| Chapter 11 Howie made his way through town to where Kira told him her bookstore was. He parked and walked in. It was a quaint little store with a place to sit and read and drink coffee. Kira walked up from the back, "Hey, you find it OK?" she asked. "Yeah, no problem," Howie said smiling at her. "So, where would you like to go for lunch?" Howie asked. "Um, I dunno, what do you like?" Kira asked. "I'll go for anything, you know the places, so just point me in the right direction," Howie said. "OK, there's a little cafe down the street, we could walk if you like?" she said. "All right," Howie said opening the door for her, "Lead the way." They walked down a few blocks and entered the cafe. Kira led Howie to a table in the corner and sat down. Howie picked up a menu and started looking over it, "So, what's good here?" he asked. "Anything on there is good," Kira said. The waitress came over to take their order, "Hey Kira, the usual?" she said. "Yeah," Kira answered. Howie ordered and the waitress went off to get their drinks. "So, you come here often?" Howie said with a laugh. "Yeah, almost everyday," Kira said smiling. They made small talk for a while. The waitress brought their food over, and they began to eat. "So, what do you do when you're not at the bookstore?" Howie asked between bites. "You mean like for fun?" Kira asked. "Yeah," Howie said. "Well, not a whole lot. The store takes up a lot of my time, but I do dance and sing occasionally," she answered. Howie looked up at her, "Really? I'd love to hear sometime." Kira laughed nervously, "We'll see about that." "So, what do you do when your not out touring the world?" Kira asked. Howie took a sip of his drink, "Well, not much lately. I usually try to write some, but I've kinda got writer's block at the moment," he answered. "Oh, that has to suck," Kira said. Howie laughed, "Yeah, I guess you could say that." Howie and Kira finished their meal and were walking back to the store. "Um, are you doing anything tonight?" Howie asked. Kira thought for a moment, "Not really, why?" "Well, I'd kinda like to see the town and all, and I don't think that Nick and Tara want to play tour guide," he said. Kira laughed, "OK, you got yourself a tour guide." They reached the store and Kira walked around the counter and grabbed a piece of paper, "Here's my address, is seven OK?" she asked. Howie smiled, "Seven is fine." "OK then, I'll see you at seven," Kira said with a smile. Howie got in the car and made his way out of town. Nothing could erase the smile on his face. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leighanne had just finished another scene, and was waiting for them to make adjustments to the set, when Gary walked up. "So, we're almost done for the day huh?" he said. "Yeah, just one more scene for today," Leighanne said. "Yeah about that, it's the �kissing' one you know," Gary pointed out. "Yeah, I know," Leighanne said matter of factly. Gary sat down next to her, "Your still bothered by something aren't you?" he asked concerned. Leighanne looked over at him, "I said earlier that I didn't wanna talk about it." "Well, maybe it would help to talk about it," Gary said. Leighanne looked at him and she could see the concern in his eyes. "Gary, not right now OK?" she said. He reached over a patted her knee, "OK, whenever you're ready, I'll be here," he said. The director walked up, "OK guys, we're ready." Gary and Leighanne got up and took their marks. The director yelled action, and they began the scene. They made their way through the scene and were up to the kiss. Gary leaned in and gently kissed Leighanne. As the kiss went on it became more passionate. Finally the director yelled cut. "That was perfect guys!" the director said, "That's a rap for the day!" Leighanne and Gary made their way to their respective dressing rooms to get out of costume and get their things to leave. Leighanne was bothered by what she was feeling. There was something about that kiss that wasn't just acting. She felt the excitement and passion of it, and that bothered her. Never in all the time she had been married had she felt that about a kiss with another actor. "Anne," Gary called from outside, "Are you bout ready?" "Yeah, just a minute," she yelled. She finished getting her things together and walked outside. They walked to the car in silence, got in, and headed home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "OK Brian, I think we can call it a day," the producer said. Brian pulled his headphones off and walked out of the room, "Thanks guys, see ya tomorrow." He walked out of the building and got in his car. He was halfway home when it hit. He grabbed the back of his head as a searing pain made its way through his head. He blinked his eyes a few times as his vision began to blur. Brian pulled the car over to the side of the road, turned it off, and sat there. He felt dizzy and nauseous. He laid his head on the steering wheel and closed his eyes. God, please make this pain go away. I just want to get home and go to bed. Please help me, he thought. He sat there for several minutes. Finally he started to feel better. Brian lifted his head and opened his eyes. His vision was back to normal, and the pain had eased some. He took a deep breath, started the car, and made his way back onto the road. He finally reached the house. He walked in and headed upstairs. Brian kicked his shoes off, walked into the bathroom and took some Tylenol, and made his way over to the bed. He laid down and pulled the extra pillow up over his head. A few minutes later he was asleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Anne, did I do something to make you mad?" Gary asked on the drive home. Leighanne looked over at him, "No, why?" "Well you haven't said two words to me since we finished shooting," Gary said. "I'm just thinking about things," she said. Gary looked over at her, "Like what?" Leighanne looked away from him, Oh hell, just go ahead and say it, she thought to herself. She looked back up at him, "Well about the last scene, the kiss really. Gary, you and I have worked on a lot of stuff together, and you have never kissed me like that," she said. "Like what?" he asked again. "Like there was some meaning to it," she said. Gary glanced at her, then turned his attention back to the road. Leighanne looked at him, "Well?" "Well, what?" Gary said. "Was there?" she asked. "What if there was?" he said not taking his eyes off the road. Leighanne sat there in shock for a moment, "Gary, there can't be, you know that." "Yeah, I know that. Your happily married and all, I know, you remind me of it constantly," Gary said with an edge to his voice. "What is that suppose to mean?" Leighanne asked. "Nothing, just forget I said it," he said. Gary turned into Leighanne's drive and made his way up to the house. "Oh look, hubby's home," he said under his breath. "What'd you say?" Leighanne asked. He looked over at her, "Oh, I said, see you in the morning." Leighanne looked at him a moment before getting out of the car, "Yeah, OK," she said. She walked into the house. "Brian, where are you?" she called. His car was outside, but there were no lights on in the house. She walked upstairs and into their bedroom. Brian was laying in bed, sound asleep. That's odd, he never goes to sleep this early, she thought to herself. She walked into the bathroom and saw the Tylenol bottle on the counter. "Another headache?" she said to herself. She walked over to the bed and sat on the edge. She watched him sleep for several minutes, Something is wrong, she thought. Chapter 12 |