Reel (Hollywood Renaissance 1)

“Canon, but what if she—”

“Don’t you say it, Evan.”

“God, I don’t want to, but we have an unfinished movie with a huge budget on our hands. You’re the one who just told me to be the producer here, so I am.”

“What do you want me to do?” I explode, springing to my feet, prowling the waiting room. “I can’t think about that with Neevah sick. I just can’t care about this damn movie until she’s better.”

Story must be protected, at all costs. Sometimes at personal cost.

My words from the night of the New York film festival, the night I met Neevah, come back to haunt me. Damn, I was arrogant. It was so easy to say story must be protected at all costs, at personal cost when I had so little to lose. Now the only thing I care about protecting is Neevah, and there is no cost higher than losing her.

“Canon, I know,” Evan says, his voice sober. “I get it. You focus on her. I’ll buy us some time with Galaxy. They’ve been understanding with the slower schedule to accommodate her illness.”

“Well, I need them to understand that it’s doctor’s orders that she stop production immediately until further notice. Dr. Okafor wants her to start dialysis this week. That’s four hours a day, three days a week.”

“Shit.”

“Lots of people on dialysis can work and lead relatively normal lives. They do the dialysis and then go about their regular routines. Some even do it from home, but that takes weeks of training. Dr. Okafor hopes we’ll find a match for a kidney soon and not have to go that route, which brings me to the reason for my call.”

“There’s more?” Evan asks, injecting the tiniest bit of humor into the question.

“Can we see if Galaxy could bring Neevah’s mom here? She’s afraid of flying, and I think the private route might be better for her, and maybe get her here quicker.”

“I don’t see why that would be a problem. They’ll probably want to do anything that could move this along.”

“Right. I honestly don’t care about their motivation. I just want to give Neevah something. I feel pretty useless right now.”

“You’re where you should be doing what you should do. Now I’m going to go do what I should do. Let me talk with Trey’s agent and the rest of the production team. Update them and talk through some possible solutions.”

“Thanks, man.” I glance up to see Dr. Okafor approaching. “I gotta go. Keep me posted and I’ll circle back.”

Dr. Okafor’s usual impassive expression is tinged with concern.

“How is she?” I demand, slipping my phone in my jeans back pocket.

“She wants to see you. I’m glad you got her here when you did. This could have been a lot worse. She could have had a stroke, Canon.”

My heart palpitates. Skips several beats and the bottom drops out of my belly. I grip the back of my neck and have to sit down.

“Did you tell her about the dialysis?” I ask, my voice wobbling and scratchy.

“Yes.” Dr. Okafor’s brows dip into a frown. “She’s not happy about it, and I tried to reassure her it’s a temporary measure, but . . . she’s not taking any of it well, especially when I advised that she stop production for now.”

“Well, obviously she’s not going back to work until she’s better.”

“She feels an inordinate amount of pressure that the movie is on her shoulders. Honestly, I think that pressure has contributed to the aggressiveness of this flare—of her disease progressing this rapidly. Flares are a part of this condition, and most people have to learn to adjust their lifestyles to make this work. She’s no different.”

Guilt gnaws at my gut hearing Dr. Okafor voice what I’ve been wrestling with. Doing this movie triggered all of this.

“Can I see her now?”

“Yes.”

“Her mother may be flying in.” I hesitate. “I might be speaking out of turn, but I don’t really care. I’ll deal with Neevah being pissed later. Her sister may be coming, too. How much testing could we get done if she’s here a few days?”

Dr. Okafor’s eyes light up. “You know a sibling is our best shot. Only a twin is a higher likelihood. Beyond blood, there is extensive testing. It’s not fast, which is why Neevah has to go on dialysis while we wait.”

“How many tests are we talking? How long?”

“There’s a general medical history and physical exam before we start the more invasive tests, but blood and tissue tests like the ones you took. Beyond that, a long laundry list of labs, EKG, chest exam to test lungs, a psych eval.”

“Good grief.”

“For women, gynecological and mammograms and—”

“Okay. A lot of damn tests. And how long does all this take?”

“Usually weeks. Is her sister coming prepared to at least begin the process?”

“Uh . . . her sister didn’t know Neevah needs a kidney as of ten minutes ago, but their mother is talking to her and hopefully bringing her here.”