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Audrie nodded. “He just stopped trying to meet anyone. And nobody wants to push someone who’s lost the love of his life.”
“Sounds like she might not bethelove of his life,” Landon commented. “He seems pretty in love with Poppy.”
“There’s no such thing,” Rourke said. “It’s all a myth.”
“What’s a myth?” Audrie asked, even though she had a feeling she knew what he was saying. “Love?”
“No.” Rourke set his fork down and wiped his mouth with his napkin before setting it back on his lap. “That there’s one person you’re meant to be with for your entire life. There are any number of people you could be compatible with. You choose the most suitable mate from the people you meet, if you choose at all. That’s why I’m not choosing at all.”
“My brother plans to never get married,” Landon explained.
“I’m not the marrying type,” Rourke said. “Landon’s the guy who will end up getting married and having five kids.” He laughed. “He’ll settle down on a ranch somewhere with a bunch of cows and horses and whatever.”
He said that like it was a bad thing, but Audrie found herself hanging on his every word. So, Landon was the marrying type? And it didn’t sound like he was currently married, or Rourke would have mentioned it.
“Five kids?” Landon laughed. “That sounds like a lot.”
He looked over at Audrie, who faked an intense interest in her food. Her mind was racing. Just how many kids did she want? And why was she suddenly imagining how many kids she’d want with Landon Dixon?
8
Landon had never had this many ups and downs in one morning. First, there’d been the excitement of helping unload the horse, at which point his brother made the decision to shoot the scene with the horse that day. Then came the dread of working with Jessica, which had turned out not to be all that bad. They sat in the food tent at one of the tables, drinking coffee and eating doughnuts. Well, he ate a doughnut. She pulled off tiny chunks and slid them into her mouth, taking a full thirty minutes to eat half the pastry on the plate in front of her.
But other than that, everything had stayed somewhat professional. There had been one exception, though. When Peter walked into the tent, she turned on the charm full blast.
The whole thing had made him extremely uncomfortable, especially now that he’d overheard one of the supporting cast members say Peter and Jessica had broken up a few months ago. The last thing Landon wanted was to fight some guy over a woman he wasn’t even interested in.
Going by the looks Peter was tossing in their direction, things weren’t settled between the exes. He was starting to realize her goal was to make Peter jealous. She wasn’t even interested in Landon. And Peter’s response told Landon that if Jessica’s plan was to get her ex’s attention, she was definitely reaching that goal.
Landon’s day had shifted upward when he was tasked with giving Audrie a ride to the barn at the far end of the property. This one wouldn’t be the Christmas card barn. Instead, it was the one they were using for the scenes with the horse that morning. They were shooting a scene where Jessica’s character taught Peter’s character how to ride.
A smile spread across Landon’s face as he approached Audrie’s hair trailer. He’d passed Jessica in a truck on his way here, a production assistant driving her. That meant he could see Audrie without the drama of a temperamental actress in her chair.
His smile faded slightly as the sound of Christmas music filled the air around him. Where was it coming from?
He looked around and saw nothing nearby that might be playing music. Finally, he narrowed it down to the inside of the trailer. But…why?
There was only one way to find out. He knocked, then heard that familiar voice call out, “Come in!” His smile returned, but when he opened the door, the music blasted out at him, almost pushing him backward a step or two.
Inside the trailer, someone was singing about snowmen and dreaming by a fire. Meanwhile, behind him, it was already a sweltering eighty degrees and the temperature was likely to climb even higher by the time they got to the barn.
“Sorry,” Audrie said. She already had her phone in her hand and was tapping around on the screen. “I didn’t know you were out there. You kind of snuck up on me.”
Now Landon was the one who felt like he needed to apologize. He didn’t think she meant that to be accusatory, though. She was just making a statement.
“I’m here to take you to set!”
He yelled that so he’d be heard over the music, but in the seconds it took him to get the words out, the music abruptly stopped, so he was basically yelling for no reason. He took another step in but held the door open with his backside.
“Oh.” She looked around. “I have a client coming at eleven. I’d love to go to set, but I don’t want you to have to transport me all the way back here.”
“I don’t mind.” He shrugged. “I’m pretty sure my brother would say to go ahead and do just that. He’d rather you travel back and forth to the barn all day than not be available when Jessica needs her hair tamed.”
Audrie smiled and turned, grabbing a few items off her counter and shoving them into the pockets of her apron. “I think you’re right,” she said. “It’s a pretty humid day out there. Jessica’s going to need me.”
“What’s with the music?” he asked.
She turned to look at him. He was staring up at the ceiling, expecting to see speakers mounted up there, but they weren’t. Just one smart speaker on the counter where she stored her various beauty products.
