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Cara leaned down closer to Mia’s ear. “Tell you a secret. I grew up on a ranch, and I could peel and core apples before I could spell a word.”
Mia grinned. “Good, because this is a ranch, too.”
Cara couldn’t stop her laughter. Mia reminded her a bit of Ruby, who had the talent of wrapping everyone around her finger.
Cara straightened, and her gaze locked with Mr. De Marco’s. There was surprise in his eyes, maybe even gratitude, but he looked away quickly, so she couldn’t be sure. Hopefully, she hadn’t crossed lines by indulging in the little girl’s request when she was here to focus on large meals.
She followed the group into the ranch house. A couple of people were in the vast kitchen, which looked like it had every culinary implement Cara could ever dream of. She was introduced to Lila and Thayne—both looked to be in their forties, and apparently they were staff for the ranch. Lila was the cook, oversaw housekeeping, and helped with Mia, and Thayne was a man of all work. Also, they were married, which Cara thought sweet.
Mr. De Marco introduced everyone around, and then Lila took over to show Jerry and Cara their rooms.
“This place is amazing,” Cara said as Lila guided her through the main parts of the house, which included a theater room and a weight room.
“Stay out of the weight room after nine p.m.,” Lila cautioned. “Unless you want to be bowled over by the smell of sweaty men. That’s when they all seem to congregate to lift weights.”
“Sure thing.” Cara may or may not have noticed Mr. De Marco’s well-built physique. There was no doubt he put the weight room to good use.
They headed along a hallway of doors. The ranch house was a mix of rustic and modern. It had obviously been carefully decorated with plenty of money, but there was still a comfortable vibe to it.
“I love the décor of this place,” Cara mused. “Did you work on it?”
“Roman gave me license to do whatever I wanted,” Lila said, “which sounds great, but it was honestly intimidating, too.”
“I can imagine,” Cara said. “I’m impressed with your work.”
Lila’s cheeks flushed. “Well, I ordered all of it, then bossed my husband around for days with rearranging.”
Soon, Lila opened the door to the bedroom Cara would be staying in.
The two women walked into the cozy bedroom. It wasn’t large, but it had all the right things. A fireplace with a cheery fire. A four-poster queen bed with a patchwork quilt. A side table, and a desk, then an adjoining bathroom. The moldings, door frames, and doors were all dark-stained pine, and the rug on the wood floor was a plush checked pattern.
“What a great room.” Cara rolled her suitcase to the corner, then crossed to the fireplace and held out her hands to the warmth. She wasn’t all that cold anymore, but she still had a chill. “Did you decorate this room, too?”
“Sure,” Lila said. “Not many differences between the bedrooms, though. I picked out a theme and altered the colors a bit.” She turned on the bathroom light. “One thing to be aware of: The hot water takes a bit to warm up, and we’re all on strict instructions to take only ten-minute showers. The first few days in this place were a bit rough on that end.”
Cara noticed a framed cross-stitch on the mantle of a kitten and ball of yarn. “A ten-minute shower is doable.”
Lila came to stand next to her. “Roman’s wife made that.”
“The cross-stitch?” Cara didn’t know why she was surprised. Maybe because it was kind of a quaint, crafty thing to do when one was quite wealthy. She didn’t know much about Elizabeth De Marco aside from a Google search, but Cara had imagined her traveling the world and hobnobbing with the who’s who of Hollywood.
“Yeah, Liz was either knitting or stitching,” Lila continued. “Most of it was before Mia was born, or when she was pretty young. She kind of lost interest the last year of her life . . .”
When Lila’s voice trailed off, Cara looked at her. “Too busy?”
“Something like that.” Lila pressed her lips together, then stepped away from the fireplace. “Well, if there’s anything you need, let me know. Dinner’s over, but there’s plenty of stuff in the refrigerators. I can show you everything in the morning. Not that I’ll have to explain much—I’m sure you know your way around a kitchen.”
“The kitchen looks very well equipped,” Cara said. “I’m sure I have you to thank for that, too.”
Lila smiled.
“Oh, tomorrow, the food order should be delivered in the morning. Should they come through the garage?” Cara asked.
“Oh, sure, that works.” Lila pulled her cellphone out of her pocket. “Let’s swap numbers. This is a big place, and sometimes texting is easier than trying to hunt someone down.”
Cara rattled off her number, then saved Lila’s in her phone. “How many are on the property?” She’d been given a ballpark number, but it would be good to have an exact count.
“They’re only filming the smaller scenes over Christmas, so there’s eight actors—and if you add in all the crew and staff plus Roman and Mia, there’s nineteen total. Twenty-one with you and Jerry.”
