Guillaume, Her French Husband

He nodded.

“I know,” he said. “And I think I heard enough.”

She sighed and dropped her hand to her side.

“I didn’t realize I was that bad….I mean I must have been nervous or something. Maybe if you give me another chance I’ll be able to do better or something…” she mumbled in a soft voice. Her voice trailed off when he held her shoulders and looked into her nervous eyes. A warm smile played on his lips as he looked at her.

“I never said it was a bad audition Lara,” he said in a soft voice.

“Then why did you send everyone out? Why is the audition over?” she asked. “Or are you one of those perverted directors?” she suddenly asked as she pushed him away.

He laughed.

“Not at all,” he said. “The audition is over because I found my star.”

Her eyes grew wide as she looked at him.

“What?” she asked and he nodded. “Wait….shouldn’t there be like a call back or something of the sort?”

“My film, my rules,” he said. “And I want it to star Lara King.”

She shook her head and began pacing up and down.

“But why me…I mean, I usually have to jump through hoops when it comes to audition and I still never get the part….” Her voice trailed off.

“You have the one thing I was looking for in the star. And I want to get started as soon as we possibly can,” he said. “And I would like to begin this project as soon as we possibly can.”

She shook her head.

“How soon are we talking?” she asked.

“If we can get the paperwork sorted by the end of the week so that we can be in Paris by Tuesday, it would be perfect,” he said.

“Wait…Paris?” she asked as she waited to wrap her head around what just said. “That’s where the production is?”

Guillaume nodded.

“But don’t worry. The production team will take care of the flight and the accommodation too. And it is in a very beautiful place too…a villa on a vineyard on the outskirts of Paris. You are going to love it there.”

Lara bit her lower lip and shook her head.    “Qu’est-ce qui ne va pas…”  Guillaume shrugged when he figured out he had spoken in French. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he looked at her.

“You want us to leave immediately?” she asked and he nodded.

“I thought you would be happy about this,” he said and she bit her lower lip.

“I was…I am…but…” she shook her head.

“But what?” he asked and she took a long deep breath.

“I don’t know how to say this,” she started in a soft voice.

“I like honesty in everything I do. Maybe we can start now,” Guillaume said as he looked into her big brown eyes. “Tell me why a situation that would have made any other girl out there jump up and down has you so looking so….how do you say…gloomy?”

Lara took a long deep breath and he pulled out a chair for her.

“I have a sister,” she started. “I am her guardian and her only family. There is no one else for her. Just me and I just can’t leave her.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “I just don’t understand how this is all going to work out with my sister,” she said.

“Your sister,” he started. “How old is she?”

She sighed.

“Sixteen,” she said in a soft voice, almost a whisper.

“High school,” he said and she nodded.

“Yeah. High school.”

“Tenth grade?” he asked and she shook her head.

“Eleventh.” She smiled. “She started school a little early and she is quite gifted…music. She plays the cello and she makes good grades too. So one of the grades was a little short for her.”

He could tell that she was excited just talking about her sister. The way her eyes lit up, it was like a different person all over again. But just as soon as her smile had appeared it disappeared again. She shook her head and bit her lower lip. And that simple thing she was doing made him feel like he had a million fires inside him. He had not felt that way about anyone in a long time…in a really long time.

“Thank you for the opportunity but my sister…I just can’t leave her. She has no one else.”

Guillaume took a long deep breath. He had looked for so long just to find the right character and now that he had, he could not see how he was going to let her slip through his fingers. Who knew if he could ever have a chance to get another actress half as good as she was. And to make matters even more complicated, he was attracted to her. Everything was already set up in France. All he was missing was his lead actress and here she was. Right in front of him.

“Bring her with you,” he suddenly said and she raised an eyebrow.

“Excuse me?” she asked.

“Bring her with you to France. It is only for a few weeks…maybe a little over a month but you did say that she makes good grades and I can pull some strings for good schools in France with a good music program…just for the duration of the production.”

Guillaume could tell by the way she was looking at him that he was yet to convince her. Maybe the deal did sound too good to be true.

“Why…why would you want to do this for me?” she asked and he shrugged.

He took a long deep breath and walked around the desk to where he had first sat down. She looked at him as he reached for a bottle of water.

“I have been looking for the perfect person to play this role for three months. And every time, I see the same old faces. Pretty faces without any talent or people who have been in numerous pictures before. And quite honestly, I was looking for new talent. Fresh talent,” he explained. “And here is where I got that fresh talent. A new face. A person with brilliant acting skills all rolled up in one.”

“But I thought pretty faces were what people in the film industry were what people were looking for,” she said and he nodded.