Everything Leads to You

~

We are all silent. Charlotte turns off the camera. Ava sets the screenplay, still open to the scene, next to her on the chair. I look toward the patio, in the direction of the ocean, and try to identify the feeling that has taken me over.

It’s an ache. A heavy sadness. The kind that is brought on by heartbreak and then perpetuated by everything that reminds you of the way it’s broken. The kind that feels impossible to shrug off or tuck away. But there is another feeling, too, surfacing, and soon I discover that it’s the kind that makes the heartbreak almost something to savor because it is so simple and true. Like the Patsy Cline song on the night this all began. Like the most gorgeously written screenplays. Like the most graceful performances.

And then I feel myself break into a smile, and when I turn to her, I see that Charlotte is also beaming.

The answer is yes. Ava can act.

“Let’s try it again,” Ava says. “I want to pause longer before I say ‘I threw them away.’”

“Fine with me,” Charlotte says. “But you did a really great job.”

“Yeah,” I say. “It seemed perfect to me.”

And her performance isn’t the only thing perfect about this situation. Everything we’ve been planning is coming together. Here she is: Clyde Jones’s legacy. And as I watch Ava go through the scene three more times, each time capturing the emotion in a way that I imagine is even better than what Theo and Rebecca are dreaming of, I become more and more sure that we are witnessing something important.

Not only will Yes & Yes be a great film, but it has the potential to introduce the world to Ava Garden Wilder, and Ava Garden Wilder to the world.

When Ava feels satisfied and we have finished recording, we sit and watch the different takes and choose the best.

“When will you give it to Theo?” Ava asks.

“I’ll send it tonight,” Charlotte says. “But I’m not sure when he’ll watch it. It could be a couple of days.”

“The question is,” I say, “should we tell him who you are right away, or should we save it for after he’s seen it and is narrowing people down.”

Ava cocks her head.

“Who I am?” she asks.

“Clyde Jones’s granddaughter,” I say.

Ava tugs at the frayed hem of her cutoffs.

“I don’t know,” she finally says. “It’s just . . .”

“What is it?” Charlotte asks when she doesn’t continue.

“I wasn’t good enough?” she asks.

“What do you mean?” I ask. “You were great.”

“It’s just that I don’t think I want them to know,” Ava says. “If I’m going to get cast in this movie I want it to be because they think I’m right for the part. If I get it, I want to get it because I’m good.”

Even though this isn’t what I expected, I tell her I understand because I know how she feels.

“I always wonder whether I get to work on the cool projects because of Toby,” I say. “Most of the interns never even get to give their opinions about the sets, let alone design a room. Usually I don’t worry about it, but every once in a while I start to doubt myself.”

“But now you have this film,” Ava says. “So you must have really proven yourself.”

I shrug. “It’s pretty much the same thing. I got this job because of Morgan.”

“Morgan?”

“Her ex,” Charlotte says with disdain.

“My ex who happens to be a brilliant set designer with way more experience than I have.”

Charlotte rolls her eyes.

“What are you disputing?” I ask her. “The level of experience is a concrete fact.”

“The brilliance is debatable.”

“Not really. You need to learn to separate the artist from the person.”

Ava laughs an uncomfortable laugh.

“Maybe I should change the subject,” she says.

“Thank you!” I say.

“I was thinking. Would it be okay if I tagged along with you sometime while you worked? I’d love to see what it’s like behind the scenes. Whether or not I get the part.”

“It might be boring. It’s just a lot of looking through books and magazines and shopping and trying to talk people into giving me stuff for free.”

“There’s even Dumpster diving sometimes,” Charlotte adds. “Which can be gross.”

“And going to garage sales and estate sales at their closing time to see if we can get great deals on things.”

Ava smiles. “That doesn’t sound boring to me.”

But it’s hard to believe that Clyde Jones’s granddaughter, who now turns out to be an amazing actor herself, wants to tag along with me while I bust my ass on this project. Still, she seems genuine, so I tell her that the day after tomorrow might be a fun day. I’ll be location scouting for an exterior to use for Juniper’s apartment because the outside of Toby’s apartment is too nice for a single twenty-year-old who goes to school and works part-time in a grocery store.