Blurred Boundaries

by Lori Crawford

  “Really?”

  He should’ve known better. Marguerite called him out on his “ignorance.”

  “We’re still talking about Tam?” He wasn’t going to give in, though. “I have no idea. I think she might be. I haven’t noticed her fielding any personal calls or texts since she’s been here.”

  “That’s good.” Marguerite mused.

  “Huh?” Now, Evan was really lost.

  “My brother needs a strong woman to whip his lazy backside into shape. Get him out of Mama’s basement.”

  “I don’t know. You really think he’d be Tam’s type?” Evan couldn’t put a finger on why the thought bothered him so. He surely had no claim on Tam. A better question was, did he want one? Speaking of types, she was more of the girl next door kind of woman that he generally stayed away from. To be honest, had he passed her on the street, he probably wouldn’t have taken a second look. Since they started working together, she’d somehow wormed her way under his skin. He enjoyed being around her. She was cool people. But did that mean he wanted to date her?

  “…And then he smiled at Mama and said, ‘Please.’ Can you believe it? Just like that.” Evan tuned in to Marguerite’s rant just in time to have no idea what was going on. As best he could tell, she was still talking about her brother.

  “That is pretty unbelievable,” he said with caution when it became uncomfortably obvious that she was waiting for his response. He only hoped it was the right one.

  “So the cops just left the donkey there. Right in the front yard.” She snorted and stood back to admire her handy work. “Looking good.” Given the fact that there had been cops and donkeys in her story, he had a feeling he should be sad he’d missed it. Maybe he could get Tam to ask her to tell it again and he’d listen in then.

  Evan picked up a set of fangs and slipped them in his mouth. They were smaller than the full set he’d had to wear the other day. He bared them in the mirror and growled. “Approachable, yet deadly. Perfect. As always.”

  “Too kind. As always.” She fussed with his ear. “Let me know the moment that gets unbearable.”

  Evan turned his head to check out the side of his head. It had stopped stinging a while ago so he barely even noticed it. “Will do.”

  “So. Wrap party. What do you think?”

  “You’re giving me whiplash here.”

  “To introduce Tam and Monte. For all his faults, he is pretty lovable. I bet they’d get on like gangbusters.”

  He so did not want to co-sign on this matchmaking scheme of hers. Marguerite’s walkie squawked and Kyle called her name. Evan had never been so glad to hear that sound in his life because it usually meant he was late getting somewhere. She answered it.

  “Go, Kyle.”

  “Wardrobe needs an ETA on Evan?”

  “Sending him over now.” Evan took the opportunity to slip away without answering Marguerite’s question. He waved at her and closed the door behind him. The morning air was already starting to heat up. Even with the prosthetics glued to his head, it was nothing like the hot seat she’d inadvertently put him in with all her questions about Tam’s love life.

  That didn’t mean he wouldn’t continue to ponder it now that she’d brought it up. If he were completely honest with himself, he was getting way too comfortable sleeping next to her. Which is why he’d given her the bullshit excuse last night about superstitions when she’d moved to sleep in the extra bed. He still couldn’t be sure that she’d bought it. But she’d humored him. And they’d slept in the same bed for the first time on purpose. Keyword: sleep. And she’d still been at it this morning when he’d left.

  Somehow, during the night, she’d ended up in his arms. And he had no complaints. He didn’t even mind the little puddle of drool she’d left on his shirt. Unlike the first morning when he’d had to run out, he woke up in enough time to just enjoy the peace of being close to her without all kinds of chaos waiting to break free at any moment.

  From a distance, it almost appeared that she wore her hair in an afro. Close up, he could see that she actually had the tiniest little coils of curls all over her head. Crazy as it sounded, they reminded him of the metal springs in ink pens. Except they were so much softer. She had these insanely long eyelashes - without cosmetic help - that brushed the tops her cheeks. Her lips were…

  Enough! Evan put a halt to his current train of thought. He’d mixed business with pleasure exactly once; with Audra. It hadn’t been a good idea. But Tam wasn’t Audra. She was… Stop it! Evan quickened his pace. The sooner he got back to business, the less time his mind would have to wander about where it shouldn’t.

  Angelisa was waiting for him when he arrived at the wardrobe trailer. “Let’s get you dressed. They’re almost ready to go.”

  “Sounds good.” Almost anything that didn’t involve Tam sounded fantastic at that point.

  Evan allowed Angelisa to change his shirt so he wouldn’t mess up Marguerite’s work. Given the enlarged ears and extra hair, button downs were the best invention known to man. His character’s shirt was strategically torn and the thread holding the buttons on were loosened for the love scene they were about to shoot. He was about to be ravaged by a very hot guest star. For the life of him, he could not remember her name. Funny how he’d never forgotten Tam’s.

  There was a knock on the door. “Some PA sent me over here for my wardrobe. Oh, hello.” Angelisa and Evan turned to see the very woman he’d just been thinking of. He smiled his welcome.

  “Hi there.” The woman’s tone turned super flirty and she stepped up into the trailer crowding him. The top of her blonde head brushed his chin when she looked up at him. He couldn’t move away because Angelisa was still fussing with his pants.

  “I was hoping to find you. See if you wanted to run lines. The script seems to have changed quite a bit since I landed the part.”

  “Uh… yeah. There have been some pretty substantial changes per the network.” He frowned. “I’m sorry. Remind me of your name, again.”

  “Ceely. Ceely Glynn.”

  “I’m Evan. This is Angelisa.”

  “I’ll be ready for you in a moment,” Angelisa said around a mouthful of pens.

  “How lovely to finally meet you, Evan. I’ve been looking forward to working with you for a while now.”

  “That’s kind of you to say.” Still, he couldn’t help but notice that she seemed to completely ignore Angelisa. He didn’t yet know her well enough to determine if she were just nervous or downright rude.

  Evan continued searching his memory. He recalled seeing her headshots, but never actually meeting her. Maybe she hadn’t been around all week because she only had the one scene to shoot. “Did you just get in?”

  She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Last night. There must’ve been some mix up at the hotel because they put me with a roommate. What is that? But it’s okay. I straightened everything out. Got the suite I was expecting.”

  Evan cringed. Tam was going to have fit when she heard about that. Angelisa stood and brushed the lint from his shoulders.

  “Actually, we all have roommates to save on costs for this episode.”

  The woman gave her a patronizing smile. “Of course the crew would double up.” Welp. That took care of his question. Rude, it was.

  Evan was thankful for the werewolf teeth that were in his mouth. Even the smaller set required a bit of concentration for him to speak so he didn’t just blurt out his annoyance with the woman. She had a whole lot of ego going on and he had no proof that she could back it up with talent.

  “Anyhoo, I’d be ever so grateful if you would help me get up to speed on these changes.” She actually batted her eyes at him. And he couldn’t be sure, but he was almost positive that she’d brushed her store bought breasts across his chest on purpose. Still, he was a professional. He was committed to making this episode work.

  “Sure. I’m due on set now, but next set up, for sure.” He looked at Angelisa. “Am I good to go?”

  “Break
a leg, sweetheart.”

  Evan shot a wink at Angelisa then eased by Ceely to escape the trailer. Even though she could tell he had to go, she never bothered to move out of his personal space. It was like she thought she could keep him trapped there with those giant boobs of hers.

  Once he’d descended the trailer’s steps, he heaved a silent sigh. He was going to need to call upon every single ounce of his training to get through a love scene with the woman. He didn’t find her in the least bit appealing. And just like that, an already sucky day slipped a little bit further down the tubes.

  chapter eight

  Tam stood in Video Village and watched the disaster unfold right in front of her. This could not be happening. Except it was. Evan’s first scene was just him alone. It should’ve been a piece of cake. All he had to do was react to hearing his father’s voice on the phone for the first time. Simple.

  Except two hours later, they still hadn’t managed to get it. Between breaking apple boxes, blown lights and mics dropped into the shot or Evan missing his cue, everyone’s nerves were fried. She sighed. Who was she kidding? The mishaps with the scene were the symptoms; not the cause.

  There had been a nervous energy on set ever since she’d arrived that morning. News of Gavin’s return must’ve permeated the entire crew because everyone was walking on eggshells. No one knew what the man planned to do about the perceived treason against him as Rock had told her he’d put it. Making things worse, Gavin hadn’t even shown up on set yet. The anticipation was just about to kill every last one of them. And it was reflected in their work.

  “Cut!” Rock called. He crossed his arms and stared at the floor. His posture was utterly demoralized. If they didn’t get these last few scenes, everything that they’d done to this point to salvage the episode was worthless. Tam had to do something. She put a hand on Rock’s shoulder.

  “Maybe we could use a quick break.” He looked at her for a moment, then nodded. She got on her walkie. “Kyle?”

  “Go, Tam.”

  “We’re taking a quick break. Can you get everyone in here for a moment?”

  “Something wrong?”

  “Any more than it already is?”

  There was a pause. “Good point. I’ll round everybody up.”

  “Thanks.” She smiled at Rock. “Be right back.”

  Tam hurried out to craft services. Even Charmagne looked a little more harried than usual.

  “Did I see you unload some chocolate cake this morning?”

  Charmagne smiled at her. “You did, indeed. You wanna be the first to get a little taste?”

  “Actually, I think we’re all going to be first together. What kind of serving trays do you have?”

  Together, Tam and Charmagne divided up the cake so everyone could have a little taste. The two of them made short work of serving up the mini portions then heading back to the set with the dessert on serving trays.

  True to his word, Kyle had everyone gathered. Gone was the banter that had filled the atmosphere of the past few days. Every last person was tense and nervous.

  Tam pasted on a smile and with Charmagne’s silent help, she passed out cake to everyone who was present. More than one person gave her a puzzled look. Justin, moved to take over the cake-serving task from her, but she handed him his own piece and shoo’d him back to where he’d been sitting.

  “Relax.” She looked around. “That goes for the rest of you, too.”

  Finished passing out the cake, she stood in the middle of the group to address them.

  “Things feel a little tense around here today. So, we’re going to take a moment. Just to breathe and realize that everything is going to be okay.”

  More than one face was wearing a skeptical expression. “Okay, so let’s talk about the elephant in the room.” Those expressions turned down right shocked. “When we started, we shot the wrong script. It’s awful, but not the end of the world. Now, we’re shooting the correct, network-approved script. And we’re kicking ass while we’re at it.” That got a few smiles out of people.

  “I can tell that you’ve all heard about the little dust-up last night. Well, that was last night. This morning, we’re staying the course. If anyone tells you different, and I do mean anyone…” She paused for effect and to make sure they all understood that meant Gavin. “…you send him to me.”

  Tam managed to keep her voice steady even though she was shaking so hard on the inside that she was sure her teeth would start chattering at any moment. Her career was over if things went anymore sideways than they already had. Although, she knew Gavin would see to it no matter how things went, now that she’d pretty much declared war on him. Publicly.

  Still, the last thing she needed was for the crew to pick up on her fears. Projected invincibility was the way to go. Tam cast a kind look at everyone gathered. “You guys are all seriously amazing. I’m so grateful for the hard work you’ve put in thus far. The finish line is in sight. We can get there. Together. What do you say?”

  Tam knew a moment of severe panic when the set remained dead silent. So much for her little pep talk.

  A voice in the back spoke up, “To the finish line!” She turned to see Evan lift his cake as a toast.

  “The finish line!” echoed around the set followed by re-energized chatter.

  Kyle raised his voice above the cacophony. “Reset!”

  And just like that, the break was over. People scrambled back to their jobs. Tam rejoined Rock at Video Village.

  “You think this will work?”

  “One way to find out.”

  Rock nodded. Cameras started rolling and sound called “speed.” They were off. Evan nailed the scene in one take. During the next set up, Suzie sidled up to Tam.

  “You are one ballsy chick.” She grinned. “I like you.”

  Tam sure didn’t feel very ballsy at that moment, but there was no way she was going to admit it. She continued chatting with Suzie while they were getting set for the next scene.

  Tam had been looking forward to seeing it ever since she’d written it. Audra’s character was to walk out on Evan’s character causing him to soothe his ego with a willing barmaid who wasn’t what she seemed. Love scenes were his specialty. In Tam’s opinion, anyway. She was also excited that she’d had the opportunity to introduce a new character who would play a pivotal role in the season finale.

  Tam checked her call sheet. Ceely Glynn was the new actress’ name. She had yet to meet her and hoped that she’d been well cast. She was there to throw a seriously fun wrench in the relationship between Evan’s and Audra’s characters. Tam couldn’t wait to see how things played out.

  That is until she saw Ceely Glynn. The role called for a mousy brunette. Ceely Glynn, with her overt sexuality and brazen nature was anything but. Tam headed over to the pool table where Ceely and Evan were running lines. She arrived just as Ceely grabbed him and pushed him down on the table. She hopped on top and straddled him.

  “Oh my,” Tam said. Was it just her or did Evan look a bit frightened?

  Ceely gave Tam an annoyed look. “We’re trying to run lines here. Could you maybe come back later?”

  “Actually, I think we need to send you back to hair and makeup. You’re a little… overdone… to play Ivy.”

  “But I look hot.”

  “Yes. Yes, you do. But Ivy isn’t hot. Not yet.”

  “Not… yet?” Evan asked. He was still sprawled on the table with Ceely sitting on him.

  “Yes. She’s supposed to have a few-episode arc.”

  Ceely squealed and clapped her hands. “Oh, my God! That’s amazing!” She looked at Evan. “Isn’t that amazing?”

  He looked like a deer in headlights. “Sure?”

  Finally, Ceely hopped down. Evan sat up. “That stinker. He didn’t tell me that.”

  Tam frowned. “I’m sorry. Who didn’t tell you what?”

  “Gavin. Gavin Rudnitzki. I think he’s your boss. He cast me for the role.”

  Once again, Gavin proved
that he didn’t even have to be present to screw them all over. Tam worked to keep a smile on her face despite the woman’s haughty tone that was seriously rubbing her the wrong way.

  “Of course he did.” Tam turned her attention to Evan. “A moment, please.”

  “Excuse me,” he said to Ceely then eagerly followed Tam back to Video Village.

  “That woman is not Ivy. We are so fucked.” Tam could feel her blood pressure rising. She fanned herself and Evan helped her into a chair. She was on the verge of losing it.

  “It’s too late to recast her.” He shot another glance Ceely’s way. She was practicing her pounce upon the pool table. He cringed. “I have to be under that.” He shook his head. “She has some really boney knees.”

  “Are you trying to help me or kill me?” Tam sucked in a couple deep breaths and tried to think things through. First, they needed privacy. She spotted Rock talking to Kyle across the way.

  “I’m going to get Rock. Meet us in the production trailer.”

  Evan nodded and headed off. Tam took a covert video of Ceely with her phone then rounded up Rock so the three of them could put their heads together.

  Tam didn’t waste any time. “Schenecki is going to have to recast Ivy.”

  “Why? She has such small part.”

  “In this episode. She’s crucial to the season finale.” Tam played the video. “This is not Ivy.” She started pacing the length of the trailer. “Ugh! Gavin knew this when he cast the woman. Does his treachery know no bounds?”

  Evan sat on one of the office chairs and absently swiveled. “It would appear not.”

  “Ivy. Who is she?”

  “She’s a powerful witch masquerading as the mousy girl next door. She just arrived in town because Drew killed her mother. She wants revenge and has concocted an elaborate plan to get it.”

  Rock referenced the video again and shook his head. “Yes. This is not Ivy.”

  Tam stopped pacing to lean against the wall. “Just when I thought we were getting back on track.”

  Rock held up a hand. “Not so fast. We can work with this.”