Come a Little Bit Closer: The Sullivans by Bella Andre Page A

prepared adults to do that.
    “I guess I’m just a little nervous about shooting tomorrow’s scene. I mean, I know how to pretend to be in love, or how to act scared, or happy...but I’ve never been in labor before.”
    “Thank God for that,” Valentina teased, glad when her sister smiled. “You don’t need to overthink it.”
    “I know I shouldn’t,” Tatiana agreed, “but I just really want to do the scene justice for all the mothers out there who’ve gone through so much pain for their kids.” With clear hesitation, she said, “I talked to Mom about it.”
    Valentina felt a sharp pang in the center of her chest as she forced out, “That was smart. What did she say?”
    “She was actually pretty helpful.”
    Valentina bit back a sarcastic “ She was? ”
    “She told me all about her labor with each of us, about how it hurt so bad that Daddy refused to let go of her hand for even a second. Eighteen hours,” Tatiana said softly. “That’s how long he held her hand. Until he could finally hold us.”
    Valentina exhaled a shaky breath as she reached for her sister’s fingers and gripped them tightly. “I miss him so much sometimes.”
    “Me too,” Tatiana said, and even though their mother wasn’t there with them, she might as well have been. Because she had to miss him most of all.
    Her sister was just getting up to leave when Tatiana spotted the black-and-white picture. “Oh, I love this picture! When did you get it?”
    “This morning. Smith found it in the candids Larry has been taking on set and gave it to me.”
    Her sister’s eyes flickered to hers. “That was nice of him.”
    Valentina nodded and carefully said, “He’s certainly setting the bar high for your next co-star.”
    Tatiana stared at the photo for another few seconds before putting it down. “I was thinking about ordering pizza and chasing it with some ice cream to help put myself in a pregnant-craving mindset. Any interest in joining me?”
    “Are you kidding?” Work could wait. A night with her sister was precious. She grabbed her bag and her phone, but purposefully left her laptop on her desk for once. “Pizza and ice cream sounds almost as good as a spa day. In fact, if we pair it with Pretty Woman I may not need the spa at all to put a spring back in my step.”
    “What is it,” her sister asked as they headed for the parking lot, “about a prostitute and a billionaire falling in love that’s so darn perfect?”
    Valentina shrugged. “Who knows?” After all, the last thing she had a clue about was love, fictional...or otherwise. “Some things are just perfect,” she said as she found herself thinking about Smith again, “even when they don’t make any sense.”
    And some things, like her relationship with her mother, would never be perfect no matter how badly she wanted them to be.
     
    * * *
     
    The next day, feeling much more relaxed after a night of gorging on junk food while reciting all the lines in Pretty Woman to each other, Valentina sat back with the rest of the crew and watched Smith and Tatiana as they stood with their heads bent over the script, talking through the nuances of the scene one last time before they started shooting.
    Most of the movie had been filmed in order so far. It wasn’t always like that, but Valentina liked it when the story arc made sense. Heck, she liked it when things made sense, period.
    Yesterday they’d filmed a handful of montage scenes of Smith’s character, Graham, slowly wooing Tatiana’s character, Jo.
     
     
    First, he gave her baby booties, soft and pink and so pretty that she hadn’t been able to refuse them. When Jo had said, “I haven’t asked to know the sex. It might be a boy,” Graham’s eyes had clouded over. “It’s a girl.” And then he’d walked out, leaving Jo frowning, still holding the booties.
    The next time he came to the coffee shop he was carrying a small silver bag with more pink inside. Only this time he didn’t stay to watch her