“Nervous?” Anna asked him. “I was so nervous at my first one of these, my God.”

He smiled at her slowly and shook his head.

“With you here next to me? Impossible.”

Just then, someone with headphones on came up to Anna.

“Ms. Gardiner? They’re ready for you.”

“Thanks so much,” Anna said. Ben offered her his arm, and they swept into the center of the lights.

Ben had been nervous about this part, even though he hadn’t wanted to admit that to Anna. He’d been worried he’d embarrass her, that he wouldn’t stand in the right way or look in the right place or would have a deer-in-the-headlights blankness on his face and everyone would criticize Anna for whatever he did wrong. But once they were standing there, the lights and cameras all on him, he realized that what he’d said had been right. He had nothing to worry about with Anna there with him. She coached him through the whole thing.

“Just look right to the center,” she said as they took their mark. “Everyone is going to try to get you to look at them and their camera, but don’t pay them any attention—we will just go center, then left, then right. So for now, just look straight ahead and smile.”

The lights and cameras on them were almost blinding, but he did what she said. He smiled straight ahead, but he had no idea what to do with his hands or feet—thank God Anna’s arm was through one of his, but was his hand just supposed to . . . dangle there like that? What did it do normally? He couldn’t even remember now.

He obeyed her pressure on his arm and turned with her, first to one side, then the other. And then, before he left to join the person beckoning to him to leave Anna’s side, he looked down at her.

“Have I told you yet tonight you look beautiful in that dress? I’m so glad you wore it.”

She turned her attention from the cameras to him, and her smile softened.

“I’m so glad I wore it, too.”

They smiled at each other like that for just a second, and it felt like they were all alone, no cameras, no lights, no people, just the two of them.

“Um, Mr. Stephens? Can we get some with just Ms. Gardiner?”

He nodded, but he didn’t look away from Anna.

“Knock ’em dead,” he said to her.

He followed the harried-looking woman to the far side of the step and repeat. He stood there watching Anna as she posed and laughed and gave the world that dazzling smile that now made him think of that moment in the bar when he’d felt he’d truly understood her.

She gave a final wave to the photographers. Then, as he watched, she did a series of interviews with reporters, where she laughed and sparkled and said complimentary things about the movie that he knew were bullshit but sounded very convincing. Finally, she came and joined him.

“Okay.” She squeezed his hand. “That part is over. Now it’s just like a normal movie night, except in formal wear.”

They walked slowly toward the theater—slowly, because every ten seconds Anna would stop and air-kiss someone and introduce him, and then they’d all keep walking and it would happen again.

Once they got inside, there was more circulating—he knew his role in all of these interactions was to smile when Anna introduced him, tell whoever it was that he “loved their work!” and see them light up and turn to Anna and say “You’ve got a good one here.” It happened four times in a row. The fourth time, he and Anna barely moved away before they both burst out laughing.

“If you can say one thing about Hollywood people—and I include myself in this—we’re nothing if not predictable about how much we love praise,” Anna said.

Ben laughed and touched her arm.

“Yes, but when I say it to you, I mean it,” he said. “I don’t know who most of these people are.”

Soon the lights flickered, and they all made their way into the theater. Their seats were in a section reserved for the cast. He’d always been very picky about where he sat in a movie theater, but not even he could complain about this.

When the lights dimmed, all of the chatter quieted. The director and producer—at least, that’s who Ben assumed it was—went up onstage and introduced the movie, to much applause, and as soon as they took their seats, the movie started. He and Theo usually went to see movies like this together. He’d always been secretly relieved that Maddie had never wanted to come along. He loved Maddie, but this was their thing. He’d have to bring Theo the action figure that had been waiting on his seat.

He enjoyed the hell out of the movie from the start, though he wasn’t a harsh critic of movies like this—all he wanted were some laughs and a few good explosions and he was perfectly happy. The first time Anna was on-screen, he looked over at her, and she had a wide grin on her face. She leaned over to whisper to him.

“I can’t wait to see the special effects. Ooh!” Just then, on-screen Anna shot fire out of her fingertips and the whole crowd applauded, Anna included.

Midway through the movie, someone walked into a room carrying a huge suitcase. A very familiar-looking huge suitcase.

Anna grabbed Ben’s arm. They looked at each other, their eyes wide, their lips pressed together, both shaking with painful, silent laughter. Finally, something funny happened on-screen, and everyone else in the theater laughed, so Anna and Ben could let out their shouts of laughter. They leaned against each other, laughing and shaking so much they were helpless. He put his arm around her and pulled her close, and she rested her head against his shoulder. It made him so happy that despite her dazzling smile and stunning looks, he still felt like he knew the real Anna, the person who was funny and loving and kind and anxious and courageous and a constant joy to be around, no matter her mood. He felt like he could be like this forever, close to her, laughing with her, with their public face and inside jokes.

And that’s when he realized it.

He was in love with her.

That’s why he’d felt so bad for the past few days. It was because he knew this was the end, and he didn’t want it to be the end, because he was in love with her.

Oh God.

* * *

—

Anna tried to repress her triumphant grin as they walked into the party after the premiere, but it was a serious challenge. She’d been so worried that despite the recent push to have her do promo for the movie, her resulting role would be almost nonexistent. But somehow, in the editing and the CGI-ing of the movie, her role had magically become a pivotal one. She’d been so happy, so relieved, in the theater she’d almost cried. She did cry when her character got huge cheers from the crowd in the theater in the final scene. And she hadn’t died! Which might mean another big paycheck in the future, if she was lucky.