Here is the next mini installment of Her Leading Man.

As I was re-reading and doing some light editing... (I know. I know I'm not supposed to edit during WriMo!), I realized that this fit better as a continuation of Chapter 4.

Still not worried!

I am way, waaaaay behind on my NaNoWriMo word count. I have no idea what happened to yesterday. I didn't write. I didn't draw. I didn't clean my house... What the hell happened to yesterday?! I don't even know. Maybe I was abducted by aliens? LOL

Get caught up:

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Chapter 4A

Sitting in the convenience store parking spot with Lane Tuloch on the phone as she stared at their “intimate” photo was just too much. The rumble began low in her belly and percolated up and out. She couldn’t stop laughing. Tears streamed down her face. Her sides began to hurt from exertion. The clerk from inside the store actually tapped on her window.

“Hey, lady, are you all right?”

Giving him the thumbs up, she waved him off and started the short drive home.

“Ella?”

“Lane?” she aped before they burst into laughter again. “My gosh,” she sighed, wiping the stray moisture from her eyes, “I haven’t laughed this hard in…years.”

His voice sobered a bit. “I normally wouldn’t call this early, but I wanted to give you a head’s up in case you needed to do a little damage control at home.”

She bit her lip, preventing her from admitting she was alone. Maybe part of it was fleeting fantasy that there might be a mutual attraction, especially after drinks and a bar top dinner at O’Grady’s last night. Their conversation spanned the play, his broken nose, and making up life stories about the other patrons in the bar. He apologized again for the morning's coffee mishap and insisted on buying dinner since she wouldn't allow him to take care of her dry cleaning. All in all it was a convivial evening.

Maybe she was just ecstatic to be in the company of a handsome man, who happened to have a great sense of humor, and made her at ease; something she hadn’t experienced since date nights with her husband.

A memory of sitting across the table from Paul over a candlelit dinner turned her smile more wistful. It was their 20th anniversary and she remembered the twinkle in his eye as her very conservative husband got down on one knee and proposed in front of the entire restaurant.

The ease in which they could converse carried over from last night and she tried to deny a sense of longing. Glancing down at her renewal band, Ella didn’t realize how much she missed the companionship of a smart and gentle man until now. And handsome to boot! Her thoughts returned to the present - to Lane. She could admit a fan-crush on the man after watching all of his movies through the years. Let him keep thinking I’m married. Her marital status was on a need-to-know basis and Lane Tuloch did not need to know. It’s safer this way.

She glanced at the growing number of ignored calls from her daughter. “I might be in a little bit of trouble, but nothing I can’t handle.”

After another brief exchange, she hung up and went into the house waiting for Cara’s call.

Ella held the phone away from her ear as Cara began squealing like a young teen who just got surprise concert tickets to her favorite band. “Good lord, Cara! I don’t know what’s the big deal. You work with celebrities all the time.”

“It is a big deal! Oh mom, I wish I could fly back and celebrate with you! Your first audition and you landed the role. And on top of it, it’s Lane Tuloch’s freshman play and you’re gonna be on the same banner in a romantic comedy.”

Ella imagined her daughter twirling in the center of her room, her voice was so dreamy.

“Tell me again how you two met,” she giggled.

“The goose egg on my head is nearly gone but I’m still red from the coffee burns! I’ve been swimming in aloe since yesterday.”

“That’s so adorable.”

“Really? Maybe next time he can toss me down some stairs and we’ll call that love.”

“Aw, come on. You know what I mean. It’s serendipity. You were meant to get that role and you get to kiss him several times, I bet.”

Ella’s stomach did a strange flip-flop, her mind turned to the audition when she felt the warmth of his hands and how close this lips were to kissing hers. “I can’t do this!” she squeaked.

“No. Stop. Mom? I was only teasing, okay? This is an opportunity of a lifetime so don’t throw it away.”

“Why does that sound familiar?”

“Because it’s what you told me when I was offered my first job in France and I’d never been that far away from home before.”

“But you went.”

“And I went…and didn’t look back.”

“And this is going to be strictly professional,” Ella reassured herself.

“And you could do a lot worse your first time out! At least he’s easy on the eyes. Oh! Maybe if you two hit it off he’ll agree to a photo shoot for my collection.”

“Cara!”

“What! It’s art.”

“Your affinity for nude celebrity photos troubles your mother a little.”

“You can’t tell me you’d mind seeing that man naked on a bed of furs,” she teased. “Naked Lane - that’s perfect!”

She felt the flush from her chest to the roots of her hair. “Wrong on so many levels! Bad daughter. Bad,” she laughed. “I’m hanging up on you now. La-la-la-la-la! I can’t hear you anymore.” She heard Cara’s tinkling laughter and teasing chant of ‘Naked Lane’ followed by a quick, “Bye, ma! I love you,” before she hung up the phone.

Sitting alone in her kitchen, the phone quiet and nothing but the hum of the refrigerator to break the silence, Ella looked around the world she’d known for so long and it suddenly felt small.