Digest: Did you go back to your old dressing room?
Sparks: I did one day. Somebody had painted it. Some of my furniture was there that I had donated from my house. That was kind of weird to walk in and see my ottoman sitting there. I preferred being in other people's dressing rooms than my own.

Digest: There have been lots of changes since you left.
Sparks: Yeah! Babies and kids and pimps. This Spike dude is out of hand. Grace needs to come back and clean up the town. We need goodness back in Harmony.

Digest: Which co-stars did you keep in touch with while you were away?
Sparks: I talk to James [Hyde, Sam] once in awhile. Mostly Kim [Johnson Ulrich, Ivy]. We make plans to see each other. And I see Tracey [Ross, Eve] a lot because she's in my neighborhood, so we talk each other into getting off the couch and going for a hike once in awhile.

Digest: Are you excited to be back?
Sparks: Everyone has been really cool. I got lots of hugs. When they asked me to come back, I didn't tell anybody. I didn't tell Kim or Tracey or James. When I finally told them, they were like, "We're so relieved. We didn't want to say anything to you in case they didn't call you." Ben [Masters, Julian] was so relieved. I said, "I'm sorry. I didn't want to blow it and say anything."

Digest: Did you have to change your hair or anything?
Sparks: I was a little nervous because I had cut it. It's almost the shortest it's ever been and redder. I thought they would want to put some spray on my hair, but they were good.

Digest: Were you auditioning?
Sparks: Some. I've got another TV project that is in preproduction that I'm being considered heavily for. And there were a couple of films that I missed out on. It's hard. You reach a certain age and all these movie stars are doing TV now. They're taking my parts [laughs].

Digest: Have you been getting fan mail this whole time?
Sparks: Yes, I still get mail saying, "When are you coming back? Why did you leave?" I was left. I was told to exit. Everyone assumes it's your own choice. They say, "We're excited you decided to come back to PASSIONS." Yeah, that's how it is.

Digest: What have you been doing since leaving in 2004?
Sparks: I've been doing houses.

Digest: Flipping them?
Sparks: Trying to flip. I bought them and now I'm on the selling part. I've got two that I've redone. They've been major projects. That's been pretty cool. They are both very different; one is very old world Italian and the other is '50s modern. One is next door [to my house]. My neighbor moved out and had to sell and I was like, 'You need to sell and I want to control my environment.' So, I bought her house. We actually have a partner, [musician] Kenny G. He's a friend and he lives in Malibu and he loves houses, so my husband talked him into joining in with us. He's a very silent partner. It's nice not to be in it all by ourselves.

Digest: Well, maybe you can take that experience and flip Grace's bed and breakfast into something a little more hip.