Chapter 19
The movie people descended upon his ranch like locusts.
Trucks lined the drive. Cables snaked across the yard.
Adam stood off to the side, keeping his eye on Bianca as she fussed around with the crew.
She moved fast. One minute she was near the porch talking to the director, the next she was halfway to the barn with a clipboard in her hand and that determined look on her face.
He had to admit his place looked pretty great.
He had taken her to Boyd's earlier in the week, and she had gone to town with all sorts of flowering shrubs and bushes. She’d even managed to get some tulips into the ground before the weather turned.
Bright colors framed the house now. Reds, yellows, purples.
He couldn’t name any of them and didn’t want to, but she’d done a good job.
The porch looked welcoming in a way it never had before.
He studied the beds lining the walkway and scratched the back of his neck.
He idly wondered if the flowers would come back next spring.
He figured he should ask her. The thought lingered a moment longer than he expected.
He loved having her stay at his place. Waking up to her in his bed had quickly become his favorite part of the day.
But he wouldn’t mind everybody else taking the hell off.
They were on day three of filming, and his temper was frayed.
Mrs. Hudson hopped up next to him, bouncing with excitement. “I just love this. I should’ve been a movie star.”
“You could’ve easily been one, Mrs. H,” he said.
She played a housekeeper at the home, and he figured she might actually make it into the movie a few times. She didn’t have a speaking part or anything, but she sure dusted a lot. “Are you having fun?”
“I am.” Her hair was done up all fancy-like, pinned high and sprayed into place. She wore a form-fitting gray maid uniform with orthopedic shoes that squeaked faintly when she shifted. “I’m in costume, you know.”
“And you went to hair and makeup,” he said.
Her eyes danced with pure delight. “I did.” She looked ten years younger and thrilled about it. “Oops. I have to go find my mark. That’s what they call it. A mark.”
“Okay. If you need anything, let me know.”
She hurried away toward the porch, carefully stepping over cables as if she’d been doing this for years. Adam watched her go and shook his head.
The whole situation felt surreal. He stayed way over to the side and out of the way. The director kept giving him looks, like he expected Adam to wander over and participate in the circus. Adam didn’t look back. He was not joining this movie.
Ewan popped up at his side. “Hey, Liam wanted to ask me if you’d perhaps—”
“Nope.”
Ewan sighed dramatically. “Come on. We want you to be a bartender tomorrow at your place.”
“I am a bartender.”
Ewan grinned. “Come on, Adam. We’ll make you famous.”
Adam slung his arm around someone he pretty much considered a friend at this point. “I don’t want to be famous, Ewan.”
Ewan’s eyes widened. “How could you not want to be famous? Everybody wants to be famous.”
Adam exhaled heavily. “One of my biggest nightmares would be people coming to this town, walking into my bar and asking for my autograph. Or worse yet, asking to have a picture taken. I would rather you shot me right here right now.”
Ewan frowned at him, his expression truly bewildered. “You’re weird.”
Adam barked out a laugh. “Yeah. Probably. How come you don’t want to be in the movie?”
“Oh, I’ve been an extra in tons of movies,” Ewan said. “It’s not as much fun as it looks. Though they do feed you really well.”
“Yeah.” Adam had to agree. “I’ve enjoyed the spreads they’ve had all day every day.”
Tables had been set up near the barn for the crew. Every time he walked past them there were trays of food. Sandwiches, fruit, pastries, things he couldn’t pronounce. For a guy who usually grabbed whatever was closest to the grill, the setup felt ridiculous.
“You can’t wait till everyone’s off your property, can you?” Ewan asked.
“Nope,” Adam agreed.
Clancy hurried up, a ledger in his hand. His forehead was creased, and he looked like he hadn’t slept much. “We’re going over budget,” he murmured. “We need to get this moving. We’re paying too many extras.”
Adam held up a hand. “You promised the town everybody could try to be extras when you signed the contract.”
“I know, but if we could hurry up filming here, at least by a day, that would really help,” Clancy said.
Adam smiled at him, slow and satisfied. “You just became one of my best friends.”
Clancy rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He glanced past Adam toward the porch where Anne Newberry stood talking to Mrs. Poppins. The two women looked deep in conversation while a makeup girl hovered nearby with a powder brush.
“What’s her story anyway?” Clancy asked. “She’s pretty.”
“That’s Anne Newberry. She works for the Lodge-Freeze Enterprise,” Adam answered.
Clancy angled his head to see better. “What does that mean?”
“It means if you break her heart, you’re probably dead.” Adam smiled and lifted a hand in a casual wave toward Anne. She noticed him and waved back, cheerful as ever.
“I just thought I’d take her to dinner,” Clancy said.
Adam looked him over slowly, taking in the flannel shirt, the careful attempt at looking relaxed, and the way Clancy suddenly straightened his shoulders. “That would probably be okay, but remember she’s loved around here.”
“Gotcha.” Clancy tugged at the hem of his shirt and smoothed it down.
Adam’s gaze caught on Bianca.
She stood near the porch where the flowerbeds curved around the steps.
Her dark hair moved lightly in the breeze while she adjusted one of the flowering bushes she’d planted earlier in the week.
Bright blooms framed the porch now, softening the hard lines of the house.
She crouched to shift a small pot, brushing dirt from her hands as she sat back to study her work.
Heat settled low in Adam’s chest. He looked around to make sure he wasn’t about to walk into someone’s shot, then headed toward her. A camera operator stepped past him carrying equipment, and someone shouted for quiet on the far side of the yard. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and looked up at him.
“The flowers look really pretty.” He’d told her that a few times already, but the words still felt right.
“Thanks.” She smiled, pleasure lighting her face. “You don’t have to hover, you know.”
He glanced at the porch steps where someone had left her those flowers.
He’d given the card to Quinn, but so far nobody had figured out where the roses came from or who had sent them.
At least the movie people had decent security around.
“I have to go meet Hawk at the north pasture for a couple hours,” he said.
“Just to fix some fences. I want you to stay here under security.”
“Not a problem.” She gestured to the beds around the porch. “I have flowers to fix.” She looked up at him again, her happiness obvious. “Thank you so much for letting me go to town like this.”
“You can plant flowers around my place anytime.”
She’d even done a good job with the bar in town. For the movie, she had the crew change the front, so much he barely recognized it. “Of course.”
He bent down and kissed her.
She jolted in surprise and then kissed him back.
Every night she stayed at his place, he fell harder.
The realization sat heavy in his chest, and he hadn’t figured out what to do about it yet.
He’d been trying to think of a way they could stay together, but nothing had come to mind.
“You sure you don’t want to buy into a flower shop? ” he asked against her mouth.
Her eyes sparkled as she drew back. “Not in a million years. I do like planting though.” She chewed her lip thoughtfully.
He pressed the point. “I bet a lot of people around here need flowers. We have so many ranches.”
A playful light filled her eyes. “Can we make movies at all of them?”
“I don’t think so.” His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen, reading Hawk’s text saying he’d just arrived, and the fences were a disaster. “All right, I have to head out. You stay safe.”
“Okay.” She rose onto her toes and kissed him this time. “It’s your turn to make dinner.”
He liked her mouth against his. “I made it last night.”
“You did not. You brought in extras from the catering crew.”
“Well, they were good,” he noted.
She laughed, the sound light and easy in the middle of all the noise around them. Crew members hurried past carrying equipment while someone shouted for quiet near the barn. The whole place hummed with activity. “All right,” she said. “I’ll see if I can do the same thing tonight.”
“Sounds good.”
He stepped back and shoved his phone into his pocket, remembering he still needed to stop by and pick up the tulips from the spring bouquet he’d asked Ellen to put together.
He wanted her to have a pretty present. “Clancy,” he called.
Clancy turned from where he’d been watching the director pace near the camera crew. “Keep an eye on her while I’m away.”
“Most definitely,” Clancy said.
His attention shifted back to the set where Liam stood talking to two assistants.
Liam was short and stocky and seemed to yell a lot, his voice carrying across the yard almost constantly.
Still, everyone seemed to like the guy. Adam shook his head.
If he yelled at everybody all the time, nobody would like him.
The thought made him snort under his breath as he walked toward his truck parked near the edge of the yard.
The noise from the set faded the farther he moved away, and out here the air smelled like damp soil and spring grass.
“Hey, Adam,” Liam called out.
Adam turned halfway back. “Yeah?”
“Is there any chance we can get you to play a bartender tomorrow?”
“Not in a million years,” Adam said.
Liam sighed loud enough for half the crew to hear.
Adam laughed and kept walking toward his truck.
The familiar sight of it sitting there eased the tension in his chest. Beyond it the ranch stretched wide and quiet, fences cutting across the land and the barn standing steady against the gray sky.
He’d meet Hawk, fix the fences that needed fixing, and then come back later.
Maybe he’d see if he could score a dinner again from the catering truck.
These Hollywood people really knew how to eat.
He reached for the truck door and paused for a second, glancing back toward the house where Bianca stood near the porch, animatedly talking to Liam.
Her hands moved while she spoke, pointing toward the flowerbeds she’d planted earlier in the week.
Bright colors framed the house around her, and she brought the place to life.
He lingered a second longer than he meant to, watching her laugh at something Liam said, the sound carrying faintly across the yard.
He really didn’t want her to leave.