Chapter 17

The morning started early. It was a work day. The girls had to be fed, dressed, and taken to their abuelita’s house for care while the parents worked. Bree was in the kitchen when Marcel walked in and kissed her lips, “I’ll see you at work, babe,” he took the girls out to the car and left.

Shortly after, there was a knock on the back door. The sound of a dog was heard. Bree looked outside and saw Allen standing. She opened the door, “Good morning,” she said as she hugged him.

“Welcome back,” he said as he kissed her cheek. He told his dog to sit and he went inside to speak with Bree.

“Coffee?” she offered as she walked over to the freshly brewed pot and pour before he could respond. She turned and set it on the island where he sat.

“Thanks,” he said as he took a sip, “umm,” he hummed, “good stuff?”

“It’s the one from New Orleans that you liked.”

“Ah yes, I remember. That was a fun trip.”

“It was.”

“How was Kate?”

“She’s good. She looks happy. Oh, not that she wasn’t happy before—”

He chuckled, “I know what you mean.”

“She’s in a good place mentally and physically. Sadly, she won’t make the wedding but she did extend an invite to her new place in Marseille.”

“Nice. Uh, did Marcel mention dinner at Kathy’s this Friday? Are you up for it?”

“Of course.”

He stood and walked over to her, “I will always cherish what we had. It was special to me.” He ran his finger through her hair.

She nodded, “It was. It gave us a child.”

“Yeah. Something I didn’t think I’d ever have.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek, “I’ll see you at work later.”

Bree sat at her desk reading through a script that was emailed to her. The door opened, and she saw Viv, “So?”

Bree chuckled, “Have a seat.”

“It’s a beautiful story. I’m in love with it.”

She nearly jumped in her seat, “He’ll be here in five minutes.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

Viv stood and hurried out of the office. The opened again and Marcel entered, “hey babe.”

“Hola mi amor.”

“Are we ready for this meeting in a few?”

“Yeah. I’ve emailed you and Allen copies of the script. We can meet in the conference room in a few.”

“Sounds good.”

They left the office and went to the conference room where Donald was dressed in a suit because he took a day of leave to meet with them. She shook his hand, “Hi Donald, have a seat,” she said pointing at a chair.

They sat at the rectangle table. Donald pitched the idea and what areas he saw himself fitting in at the company. In the end, they were impressed. Allen spoke up, “I like the project. It’s not my expertise but I can help with filming. We would need directors, producers, and actors.”

“I was thinking we could use some local talent, it’s only four main characters. It’s shot mainly in two locations, so costs should be relatively inexpensive,” said Donald.

“And I have some connections. We can get it into some local film festivals,” said Marcel.

“We can use a local site for casting submissions,” added Allen

“Or we can use whom we have.”

It was silent. Donald looked at Bree, “I read your profile on the company website. You used to act.”

Bree chuckled, “Yeah, in high school that was many moons ago. Plus, there are a lot of sex scenes in this movie,” she looked at Marcel, “how would you feel about that?”

“If one of us is the lead, it doesn’t bother me.”

She looked at Donald, “Why not Viv?”

“She’s not an actress. You are. I think you would be great.”

“So, who’s my lead?”

“Me.”

They talked a little longer. They decided they would shoot the project. Bree and Donald would play the lead characters, Allen would film the project and Viv would edit with the help of Steve. They would film in December since the film was centered around the holidays.