Free Fair Play by Tracy A. Ward

famous playwright, director, or actor who’d received his big break in Phair because of The Marshall Theater Players.
    It had been my dream since I’d heard of The Wall of Fame to become part of it. Judging from the look I’d seen on Lucas’s face, my dream had just imploded.
    “I’m sorry,” I said, doing my best to ignore the voice inside me, the one that said I wasn’t good enough. Then I heard the voices of my parents. My mother—perfect and blond—the ultimate society woman, setting me up to marry rich so I’d always be taken care of. Then there was my father, telling me theater and writing was fine as a hobby, but that it was time to grow up, take responsibility, and be an adult. Follow in his footsteps.
    I’d failed to live up to either of their expectations. Worse yet, I’d failed to live up to mine.
    Lucas straightened the pages in front of him and fastened them with a clip. He placed the sheets in his top drawer. Then he stood suddenly and came around the desk, stopping in front of me.
    This was it.
    The end of the line.
    “Have you been interacting with Noah as I demanded?”
    I swallowed the lump in my throat. Pride made my chin rise. “Yes.”
    “I’m at a loss for words,” he said.
    I mentally cataloged my personal belongings—I would leave Phair with only what I brought—my laptop, a few clothes, and the contents of my cosmetics bag. Everything in my apartment, from the sheets on my bed, the curtains on my windows, down to the old lumpy sofa, had been borrowed either from Jess or from the prop room. I could leave a note at the Double Shot to tell Noah where to locate his beanbag.
    “Ashlyn, did you hear me?”
    The sound of Lucas’s voice pulled me back to the present. I blinked, trying to focus on his kind yet weary face. “I’m sorry…what did you say?”
    “It’s working.”
    Light-headed, I swayed, then squeaked out, “It’s working ?”
    “Yes. Which means you and Noah need to keep doing exactly what you’re doing.”
    He positioned his hands in front of him, as if in a prayer. “In my twenty years of running this theater, Midnight in Summer is the most original, most poignant story I’ve read so far. I only hope I can do the justice in directing as you’ve done in writing.”
    I dropped back down to sitting and stared at my hands, lying limp in my lap. Had I heard him right?
    “Are you sure?” I asked, looking up.
    A rare grin spread across his deeply lined face. “I knew from the day we met you were something special, Ashlyn. I’m so thankful Noah pointed me in your direction. You’ve truly become our northern star.”
    My confidence soared like a booster rocket. But just as quickly, my mood crashed to the ground. What if my pushing Noah into the role-play and the scene that followed in the stairwell had given him second thoughts about sticking to our agreement? Regardless of how roughly he’d grabbed me, followed by his visible reaction to what he’d done, despite my suspicions about his upbringing, I knew Noah would never harm me.
    But did he know that?
    The way Noah had ended our research for the day told me he didn’t.
    As I rushed down the stairwell, a mixture of giddiness and trepidation warred inside me. While I was happy Lucas approved of my script, I didn’t exactly know how to keep up the momentum and move forward after what happened with Noah yesterday. But maybe Jessica would, which was why my feet had taken me to her workroom without conscious thought.
    “Hey,” Jess mumbled through a mouthful of straight pins when I walked in the room. A yellow tape measure hung from her neck like a scarf as she finished pinning the last of the fabric draped on the dress form. “What do you think?”
    The dress was blue—a shade lighter than sapphire, with a wide plunging v that stopped high-abdomen and a full beaded skirt meant to come just above the knee.
    “Pardon me for being blunt,” I said, “but the woman who wears this is going to need a phenomenal