Somehow Reese found the courage to lift her guarded blue gaze to his. “It can’t hurt. I’d like my final performance to go without a flaw.”

His black eyes gleamed. “You always do perfect work. It has made my part easy.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s true. You’re Lilian Jaynes’s flesh and blood. She was a master actress. So are you. When your fans find out you’ve left the cast of Laguna Nights, there’ll be mass mourning.”

But you won’t mourn over my absence. Reese would only have been a blip on the screen of his life.

“They’ll get over it as soon as the writers find you a new love interest.”

“Word has it they’re going to let me grieve for a few weeks, then I’ll take up my original vocation as an Italian monk. Without Carly Shaw, I no longer want to live in the world.”

“You made that up.”

On occasion Alex could be a tease. Maybe this was one of those times. If Patsy had been able to tell Reese was uptight, surely it hadn’t escaped Alex she was more nervous than usual this morning. No doubt he was trying to get her to lighten up.

But to her surprise he lifted his hands in defense. “I swear I’m telling the truth. Ask Stan. Melissa’s going to pretend to be a priest and smuggle herself inside the monastery to make my life hell.”

If that was true, then lucky, lucky Melissa. An ache passed through Reese’s body more intense than before.

His eyes narrowed on her face. “You were supposed to laugh. Are you having seconds thoughts about leaving the show?”

Her head reared. “None!”

“You don’t have to pretend around me. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t have some misgivings about walking away from all your friends here.”

“Of course I’ll miss everyone, but acting’s not for me. When Aunt Lilian died so suddenly, I’m afraid any thespian tendencies inside me died with her. If my aunt had done something else for a living, the idea of being an actress would never have occurred to me.