Everything Leads to You

I force myself to look at the names as they scroll by.

It always amazes me to think about how many people work on a film, especially big studio productions, so I try to distract myself with the credits. I don’t even understand what all of the jobs are. The names roll on and on, and Caroline’s name flashes by but I don’t look away yet. The Yes & Yes credits will be so short, and my name will be there early, all by itself in the center of the screen, and I’m thinking about that as I watch the names of all these strangers and wonder what they’re doing now, if they made it to the positions they wanted, or if not what became of them, and then I see a name that leaps out at me but it’s gone in a moment and Ava says, “Okay, I’m sorry, you probably don’t have much time,” and I say, “No problem,” and try to shrug off the feeling that I may have seen something important.

“These tacos are delicious,” she says.

She takes a last bite and I have to look away. Even that is so beautiful it hurts.

“We should sit outside,” she says. “Look through what you brought. Did you see the view when you came up? It’s totally different in the daylight.”

“That sounds great,” I manage to say.

She stands up first and we get as far as the doorway before I blurt out, “I saw something in the credits that I didn’t notice before.”

She turns around to face me.

“A second assistant director credit for a guy named Leonard.”

Her eyes widen.

“It’s probably nothing,” I say.

But she’s already heading back to the corner. She kneels on the blanket and rewinds and then we watch the credits again.

“When is it?” she asks.

“Later on.”

“But you said director?”

“The second AD gets people coffee. It’s not exactly high profile.”

Caroline’s name passes.

“Soon,” I say. “Here!”

Ava presses pause. The name vibrates at the top of the screen: Leonard Pine.

I pull out my phone and search his name.

“Something’s here,” I say, opening the first link that appears, and I don’t tell her that it doesn’t say Leonard—it says Lenny—because I can’t stand the thought of disappointing her if he isn’t the right person. “He’s a producer now.”

“Is there a number for him?”

“Yeah, for his office,” I say. “I don’t know if—”

“What is it?” Ava asks.

I tell her and she dials.

“We don’t know it’s him,” I say. “It’s such a long shot.”

“May I speak to Leonard?” she says into the phone. She waits for a moment. “Ava Garden Wilder. Yes, okay.”

She looks at me and shakes her head. “She’s never going to connect me. We’ll have to go there.”

“Let’s just see what happens. Maybe I can find someone who knows him.”

“Yes,” she says into the phone. “Yes, Ava Garden Wilder. Is this Leonard? Lenny?”

The knuckles of one hand are white from grasping the phone, and then she reaches out to me and squeezes my shoulder with the other as she says, “Yes, her name was Caroline. Yes, I can come now.”

And I know that this is a major breakthrough. I know that all I should be thinking about is Lenny and what he’s about to tell us. But, instead, what I think about is how her hand squeezing my shoulder feels like a kiss.

She lets go.

Touch me again, I want to tell her. But I don’t.





Chapter Nineteen



“We found Lenny,” I tell Charlotte when she answers.

Ava is pulling her beat-up car out of her fancy garage and I’m sitting next to her in the passenger’s seat even though I’m due back at work in twenty minutes.

“Are you kidding?” she asks.

“No. And I know we’re supposed to be putting up the artwork but I’m sort of headed downtown right now.”

“We can do it tonight,” she says. “It’s fine. This is amazing. How did you do it?”

“I’ll tell you everything as soon as we’re done.”

“You’d better,” she says. “I can’t believe I’m missing this.”

“I know,” I say.

“It’s fine. I’ll do as much on my own as I can. I’ll tell Rebecca you got some great idea and ran off to make magic happen.”

“I love you,” I say.

“Yeah, I know,” she says. “Call me as soon as it’s over.”