Chapter 31
TASHA
Tasha could tell by the expression on Riley’s face and his waving hands as he leant close to the production assistant that he was giving him a difficult time. Furious, she walked over to him, determined to take his attention from the poor man who was the focus of Riley’s latest rant.
‘Hi, sorry to interrupt,’ she said, smiling at the man who appeared to be clenching his teeth. She didn’t blame him for being annoyed; Riley’s behaviour was unacceptable.
He looked at her and his jaw relaxed slightly. ‘That’s fine, Tasha,’ he said. ‘We were about done here anyway.’ He looked at Riley. ‘Weren’t we?’
‘Well, actually…’
Tasha sensed it wouldn’t take much for the man to lose his temper with Riley. She wouldn’t blame him either but knew they could not afford any further delays if filming was to be completed by the end of the week.
‘What did you do that for?’ Riley waved after the assistant as the man marched off.
Tasha kept her voice low, reminding herself she was speaking to her boss, however much she might wish to lose her temper with him at that moment. ‘I thought you might want to know something sooner rather than later, that’s all.’
Riley finally focused on Tasha. ‘What is it?’
Now she had his attention she hoped Riley would forget all about whatever the poor assistant might have done to irritate him.
‘It’s about Erin Preston.’
‘Erin? Nothing else has happened, has it?’
She presumed he might be concerned that Dale had been up to his old tricks again. Or maybe Brooke.
‘She’s fine. I only thought you might want to know she’s here.’
His interest piqued, he leant forward. ‘What, now?’
Tasha nodded. ‘Yes. She was asked to step in and cover for the hairdresser.’
Riley immediately began to walk in the direction of the trailers, so Tasha rushed after him.
‘Hey, you can’t go and see her now.’
He stopped and turned to her, scowling. ‘Why ever not?’
‘Because she’ll be working.’ Realising that wouldn’t deter him, she added, ‘And you’re needed on set.’
‘They can wait for a few more minutes.’
Tasha kept up with him, wondering what other reason she could use to get him back in place for the next scene.
They reached the steps to the trailer and Riley turned to her. ‘Why are you still following me?’
‘I don’t want you to forget the time and delay the next scene.’
He sighed loudly. ‘Tasha, you’re a brilliant assistant. The best, in fact. But I don’t need you micromanaging me. Now, go and find something else to do. I promise I’ll only be a few minutes.’ He gave her his brightest, most photographed smile. ‘I only want to say a quick hello to her.’
Aware that doing what Riley asked was what she was paid to do, Tasha stepped back. ‘All right. I’ll wait for you over there with the others.’
Tasha went to return to where the other actors in the scene were waiting to start filming again and spotted Callum speaking to one of the producers.
She wasn’t close enough to hear what they were discussing, but Callum seemed to be interested in whatever it was.
Unsure whether to go over to speak to him, she decided to wait until they had finished their discussion.
‘Hey, Tasha.’ Callum waved at her as the chap walked away. Both were smiling and she wondered why.
‘You look happy.’
He tilted his head from side to side as if unsure. ‘It’s probably surprise and a bit of shock rather than happy.’
Unsure what he meant, Tasha waited for him to continue. When he didn’t she decided to find out for herself. ‘Is there a reason, or would you rather not say?’
Callum spotted someone behind her and smiled. ‘Hi there.’
She turned to see who it was and saw Lettie walking with Brodie whom she had met on the first day of shooting. He was carrying the baby. ‘I hope they’re not too disturbed by everyone here today.’
‘I’m sure they’d say if they weren’t happy.’ He smiled. ‘Lettie will always put her animals’ welfare before anything else; don’t worry about that.’
‘Good. I’d hate her to be concerned and keep it to herself.’
Lettie walked over to Callum and kissed him on both cheeks. ‘This is very exciting, isn’t it?’
Tasha calmed slightly as Callum gave her a I-told-you-so smile. ‘I’m glad you’re happy.’
Brodie grinned. ‘We’re fascinated by the whole thing. Lettie and I were out here a couple of hours ago when everyone started arriving.’
Callum pulled a face at the baby, making her giggle.
‘You two should come to the farmhouse for lunch, if you’d like.’
‘I’d love that, thank you,’ Tasha said, happy to be able to take time away from everyone else for a bit.
‘That’s kind of you.’ Callum smiled. ‘Erin is here too, so is it OK if I bring her with me?’
Brodie rolled his eyes. ‘Of course.’
‘Oh, wow. So they did call Erin in to help with the hair?’ Lettie said, looking delighted. ‘I’m so pleased. When Callum asked me to put her name forward just in case they needed someone urgently I didn’t actually expect it to happen.’
‘It was kind of you to do that for me. She’s always wondered what it would be like to work on a set and now she’ll get the opportunity to find out.’
Tasha saw something cross Callum’s face and wasn’t sure whether it was amusement or something else. ‘What is it?’
‘He’s got a secret,’ Lettie whispered.
Brodie slipped an arm around Lettie’s shoulders. ‘Leave the poor man alone.’
Callum laughed. ‘It’s not a secret; I just haven’t mentioned it to you yet.’
Intrigued, Tasha waited for him to continue. When he didn’t do so immediately she couldn’t stop from asking him about it. ‘Well, are you going to tell us then?’
He raised his hands. ‘You already know, Tasha, because it was you who put me forward for it.’
‘What?’ Lettie asked impatiently.
‘I’m going to be in a couple of scenes later today.’
Lettie’s mouth dropped open briefly. She nudged Brodie. ‘Did you know about this?’
‘Not until now.’
Callum pulled a face. ‘You don’t have to sound so shocked.’
Lettie gave a knowing nod. ‘It’s because of his modelling, isn’t it, Tasha? That’s why you thought of him.’
‘It helped that he’s done shoots before and I could find a couple of adverts online to show to the producer.
’ She stared at Callum not minding being teased by his friends.
Her stomach flipped as she studied him, so handsome in a sun-kissed sporty kind of way, unlike Riley’s more cheeky, boyish looks.
It dawned on Tasha how unlike Riley Callum was who, despite his modelling in the past, didn’t act as if he was anything special.
He was just a good, kind person who was fun to be around and just happened to be utterly gorgeous.
Lettie spotted someone she wanted to speak to. ‘Come along, Brodie, let’s go and see how they’re getting along over there.’ She looked at Tasha and Callum. ‘Come to the house whenever you’re hungry.’
Tasha saw Callum’s anxious frown. ‘Maybe after Callum has finished his scenes?’
‘Yes, that would be good,’ he agreed.
She thanked them and waited for Lettie and Brodie to leave before turning back to Callum. ‘I think they were trying to be subtle then.’
‘They were.’ He stared at her for a moment.
‘Go on then, tell me more.’
He sighed. ‘This is going to be very different to my modelling,’ he said, frowning. ‘Anyway I only really did those to help pay for my uni fees.’
‘You haven’t done anything since then?’
‘A couple of shoots, but nothing much.’
She could tell he was almost embarrassed to talk about it. She spotted Riley coming out of the hair and make-up trailer. ‘So much for him only being a couple of minutes chatting to Erin.’
‘Ah, so that’s where he was. I did wonder.’
Tasha could see Callum wasn’t too happy to discover Riley had been in contact with his sister again. ‘He only wanted to say a quick hello.’
Callum looked at her and raised an eyebrow. ‘That was rather a long hello, though, don’t you think?’
She shrugged, aware he was right. ‘Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do about what Riley chooses to do.’
‘I know,’ Callum said, taking her hand in his. ‘Sorry. That guy bothers me. I know he’s your boss, but I wish he’d find someone else to focus his attention on other than my sister.’
Tasha knew she would feel the same way if it were her sister on the receiving end of Riley’s interest. ‘Thankfully, he’ll be working for most of the rest of the day. I doubt he’ll have much time at all to speak to her again.’
‘He’ll be spending some of that time in a scene with me, as far as I can gather.’
‘I can’t wait to watch you being filmed.’
He frowned. ‘Don’t expect too much of me, will you?’
She laughed. ‘You’ll be fine. I just know it.’