NATALIE

Flipping eggs I ask Max, “Hand me my coffee would ya?”

He pauses from buttering toast to reach the cup up over to me. “Good, huh? These beans are dark roast with a hint of chocolate. I can taste it.”

“Mmhmm.” Licking my lips I set the cup next to the stove. “You want cheese on these?”

“I’m allergic to dairy.”

My eyebrows go up. “You are?”

“Hives.” He makes a face. “Pretty ugly.”

“Well I’m having some cheese.” I stick my tongue out and he crosses over to bite it. I laugh and push him back to the toast. “Put some jelly on mine?”

“We’ve got blackberry and that’s it.”

“Are you kidding me? I love blackberry!” Doing a happy dance I scrape the eggs onto our plates and open the fridge. “Where’s your cheese?”

Looking over my shoulder I meet his smiling eyes. “I’m allergic to dairy, Natalie.”

Straightening up I pout, “Oh. So obviously you don’t have any cheese.”

“Nope!” he laughs and scoops fried potatoes with basil and olive oil next to the eggs. “But I loved you sticking your tongue out at me, and then you don’t get any after all. Hilarious.”

“Wait, if you’re allergic to dairy, then why are you using butter?”

He holds up the package and shows me, “Vegan.”

“Grrrr. At least there’s orange juice.”

“Woohoo.”

“Are we eating in the living room again?”

“I need to get a dining table, huh?”

Shrugging I head for the couch with our glasses, him following with our plates. “You know what I’m going to do, Max?”

“Tell me.”

“I’m changing nothing.”

He sits with me, exchanging plate for glass. “So you’re not gonna make me buy a bunch of furniture now that you’ve moved in?”

Digging into my cheeseless eggs I nod, “What is stuff, really? I got that throne chair, as you called it, and did it make me happy? Nope. I’m going to sell it. You know what makes me happy? This mostly empty bachelor pad. It’s simple. Easy. No fuss. And then it’s just about you and me, not a bunch of crap, you know? We forgot the coffee cups.”

Crunching the crispy toast he nods, “This is where we sleep. The world is where we live. And the next film I do—”

“The next film?”

“This isn’t the only one!”

“Do you have a script already?”

Stabbing potatoes with his fork he shrugs, “In my head, yeah. Tons of stories waiting to happen. You watch.”

I sip my juice, thinking about it. “Remember when you said finding someone you can do multiple projects with, that kind of chemistry is rare?”

“Yep, I remember. And I’m so glad I found Rain.”

I stare at him.

He glances over, blinks at me. “What?” He cracks up. “Your face, Natalie!”

“You’re fucking with me, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Grrrrr.”

He leans over to plant a kiss on me. “Growl for me, Partner. You know I like it when you go primal.”

I push him away and we finish our meal discussing last night’s shoot until a question pops into my mind—this entire production process is new to me.

“Can I ask you something, Max?” He nods, mouth full. “When you said, ‘It’s a wrap,’ how did that feel? As good as you thought it would?”

Swallowing so he can answer, he’s already smiling. “Felt amazing. Better than I thought it would.”

“So all that money you’ve invested, was it worth it?”

“Mmhmm. Every cent.” Meeting my eyes he asks, “Why?”

Moving my eggs around I mutter, “I wish I had cheese.”

“We’ll get you some.”

“When I saw you tell them it was a wrap, I could see the joy.”

“Joy?” he laughs. “I wasn’t throwing my arms up and dancing hallelujah.”

Bumping his shoulder with my foot I inform him, “Joy isn’t always expressed like that! You can see it in someone’s eyes! Joy can be shown in very subtle ways, Max. As someone who directs actors for a living, you should know that.”

“Oh yeah, smarty-pants? You think you know things?” Setting his fork down in a hurry, he plucks me off the couch and stands up, holding me off the ground like he might spin me around. “Remember I’m a guy. I don’t spend time thinking about joy, okay?”

“Why are you just standing here?”

“Because I don’t want you throwing your breakfast up if I spun you around, that’s why.” He puts me down and we sit on the couch again, him raking his fingers through his hair as he mutters, “I was planning on spinning you but when I got you up there, realized that might not be a good idea.”

Laughing I point at him, “Ha ha, you fucked up!”

He bites at my finger, but I retract it in time.

Scooping the last bits of eggs with his last wedge of toast, Max says, “So, what’re you doing in a few days? What date am I thinking of? Oh yeah…December 25^th.”

My mouth stops working on the four potatoes I shoved in it. Over them I ask, “Why?”

“I would like to introduce you to the rest of my family. Chew on that too, while you’re at it.”

Don’t have to tell me twice. I gnaw on the spuds and his invitation, until I finally can speak again. “Your immediate family?”

“If immediate means whole family, then yeah.”

“All of them?”

He nods, acting casual.

With sinking shoulders I remind him, “Max, my family lives in town, too. I have plans to be with them.”

Throwing his napkin down he covers his face and groans dramatically, “Oh no, you mean we get to have TWO Christmases? I can’t handle that much fun!” Meeting my eyes with a pitiful grimace he repeats. “It’s too much fun! What will we do?”

Frozen a beat after he stops making fun of me, I lean over and kiss his goofy smile. “I love you.”

Max blinks with genuine surprise, and cocks his gorgeous head. “Oh, you’re sneaky. You picked then to tell me so that you could win!”

Laughing behind my juice glass I widen my eyes, “Who me?”

He snakes the glass away, gathers me up to sit on his lap, green eyes exploring my face. I don’t want to tell him that I see joy again, but as he confesses, “I love you, too,” I do.