Second Act (His Chance 1)

Toward the end of the meal, my phone buzzed. I ignored it, but when it happened twice more, Lorenzo said, “That might be important. Maybe you should answer it.”

I pulled the phone from my pocket and saw I’d missed two calls and a text from my agent. The text was all in caps and said: CALL ME ASAP. I showed Lorenzo the screen and muttered, “That’s weird. I have no idea why Sylvia would be calling me on a holiday.”

The phone rang in my hand, and when I answered it, my agent blurted, “Thank God you picked up! How fast can you get to L.A.?”

“Actually, I’m already here.”

“Perfect! Drop whatever you’re doing, because I need you to meet me downtown right away. I’ll text you the address when we hang up.”

I put the phone on speaker and asked, “What’s going on?”

“A once-in-a-lifetime part in a major production has come available, but we have to act now!” In the ten years I’d known her, Sylvia Gold had never sounded so excited.

“On New Year’s Day, though? Why would anyone be casting a film today?”

“I’ll explain everything when I see you.”

Lorenzo looked sympathetic when I told Sylvia, “I was serious about quitting if I didn’t land a job by the end of the year. I don’t think I can handle yet another rejection.”

“This is different, Will,” my agent insisted. “I really believe your entire life is about to change.”

Chapter 3

Half an hour later, I muttered, “I hate the fact that I’m getting my hopes up. Do you know how many times I’ve done that, only to end up disappointed?”

The address Sylvia had sent me turned out to be a downtown office building, and as Lorenzo and I walked up to its glass front door, he said, “You don’t have to go through with this if you don’t want to.”

“I know, but we’re already here. I might as well hear her out.”

The door was locked, and Sylvia was in the lobby, putting on lipstick. She’d been in the business nearly thirty years, and she was a true professional who was always perfectly pulled together. Today though, her usually sleek auburn bob was frizzy and tied back with a scarf, and her dark blue pantsuit and print blouse seemed thrown together. This impromptu audition had clearly gotten her out of the house in a hurry.

When I knocked, she said something to the security guard behind the counter, who got up and let us in. I introduced Sylvia to Lorenzo, and after they shook hands, she told me, “Let’s sit and talk, so I can get you up to speed.”

We crossed the sunny, modern lobby, and once we’d settled onto a black couch and chairs, I asked, “What are we doing here?”

“Gage Lang has an office upstairs, and you’re meeting with him in about twenty minutes.”

Lang was an A-list action star who’d recently made the move to directing, and he was definitely a big deal. I exclaimed, “You’re kidding! What’s the meeting about?”

“He needs to recast a part in an upcoming picture ASAP, so he called me about an hour ago and asked for you by name.”

That was more than a little surprising. “Why would he know who I am?”

“Because you auditioned for this role about eleven months ago,” she said. “He really liked you, but the studio insisted on going with a big name.”

“What was the part?”

Sylvia fished around in her designer handbag and produced a paperback, which she stuck in my hands. “This one.”

She’d handed me a worn copy of Alex and After. It had become an instant classic when it was released in the 1990s, and its cover was adorned with a gold stamp, signifying a prestigious award it had won. There’d been a lot of talk about a film adaptation over the years, but no one had managed to reach an agreement with A.L. Sen, the reclusive author, until recently. One of the bigger studios finally obtained the rights and brought Lang on board to direct.

“I wanted to play Alex more than anything,” I said. “I love the book and that character, and I thought I aced the audition, but I never got a call-back. Then there was a big announcement that a hot, young A-lister had been cast in the role, which made me wonder why they’d even bothered holding open auditions.”

Sylvia said, “Well, now the A-lister is out and they need to recast the part.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure Lang will fill you in.”

“In all honesty, do you really think I have a shot here, Sylvia?”

“Absolutely. I got the impression he really wants you for this part, so it might just be a question of getting the studio to sign off on you.” When I tried to hand the book back to her, she said, “Take that with you. It might win some brownie points with the director,” so I stuck it in my jacket pocket.