AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ROMAN WAS DISTRACTED, BUT HE hoped he was hiding it well. Glancing toward the doors every other minute probably wasn’t being discreet, though. Today, they were filming inside the barn, where they had a scene centered on an argument between a couple of the main characters about purchasing livestock.
So far, the argument dialog had fallen a little flat, but Roman was letting the director, Dave, handle it. Nick didn’t need two people harping on him.
“Everyone take fifteen,” Dave finally said.
Lights dimmed, the cameras turned off, and the mics were lowered. Some of the crew wandered over to the craft services table.
Nick and Nathan sat on a couple of chairs, sipping at their second cups of coffee. Dave headed over to chat with the men.
Stacy was in the barn, too, but she wouldn’t appear until the end of the scene. Anytime that Roman had glanced over at her, she was on her phone. Probably posting stuff for her thousands of fans on social media. He’d unfollowed her after they’d broken up. It was just too much to have constant reminders of Stacy—even if they were on the same project right now.
Roman walked over to Dave as he stepped away from the other guys.
“Everything okay?” Roman said.
“Just one of those days, I guess.” Dave ran his hand through his dirty-blond hair, then replaced his ball cap. “But we can’t afford to have a down day if we want this wrapped by Christmas Eve.”
The plan was to wrap on Christmas Eve, celebrate with a dinner, then the following morning, after gifting everyone with some surprise Santa gifts, the cast and crew would be taking a few days off. They’d all return on the twenty-ninth. That would only work if they stayed on schedule. It was midafternoon, and they should have a wrap on the first portion of the scene by now.
“We can work again after dinner if we need to,” Roman said. “Since we’re shooting interiors.”
“I don’t want to mess with the evening event schedule,” Dave said with a half-laugh. “That Jerry guy is pretty intense with all his plans.”
Roman laughed as well. “Yeah, a little. I wanted to take a load off of Lila, plus we need a little holiday cheer around here.”
Dave followed his gaze. Stacy was frowning at her phone. Nick was leaning back in his chair, eyes closed. Nathan sat, arms folded, staring at nothing. The crew members were quiet, when they usually razzed each other during breaks.
“I think you’re right,” Dave said. “We’ll get this, don’t worry. Then tonight will be all Christmas cheer at the town festival.”
“Did someone die?” Thayne’s voice boomed.
Everyone looked at the barn entrance as Thayne strode in. He looked . . . well, he looked like a real cowboy. Except for his swagger—that was totally fake.
Nick hooted. “Wow, someone had a makeover.”
Thayne beamed. His clothing appeared well-worn, and his cowboy hat was battered—but not overly so.
Roman’s attention was caught by someone else, though. Lila and Cara walked in right behind Thayne, both carrying trays of some sort of food.
“Ms. Prosper brought y’all the best fruit tarts this side of Wyoming,” Thayne said.
A few of the crew snickered.
“Now, before you all think fruit tarts are too fancy for a barn,” he continued, “wait until you try them. The custard and crust are out of this world.”
“They’re just refreshers,” Cara said, a smile playing on her face as she scanned the actors and the crew. When her gaze finally landed on Roman, he was gratified to see her eyes brighten.
His own smile had appeared, but he kept it brief. Then he had to force himself to dig out his phone and look at it. For no reason but to stop staring at Cara because she wore jeans that made her legs look a mile long, and her plaid shirt was definitely cut to fit her curvy form.
Roman focused on his phone screen as his thoughts circled about him. Cara wasn’t any striking beauty in the movie-business sense, yet she was absolutely beautiful. It was the combination of her unfettered appearance and her inner glow. The screen on his phone went black, and he tapped it, bringing it to life again.
He could hear Cara chatting with someone—sounded like Nick. She was telling him about her cowboy brothers and how they were big fans of the show. When people started eating the fruit tarts, they seemed to be a big hit.
“Mia helped me,” someone said next to him.
Roman smiled before looking up. Cara held out a paper plate with a fruit tart on it.
“Is that so?” he asked.
