Chapter 7
"Lu?" I called. I cleared my throat. "Lunaa!"
"Luuu?" I called, projecting my voice.
I tossed the covers off and trudged into the living room. The rest of the house was bright, and I squinted. "Hello?" I called. It was quiet in there, and I found a note on the bar.
I took L with me to the restaurant. Come up there and eat. She'll probably want to leave with you. Also, what have you done to my daughter? She sounds like grandma with the Jesus loves me stuff. Lol! See you later. Love you.
PS: I have no food in the fridge, don't bother looking. You have to come to the restaurant to eat.
I smiled at the thought of Luna going with her mom and my sister being playful about it. She sounded good, even in her note, and I was happy for her and proud. She may not have had food in the fridge, but she had a bottle of headache medicine in the cabinet, and I gladly took two tablets.
My head was feeling a little better by the time I had taken a shower and made my way to the restaurant.
It was close enough to her house that I didn't have to drive, but it took about fifteen minutes to walk there.
I could have taken my car, but I wanted to walk.
I liked Montana a lot, and I felt calm and peaceful breathing the morning air.
My sister had told me she got Luna some new toys to play with at the restaurant.
I imagined my niece was having fun with those this morning, and I knew the staff and all the regulars were excited to see her.
Picturing it gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling.
I also had some sort of feeling about the business card in my pocket.
I woke up during the night thinking about Alex and his series, and I had to marvel at the unlikeliness of running into him in a tiny grocery store in the middle of nowhere.
There was no hope of a real relationship with someone like him, but I was undeniably attracted to him.
I had a way to reach him, and I was attracted to him.
Those were two facts that I didn't know quite what to do with.
I was thinking about Alex and the chances of calling him when he appeared out of thin air, walking on the sidewalk in front of me.
He was coming from the other direction, and we converged in front of my sister's restaurant. I felt like I was in a dream.
"Just the woman I wanted to see," he said as we came closer to each other on the sidewalk. "I was going to go in here and see if I could get some food for my crew."
"Oh, I don't… I don't work here anymore. But I'm sure they can… aren't you guys like an hour from here?"
"It is an hour," he said. "I was wondering what the chances were that you could maybe just come out there and cook it on site."
"Oh, none," I said, shaking my head. "Not me, at least. I'm so out of practice with eggs… I'm getting heart palpitations just thinking about it."
"Are you sure that's what they're from?" he said.
My heart actually skipped a beat when I realized what he was saying. How was he this confident and wonderful? "W-what?" I said stalling, feeling breathless and speechless.
He smiled. "No, I figured it was a long shot.
We have someone on site who cooks. It's nothing fancy, but there is someone who makes food for us.
He's just not a big breakfast guy." He shrugged and pointed at the hand-painted lettering on the window next to us.
"And I'm going to eat right now," he said. "I also came to get breakfast."
"Me too," I said.
"Will you sit with me?" he asked.
My eyes met his. "Are you alone?"
"Yes. Are you alone?"
"Yes. I mean, I came alone, but I'll know everyone in there," I said.
"We don't have to eat together if you don't want to. I was just hoping to run into you. We're not shooting until sunset tonight, so I had some time to—"
"No, I'd love to catch up." I almost added that I had just been thinking about him when I walked up, but I stopped myself from saying it right before it came out of my mouth.
Alex opened the door, and I walked inside before him. It had been a year since I had been back, and I had lost that familiar, easy feeling. It came back quickly when I realized nothing had changed. The tables were full, and it was noisy in there with music and chatter and dishes clanging.
"Josieee!" It was Carly who said my name. She was behind the counter, but she came around it, moving quickly to get to me.
Carly crashed into me with a hug that caused me to bump into Alex. He put a hand out to steady me. He took it off me at the same time that Carly let go of the hug, and I wished he would touch me again.
"It's so good to see you!" she said. "We almost had to close after you left.
We had two sucky chefs before Audrey came back.
" She smiled at me. "But thankfully, she's back now.
And Luna! She's gotten so big, I couldn't believe it.
Did you guys have fun? Are you staying for breakfast?
" She was talking so fast that I didn't even pay attention to our movement.
She went to the counter again, pulling me along with her.
"Just a minute, let me help this gentleman.
Oh, hey," she said, focusing on Alex for the first time.
"You came here a few weeks ago asking for…
here she is." She glanced at me and then shrugged, looking like she had no idea we came in together.
"He was in here a few weeks ago asking if you still worked here. "
"Yeah, this is Alex. We ran into each other outside. We're going to sit together and eat," I said. I hesitated, looking around.
"Luna's in the back," Carly said. "You can just sit back there at her table." She smiled. "He's been back there before. I'm sure Audrey won't care if you both go."
Carly took our orders, and we went to the back through the swinging door and into the kitchen. The whole place was small and cramped, and I knew that Luna had the best table.
I spoke to Cal, and then I turned to speak to my sister.
It was no longer quiet in her little nook like it used to be.
The same music that was playing in the front was also pumping through a speaker back here.
The partition was there, and Luna and Audrey were doing their own thing, one on each side of it.
Both of them saw us when we came around the corner.
"Hey, sleepy head," my sister said.
"Hey, sleepy head!" Luna called as she came to me.
"Who's this?" Audrey said, looking way cooler and calmer in the kitchen than I ever did.
"This was Jojo's friend in the grocery store," Luna said.
Audrey gave me a curious glance.
"I know Alex from here, actually. We're friends from last year, when I was cooking. He came in and ate breakfast. He sat at Luna's table, which we need to do today since you're full."
"Oh, I think I remember that. Okay, so, you two are going to eat back here?"
"Yeah, we already put in our order with Carly.
"Okay, great. Well, move things around if you need to, and holler at me if you need anything."
My sister smiled at Alex. She didn't mean anything by it, but I cringed inwardly because of how pretty she was.
My sister was more extreme than me in every way.
She was more daring, more adventurous, more outgoing, more beautiful.
You name it, and Audrey had more of it than me.
She didn't mean anything by the beautiful smile that was aimed at Alex, and I tried not to assume that he would fall for her right there in front of my very eyes.
Luna was holding my hand, and she pulled me along, taking me to her table. "Did you see my new baby?" she asked me, holding one of the new toys her mom had waiting here.
"I saw her in a picture, but I haven't met her yet," I said as I went to the table and took a seat. I pulled Luna into my lap so that she wouldn't absentmindedly take the only other chair.
"What are you going to name her?" I asked.
"Curly."
I nodded. "Curly? Okay."
"Cause her hair." She cut her eyes at Alex after he sat down. "Does he want to hold my baby?" she asked, leaning into me and speaking quietly.
"I don't know, let's ask him." I glanced at Alex.
My eyes met his, and in that moment, I could not understand how this man had ended up sitting across from me.
The things that had happened between us before seemed so tucked away in my mind that it was hard to believe I was looking at his face again.
He was like a fictional character. He was too good to be true. The whole thing felt surreal.
"Would you like to hold baby Curly?" I asked, trying not to smile.
"Sure." He reached for the baby. "Is she sleeping or awake?" he asked.
"She's awake," Luna answered, smiling.
"Okay, well, I'm not too used to holding babies," he said, propping the baby on his shoulder. "My brother has a baby, but he lives in Pennsylvania."
Luna laughed like he was joking, and that made Alex laugh as well, which in turn made me laugh.
His smile. He had perfect white teeth, and I could not look at his face, and especially not his mouth, without thinking about the night we kissed.
"So, you're filming now?" I asked him. "Is it a series, like you wanted?"
"Yes, we're moving forward with the series as it was originally planned. Six parts. We're not necessarily working in order as we film."
"So, you're staying at that ranch in Deer Lodge?" I asked.
"Yes. We have trailers and these cool enclosed tents that we rented. They have electricity and everything, so we're not roughing it, but at the same time, we are. The trailers have tiny bathrooms. We share a common eating area. One of the tents has a portable kitchen."
"How many of you are there?"
"There are between twenty and thirty of us who are working regularly.
It's not just actors, we have people helping Henry with the horses and things like that.
Then we have days when even more are brought in, extras, for scenes with a lot of people.
We have that happening now for a scene we're filming tomorrow night.
The scene takes place at a dance, and we've got a hundred extras coming.
You can dress up and come out there if you want to be in a movie. "
"I want to," Luna offered since she was listening to him.
"You would be a great actress, I bet."
"Yes, I am," she agreed, even though she wasn't sure exactly what he was talking about.
"It's going to be fun," he said to me. "We have musicians playing, and Cameron's got a whole scene choreographed. That's what's happening right now. They're rehearsing it again today."
"And the girls who are playing your great, great grandma… how old are they in this scene?"
"They're twenty-one and twenty-two in real life, and they're playing teenage girls.
The women in the real story were closer to fifteen, but we're going for seventeen-ish, and we definitely pull that off.
The actors are young-looking, and we have makeup tricks.
Then, we'll have to do the opposite and make them look older when we film the later scenes.
The cast looks good. I'm happy with how it's all coming together. "
"That's such good news," I said. "I knew you would make it happen. I can't wait to watch the final result. It makes it even more amazing that it's a true story. I keep forgetting that part."
"I know," he said, nodding. "Most of it's true. There's a love connection with Sam's character, Tommy, and the sister who stays in Missouri, and that's embellished. But I had to add a little romance."
"That is just so cool. And the actresses? Do they look alike?"
"Yeah, they're sisters in real life. Friends of mine from back home. The main actor, Sam, is a friend of mine from college. None of these people are famous or anything."
"And you still live in Los Angeles, right?"
He shrugged and nodded. "That's where I live now. I grew up in Monterey, and I spend a lot of time there, too. I know the girls from Monterey. We grew up together. I know Sam from L.A. Judd and Cameron, too."
"Hey, Luna, your friend's here!" It was Carly's voice who said it. She was calling from the front.
Then I heard my sister's voice from the other side of the partition. "Oh, yeah, I forgot. Hey, Josie, I talked to Maddie this morning. She's picking Lu up to go hang out with her little girls. I'm in the weeds over here. Can you walk her out there, please?"
I made eye contact with Alex. "I'll be right back."