“Okay, everyone, you’re hitting your marks just fine,” Margaret said. “I do want to tell you that we have a very special guest sitting in the audience watching us today. She didn’t want to interrupt rehearsal, but I know you’d all like to meet her. She’s in town for a movie shoot, and I hear she’s a big fan of Shakespeare. Miss Desiree Jenkins is in the house today.”

Oh, crap. And she thought she’d just sit and listen for a while, then sneak out. But a chorus of squeals went out, followed by applause.

“I guess you should go say hello,” Logan said.

“I guess so.” She stood. “Come on down with me.”

“I’m fine right here.”

She nodded, and headed toward the stage.

LOGAN HADN’T THOUGHT Des would be able to hide for long. He stayed in his seat and watched as she was surrounded by a throng of both male and female fans. She shook a lot of hands, then phones came out and she took pictures with people, never once seeming tired or irritated by the number of photos.

“Hey, Logan, can you come down here for a minute?” she yelled from the stage.

He pushed off and walked down.

“Logan, I didn’t see you up there,” Margaret said.

“Hi, Margaret.” Living in a small town meant you knew pretty much everyone. Margaret had gone to Hope High, but she’d married Ed Penfield, one of his high school buddies from Oakdale.

“Could you take a picture of all of us with Mrs. Penfield’s camera?”

“Sure.” He took Margaret’s camera, and Des gathered close with everyone while Logan snapped off a bunch of shots before handing the camera back to Margaret.

“Thank you, Logan,” Margaret said. “This is going on the wall in my office.”

“I’d love a copy of that,” Des said. “I’ll give you my e-mail address.”

Margaret blinked. “Okay. I’ll be sure to send you one.”

Des grabbed Margaret’s notebook and jotted down her e-mail.

“Miss Jenkins,” one of the students asked. “How old were you when you first started acting?”

“Call me Des,” she said, and grabbed a seat on the floor of the stage. “I actually started in high school, doing plays like this. That’s where I first fell in love with acting. I did the same play you all are doing, as a matter of fact.”

“You did?” one of the girls asked, her eyes wide.

“I did, though I only had a minor role.”

“How did you get on television?”

“A lot of it is simply luck and timing. When I was eighteen, I made my way out to Hollywood to try my luck at acting. I made some friends and we worked multiple jobs to pay the rent. When I wasn’t working, I took acting classes and went out on auditions. I managed to snag some roles in commercials and was lucky enough to book a few guest spots in television shows.”

“And your first television part was as a street hooker in an episode of Law and Order: SVU,” one of the boys said.

Des laughed. “That’s very true. I was so excited to get that role. All twenty-four seconds of it, before I was strangled and tossed behind a Dumpster. That was the high point of my life at the time.”

They all laughed.

“And then your breakout movie role was in Elizabeth’s Dawn. You died in that one, too,” someone said.

Des smiled. “Yeah, it’s great to get a death role. Those always have some meat and give you a chance to show what you can do. Dying on film is not easy, kids.”

“Is there anything you’d do differently if you could?”

That question came from Margaret.

“Honestly, I try not to live with regrets, because I can’t go back and fix anything I screwed up. I can only look forward. So anything I do differently I’d have to do in the future. I do try not to repeat the same mistakes I’ve made in the past. Does that make sense?”

Margaret smiled and nodded. “It does.”

“Like . . . what mistakes?” one of the girls asked.

“That’s a good question.” Des took a deep breath. “Don’t get close to people who are bad influences on you, no matter how cool they seem or what they offer you. Sometimes that inner voice you have that tells you something is bad? It’s there for a reason. Listen to it. It’ll never steer you wrong. I didn’t always listen to that voice, and now I always do.”

“That’s very good advice, Des,” Margaret said.

Des had an easy rapport with the teens. She answered all their questions honestly. She admitted to some mistakes she’d made along the way and gave them sound advice. She was honest about the industry and didn’t make it sound like it would be a dream come true for all of them.

“Oh, man, my roommates and I ate a lot of ramen noodles for a very long time. Listen, this business is harsh. It’s filled with rejection, and for every one of us who is successful, there are thousands who aren’t. You have to be really tough, and you have to take rejection well. I still get turned down for roles I really want badly.”

One girl’s eyes widened. “You do?”

“Of course. You know Shot Down, the blockbuster last year that starred Suzanne Lachelle?”

All the kids yelled yes.

“I wanted Suzanne’s role so badly. I auditioned six times for it, and it was down to the two of us. I didn’t get it. And you know how successful that movie was. But Suzanne was brilliant in that movie, and when I saw it, I knew they had made the right choice.”

“So you aren’t mad that she got the role and you didn’t?” one of the girls asked.

“Well, to be honest, initially, I was really pissed.”

They all laughed.

“But you aren’t going to get every role you try out for. That’s not realistic. And like Suzanne in the role in that movie, some actresses are better suited for a part than you are. Acceptance is a large part of the industry, and there aren’t any guarantees. All I can tell you is that if you want it badly enough, go for it, but be prepared to fail.”

She went on and answered every question they asked, until Logan looked at his phone. “I’m sorry, but we need to go.”

Des stood. “I’m sorry, too. We took up all of your rehearsal time. But I had so much fun talking to all of you.”

She said good-bye to the kids and Margaret walked with them to the entrance. “This was worth giving up half a rehearsal day. The kids learned a lot from you.”