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Stopping in front of her rocking chair, she tightened the apron string behind her back. She hadn’t taken it off yet. She was still officially on duty.
“See you at dinner,” he said, smiling at her.
She nodded and took a deep breath, then headed into the house.
11
Audrie wasn’t the jealous type, but watching Jessica and Landon together physically pained her. It was pretty easy to see that whatever was going on was mostly on Jessica’s side, but she was so aggressive with her flirting, she might eventually wear him down.
They were standing in line for food, each wearing the Santa hats that had been handed to them when they walked in. Everyone was wearing them but Jessica. The actress had immediately wrinkled her nose and turned her back to the production assistant handing them out. From that, the message was clear. She wasn’t wearing anything like that, and nobody could make her.
“That woman is a piece of work,” someone said in her right ear. Audrie turned to see Poppy standing behind her, a big smile on her face. “I can help you push her into the pond later if you want.”
Audrie looked around to make sure nobody was listening to their conversation. She definitely didn’t want it to get back to Rourke, Landon, or anyone else in the cast and crew that she’d been talking about the star. It would be seen as very unprofessional, especially since she was the outsider here.
“I might take you up on that,” Audrie said. “But then I’d have to repair the damage to her hair.”
“Oh, yeah,” Poppy said. “Good point.”
Audrie had gotten home so late last night, she hadn’t gotten a chance to stop by the salon and check in on Poppy, who was temporarily renting the apartment upstairs. If she’d dropped in, they might have gossiped about all this stuff. Maybe she’d make a point to get out of here early tonight so they could do just that.
“Christian’s saving seats for you and Landon,” Poppy said, nodding to her left.
Audrie didn’t even have to look that way to know that was a no-go. “Landon will have to sit with his brother and the director, I’m sure.”
“His brother’s there, too.” Poppy turned in that direction again, her long, dark hair shifting as she moved. “Nice guy. Maybe I should fix him up with one of my single friends.”
Audrie shook her head. “You don’t want to do that. He’s already said he’s not the relationship type.”
Poppy nodded as she glanced over Audrie’s shoulder. “What about his brother?”
His brother. She felt like her heart stopped. Was Poppy suggesting fixing Landon up with someone she knew? What would Audrie do if she was? She wasn’t ready to reveal to Poppy that she was attracted to the retired cowboy.
“I don’t really know.” Audrie shrugged. By then, they’d reached the point where they could start loading their provided paper plates with food, and Audrie busied herself picking up leaves of lettuce with tongs without squishing them.
“He’s awfully cute,” was all Poppy said.
She wasn’t looking at Audrie as she said the words. Instead, now it was her turn to focus her attention on Landon.
“He definitely seems the marrying type from what I hear,” Poppy said. “I’ll bet he’ll unretire as a cowboy eventually and settle on a ranch somewhere out there in California.”
“With a California woman,” Audrie added quietly.
That was important, since she’d always be a Corbin resident. This town was part of who she was.
Poppy shifted the conversation to the upcoming film shoots, at which point Audrie breathed a sigh of relief. It was best to steer clear of the topic of Landon. But then they were headed toward the table, and that was where Landon sat with his brother, a couple of producers, the script supervisor, and Peter.
Tracie was nowhere in sight. As Audrie pulled her chair back, she looked around for Jessica and didn’t see her, either. Maybe Jessica and Tracie were fighting it out, once and for all. Whoever won the fight got Peter.
Only as she scooted her chair up to the table did it hit Audrie that she’d taken the spot next to Landon without thinking. She could have gone to the other side of Poppy and let Christian sit next to Landon, but she’d automatically moved in this direction. And now it was too late to back out.
“Your plate is mostly salad,” Landon commented as she picked up her fork to dig in.
She looked over at him and found herself meeting his gaze. She had to pull herself away from the stare.
“I figured I had to eat a little healthy tonight.” She’d chosen the salad and a chicken breast, mostly because she’d been indulging so much lately. The food here was surprisingly good. It was catered by the diner, someone had said, and the owners, Sharon and Dick, had really pulled out all the stops.
“That seat’s saved.”
