"Cut!" said Dimitri. He walked over to Lissa with a look of concern on his face. "Are you OK?" he asked. He touched her arm, and she began to sob.

The set was chaos for a few minutes as Christian held Lissa and comforted her while everyone else just looked bewildered.

"It just looked so real!" Lissa kept insisting, over and over.

"Let's take a break," said Dimitri. The five of us - Dimitri, Christian, Lissa, Christian's co-star, Alexis, and me - went to the break area and sat down.

"I feel so silly!" said Lissa. "I can't believe I over reacted like that!"

"Have you ever seen anybody get shot in real life?" I asked.

"Not a person," she replied. "When I was little, we were visiting my grandparents. My cousin Tyler had a BB gun and was shooting birds. I saw one of them. It was lying there so still with blood all over its feathers. I just cried and cried!"

"That probably explains it, then," Christian reasoned. "The sight of blood, even fake blood, brought back memories of that unfortunate incident."

"At the risk of sounding selfish, it did result in a fantastic shot," Dimitri pointed out.

"Well, that's what I'm getting paid for." Lissa gave Christian a tight hug. "I was just so relieved to see you were really all right, after all!"

"Hey, what about me?" asked Alexis.

"We're all very glad to see you're both all right," Dimitri said generously.

"Thank you," said Alexis.

It was soon time to start packing to leave for New York. I found my clarinet in my suitcase and remembered I'd brought it along for in case I got bored. I picked it up and began to play one of the pieces I'd learned in high school band.

A few minutes later, I heard a knock on the door.

"Who's there?" I asked.

"Christian. Can I come in?"

"Sure."

He stepped inside. "I didn't know you could play clarinet."

"I played it in band all the way through middle and high school."

"You play really well."

"Thank you."

"Do you mind if I record you?"

"Not at all." I played Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A Major. When I finished, he applauded.

"Very good!"

Not thinking any more of it, I put my clarinet back into the suitcase and finished packing.

Returning to work at the Box Office, I was amazed to find myself treated like a celebrity. Taylor, Jordan, and even Dara were full of questions about my adventures in Hollywood.

"How long before the movie will be in the theaters?" Jordan wanted to know.

"Dimitri told me about May," I replied.

"Is he in it too?" asked Taylor.

"No, he directed it," I told her. "He wanted experience as a director, and this opportunity came up for him."

Dara grimaced. "He was in 'Together At Last,' wasn't he?"

"Yeah." I swallowed hard at the memory of the flop he'd starred in with Haley. Did she sleep together with him in the bed he and I had just shared?

I really, truly didn't want to know the answer to that question.

"Well, I hope this one does better," Dara went on.

"Thanks. So do I," I said.

Soon things were back to normal. My obstetrical appointment for March went fine. Easter had come and gone before I realized I hadn't heard a peep from Lissa since leaving her at the airport. On impulse, I dialed her number one day.

"Rose! I'm so glad you called," she told me. "I've been wanting to talk to you for ages, but I haven't been able to get up the nerve to call you."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

A long hesitation followed. I began to wonder if she'd put the receiver down and forgotten about it when I finally heard her voice again.

"Could we meet somewhere tomorrow?" she asked. "I need to talk to you in person."

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I have a secret," she told me. "Nobody knows but me. I've been dying to tell someone, but - I'm scared!"

"Meet me for lunch tomorrow," I suggested. "It's one of my days off. How about the food court at the mall?"

"Could we meet at Starbucks instead?" she asked. "All that food - the smell - "

I suspected I knew what her secret was.

"Sure, no problem," I replied. "The do have an awesome chicken Caesar salad."

I was sipping a white chocolate mocha when I saw her walk in the next day. She ordered a latte and then came over and sat across from me.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Not really. What it is, is that - remember that day we were shooting the assassination scene and I got so upset?"

"Yeah." I wondered what she was getting at.

"Well, that night, we forgot to use protection. I didn't think anything of it until I missed my period. They've been late before, so I wasn't really worried until I started having symptoms - swollen breasts, feeling tired and icky all the time. I finally got up the nerve to buy a pregnancy test."

"And?"

"It was positive."

"Have you told Christian yet?"

"No. I'm too scared. What if he gets angry and dumps me?"

I didn't know what to say. Her situation was completely different from mine. I was happily married to the man I loved, while she was sleeping with someone she'd known only a few months.

"He has the right to know," I told her.

"Can you help me tell him, please, Rose?"

I sighed. "I'm sorry, Lissa, but I think this is something you're gonna have to do yourself."

Lissa stared at the table top. "I guess you're right."

"Let me know how it turns out, OK?" I asked.

"OK, I will."

We ate our food in silence.