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That question stopped Rourke’s movements. He looked down at Christian, then scanned the rest of the small crowd helping with the cards.
“Actually, no, I just need Landon,” Rourke finally said. “And Michael.” He pointed to the production assistants. “You, too, of course.”
The production assistants were holding the stacks of cards Rourke and Landon would be hanging first. Obviously, the production assistants were a very important part of this process and probably should have been acknowledged for it. But Landon didn’t have time to worry about it. His mind was fixed on one thing—the fact that Audrie was talking to Christian and Poppy. They were all going to walk out and leave him here.
What could he do? He’d see her tomorrow on the set. And by Monday, no doubt the new hairstylist would arrive and there’d be no reason for them to see each other again.
Unless… Unless he could somehow open up to her, tell her how he felt, and make it clear that he was truly sorry for putting her in this position.
“Wait!” Rourke called out as Poppy, Christian, and Audrie started toward the door. Audrie hadn’t so much as glanced in Landon’s direction. Not that he’d expect her to. “Audrie, I had that paperwork for you to sign, remember? I’m going to need it tomorrow morning.”
Audrie stopped, her smile faltering as she looked up at Landon’s brother. “Paperwork?” she asked.
“The contract with the new terms we agreed on last week. I never got you to sign it.”
She nodded. “Okay, you could bring it tomorrow.”
But Rourke shook his head. “I need to get it to my attorney tonight so we can look at it before Monday.”
Audrie’s expression changed slightly. Confusion. That was how he’d explain the way she looked right now.
She was confused about why he needed paperwork so urgently. Landon knew it had to do with what Rourke had told him earlier that night.
Just minutes ago, he was talking about replacing Audrie with whatever hairstylist was being sent. He needed to finalize everything by tomorrow to get off to a fresh start Monday morning. Was he even going to tell her that he wouldn’t be needing her services anymore? Or would he just let her show up on set Monday morning to find someone else working in her hair trailer?
“You know what?” Rourke ran a hand through his hair, a frustrated gesture Landon had seen all too many times in recent years. Finally, after looking around again, he returned his stare to his brother, who was looking down at him from the top of a very tall ladder. “That won’t work.”
“What won’t work?” Audrie asked.
“I need it first thing tomorrow morning. My attorney wants it bright and early.” Rourke looked around again, as though the solution might be in his surroundings.
Landon was stuck standing there, so he took the opportunity to glance somewhat in Audrie’s direction. He didn’t look at her directly. It would hurt too much if she refused to return his stare. And all it really did was trigger that sharp stab of pain he felt every time he thought about her.
“Landon, you’ve got the keys to my trailer,” Rourke said. “The paperwork’s on the kitchen table where we were meeting earlier today. Go with Audrie and get her to sign it if you could. Christian, could you stay here and help me?”
Landon wasn’t sure what was happening here. He looked at Audrie, and for the first time in more than a week, they made direct eye contact. He hadn’t realized how much he missed it until now.
“You know what? I’m going to stay here with Christian,” Poppy said, looking up at Rourke before returning her gaze to Audrie. “You two take care of that. Can you drop her back by here on your way home?”
That question was directed at Landon, who was still trying to process everything that was happening. It made no sense. Trailer City was on the way out of the ranch, so he’d have to come back farther into the ranch to drop her off. Why didn’t he just run and get the papers and bring them back to her?
“Let’s go,” Audrie said. She was heading toward the door.
It made little sense for them to go together, but Landon wasn’t going to argue. He’d spent the past week trying to find an excuse to get her alone so he could apologize and try to start making this right.
His hand was trembling as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys. His keychain now included keys to the two crew trucks he regularly used. Rourke’s trailer key was also on there, along with Landon’s. They were parked side by side at Trailer City.
“I’ve been dying to see these trailers,” Audrie said as she led him out of the barn.
“They’re not all that impressive,” he said.
He hit the button on the key fob. He did that mostly so Audrie would know where she was going since she was leading the two of them. She headed straight to the passenger side of the big white truck and pulled the door open.
“If you’ve seen an RV, you’ve seen these trailers,” Landon said. “But I personally like it better than living out of a hotel room.”
She was climbing into the truck by then, so she didn’t respond right away, but once he was inside, pulling his door closed behind him, she spoke.
“I could see that. You need a place to call your own. You get to sleep in the same bed every night. You can set up the kitchen the way you want.”
