomorrow," he told her. Next, he turned to Steph and the two spoke quietly among themselves before Tennyson walked over to Sophie. "Come on. I have to speak to Noah, but I can take ten first. I believe you have news to share?"

  She smiled, though nervousness knotted her gut. "How did you know?" She followed him off the set and toward the trailers, shivering a little. With wearing so little and her hair being damp, it got cold fast. The heat wave they'd had in Vancouver was taking a break.

  Tennyson smirked faintly and unzipped his hoodie to hang it over Sophie's shoulders. "Gut feeling."

  He held the door open to his trailer and let Sophie enter first, and as soon as the door was closed behind them, he asked if she'd received the contracts.

  "I did." She bobbed her head. "I signed the stuff for my new agent and both productions."

  "That’s wonderful." He grabbed two sodas from his mini fridge, and she followed his lead and sat down across from him in his dining nook. "The second one will be filmed in Spain, right?"

  "Yeah, Barcelona." She smiled but sort of wished Tennyson wouldn’t be this happy for her. "So…it looks like I won't be in LA much this fall. I only have two days after we wrap up here, and then I'm off to Toronto." She studied him carefully, gauging his reaction.

  Tennyson nodded pensively, eyes trained on the soda can he was opening. "And how long is the shoot?"

  "Well, it's already started, but I'll only be there for two weeks." Sophie had shown him the script. "Then I'll have a couple weeks at home before Barcelona Quarter starts."

  Tennyson nodded once more, and his mouth twisted up. "This is incredible, sweetie." He reached over the table and covered her hand with his. "It's only the beginning, I'm sure. You'll be drowning in scripts in no time."

  Sophie stared at him for a beat, fucking waiting. Was there nothing else?

  "I'm really excited for you." He kissed the top of her hand and smirked crookedly. "Do me one favor, though?"

  Finally. Now he'd say something.

  "What?" she whispered. Her heart began pounding.

  How the fuck was she supposed to break things off with him?

  Tennyson brushed another kiss to her knuckles. "Don't replace me too soon. I've come to realize I can be quite possessive where you're concerned."

  She chuckled nervously. "What do you mean?"

  "I mean that this has been intense for me." He stroked her cheek over the table. "Getting to know you, spending my nights with you…it's kind of turned my life upside down. In a good way," he was quick to add, "but I didn’t expect to feel as if you were mine."

  That crushed her. It absolutely gutted her. She should've been more prepared for this because she knew the end was coming, but it still hurt like nothing else.

  She wouldn’t have to break anything off with Tennyson. He was doing it for them.

  "So," he continued, clearing his throat, "when we wrap up here and you're off to your next production and part of your life, try not to move on too fast. These last two weeks won't be a long enough goodbye for me, and I'm not sure I could stomach seeing you with someone else anytime soon."

  Sophie leaned away from his touch as her face drained of color. It felt like her heart and every other vital organ in her body had dropped to the floor, and she was fucking hurt.

  Did he think so little of her that he believed she'd move on to the next guy in a matter of, what, days? She knew about her goddamn reputation, but didn’t Tennyson know her better by now?

  "I think I need to go," she whispered.

  Tennyson frowned. "Did I say something wrong?"

  Sophie pressed her lips together in a tight line and shook her head quickly. "It's fine. I'm tired, and I need some rest."

  "You are not fine." He called her out on her bullshit and rose from the table when she did. "Tell me what's wrong so I can fix it."

  Sophie thought back on that goddamn quote, which had inspired him to buy her the necklace she always wore when she wasn’t working.

  "The shell must break before the bird can fly."

  Oh, the shell was broken, all right.

  "I think…" She swallowed her emotions and steeled herself. "I think this needs to be it, Tennyson." She forced her eyes to meet his. "It's been intense for me too, and it's getting a little too hard to handle. I'm sure the last two weeks could've been awesome, but I gotta take a step back."

  Tennyson's eyes flashed with pain, but it was over in a second, and he nodded firmly. "I understand too well."

  She was mad at him for indicating that shit earlier—that she'd be able to move on soon—but sadness took up most of the space.

  There wasn’t a whole lot more to say. It would be difficult to work with him for the duration of the production, but it was nothing compared to the grief.

  "I wish it could've been another time and place," she confessed, and it was all she could say before her throat closed up. She didn’t wait for any response. Instead, she turned and left.

  She cringed when she was halfway across the lot, pretty sure she'd just heard a crash coming from Tennyson's trailer.

  This is for the best, she told herself.

  She didn’t believe a word of it.

  Chapter 19

  Tennyson had always preferred working with smaller casts—less background noise and fewer things that went wrong. But for the following two weeks, he was thankful for the distractions that came with shooting on location with tons of extras.

  After a small misunderstanding and subsequent delay with permits, everyone worked harder than ever to finish the film.

  Shooting on location offered added reality for the cast as well, and the actors rarely made any mistakes. Claire, Chris, and Sophie went from house to house with a photo of Kelly, asking if anyone had seen her. The sleepy little town three hours away from Vancouver had come alive for this, and many wanted to be a part—professional extras and townsfolk alike.

  "Roll cameras!" Noah shouted out across the motel's parking lot. "Action background!"

  Tennyson adjusted his headphones and folded his arms over his chest. It was sunny and warm, and he stood under the tent and watched his monitor, cursing the fucking weather. He needed it to be darker.

  Rain poured down, fake as it was, but they'd have to darken the sky digitally in post-production later.

  Eyeing the front of the motel, satisfied with the handful of extras scattered around, he called for action and watched Claire, Chris, and Sophie step out of a rusty truck.

  "Anna," Chris tried to reason impatiently. "It's been almost a week."

  "I don’t care!" Sophie whipped around and glared at him. Rain caused her hair to get stuck on her pale face, her black eye makeup smudgy. "It's the only lead we've got, Dad. I'm not going back to Denver without her."

  Chris pinched the bridge of his nose.

  Claire looked helpless. She was doing this for Sophie's character, nobody else. Not even her eldest daughter, who was missing. "Maybe a few more days…"

  Sophie just tapped her foot and held out her hand. "Give me the key."

  Claire closed the distance and pressed the key to their motel room into Sophie's palm.

  Sophie shook her head. "I'm gonna go call her friends again."

  Tennyson yelled cut as Sophie opened the door. The rain stopped and everyone took a break for lunch.

  The parking lot had been sealed off for the shoot, but people could still see everything clear as day, and that included the few reporters who'd made it up here. In turn, it forced Tennyson to be civi
l with Sophie and walk over to her table with his goddamn burger and look like he wanted to be there.

  The way she visibly stiffened when he took his seat tore at him.

  Brooklyn and Daniel were seated across from them, and Noah soon followed with two guys from wardrobe.

  "Where's Steph?" Noah asked.

  Daniel pointed his fork toward one of the trailers at the edge of the surrounding forest. "She's on the phone about the wrap party."

  Not what Tennyson wanted to think about. Three days, that was it. In three days, they'd be finished, and he wouldn’t see Sophie until the red carpet in November. It would be a tight fit, but the studio had Oscar season in mind, so they had to get the movie out there.

  How Sophie would juggle two additional projects with press junkets and photo shoots was beyond him, though he supposed actors did that all the time. As a director, he liked that he could take the backseat. He did a few interviews and would probably show up at some event with Chris and Claire, but that was it.

  "You should be on the phone, too," Sophie told Daniel with a smirk. "You have a boyfriend to inform about a new job."

  "Bitch, I swear." Daniel shot her a look.

  "Oh-ho, you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Noah chuckled.

  "Stop being such a baby." Sophie scowled at Daniel before shifting her gaze to Noah. "I recently learned Daniel went to college to be able to work in management. And since I'll be needing a manager… He already does more than a PA should, but he says he's not ready."

  Daniel sighed and stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go be a good assistant and make sure Max's passport is valid for Europe."

  Sophie blew him a kiss.

  Tennyson tuned them out and ate his damn lunch. It was tasteless, but he was getting used to it. Working with Sophie had proved to be almost impossible after their split. He lacked motivation for simple tasks, and focus didn’t come easy.

  Unless it was focus on Sophie.

  Christ.

  The minute she'd walked out the door after they ended things, he'd punched through the wall to his bathroom. The situation was hopeless; they were doing the right thing, but the pain was unlike anything he'd ever experienced.