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My heart skips a beat, and I spend the rest of the day grinning like a fool until the owner of the diner, Jasmine, finally stands with her hands on her hips and says, “Spill it, girl.”
“Spill what?” I ask innocently.
“Something's got you smiling today.” Jasmine is in her early forties, but you'd never know it to look at her. She's a tiny little brunette who always has a high ponytail and enough energy to run Gravy Mountain Diner from five in the morning until ten at night."So...who is he?”
“Nobody.” I turn back to the grill and season the burgers I just flipped.
“Liar.”
“I'm just about to come into a little unexpected cash. The guy renting my cabin is coming to town a couple of weeks early.”
“Ooh! It's Heath Lawson, isn't it?”
“No, why would you think that?” My face turns bright red.
“I put two and two together. I know he's in that film they're shooting here, and nobody else has come running in here screaming at the top of their lungs that he's staying at their place, so it's got to be you.”
“How do you know he's not staying in a trailer on set?”
She raises one eyebrow at me while she puts together a spinach salad for table nine.
“You're the only one in this entire town who doesn't have a big mouth, Scarlett, so it's got to be you.”
I can't help but grin. “I'm not saying a word.”
“It is you! You lucky, lucky bitch.”
“Why is it lucky? I'm just going be his maid and his cook for a few weeks. It's not like he's going to come into town, fall in love with me, and whisk me off to Malibu to live happily ever after.” I prep three plates with buns and all the fixings. “I probably won't even meet him.”
“But you're hoping, aren't you? Admit it.”
I turn back to the grill. “It'd be nice to meet him. Maybe see if I can get an autograph or something before he leaves.”
“I hope you'll get a lot more than an autograph from that fine piece of man candy.” She laughs and bumps my shoulder with hers.
“Quit putting ideas in my head. I don't want to spend the entire summer hoping for something that's never going to happen. Heath Lawson is one of the hottest men on the planet. I'm a chubby cook.”
“You're not chubby. You're curvy. And you're more than just a cook, Scarlett. You're the one person in this entire town with any potential at all.”
“If you call scrubbing to
ilets for a movie star potential, then you're bang on.”
“Stop selling yourself short. You're a beautiful girl. Any man would be lucky to have you.”
I slide the burgers onto the buns, finish the plates off with fries fresh from the deep-fryer basket, then ring the bell even though Jasmine's standing two feet away from me. “Order up!”
Four hours later, I race home, let Einstein out, and spend three hours giving the cabin a good scrubbing. Even though my feet feel like two lead bricks, I keep moving until the place sparkles. Tomorrow I'm working the breakfast shift, so I'll have time to pick up some groceries, and maybe some fresh flowers on my way home before he arrives. I know he's a man, but in my opinion, flowers brighten any space, and who knows, maybe he'll appreciate it?
Two
Heath
I don't mean to complain because I know I have it pretty sweet, but lately, I could use a break from the chaos that is my life. I'm an actor who's had the good fortune of being cast in some pretty big movies over the past eight years since I left Texas and moved to Los Angeles. My first part was in a screwball high school comedy, Meatheads. I played 'Hot Guy Number One.' That got me noticed by some producers over at Newman Brothers Films, and since then I've been cast in at least two blockbusters every year.
It's the life I set out to have, and I'm damn happy to have it, but once in a while, a guy could use a break from the parties, the press junket, and the premiers. I've been on a dead run since award season. Between promoting my latest superhero flick to wrapping up filming on the next in the Aliens franchise, I haven't had a full night's sleep or a day off in five months.
But now's my chance. I'm going to get away from it all for fourteen glorious days before my next film starts shooting. Just me and my fishing rod (that's not a sexual euphemism, I actually do want to go fishing). I'm going to stay in a remote cabin in the Rockies so I can sleep, fish, lay out in the sun, and practice my lines, so I'll be all ready.
