Anna
After a while of driving, she began to see hints of civilization—a gas station here, a convenience store there.
There were some residences just outside the town, and when she saw them, she immediately got excited.
They had so much historic charm. So far, it was exactly the kind of place she was looking for, but she mentally prepared herself for a certain amount of disappointment.
There was no point in getting overly excited just to be disappointed later.
But it turned out worrying about that was a complete waste of time.
As soon as she got into town, she saw that the woman who’d recommended it knew exactly what she was talking about.
It was downright adorable, with little shops on every corner and brick sidewalks alongside the streets.
She parked her car and decided to walk down Main Street in order to really drink everything in.
The day was warm, so she lingered in the shadows cast by the shops around her.
She stopped into a local bookshop to look around.
One scene she had just finished reading the night before took place in a local bookshop, and she wanted to see whether this one looked the part.
To her delighted surprise, it was perfect.
Coincidentally, Texas Sunrise was in plain sight on a display table of best sellers.
If she didn’t already have a copy, she might have bought one.
“Can I help you?” the salesperson asked. He was a young man, probably still in high school. There was a very real chance this was his first job.
“Just looking,” Anna assured him. “Thanks.” He went back to his work behind the counter, and Anna decided to test the waters a bit. “Are you familiar with the owner of this shop?” she asked.
The salesperson shrugged. “She hired me. Nice lady.”
“Do you think she’d be excited about the prospect of filming a movie scene in her shop?”
He thought a moment, and then it seemed to dawn on him. “Are you looking for locations? Oh, wow! I think she’d love it. I mean I’d love it anyway. Hey, are you looking for extras? I aced drama, and I’ve always wanted to act. It would be so cool to break in, you know?”
The way he came to life at the mere suggestion gave Anna a lot of hope.
She knew he wasn’t the owner, but if this kid was even a distant representation of how people in town would feel about filming, she liked her chances.
“We’re looking for locations to film Texas Sunrise.
” She gestured to the stack of paperbacks on the display table.
The salesperson’s eyes lit up even more. “You don’t say! Oh, Shelly will love that. The owner, I mean. That’s one of her favorite books.”
“Good to hear.” Anna smiled brightly at him. Two of the key aspects of location scouting were attitude and making connections. They were both things Anna had always felt were some of her best strengths. “Do you know when she’s usually around? Can I stop in later?”
“She should be here tomorrow if you want to ask her,” he said.
“I still have a few more locations to scout in town today, but I may be back tomorrow if things go smoothly from here on out.”
She said goodbye to the young man and continued her walk into the center of town. Great care had been taken with every shopfront. All the signs were hand-painted and hung with pride. She really did feel like she was wandering through some kind of small-town wonderland.
At the center of town was a perfect patch of green.
And at the center of that, there was an absolutely beautiful little gazebo.
Anna had to stop herself from shouting and jumping for joy so she didn’t look too crazy to the people lingering in the park.
She immediately pulled out her camera and snapped several photos of the park to send to the director.
One of the more pivotal scenes in the book took place in a setting just like this.
She didn’t wait for the director to respond.
She knew well enough to get the gears turning as soon as possible.
A place this perfect didn’t come around every day of the week.
Maybe she wasn’t able to convince the owner of the perfect ranch to get on board, but the people of Denson Oaks didn’t seem remotely as cold as Charlie Greene.
The town hall was small but dignified. It was within walking distance of the park at the center of town, so Anna didn’t bother to get back into her car. It was a pleasant walk, and she got to see even more of the town. The more she saw of it, the more she thought it was the perfect location.
She pushed open the doors to the town hall and found a meeting room with people leaving. “Sorry,” she said to one man passing by. “Is this the Denson Oaks town council?”
The man nodded, and she thanked him. Her original intention had been to get some contact information, but they appeared to have just gotten out of a meeting. So, she let the people who were leaving go without stopping them.
She made her way into the meeting room to find a few stragglers still packing up their things. “Hi there.” She greeted the stragglers with a friendly smile and a wave. “Does anyone have a few minutes to discuss something with me? I promise it’s a fun subject. Good vibes only.”
Her smile could not have been brighter. Most of the people present kind of ignored her, which was fine. They were done for the day. She was just about to ask someone for contact information so she could reach out later when two people she hadn’t noticed approached her.
They were an older man and woman, and the way they moved, she would guess they were a long-standing couple. The woman approached first and held out her hand. “Hi there. I’m Paris, and this is my husband, Sam. We’re senior members of the town council. What did you want to talk to us about?”
Anna offered her hand and introduced herself. “Anna Lafferty. It’s good to meet you both. I’ve actually come to discuss the possibility of filming in Denson Oaks. I’d like to talk permits and logistics, if you don’t mind.”
“Already so certain, are you?” Paris asked. “What would this be for? An advertisement?”
“Oh, no.” Anna laughed. She was about to hand them more than they asked for, and she was loving every minute of it. “It’s for a movie. Have you heard of the novel Texas Sunrise?”
Paris’s eyes widened when she heard the title. “The romantic comedy? You’re kidding!”
Now Sam leaned in and spoke quietly to his wife. “I don’t think she’s kidding, Paris.” He seemed to be the quiet type, and his wife was his polar opposite. Perfect. Anna could work with that.
“Can I take you both to lunch so we can discuss it further? You can show me the best place in town. It’s all on the studio.”
Paris grinned. “Well, we’re not going to say no to free food, are we, Sam?”
Sam shook his head, and it was settled.
“Let’s do The Sandwich Slam,” Paris said. “It’s casual and delicious. Locally owned, too.”
“Perfect!” Anna said. She was prepared to get her car, but it turned out the place was within walking distance of the town hall.
She shouldn’t have been surprised, really.
The center of town seemed to be where most of the good businesses were.
Almost everything was within walking distance of the town hall.
They walked together to a sandwich shop about three blocks down Main Street.
It was in a long row of old buildings that looked like they might have fit right in on an Old West movie set.
Inside, there was a row of booths on either side of the narrow shop with a bar and barstools toward the back.
The place was decorated in a cottage-core style and was even cozier than it looked from the outside.
When they sat down—Sam and Paris on one side of the booth and Anna on the other—Sam leaned over to say, “They’re the best lunch spot in town. You’ll see.”
“Oh, I believe you,” Anna assured him. She picked up her menu and read it over until the server arrived to take their orders.
After they all ordered their lunch, Paris sat back and asked, “So, Texas Sunrise is finally getting a movie? Is this a sure bet or just one of those things they’re teasing us with?”
“Oh, I’d say it’s a sure bet.” Anna smiled. “They’ve already got a built-in audience. The book’s fans are loyal and excited. At least, all the ones I’ve met are. It can’t possibly fail.” She sipped the orange juice she’d ordered and appreciated the fact that it was obviously fresh-squeezed.
“Unless they mess it up,” Paris said.
“Well, I aim to do my part as well as I can, and that’s why I’ve come to talk to you.”
Simultaneously, both town council members leaned in to hear what she had to say.
Anna grinned. They were eager, and that was a great sign.
“If you’ve read this book, then you know.
” She reached into her purse to pull out the trade paperback version of Texas Sunrise she’d purchased at the airport.
“Denson Oaks is the spitting image of the town featured in this book. Don’t you agree? ”
Paris nodded aggressively. “I’ve been saying so for months, haven’t I, Sam? I even thought maybe the author was inspired by our town, but I couldn’t find any evidence that she ever visited. It’s just so similar.”
All while Paris was talking, Sam nodded. “You did say that, yes,” he said quietly.
“I agree,” Anna said. “This town was recommended to me by another fan of the book. I’m in the middle of reading it right now, and she was totally right.
It’s a perfect copy if ever there was one.
I just know fans of the book will appreciate this location.
Anyway, I may not be able to control the screenplay or casting, but I can at least make sure the scenery is right. ”
“Listen to you,” Paris said with an almost matronly tone. “You’re persuasive, I’ll give you that. Well, you have me on your side, and Sam, too, I’ll wager.”
Again, Sam nodded.
“He’s my best yes-man.” Paris chuckled before going on.
“It’ll just be a matter of convincing the rest of the council, but that shouldn’t be too difficult.
In addition to the initial filming fees, the amount of tourist money this movie could bring in will be a huge incentive. Businesses will love it.”
“I thought so.” Anna couldn’t help the note of triumph in her voice. This was going about as smoothly as it could. The only bumps in the road so far had been her stupid rental car and that grumpy cowboy who wouldn’t even consider letting her film on his property.
Well, never mind about him. She had the town, and she could find another ranch that would work for the film.
Maybe it wouldn’t be as picture-perfect as Charlie Greene’s place, but setbacks rarely discouraged Anna.
She saw every challenge as a thing to be met and overcome.
This movie was going to be brilliant, if she had anything to say about it.
And she had no doubt this location was going to be so perfect that people would be searching through the original novel to see whether Denson Oaks was actually named in it. She’d put money on that if she could.