“Hurry back, Ashley,” Petra said. “So we can catch up. I have some notes I can give you on your performance. I’ve been doing this a long time and can help you out.”
Cutter said, “We’ve got to get together again soon.”
Dad barely gave them a nod. He cupped her elbow in an unshakable grip and walked toward the side of the building. His low voice came out slow and angry. “What the hell were you doing all summer?”
Caz followed them, his arms across his chest. Dad barely spared him a glance. “You need to get back to your promoting.”
Caz said, “I can give Ashley a lift home. We can talk about this there.”
Dad’s eyebrows rose, and his voice thinned. “Stay out of it.”
Ashley stepped between them, trying to calm things down. “I just helped out when Lorene didn’t show up. I wore a wig. You can’t even really tell it was me.” Her voice dwindled on the last words. She didn’t believe them so it was hard to sell them.
“Really?” Dad said. “You think so? You think the kids in your high school won’t find out? You think a guy is going to treat you with respect, after seeing that? That bed scene?”
Caz stepped close. “She was acting. We hadn’t been dating that long when we shot that.”
Ashley widened her eyes and shook her head at Caz. Now was not the time to go there.
“Dating?” Dad turned to Ashley. “ Are you kidding me? He’s an actor. He’s not even in school. What are you thinking?”
Caz’s eyes glittered under his frown. “Didn’t you know?””
Dad looked confused and annoyed. “This is because I don’t live with you, isn’t it? Boys wouldn’t try that crap if I spent more time home with you and your mom.”
Ashley’s eyes widened, and she was knocked so far off her foundation, she didn’t know what to say.
The director joined them, so Dad redirected his anger, and whatever else he was about to say was replaced with, “What the hell, Russ?”
The director held up his hands. “Now, I know, I know, we ended up using a lot of her work in the finished film. But you’ve got admit the shots look great.”
“My daughter’s going to be an architect. Not an actress. An architect. I arranged for her to work with the set designers and said she could help with other tasks as needed. As needed, Russ, I didn’t say shit about her being on film.” Dad jabbed a hand toward the movie poster.
“Really?” Ashley’s shoulders relaxed. That made so much more sense in regards to Dad going on and on about this helping with her college applications. He’d arranged for her to work with the architect. That was thoughtful. “I would have loved to work with the architect.”
That seemed to make Dad angrier. “Then why didn’t you tell me you weren’t?”
Ashley shrugged. She didn’t know she was supposed to be working with an architect, so why would she tell Dad she wasn’t? “I didn’t see you that much.”
Dad pressed his lips together, then said, “I started dating an actress, Bevan, in July, and I know how you feel about the stupidity of dating actors, so maybe I stayed away a bit too much.”
The director said, “Where is Bevan tonight?”
Dad glared.
The director held up a hand. “There is the media coverage. She’d like it. Also, this is a great story for Ashley. How Ashley stepped up to help out and—”
Dad’s lips all but disappeared and his jaw tensed. He jabbed a finger in a different direction, and the director followed. As they walked, Dad said, “You’re not mentioning Ashley to the press.”
“They’re here now,” the director said. “The cameras are on us now.”
“Not one word.”
Ashley could no longer overhear them, but the head shaking and body stance looked adversarial.
The ground trembled.
Chapter 27
Ashley didn’t react other than to stay still. She felt like a true Californian in that moment. Earthquake? Who worries about earthquakes?
Movie posters swayed on the wall of the theater, and she lost her insouciance.
“Earthquake!” someone shouted. Several people screamed. Cutter’s shriek pierced the night. Ashley turned toward him and saw the large temporary platform sway. Weird. Only a few hours ago, Caz had been standing on top giving an interview. One of its large corner metal poles bent as if it were made of something other than steel.
Caz grabbed her and yanked her away from the falling structure.
The horrible sound of crashing metal and the sharp crack of splintering wood filled the air. Screams got louder. She tried to lift her head, but could only see Caz on top of her.
He said, “Are you okay?”
Wriggling, she eased from beneath his weight and pulled herself into a seated position with her back against the exterior brick wall of the auditorium. On the other side of Caz, half the fallen platform squatted like a crumpled metal spider, and half balanced against the side of the auditorium, trapping them in a debris cocoon. Pieces of the metal structure had ripped through banners advertising the premiere, and other pieces broke off, clanging through the night. Caz had thrown her clear just as the structure fell. She quickly looked him over, noting dust in his hair and tears on the sleeves of his jacket.
“Are you okay?” she asked, her heart pounding.
“Just a normal evening for me.” Caz struggled to sit up beside her. The space was a tighter fit for him. The outer framework formed a small haven amid the debris.
He had the British ability to underplay situations when he wanted to use it. Ashley put a hand over her heart to feel its beat ease and put a tense hand on his arm. Caz pulled her close and she curled onto his lap.
He rubbed a hand across her back. “We can crawl out through there.”
Her gaze followed his fingers. There was a significant gap between the platform and the ground.
Yells and sirens sounded, adding their noise as a backdrop to the slide of additional debris and indistinguishable yells from the event-goers. Ashley turned toward the rubble as a terrible thought hit her, and she screamed, “Dad!” She tried to rise.
Caz’s hand pulled her back down. “Don’t scream. There’s dust. Your dad wasn’t near us. He’s okay.” He brushed a hand over her arm and pointed toward the crawl space. “Let’s go through.”
“We can’t. The architect told me about that.” Ashley tried to keep the panic out of her voice. “You can’t build permanent things with that metal here in California because it won’t withstand earthquakes. And there could be aftershocks.”
Caz looked ready to argue, but her tense grip and whatever was in her eyes made him agree.
There wasn’t room in their nook for her to stand. The sensation of being trapped and the creaking of the metal around her made her heart pound. “It’s going to fall again. We’re stuck. I can’t see my dad.” She peered through the darkness. “Dad!” she screamed again.
Caz pulled a cell phone from his jacket. “Try him.”
Ashley tapped in his number with shaking fingers. A busy signal beeped on the other end. She hit the end key and typed again. This time she pinged a text and sent an email.
Beep.
The response was immediate. Dad’s response read, “Hold tight. Fire crew on it. All okay here.”
She slumped against Caz. His hand covered hers and he read the text over her shoulder. She buried her face against his neck, trying to stop trembling.
“When you’re an architect you could construct us a better platform.”
Her arms tightened on his shoulders. “Okay.”
Crash. The small tunnel he’d suggested they crawl through collapsed completely, stirring up more dirt and debris. They lowered their faces away from the projectiles and pluming dust.
His arms tightened around her. “Good call.”