“Don’t look,” he’d mumbled, and turned away.
Later that day, the foursome had lunch at Casey’s house. She put out sandwich makings and homemade bread.
“All I can say,” Jack said, “is that I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of Olivia’s evil eye. Is there any more of this stuff? Tate ate it all.”
Casey got a jar of mango–blood orange chutney off the shelf and handed it to him. “What’s going on between them? They’ve been odd since the first day.”
Jack and Tate were having a tug-of-war over the jar of chutney.
“I have no idea,” Gizzy said. “Anyone up for a swim this afternoon?”
Jack released the jar. “Not if you plan to jump off the roof into the pool again.”
When Casey went back to the stove, Tate joined her. Behind them, Gizzy and Jack were arguing.
“Are you all right?” Tate asked her.
“The acting is hard for me. Saying and feeling what I don’t mean goes against my nature.”
“Lying versus honesty.”
“I guess so. The emotions you show when you look at Lizzy seem so real. How could she not see what he was feeling? How would she not know that Darcy was falling for her?”
“In the book, I don’t think Darcy sneaks glimpses of Lizzy behind her back. That’s all from Kit’s direction, but I like it. It lets the audience see what’s in Darcy’s mind and adds some sex to the drama.”
“You do it all so
well, but knowing what you’re doing behind my back makes it hard for me to look at you with…What is it? Cold disdain?”
“Just think of me rummaging around in your bedroom with your PJs on the floor.”
That image made her smile.
“Definitely the wrong expression,” Tate said. He straightened his shoulders, then stared down his nose at her, his eyes full of contempt. “Perhaps, Miss Reddick, you should stay away from the pies.”
“Are you saying I’m fat?”
Tate’s eyes changed in an instant. He looked her up and down again, but this time in a way that made her take a step toward him. With a wicked grin, he moved away. “Jack! Leave some of that ham. Save it for the stage.”
“Are you saying I was hamming it up?”
With a wink at Casey, Tate went back to the table.
His teasing spurred her into wanting to do a better job on the stage. In the afternoon, Jack, Gizzy, and Tate went to the Big House to work out with the trainer who’d arrived from L.A.
“Come with us,” Tate said. “If you don’t want to hit the weights, sit and watch.”
“So I’d be the fat girl who sits on the sidelines? Is that what you mean?”
Tate seemed startled. “You are not fat. Girls in L.A. work to look like you. I didn’t mean that for real. I was just showing you an acting technique. You—”
Casey grinned at him.
“Good one! I certainly did walk into it. Come meet the trainer. He’s five foot four and has never smiled in his life. Kit wants him to play Mr. Collins.”
“I have cooking to do and Olivia is coming by. And I have to figure out how to make an Oreo pie.”
Tate was walking backward toward the Big House, his face one huge smile. “Nina will come here after I get back from L.A. Emmie wants me to buy her a pony.”