Page 23 of Nora Goes Off Script
“Well, that’s nice of you,” I start. “I mean, you want to do that? Of course, you can stay.” I cannot be casual. I cannot find my normal voice.
“Thank you. Now, what’s it time for? Homework?”
•••
I putter aroundthe kitchen, setting up the coffee maker for what will now not be Leo’s last morning here. My relief is profound, but I’m clued in enough to know that it’ll only be worse in three weeks when he leaves. And my kids, they adore him. I can’t decide if it’s healthy for my kids to know what it’s like to have a man around who is interested in their lives, or if it’s just going to make the pain they feel about Ben worse when Leo leaves. At least he’s leaving us with something—a successful school-play memory. He’s here for the play, and the duration of that play is finite. No one’s going to be surprised when he goes.
I find Leo on the couch in the sunroom. He’s opened a second bottle of wine and is looking out at the yard through open windows. “Join me?” he asks.
I grab another glass. Bernadette’s art project is on thearmchair so I sit on the couch by his socked feet. “Thanks for letting me stay,” he starts.
“Thanks for helping my kid.”
He raises his glass in a toast, and I raise mine back and wait for him to speak. He puts it down. “I think toasting is really pretentious.”
“Same.”
“Do you think I should quit acting?”
I turn my whole body to him, pulling my legs onto the couch. “No. No one does. What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know. I’ve made a lot of movies, and I’m only forty. I could have a whole second life, not being famous. Using the self-checkout gun.”
“You’re just burned out. You’ve made three movies in two years. This is a reset, and honestly, I’m really glad you’re here. But you’ll get excited about the next role, and you’ll be back at it.”
“I just sort of like doing this.”
“You’d get sick of it.”
“Are you?”
“Not at all.”
He smiles. “Can I tell you a secret?”
I try to hide the excitement in my voice. “Sure.”
“I’ve watched the Christmas movies on TRC. I love them.”
“You do not.” I try to contain the smile that is overtaking my face.
“I do. When I’m home for the holidays, my mom and I stay up late and watch two or three in a row. Or we did. Sheliked the young people falling in love; I like the overly wreathed houses and the moms cooking things. And everyone stressing about how the lights are hung.” He takes a sip of his wine. “It’s a guilty pleasure.”
“What’s your favorite?”Pick one of mine! Pick one of mine!
He considers this for longer than I think the question warrants. “The one where the reporter gets snowed in and stays to help the innkeeper plan the annual holiday festival. I liked the two of them; I felt like it made sense they’d be together.”
“Becca and Daniel. Lake Placid. That’s mine.”
“See? You are romantic.”
“Only on paper. And when the stakes are low.”
CHAPTER 9
By the end of Friday afternoon rehearsals, Mrs. Sasaki is pretty much just bringing Leo cups of water and nodding at his ideas.
Weezie texts me as I am falling asleep:What’s going on out there? He says he’s staying another three weeks???
