Hey there!

I’ve got some good news and I’ve got some some bad news.

The bad news: I’m going to take some extra time for this episode so it won’t be available on the blog this weekend. I’m hopeful I’ll be able to post it here on Monday evening, but it might take me until Tuesday to get it right. I want to give myself a bit of time to have fun with this one 🙂

But what about early access?! That’s the good news! I have an excerpt of the script ready for you. And it’s available right here, right now! Hope you like it and hope it’ll make you look forward to part 12. I know I’m definitely looking forward to working on this one.  I had a lot of fun writing part 12.

Have a great day,

Sigrid

Milly ignored her buzzing phone. It was lying on the small coffee table in the corner of her dressing room, and it was making a lot of noise despite the sound being turned off.

 

She looked back up at Suzanne. She felt exasperated. “I honestly don’t know why. I just can’t seem to relax on stage.”

 

Suzanne took a step closer and put her hand on Milly’s shoulder. “I told you: you need to take a step back now and then. Why don’t you join us for dinner tonight? We’re going to that nice bistro after today’s rehearsal.”

 

Milly looked away. “Sorry” she mumbled, “I need to get this.” Answering the call would give her some time to come up with a reply.

 

Milly hurried to the other side of her dressing room. She guessed the caller would give up any moment now.

 

“Sure, I’ll wait…” Suzanne said softly. Milly’s throat tightened. She didn’t want to hurt Suzanne’s feelings.

 

Milly clumsily tapped on her phone’s screen to accept the call. She didn’t recognize the number but that didn’t matter right now.

 

“Hello, this is Milly?” She pushed a strand of hair back behind her ear. It kept falling into her eyes. She would have to ask the hair and makeup team to fix that.

 

“Hi, eh, this is Hannah. Hannah Emsworth?”

 

Milly froze. She glanced sideways. Suzanne was standing by the vanity and studying a bottle of makeup remover in her hand.

 

“Oh, hi.” Milly tried not to sound too surprised. That would only make Suzanne curious.

 

“I hope I’m not interrupting something? I know you’re really busy right now…”

 

Milly turned towards the wall. “It’s fine. I mean, we’re taking a break.”

 

“Ah, good. Good.”

 

Shit. The flowers. Hannah’s beautiful flowers. The polite thing to do would be to bring them up straight away and thank her. But what would Suzanne think?

 

Hannah spoke before Milly had a chance to mention it. “Look, I’m sorry I missed the opening of the season. I was wondering if I can make it up to you with dinner?”

 

Milly ran a hand through her hair nervously. Wow, she hadn’t seen that one coming. Why did life always take such unexpected turns?

 

She had waited for news from Hannah for weeks. And now, when timing couldn’t be worse, here she was – finally inviting Milly to dinner.

 

“Tonight, you mean?” Milly asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. But she immediately realized her mistake. She was in Houston. Hannah was in New York. And Hannah hadn’t said anything about having dinner soon.

 

“Eh, sure, tonight is fine.” Hannah stammered. Milly frowned and shook her head. What?! Hannah was here? In Houston?!

 

Then Milly remembered Suzanne was in the room. She straightened up and tried to keep her expression neutral.

 

“What time would be good for you? I can make 7 or later, whatever you prefer.”

 

“7 is perfect, actually.”

 

“Great! OK if we make it a casual dinner? Like a grill restaurant or a good Mexican? Italian?”

 

Milly was again taken by surprise by Hannah. But at least this time she knew what she wanted to say.

 

“I have dress rehearsal tomorrow. I have to be careful what I eat. A grill restaurant is fine.”

 

There was a brief silence on the other end of the line.

 

“Ok…Anything else I should pay attention to?”

 

Milly shook her head. “No, of course not. I’m sorry.”

 

“No, that’s fine. I understand you have to take care of your voice.”

 

Milly looked down at her outfit. She was in her costume. “Yeah, I do.” She smiled. “Well, that and I have to make sure my co workers don’t faint when I breathe into their face. So no onion and no garlic.”

 

A spontaneous burst of laughter came through the line. “Oh my god. I never even considered that. No Italian and no Mexican then! Ok if I text you the place and we meet there?”

 

“Yes, of course. Thank you.”

 

“Great. See you tonight then.”

 

“Yes, see you tonight.”

 

“Bye!”

 

“Bye…”

 

Milly lowered her phone. She could feel Suzanne’s gaze on her. She hoped she wasn’t blushing.

 

“That was my patron. Apparently she’s in town. She asked to have dinner…”

 

Suzanne cleared her throat.

 

“Well, that settles your plans for tonight then.”

 

“Yes, sorry, we’ve only met twice and…”

 

“No, I understand. Gotta keep the sponsors happy.”

 

Milly shrugged. “I guess”

 

Suzanne put down the bottle of hand lotion she had now been holding.

 

“I hope you can relax for a bit afterwards. Like I said before, you can do this Milly. You just need to loosen up a little. Find that playfulness again.”

 

Milly’s shoulders tightened.

 

“Thanks. I’ll try”

 

Suzanne sucked in her lips. Milly gave her another uncomfortable shrug.

 

“I think we’re about to start again” Suzanne finally said.

 

“Yeah, we better get back.”