“It’s not the same. You’ve never been a woman in Hollywood.”
“Neither have you. The closest you’ve gotten is Utah.”
For a split second, a flash of amusement crossed her dark eyes. “All right, I know nothing about this field, but I have been in situations where most of my colleagues are male and they don’t always welcome females.”
“The industry is a lot more diverse than it used to be,” I countered.
“In general, perhaps, but I doubt that’s true in most action movies. Are there even any other female characters in the movie?”
“One or two.”
“With actual speaking roles?”
I wished I could’ve said yes, but at best, they had a line or two each.
Ronnie seemed to see the answer on my face. “I doubt very much this movie would pass the Bechdel test.”
I nodded and tried to make it look like I knew what the hell she was talking about. Next time I was online, I’d look up that test she mentioned if I could figure out how to spell it. Then again, if my scenes with Sierra didn’t start going better, I’d also look up movies that didn’t have any females in them. Maybe they needed to remake The Hunt for Red October? Mac used to love that movie. Then again, if I had to film for more than a day or two on a set that looked like a tiny submarine, I’d go batshit crazy.
“You’re a movie star,” Ronnie said, which didn’t seem like the kind of thing she’d admit in front of me. “You’re used to getting into character and thinking what life must be like for them, right?”
“More or less.”
“Then can’t you please try to see things from Sierra’s point of view? How intimidating this is for her? When we went out last night, she got carded. She just turned twenty-two, Aiden. What are you, thirty-one?”
“Yes,” I said. My official bio had shaved a year off my age. “Where’d you guys go?”
“Just some bar up the road.”
There were no bars up the road, and certainly not ones that would allow her to get as tipsy as she had last week. But then a new thought occurred to me. “Hey, did Sierra loosen up when she was drinking?”
Ronnie glared at me like I’d just stabbed her. “You’re not going to get her drunk to see if she’s better at the sex scene.”
“No, but if she wants to take a drink to make it easier on herself, I don’t see what the problem is. Some actors do that. Alcohol can make things go smoother. Why do you think so many people drink it on dates?”
She waved my suggestion off, and that pissed me off.
“Other than trying to put myself in her shoes or high heels or whatever, what the hell am I supposed to do? You don’t have to believe me, but I really did try to make her less nervous this morning.”
“I want her to come over to the house and have dinner with us tonight.”
That was pretty much the last thing I expected her to say. “Why?”
“So that she can get to know you better. Then maybe she’ll be more relaxed when you film the scene on Monday.”
I scowled. “Or maybe she’ll decide I’m even more of a jerk than she thought and steer clear of me. That’s what you did.” Ronnie could act like the patron saint of bad actresses, but she’d made some snap judgements about me just like Sierra apparently had. “And what’s this crap about eating with us? Half the time you skip out on dinner anyway.”
“I won’t tonight,” she said. “Tanner’s going to barbecue steaks. Ford went to Moab to pick them up. I’m making a salad, and I managed to get Mac to donate a couple of six-packs of real beer.”
I wondered how she’d convinced Mac to dip into his dwindling supply of real booze. But that wasn’t as surprising as her voluntarily seeking out Mac in the first place. “That woman down the street always brings dinner.”
“We gave her the night off.”
“So all three of you are in on this? You could’ve told me.”
“I’m telling you right now. You were shooting before.”
I turned my back and paced a few steps away so that I wouldn’t have to see Ronnie’s pleading eyes. And so that I wouldn’t have to see Sierra’s tear-stricken ones this evening. “Do you know why it’s in my contract that I stay in a house when we’re shooting on location?”
“I assumed it was so that you could have sex without the entire cast and crew knowing about it.”
I was glad I was facing away because that almost made me laugh. And it wasn’t like she was wrong. But that wasn’t the only reason. I faced her again. “I put everything I have into these movies. I worked my ass off to get to where I am today, and part of it is that I’m a pro. I take my work seriously. I give it everything I’ve got. And at the end of the day, I need to get away from it all. I don’t want to play footsies with people in the hotel lobby. I don’t want to run into the entire hair and makeup department when I need some ice. I work hard but then once I’m off the set, that’s my time.”