Say It Sexy by Virna Depaul Page B

care about this whole show and how it turns out. You may be here just for a paycheck, but how our show comes across to viewers means a lot to me. For your information, soap operas portray the pains and pleasures of life in a way that all viewers can understand. The actors have to be relatable, because they endure the same problems we all do.”
    “The same problems?” Ty echoed. “As in breaking nails, misplacing your boyfriend, and sleeping with a jet-setting brother you never knew about? How is that relatable? That’s so completely opposite of the target audience’s real problems. Soaps are all about rich people.”
    “Tequila shots.” Erica threw up her arms and opened them, as though she’d just scored the Super Bowl’s winning touchdown.
    “Not true,” Gwen said, deceptively calm. “The characters might be rich, but their problems involve love, loss, and betrayal, all the things normal people experience every day of their lives.”
    I’d been sitting back listening to Gwen and Tyler debate. I really liked watching her. Listening to her. What could easily be mistaken as bitchiness was actually a feisty nature and a refusal to back down from something she believed in. I mean, come on, she’d started her career in soap operas. Of course it was a given she’d eventually confront Tyler about what he’d said. But the minute the words “love” and “normal people” escaped her mouth, I immediately stiffened and sat forward.
    I don’t know why. It shouldn’t have mattered one way or another whether she believed in love or not. Maybe it was because I was thinking of her far too much. That I woke up in the morning excited to see her, and went to sleep the same way. Maybe it was because I wanted her in my bed, but I didn’t want her there if there was a remote possibility she was going to see our fucking as anything more than it was. Whatever the reason, I suddenly felt compelled to dispel her of the notion that love was a global concern.
    “You know, Gwen,” I said. “Love isn’t a serious problem for everyone. Some people prefer life without it.”
    Gwen looked startled and eyed me cautiously. There was a soft curiosity in her face. “Are you speaking from experience?”
    Anger flooded through me that had nothing to do with Gwen and everything to do with Rachel and the pain and betrayal I’d experienced years before. “You bet your ass I am.”
    “I think with love, preference is irrelevant. Love is a human emotion, a chemical reaction—an all-powerful compulsion —not something you can turn off and on at will,” Gwen said softly.
    “Love is a choice ,” Erica said, surprising me. And by the looks on their faces, surprising everyone else at the table, as well. She didn’t appear to be addressing anyone specific, more like reflecting on her own pain we would never know about. “Garrick can choose not to want it.”
    Eyes wide, Gwen looked around the table. “Is that what you all believe?”
    Shane and Tyler remained quiet. Watchful.
    Gwen shook her head. “Because no one who thinks that can understand the core of a soap opera, which is targeted toward people who thrive on passion and love. The whole point is that no matter what horrible struggles or obstacles life throws at us, we can overcome them because of the love and support we receive through our relationships with others. And those relationships are never easy to maintain. They’re never perfect. But they’re worth it.”
    What she was saying was too good to be true and I felt it was my duty to call bullshit. To stop her from spouting it to anyone else. Blind belief in love only resulted in disappointment and grief.
    I held my ground. “What are you going to tell us next? That you believe in fairytales? Or was you mentioning Disney the first day we met indicative of the movies you truly watch?”
    To her, love was the key to overcoming any obstacle? She had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. No idea.
    She looked stunned