Chapter 4

With my silk morning robe wrapped around me and a mug with coffee in my hand I stand on the balcony attached to the master bedroom. I am enjoying the easiness and tranquility of the morning hours of the day, as I take a sip from the brown liquid, .

"I am going to leave for classes. You don't need to wait up for me tonight," Luke says, and I feel him wrapping his arms around my middle. I turn my head to the side to kiss him goodbye, but he wrinkles his nose in disgust.

"Sorry Cece, but morning breath," he tells me and then lets go of me. Without another word he leaves the room, and I can hear a door falling loudly into its lock in the distance.

He came back from his trip in the middle of the night and when I woke up and asked him how it was, he just told me that he was too tired and needed to sleep. Somehow it feels as if the weekend drove us further apart than ever before.

Sighing I turn back to watch the lake and notice a tall figure slowing his pace down on the path separating my property from the shore of the lake. When he turns his head and sees me standing on the balcony, he raises a hand and waves at me. Guessing by looks of the dog, it's probably Henry. I wave back and then turn around to get ready for the day ahead of me.

When I get out of the bathroom, I can hear my phone ringing. Quickly I look at the screen and accept the call.

"Good morning, Zoey," I greet my agent and I can hear the sounds of cars passing by in the background.

"Good morning to you too, Char. Maya from Netflix called me checking in if you had time to look over their choices for the cast," she tells me and then I can hear her curse loudly. I need to put the phone a bit away from my ear or else I would have feared to get a tinnitus.

"Actually, I had, and I wanted to call them today. I guess I will do that as soon as we end our call."

"Perfect. Were you able to make some progress on your new series?" Closing my eyes because I feared this question, I take a deep breath.

"No, I think I need to put it aside for a bit and then look at it again. I'm currently to invested in it and maybe some distance will give me clarity."

"But don't take too long. You have a deadline which is in four months. Until that the first book needs to be finished and a draft for the second one should be available as well."

"Zoey, I know. The more I hear about it, the more I don't want to think about it. Four months is enough time for me to do that. Don't worry and give me my space," I let her know in a stern voice.

"Whatever works for you, works for me," she says and then we end our conversation.

Sighing I put my phone down and rub my face with the palms of my hands. This is a clusterfuck. A total nightmare. Four months is enough time to write a completely new book. But I don't want a new idea. I want this one finished, before I start a new one.

Growling I take my phone again and call Maya from Netflix. It doesn't take her long to pick up.

"Charlotte, I just talked with Zoey about you," she tells me, and I roll my eyes.

"I know. I wanted to let you know that I think that the actors you want will be perfect for the movie."

"I'm glad you are saying that. Finally, I can start with the next preparations. I already have your schedule and most of the cast gave me theirs when they applied. If everything works out as I want it to, then we might start shooting in three months, but don't quote me on that," Maya laughs.

"That sound great. I guess, I will be able to come to set everyday then." Even though I am excited about it, the thought of it is nerve wracking, especially now that I have given them my blessing for the cast.

"Actually, that is something I wanted to talk with you about." Confused I draw my eyebrows together. Part of our deal was, that I am allowed on set and could tell them if something wouldn't add up or how the actors acted was out of character.

"Peter was recently traveling through the UK and apparently, he found this little town in the Lake District. He wants to shoot the movie there as he said - and now I quote him - the village and the woods around it would work perfectly for the movie. I just need to clear that with HQ and if they approve, we will move filming to the UK, especially since most of the cast is from there anyways. The prospect of having their family and friends close might boost them."

"Oh wow," I tell her and rub the fingertips of my right hand over my forehead. I might have a say when it comes to the cast and about the little things in the adaptation, but if they decide on filming in the UK, I won't be able to disagree.

"But before that happens, I need the clearance of the budget for that, and my team will have to figure out when everyone is available," she tells me and then I can hear her sigh. "I still can't believe that Henry Cavill got the part of Kilian Ashmore. He fits the description perfectly."

"Yeah, I can't believe that either," I answer her half-heartedly.

I still don't know if I made the right decision. I know that when I had this character in mind that it was based on Henry's looks, but I never thought that firstly my book would become a movie and secondly that he would be interested in that role. If he hadn't talked about my books and the characters with such passion, I might have told the studio to go with their second choice. Even knowingly depriving my fans of the man Kilian Ashmore is based on.

"Your fans will be excited when we announce the cast." They will for sure, as I have seen fans creating their own cast and most of the time Henry was their Kilian.

"I just hope we don't disappoint them.", I sigh.

"Char, come on, everything will be fine. Your creative masterpiece is in good hands with us. And if the fans find something they don't like, we'll learn from it and make it better in the next movie," she tries to cheer me up. The prospect of another movie makes me wince.

"You need to see how the first one does, before you plan on doing a second one."

"I know it will do well. The story is amazing. The cast is known. And we have Henry Cavill. What could go wrong?" Yeah, what could go wrong? Everything.

A week later the cast is announced, and my fans are ecstatic. There are thousands of comments underneath the official post. Some more to my taste than others. I am currently reading through them on my patio, casually lounging on one of the outdoor furniture pieces.

"OMG. I can't wait to see Daddy in the juicy scenes." While I read that comment I can feel the bile rising in my stomach. Yes, he is quite attractive and probably the protagonist in wet dreams of many women - to be honest he used to be in mine too, but that was long ago. I was young, not in a relationship and really, really horny.

Loud barking and a dull thud close to me, startle me out of my thoughts. When I look on the floor next to me, I notice a ball that has had his best days behind him. It has bite marks all over it and in some places, it is even tattered. I guess it is safe to say, that this one belongs to Kal.

Seeing Henry returning from his daily run in the morning has become something of a ritual in the past week. Whenever I started my day on my balcony, I saw him coming back. On one hand it is weird, on the other pretty funny. However, we haven't talked since the day I helped Heather carrying all the stuff she bought inside his house.

Smiling I grab the tattered ball and get up from the lounge chair. When I walk over to the fence, I can hear Henry sigh.

"Don't look at me like that. I know it is your favorite toy, but I don't know if she is even at home," Henry says to Kal and my smile grows further.

"Actually, I am at home, and you almost hit me with it," I scold him mockingly and can hear him laugh on the other side. The ball wasn't even close to hitting me, but he doesn't need to know.

"Oh, I'm sorry. How have you been, Charlotte?" I didn't expect that question. I thought he would ask me, if I could throw the ball back over the fence.

"So far so good. What about you? I read you got the role you wished for."

"I'm pretty ecstatic about it honestly."

"I sense a but there."

"No, no buts. To be honest, I didn't think I would get it as the character itself is described way younger than I am."

"Really? I always pictured him in his like early to mid-thirties."

"So you read the books?"

"How could I not? After all they are New York Times bestsellers and have a powerful female lead."

"Woman literature."

"Yes," I laugh as I try to throw the ball over the fence, but it hits the wood on my side of the backyard.

"What are you doing?" he asks me, and I can hear the confusion in his voice.

"Trying to get this ball, which has seen its best days, back to Kal."

"How about I come and get it, before you hurt yourself," he offers after another failed attempt of mine. I widen my eyes in shock thinking about the boards I have placed everywhere with the notes about the new characters, the world I want to create and the fantasy aspects of it all over the house. He would be able to see them from the front door.

"You know what, I'll bring it over, if you don't mind. I need to stretch my legs a bit after sitting all day."

"Sure. See you in a bit," he tells me casually, then I can hear him talking to Kal, who barks loudly.

Picking up the ball again, I get inside my house, grab my keys, so I don't lock myself out and then I walk over to his house. He already waits at the door at me and moves to the side to let me in.

"You can come inside," he says as he sees me standing there rooted to the spot. "I won't bite, and I though you would want to be friends. And I think friends can get into each other's houses," he smiles, and I take a deep breath before I nod.

"Yeah, you are right," I tell him and step inside. I notice Kal circling me and staring at the ball in my hand. I look at Henry for help what I should do.

"You can give it to me, or you could go outside and play fetch with him." He notices me weighing my options and chuckles deeply, then adds, "If you want to stay on his good side, you want to go and play with him."

"Okay." Moving my shoulders back and putting my imaginary big girl pants on I walk through his living room out on the deck. Confused I draw my eyebrows together when I notice the massive pool, that wasn't there before.

"When did that happen?" I ask him irritated and point to the body of water.

"The last time you were here it was covered. I didn't want anyone to fall into it." He senses my confusion and takes a remote from the table and when he pushes a button, I see the panels of the same wood of the deck coming from underneath it and covering the pool.

"That's a neat trick," I tell him impressed.

"And it will come in handy, if I need more space."

"Practical thinking. I like it," I laugh and test walking over it. To my utter surprise it doesn't feel different than the rest of the deck. I can feel Kal following my every step as his fur brushes against my bare legs. When I am at the edge of the deck, I throw the ball into his massive backyard.

"You have two lots, don't you?" I ask him, and I am not even that surprised about it. When I first moved into my house, I tried to get a glimpse of his property, but due to the high bushes around it and its size, I couldn't make out anything and quickly gave up.

"Yes, I do, because I value my privacy. Speaking of which, I'm grateful that you have kept your word," he tells me when Kal comes back with the ball and takes it to throw it away again.

"As I said, I don't want any of your groupies here. I hope you don't mind, but isn't it weird that they call you Daddy and write pretty obscene things about you?" When he hears the question, he bursts out laughing, but gets serious rather quickly.

"I got used to it. Thankfully, I've never been called Daddy by one of them to my face. To be honest I wouldn't really know how to react. Perhaps I would thank them for the compliment," he chuckles, and I shake my head slightly.

"What?" he asks me as he notices my reaction.

"Nothing. It's just weird, you know. Like I've seen you on screen while portraying characters such as Superman, August Walker, Sherlock Holmes and now I am talking to you."

"Are you disappointed that I am not like them?"

"How would I be able to feel that way, when I never thought about what kind of person you are? I have never read into anything that was posted about your private life. I just appreciate your work."

"It still doesn't answer my question, does it?" Amusedly he raises an eyebrow, and I can see the corner of his mouth twitch.

"I mean who could ever be as cool as Superman in real life?" I mock him and now he is the one shaking his head. "To be honest, I don't know you well enough to make up my mind. However, I think, that you put a piece of yourself into all these characters to make them your own."

"Wise words."

"Well, it would be a shame if not as I studied English over the course of six years. You look surprised."

"I'm not mildly astonished. I'm impressed.", he explains, and I laugh at his use of a synonym.

"Sounds to me as if you could study English yourself and would do well."

"I don't think so. If I were to go to study something, then probably history. Who is the one caught off guard now?", he laughs when he sees my dumbstruck look on my face.

"Why history, though?"

"I've always been interested in the ways of the old Greeks and Romans. They were very advanced for their time, if you think about how people lived a thousand years later. Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato - just to name a few - are still important for today's philosophy and mathematics. Whereas you see the influence of ancient Rome in architecture, language and in laws in most European countries that used to belong to the Roman Empire," he elucidates.

"I don't want to insult you, but do you really think you should pursue your career as actor and not study what you so vigorously talk about?"

"It has crossed my mind, but no. I love acting and it gives me the room to travel as well as the money to buy the things I want up to a certain degree."

"Sounds reasonable and I remember you talking with the same enthusiasm about your new role. I guess it is safe to say, that you don't push some story on me."

"That's something, I'd never do. Honesty is too important to me as is trust."

"I see we have a similar mindset and that's good for the base of a friendship."

He wants to say something, but I feel my phone vibrating in the back pocket of my shorts and mouth sorry to him as I accept the call from Luke.

"Hi babe.", I greet him.

"I'll be over at the house in about forty minutes to pick you up. We are going out with friends of mine tonight," he tells me without greeting me and I take a deep breath in. I rub the fingers of my free hand over my forehead, because I am not happy about it. My plans for tonight were to finally tackle my new book and probably eating ice cream while doing so to drown my sorrow in it.

"Yeah sure. I'll be ready."

"Great. Wear that black dress I bought you a year ago," he says and then disconnects our call.

Why didn't I get rid of it, when I moved? I don't like it. It's too short and too revealing for my taste. I love my body and I take care of it, but it makes me feel like I'm a hooker or escort. When I turn back to Henry, I notice the look on his face that I can't quite decipher.

"I'm sorry to cut this short, but Luke is going to pick me up soon and I need to get ready."

"Let me walk you to the door," he says in a neutral tone.