And then it hit her. Out of the blue, it hit her. She’d been walking toward that spot, glancing up every now and then, trying her best not to let herself get too sentimental about a man she barely knew, honestly. Once, she looked up and saw that tree again, standing on the horizon, just at the crest of the hill. And she could almost see two figures standing beneath it, just off to one side, holding hands and then kissing.
It was perfect. She took off running in the opposite direction.
When she reached the place where the crew was still packing up, she called out for the director. “Carl! Where the heck is Carl?”
A cameraman answered, “He headed out already. What do you want him for?”
“I found it!” She was out of breath by the time she got to where the cameraman stood. He was putting his gear into his hatchback. Anna could hardly wait for him to finish before she grabbed him by one arm and shook him. “I found the last location. Oh, my gosh, it’s perfect!”
The cameraman, Terry, looked doubtful. “How so? There’s barely any description of it in the novel. I still don’t understand why it was giving you all so much trouble. Just pick anywhere. We’ll tinker with the lighting and make it look romantic later.”
Anna shook her head and started dragging him by the arm. “Have you evenreadthe book?”
“Most of it,” he said. “I skimmed the rest. If I remember rightly, the location is barely described in that scene. So what’s the big deal?”
“It’s a big deal because the scene is pivotal,” Anna said. She was out of breath, more from the excitement than the jog back to thespot. “There’s a certain mood to it. I can’t really explain it, but you have to read the book. I meanreallyread it. Don’t just skim it. Get into it. Get into the characters’ heads and the heads of the readers, too. Trust me, the fans are going to eat this up. It’s perfect!”
They came to a stop just at the spot where Anna had first noticed the silhouetted outline of that hill and the tree that stood on it. It looked even better now, with the setting sun casting all kinds of colors across the land. Terry stopped in his tracks at the sight of it and muttered one word. “Wow.”
“Right?” Anna grabbed his arm again. “Tell me this isn’t perfect. Just a flash of this in a trailer is going to get potential audiences absolutely drooling.”
“Eww!” Terry pulled his arm away. “Why’d you have to put it like that?”
“Because I’m not romantic like you are.”
“That’s bull and you know it,” Terry said. “The way you’ve been eyeballing our host?—”
“Shh.” Anna hushed him before he said something he couldn’t take back. “That’s a sore spot for me, so you should probably just let it drop.”
He raised both eyebrows in sudden understanding. “Dropped,” he said. “Not another word.”
“And that’s why I love the people I work with.” She headed back to inform the others, and Terry followed at a close distance. “You’ll see. We already have the permits for this property, too, so we won’t need to deal with any red tape. This is going to be perfect. I already know everyone will love it.”
But of course, there was one person she wasn’t really thinking of, and that was because thinking of him made her feel awful. So, every time he even threatened to enter her mind, she pushed him out, and she had every intention of continuing to do so until this shoot was wrapped up and she could finally go back to California with a song in her heart—one that was definitely anything but country western.
CHAPTER 17
ANNA
Just as Anna had suspected he would, the director agreed with her conclusion the second he saw the spot in the right light. There wasn’t any doubt in her mind that this scene would eventually appear in the movie trailer. The indescribable sensation the scene evoked matched the tree and Charlie’s own story so closely that it would have been a crime not to film it there.
Even the actors were impressed with the scenery. The two leads gave such a believable performance that Anna had to wonder if they didn’t have a little chemistry between them. That would certainly be helpful when it came to marketing if they did. She could imagine the interviews already.
She had insisted that she be present for the filming, to protect the location. She knew it was important to Charlie, and she was determined to keep it in one piece, even if he had turned out to be somewhat of a jerk. She made sure the actors and the cameramen trod lightly in the grasses around the place. It was easy enough to claim it was all about keeping the shot consistent by keeping the grasses upright and blowing in the breeze. Thatmade sense to everyone there, probably more sense than it would have made had she insisted she cared deeply enough about their host to fight for every blade of grass on his property.
They were just wrapping up their second take when Anna saw everyone turn in the same direction, the same bemused expression on all their faces. She turned back, too, just in time to see Charlie marching toward them. The look on his face didn’t give her hope that this interaction was going to go well at all.
On the contrary, he was furious.
She noted, with a scowl, that he wasn’t nearly as careful with the grasses as she had been. He left a trail of rage behind him, flattened tall grasses and badly abused nature. In anticipation of his anger, every muscle in her body tensed. Whether she was in fight or flight was never in question. She was all fight, all the time.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Charlie shouted when he’d come close enough that they could all hear him. “What do any of you think you’re doing?”
Anna answered him so no one else had to. “Filming, obviously.” She didn’t feel dealing with him was something anyone other than she should have to do. She was the reason they were filming on his property at all. She started toward him, hoping to minimize the trail he was leaving around the filming site. They could probably edit it out in post, but getting it right in the first place was always the best policy. When she had come close, she asked him, “What are you doing here?”
“That’s my line,” he growled. “I live here. This is my land, my home. You’re the one who’s trespassing.”
“We have agreements signed by you. We haven’t violated any of them.”
