Free Red Flags by Tammy Kaehler Page A

“I’m pretty excited.”
    â€œFirst rule of movie-making: it’s a boring process.” She waved me forward into the maze of large warehouse-sized sound stages. “But I’ll admit, it’s amazing to see a movie later and know how the scenes were built. To have been there for that.”
    â€œI’m excited to see how movies are put together.”
    â€œMaddie’s glad to have you here to show you off. The whole set knows how much fun she had at the practice session yesterday. You’ll get questions. Especially from Lucas.”
    I gulped. I’d done my best to ignore the fact I’d not only be seeing Maddie, but also the hottest man in America. Who claimed to have an interest in me. You ignored it so much you changed into your best jeans and a shirt that matches your eyes . “I can handle racing questions.” I wondered if Penny would understand. “Movie stars are still intimidating.”
    â€œI get it. But they’re normal people. Ones everyone thinks they know.”
    â€œGorgeous normal people.”
    Penny chuckled. “True. But also goofballs. Insecure. Obsessed with stupid stuff. Like the rest of us. They’re human. Focus on the personality, not the movie-star persona.”
    â€œI’ll do my best.” Still, drop-dead gorgeous Lucas Tolani.
    Penny stopped at a small door in the side of a big building. “Keep your voice down most of the time, don’t say anything when they’re rolling, and watch where you’re stepping.”
    I followed her inside. I expected to enter the fictional world of the movie being filmed. What I saw instead was a forest of metal stands holding lights, cameras, and backdrops clustered around a set for a three-walled coffee shop, with multiple tables full of people. No sign of Maddie or Lucas, even as we drew closer to the brightly lit action.
    For the next three hours, I watched while movie magic happened, as Penny had warned, at a snail’s pace. Discussions, rehearsals, makeup, lighting, and reblocking all took place before the scene was shot. And shot. And reshot. Over and over, take after take. Finally, the thirty-second-long scene was done, and the cast and crew took their lunch break. At five in the afternoon.
    Penny explained. “They started at noon today, and they’ll go to midnight or later. This really is lunch for most people.”
    She knocked on the door of Maddie’s small trailer and entered without waiting for a response. Inside, Maddie had changed out of her character’s costume and was handing it over to a woman I’d seen on set earlier.
    Maddie turned to me. “Hallelujah! Time for food and racing talk. You ready, Kate?”
    â€œDo you have your marked up track map?”
    Maddie pulled a folded piece of paper from the back pocket of her jeans and waved it in the air. “I’m ready. And hungry. Penny?”
    Penny dropped onto the couch. “I’ll meet you after I deal with some e-mails.”
    Maddie and I settled at a dark-stained wood table in the Sony Studios Commissary with our trays of food: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and broccoli for me, and a chicken Caesar salad for her. Light streamed in from two walls made entirely of windows.
    She eyed my plate. “Damn you athletes.”
    â€œRemember to fuel up before race day.”
    â€œI’ve been working out more to prepare.” She frowned at her salad. “And eating more. But I’ll be in a tight dress for tonight’s scenes.”
    I smiled and dug into my potatoes. “A firesuit is more forgiving. Tell me about the track, now you’ve had a full day to think about it.”
    Maddie forked up a bite of her salad. “I got better as the session went on. More confident. Not as afraid I couldn’t keep up with the leader. Like you said, the capability is there in the car, and I have to find it in myself.”
    â€œBut do the right things with the