Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“You should do it,” Finn said.
Arch seemed less convinced. “I’ve never played someone who’s still alive. I don’t know how I’d feel about it—it’s a lot of responsibility to get their story right. Especially someone as heroic as Herschel Greenfield.”
Arch settled back and cradled his coffee cup in both hands. “I suppose it would be good in that I could really study his mannerisms and actually talk to him about his experience. Get some really in-depth research. Dig down to how it really felt to be him in that moment when the waves were crashing and it seemed certain he would drown.”
Finn whistled through his teeth. “Man, you’re going method.”
After getting up long enough to lightly punch his brother on the shoulder, Arch said, “I don’t know. Seems like an interesting project. A new direction for my career, maybe.”
Mila found that she was shaking her head. She couldn’t keep quiet for another second. She couldn’t believe Jay was still pushing his own agenda when she’d told him in no uncertain terms that Herschel Greenfield was obviously not interested. In fact, he had clearly been mortified by the idea. “Jay was out of line to have even asked you about that. It’s like he heard zero of what I said.” She couldn’t help herself—she was irritated, and it came out in her tone.
Suddenly, she realized everyone was staring at her. Arch in particular looked confused, even a bit upset. “Wait, what happened? When did you talk to Jay?”
She stood under the pretext of getting more coffee, but really, she couldn’t sit a minute longer. She’d never been great at sitting still anyway. She had too much energy, and that just intensified when she was annoyed. She moved around, avoiding the gazes of her family. “Herschel was just standing there, minding his own business and admiring Tessa’s artwork.” She left out the part where he’d been staring at the painting of Mila in the surf and how he hadn’t been admiring the picture so much as reliving his terror of the ocean. “And then Jay stormed over, guns blazing, and launched straight into his pitch. I mean, I get that Jay is successful because he’s so pushy, but not everybody wants their life splashed on the big screen. Herschel Greenfield did not look like he wanted anyone to make a movie about his life. He looked like he wanted to move on from a truly terrifying experience.”
Mila paused to take a breath.
Arch was still looking puzzled. “But Herschel Greenfield is a hero. He saved the rest of the crew at the risk of his own life. We need more stories like that—of courage and devotion. People love to read about the person who risks everything to save other people. It’s in our DNA. Those are the stories we all love to read and watch on screen. He should be proud of what he did.”
It was hard to explain to her family that when you’d been through a traumatic experience, you didn’t want to relive it over and over. She still had nightmares about her own surfing accident that had wrecked her career all those years ago. The broken back had healed, but the bad memories would never completely fade.
Despite what people might have thought, it hadn’t been the fear of losing her career that had been so life-altering. It had been that awful, shattering moment when she’d thought she might not make it out of the ocean alive. Only a few had been through such an experience, and she and Hersch were two of those people. If it made her a little protective of the guy, she was okay with that.
She decided not to defend her position any further. They could think what they wanted.
Arch settled back in his seat and reflexively reached for Tessa’s hand. Mila doubted he even realized he had done it. He shrugged, obviously still confused, but willing to let the matter go. “Okay. Well, Jay thinks it’s a good idea. From the way he was talking, it was already a done deal, and Herschel Greenfield was on board with a biopic.”
Mila couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She made a sound of derision. “I’m positive Hersch hated the idea. I couldn’t have been clearer with Jay about dropping it already. But he’s like a dog with a bone.”
Archer shook his head at her like she should know better. “Julius Malone never gives up on anything he wants to do until he’s explored every possible avenue. I’m going to take a leap and say that Herschel hasn’t heard the last from my agent.”
It wasn’t Arch’s fault that his agent was so cutthroat. Jay was only doing his job by trying to push a project that would be an amazing opportunity for his client. But it didn’t stop her blood from boiling.