The voice on the other end was smooth and professional—the kind of voice that belonged to someone used to being listened to.
"Hello, is this Lia?" it asked.
Lia shifted her weight, still standing in the middle of the living room with her jacket halfway off the couch. "Yes, this is she," she said, keeping her guard up. She always answered unknown numbers like that—present but careful, not giving anything away until she knew who she was talking to.
"My name is Chase Lopez."
The name hit her like a ton of bricks. Lia's whole body went stiff. For a solid two seconds, she just stood there with her mouth open, staring at her phone screen like the name might vanish if she looked at it too long. Chase Lopez wasn't just some guy in the industry. He was *the* guy—the kind of person whose signature on a contract could change your entire life. His phone calls were exactly what people in waiting rooms all over the city fantasized about while they were being told for the tenth time that the producer was "at lunch."
"Mr. Chase Lopez?" she repeated, her voice jumping up an octave. She actually pulled the phone away from her ear to stare at it, as if the device itself needed to confirm what she was hearing. "Am I dreaming? Are you serious right now?"
There was a soft, warm chuckle from the other end. He didn't sound surprised; he'd obviously heard that reaction a thousand times before. "Quite serious, I promise," he said. "Our office got a look at an audition tape of yours from a few weeks ago. We sent it out to a few casting directors we work with regularly."
Lia pressed her hand against her chest, literally trying to keep her heart from jumping out. "Okay," she managed to say. "Thank you, sir." Her voice was more controlled now, but she was white-knuckling the fabric of her sleeve. She bit her lip, waiting for the catch.
"Well," Mr. Lopez continued. She could hear the deliberate, calm way he spoke—the tone of someone who knew exactly how much power a well-timed pause had. "The good news is that one of the companies we sent your tape to really liked what they saw."
"They liked it?" The words popped out before she could stop them, completely raw with hope.
"They did. In fact, they were really impressed. So much so that they want you on set as soon as possible—assuming, of course, you aren't already tied up with another project."
The living room felt like it tilted. Lia grabbed the back of the couch to steady herself. "I'm not busy," she said, the words coming out fast and certain. She would have canceled her own funeral to make that sentence true. "I am absolutely not busy."
"Excellent. I'll let them know you're available. You'll need to be on set tonight at eight o'clock."