Turning Point

by Lara Zielinsky

  Across town, phone to her ear, Brenna unfolded suddenly on the couch with a huge exhalation of relief. “Cass, are…is everything all right?”

  Cassidy took a deep breath, feeling real relief flood her for the first time in hours. “Yeah, I just… It’s okay that I called?”

  “Absolutely.” The redhead curled back in the cushions and pulled the pillow into her lap as she spoke. “How’s Ryan? Any lingering effects from his adventure today?”

  “Not a thing. I think he’s still unaware just how much trouble he caused.”

  “Did you try to explain it to him?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, you’ll just have to watch him more closely for a while. You’ve got an adventurer, like James was. Still is, really,” Brenna mused.

  “Really?” Cassidy curled up on her bed and relaxed into the pillows. “Tell me about it?”

  “When he was about Ryan’s age, he tried to fly off a porch railing,” Brenna rem-

  iniseed. “He was always the one hallway down the street when I called them in for dinner.” She chuckled. “Thank God, he doesn’t drive yet. I’ll never see him once he does.” She choked up a bit. “Bui,” she suddenly sounded more assuring than reminisŹcent, “that’s what we raise them up to do — be able to walk away from us, hmm?”

  “And be safe,” Cassidy agreed. “Yeah. So why is it so damn scary when it hapŹpens?”

  Hearing the other woman’s exasperation and completely understanding its source, Brenna hugged her pillow tighter, let out a half-chuckle, and sighed, feeling belter than she had in hours. “I don’t know,” she admitted ruefully.

  Cassidy felt warmed beyond belief. “You were so positive for me today. I…don’t know if I’ll ever be able to thank you.”

  “You needed someone,” Brenna offered quietly.

  The line was silent between them for several breaths. Cassidy closed her eyes and inhaled as the unexpected connection soothed her. “You were perfect for the job.” She heard Brenna’s soft intake of breath.

  For her part, Brenna didn’t want the call to end. She looked around the couch and table, spying her dog-eared script. “Well, so…urn, you want to practice a few pages?”

  “Over the phone?” Cassidy put her hand over her mouth to quash the laugh bubbling up. The idea of reading script pages at one another over the phone in the middle of the night was absurd. However, she didn’t want to hang up, either. “All right.” She reached for her script and heard through the line as Brenna did the same. “Where do you want to start?”

  Brenna started reading; Cassidy recognized the section and flipped there, pickŹing up her response.

  A long, strange day came to an end on a high note.

  Chapter 13

  Script under his arm, Sean Durham trotted onto the set and settled at one of the round tables where several other cast members already sat. The new script called for a bar setting, and the props people had recreated a speakeasy from the 1920s. “They’re about to break,” he said. “Who’s going with me to get the trays?”

  “You want to eat here?” Terry Brown raised an eyebrow.

  Cassidy elbowed him. “I’m partial to this place. Cozy.” She looked to her right and smiled at Brenna, just sitting down. “Don’t you think so?”

  “Yep.” Brenna grinned back, looking around at the atypically costumed group. Many of them wore Prohibition-era, semi-formal attire. “Wonder if we could conŹvince the writers to let us stay here. I like the change of clothes.”

  She laughed, running her fingers over the jacket line of her blue skirt suit. She cast a sidelong glance at Cassidy, who wore a torch singer’s elbow-length gloves and long, slinky white dress, complete with sequins. With the woman’s blond hair pulled up off her cheeks but falling down her back, the effect was stunning, like looking at an alabaster or marble statue, despite the rouge defining her cheekbones. “Hmm?” She caught Cassidy’s eye and cocked her head.

  The blonde nodded. “I’d go for it.”

  Rachelle Cheron paused as she was settling onto a chair. “Oh, um, Cass, didn’t see you this morning, but I wanted to say how glad I am that everything is okay with Ryan.”

  Cassidy nodded sheepishly, tracing idly on the table with her sequin-gloved hand before intertwining her fingers and looking toward Brenna. “Thanks to Brenna, I didn’t go nuts.”

  “Brenna?” About half the table, unaware Brenna had anything to do with the situation, looked straight at the compact woman.

  “I was just in the right place at the right time.” She looked at Cassidy, then ducked her head. Taking the attention off both of them, she pointed to Sean. “I think that’s enough. Engage your afterburners and get us our lunches. Best speed,” Brenna said with a tossed thumb over her shoulder. “I’m hungry.” She winked at him.

  “Aye, aye, Ma’am!” He stood and saluted before leaving.

  In their Time Squad uniforms, Rich Paulson and Will Chapman finally stepped up to the bar set, leaning on the table sections between the others. “So, how’s it going?” Will asked.

  “Not bad,” Brenna said. “How’s shooting?”

  Rich grinned. “Four more scenes.”

  Thinking quickly, Brenna calculated. “What, then? Another five hours or so? You might make it home for dinner.”

  “If we can get through everything in a minimum of takes,” he said with a nod.

  Curious, Cassidy asked, “What’s tonight?”

  “My anniversary.” Rich smiled.

  “Congratulations,” Cassidy said. “How many years? Are you doing dinner?”

  “Twenty-nine years. And yes, we’re going to dinner. Then dancing. And a play at L.A. Playhouse. I don’t have to be here tomorrow. I checked.” He grinned.

  “Nice to see someone having some fun,” Will added.

  Just as Sean reappeared, his arms weighted with trays and a collection of juice

  and soda cans, a .stagehand appeared. “Ms. Hyland?”

  Cassidy, who had jusl taken her choices from the pile, turned around. “Yes?”

  “Phone call for you. You can take it over there.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Wouldn’t say. Said it was important, though.”

  “All right.” She stood, catching Brenna looking at her while nibbling on the corŹner of her tuna fish sandwich. “I’ll be right back.”

  Will dropped into the chair Cassidy had vacated and dug into his meal. LookŹing briefly at Brenna, between bites he said, “So, part of the weekend had some excitement for you?”

  “Yes.” She sipped her Diet Coke. “How about you? What’d you do this weekŹend?”

  Around them, other conversations started up.

  Will shrugged. “I flew out to Phoenix and visited my sister.”

  “Family event?”

  “Nah, just a visit. Haven’t seen her much. She’s expecting her first baby in a couple of months. We haven’t had a chance to talk.”

  Brenna nodded. “Sounds nice. How’s the weather out that way?”

  “Nice.” They fell silent. He studied her for a moment longer before turning back to his meal.

  Brenna glanced up at Cassidy, just at the edge of the set wall, as she talked on the phone. Looking agitated by the conversation, the blonde paced. Brenna continŹued to eat but kept an eye on her, her own stomach twisting in concern. She considŹered that it must be a reaction from the weekend. She had become deeply involved in a very private pain with the younger woman. The connection lingered a little bit, she supposed. When she looked at Cassidy again, her heart constricted.

  Cassidy’s face was ashen. She had covered her mouth to prevent whatever she was feeling from coming out. Brenna snapped to her feet as Cassidy hung up. InterŹcepting her at the far edge of the stage, she put a hand on her arm. “What’s up? You’re white as a sheet.”

  “It’s the makeup,” Cassidy joked, with obvious forced effort.

  Unexpectedly hurt by the dismissal, Brenna realized that was also why Cassidy had tried the j
oke. The blonde had been hurt by the phone caller. “What is it?” she coaxed. With a glance over her shoulder toward the others, she nudged Cassidy behind the stage wall.

  Taking a deep breath, Cassidy searched Brenna’s face before finally deciding to share. “Mitch heard,” she said briefly. “He wants to see Ryan.”

  Brenna shook her head and leaned against the wall carefully. “Mitch? That’s your ex, isn’t it? He has visitation, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Nothing happened. Ryan is fine. I’m sure he just wants to see that.”

  “He’s never agreed with my having custody,” Cassidy explained. “All he needs is a good reason to challenge.”

  “This isn’t a good reason,” Brenna assured her.

  “What isn’t a good reason?”

  Brenna and Cassidy, who had huddled close to talk, looked outward, startled. Cameron and producer Victor Branch had wandered over from their offices. “Hello,” Branch said when their gazes fell on him.

  “Hi,” Brenna returned.

  “What’s up?” Cameron queried again.

  Cassidy’s answer was unexpectedly short. “Nothing.” She moved quickly away from the group.

  Brenna could not stifle her surprise.

  Cameron posed his question again directly to Brenna. “What’s happened?”

  “Cameron, I shouldn’t get in the middle of things.”

  “You seem to be doing that lately anyway. Why stop now?”

  Brenna was stung by the cutting remark. She pushed aside the wave of indignaŹtion with a deep breath and turned away. “Nice to see you, Victor,” she offered in parting.

  “Um, yeah. Bye.” Victor looked from Cameron to Brenna, then back to his writer. “What the hell was that all about?”

  Cameron watched Brenna settle next to Cassidy. The women resumed eating in silence while the rest of the cast animatedly conversed around them. “I wish to hell I knew.”

  “Cameron.”

  The two men looked up to see Will Chapman coming toward them. “Hello, Will.” Cameron became even more uneasy; conversations with the actor seldom went well lately. “What’s up?” he said carefully.

  “I wanted to talk about a scene coming up. Instead of sending Pryor out again, I can recover the team this time. I’ve got an idea to restage it,” Will suggested. “It’ll give more punch to the action, an undercurrent I think the fans will appreciate.”

  “No,” Cameron said sharply. “The story stays as is.”

  “So you’d rather write flat shit than build a story with some character, Cam?”.

  “You’re the flat one, Chapman. Dull as a board. Your dailies put half the exec team to sleep.”

  “Then give me something to do!”

  “You get what you can handle.”

  “Cam,” Branch interrupted. “We’ll discuss it later.” He saw the director come around the edge of the set. “We’d better go.”

  “All right, everyone,” Gerry Hifer, the new episode’s director, addressed the group at the table. “Break’s over.” Cameron and Victor left, the latter dragging the former away with a bit of effort, and the cast cleared away their lunch mess, quickly sweeping everything into the trash cans.

  Brenna stepped out of her uniform with relief and pulled on her thick robe. Hanging the costume carefully, she sat at the small mirror and brushed her hair, loosening the spray’s hold on it. There was a knock at her trailer door. “Come in.”

  “Ms. Lanigan?”

  “Kyle?” She turned around to face the guest actor, Kyle Masters, cast to play her office boss. It was strange for her to be playing a secretary in the current episode’s pre-women’s lib era. Playing the demure was tough; Susan’s in-charge attitude was part of her nature. It did not vanish overnight. “What’s up?”

  “We didn’t get a chance to talk today. I was wondering if you’d like to go to dinŹner. Read a few lines,” he offered hesitantly. “Work on our rapport?”

  “I can’t do dinner,” she said, “but I’ll read with you for a little while.”

  “Thanks. You all are a pretty tight-knit bunch,” he said. “Saw you during the lunch break.”

  She nodded sagely. “It’s hard to come into that, I know. I’ve had to do it myself a few times.”

  “And…Cassidy, is It? She’s a bit of a chilly personality.”

  “Not really. You just caught her on an off day. By the end of the week, you’ll see.” Cassidy’s performance had been rougher then usual during their run-throughs after lunch. Mitch’s call really rattled her. Brenna resolved to find out more, to see if she could help at all. She shook the other woman’s troubles out of her head and returned her attention to Kyle. “Well, ready to read?”

  Cassidy stepped into her trailer just as the phone rang. Picking it up, she answered, “Hello?”

  “Hello.”

  Recognizing her ex-husband’s voice, Cassidy sat down hard. “Urn…hello, Mitch.” Distracting herself, she slipped off the high heels. Reaching for the Bullwinkle slippers, she held them in her lap for a long moment, the soft fluff comforting. “I’m sorry about earlier. I…You just caught me in the middle of working. Came out of left field.”

  “I still want to see Ryan.”

  “Nothing happened.”

  “This time. What about next time?”

  “There won’t be a next time,” she insisted.

  “You can’t know that. Who’s with him right now?”

  “Gwen. You know her.”

  “Yeah, and I know she’s got three of her own to look after.”

  “Mitch, don’t. Please.”

  There was a knock at her trailer door. “Come in.”

  Cameron stepped up and stood in the doorway. “Hi, Cass.”

  She held up a hand, motioning him to silence. “I’ll have to talk to you later,” she said into the phone. “A writer just walked in.” She hung up, took a deep breath, and turned to Cameron. “Hi.”

  “Just wanted to come by and see how you were doing. Who was the phone call?”

  “Mitch heard about this weekend. He wants to visit Ryan.”

  “So he wants to visit with his kid. About time he shared some of the responsiŹbility. As long as he stays away from you.” He moved toward her.

  That Cameron could suggest letting Mitch have Ryan for any time filled Cassidy with so much anger and fear it made her curt. She stepped out of his reach. “I’m still in costume. Excuse me.” She slipped into the second room of her trailer, emerging a few minutes later, straightening a pullover sweater over her worn jeans.

  He smiled and held out a hand. “Dinner?”

  “I’m going home.” The flat statement was not an invitation to join her.

  Cameron overlooked her coolness. “I’ll meet you there.”

  “Mmm hmm.” She walked out of her trailer before he could say anything more.

  The parking lot was almost empty when Cassidy reached her car. She was still trying to calm herself as well as to understand why she had gotten so upset with Cameron. Noise a few spaces away drew her gaze up from the pavement. Brenna was getting in her car. She called out, “Good night!”

  The other woman turned from pulling her car door closed. “Cass? I didn’t think you were still here.”

  “And you…” Cassidy noted how tired the other woman looked and regretted bothering her. “What kept you late?”

  Stepping out of her SUV as Cassidy came closer, Brenna pointed toward another section of the lot. “He did.” Cassidy glanced over and saw a silver car driving away. “Kyle wanted to practice our scenes again.”

  “So, is Jakes getting along with her boss?” Cassidy asked with a twinkle in her eye. “Should Chris offer you a love song the next time you come into the club?”

  “No. Please don’t.” For a moment, Brenna wondered about Cassidy’s singing voice. She had not had a chance to see the woman rehearsing the numbers she was doing in the episode. Brenna shook it off. “Did you resolve things with Mitch?”

  “
Not yet. I’ll call him tonight after Cameron leaves.”

  “Entertaining tonight?” Brenna’s voice was uneasy.

  “I need to find a balance between spending time with Ryan and with Cameron.”

  “I know the feeling.”

  Cassidy nodded. “I guess you do.”

  “Well,” Brenna said quietly, reaching out a hand, “Good night.”

  When their palms touched, both stepped forward. Cassidy suddenly threw her arms around Brenna. “Thanks for everything,” she whispered in Brenna’s hair, inhalŹing the distinct scent of muscle ointment. She closed her eyes and squeezed lightly. Happiness tingled along the nerves in her back as Brenna’s hands moved lightly up her spine before the two pulled apart. When she met Brenna’s eyes again, they were lightly crinkled by an uncertain, but pleased smile. She felt a similar one shape her own lips. The change in their relationship felt incredibly good.

  “You…you’re welcome,” Brenna said, and Cassidy was surprised to hear a mild huskiness in the voice.

  Cassidy could say nothing, being caught up in the depth and breadth of swirlŹing cobalt. Following a deep breath, Brenna slipped from Cassidy’s arms. She clasped Brenna’s hand for a moment longer, suddenly reluctant to let the other woman leave.

  Brenna’s voice was soft in protest. “I…should go.” Cassidy released her hand. Brenna looked up and nodded. “Take care of yourself.”

  “I will.” Cassidy stood in silence, watching Brenna slip behind the wheel and drive off the lot.

  Chapter 14

  “Come on, Cass. Sit down. Relax.” Cameron patted the couch where he’d sat after turning on her stereo with an easy-listening CD.

  Cassidy finished up the last dish and dried her hands. “Something to drink?” she asked.

  “Sure.”

  She fished in the refrigerator and discovered the remnants of a bottle of white wine. She was moving it to the counter when Cameron entered the kitchen. Stepping aside when he reached into an upper cabinet for a pair of glasses, she felt his hand slip over her upper back. “Sorry,” she said, moving away.