I’d never had the ability to lie to my mother. Over the next few minutes, I explained to her what had been developing between Jade and me.
“Just be careful,” she said. “I like Nicole. I do. She’s very sweet. But I don’t believe she’s the one. Something has to be missing for you to have let things go so far with Jade. You’re young. You have the right to change your mind. But you don’t have the right to string someone along. No woman deserves to be with a man whose heart is with someone else.”
She wasn’t telling me anything I hadn’t already known for a long time.
“You’re right. But as long as I’m with Nicole, nothing will happen with Jade.”
“By the same token, don’t believe that you can’t have something just because it feels too good to be true. You deserve perfection.”
I needed to get back to Jade.
“Thanks for the talk, Ma.” I started to walk away when she stopped me.
“Oh, Tyler?”
“Yeah?”
“Try not to drop the glasses.” She smirked.
“Wiseass.”
My heart raced as I climbed back up to the treehouse with the glasses in hand.
“That took a while,” Jade said. She’d been lying on the bed and sat up.
“My mother caught me.”
A flash of panic washed over her face. “You didn’t tell her I was up here, did you?”
“I kind of had to. It’s okay. She’s cool with it.”
“She thinks we’re having an affair.”
I nodded. “Pretty much.”
Jade wasn’t amused. “I don’t want your mother to think I’m a bad person.”
“She doesn’t. I told her the truth.”
She was quiet as I prepared her drink then handed it to her.
“Here.”
She took it from me and tasted it. “Mmm. That’s good. Burns a little going down. But it’s just what I need.” Taking another sip, she asked, “So when does your show start up?”
“In a month. We started rehearsals this week. I was coming from there when you called for a ride.”
“You should probably be studying your lines tonight instead of babysitting me.”
Her comment reminded me that I’d forgotten that I was supposed to be somewhere tonight.
“Hang on,” I said as I typed out a text.
“Who are you texting?”
“I was supposed to meet my costar, Audrey, to practice this one scene tonight. I never told her I couldn’t make it.”
“I’m getting you in trouble.”
You have no idea.
Audrey texted me back immediately. “She just responded. She says it’s no big deal. Her husband will run lines with her.”
“You want to practice the scene with me? I’ll do Audrey’s part.”
Her question had caught me off guard.
“Are you serious?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I thought you wanted privacy tonight. I was gonna head downstairs and just let you be.”
“I really don’t want to be alone.”
Well, then we’re both on the same page.
Leaving her was the last thing I wanted.
“Okay. I’ll go to my car and get the script.”
As I returned to the treehouse with it, a sudden self-conscious feeling came over me. What if she thought my acting was shit? After all, she was the real deal.
“So, you know the gist of the story, right?”
“You’ve told me bits and pieces. But tell me about this scene.”
“My character, Xavier, is a writer who’s trying to pen the next Great American Novel. His wife, Justine, is basically considering leaving him because she’s feeling neglected. In this scene, she’s confronting him about it.”
I watched Jade as she intently read over the scene.
“Okay, I’m ready,” she finally said.
Because we only had one script, I sat next to her on the bed so we could share it.
We started going back and forth, and I was blown away by how naturally she fell into the role. She was a true professional, and it showed. She read the lines with so much passion in her eyes, completely transforming into the character. It even looked like her eyes were watering. Although I suspected that might have had something to do with her current emotional state, I’d never worked with anyone who could cry on cue.
At one point, I stopped mid-scene. “You’re amazing.”
“That’s not in the script.”
“No, it’s not.”
A long moment of silence ensued.
“You know, I don’t think you could ever pull off the role of Justine. You’re too perfect-looking. Her character is supposed to be this flawed, ugly duckling.”
She pondered my comment then said, “You know something? I’ve heard that line my entire life—that I’m too good-looking, too perfect. And, you know what? It’s never worked out for me. Because, in the end, at the least as far as my past relationships have gone…the quirky, plain Jane gets the man. Once the excitement wears off with someone like me, they want to settle down with someone who’s not so ambitious.”
“Maybe you just haven’t found a real man, one who can handle you.”
I felt up for that challenge.
“The thing is…it’s not that I don’t want to be that girlfriend who stays home watching movies at night instead of performing…but I want it all. I want the family someday and the limelight. I don’t want to settle for one or the other.”