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It always ended the same way. With her desperately trying to make it work long after the other person had checked out.
“We really should be getting back,” Audrie forced herself to say.
The words pained her deeply, even though she was the one saying them, but she knew if she didn’t do this, she’d regret it.
This was her chance. This was the moment she’d looked back on in her previous relationships. The moment she should have walked away. Instead, she stuck around and fought with all her might to save it, sure that if she let go too soon, she’d never know if it might have worked.
But now she knew how these romances went. If she ignored the warning signs again, it would be all her fault if she got hurt.
His expression had her second guessing herself. It killed her to see him looking hurt, but she knew this was best for both of them. Finally, he took a deep breath and stepped aside, gesturing toward the table.
“Have at it,” he said. “I’ll be waiting in the truck when you’re finished.”
18
Landon’s spirits had sunk about as low as they could when he entered the barn Saturday morning. All night, he’d replayed the conversation with Audrie in his mind as he tossed and turned. There’d been an iciness that he hadn’t seen from her before, and it hit him hard, but he knew it came from a place of fear.
She’d been hurt before. And he’d hurt her again. But while what he’d told his brother had been bad, this probably would have happened anyway. At some point, she would have decided she didn’t want to get her heart broken again, and she would have closed herself off to him.
“Where are our leads?” Michael called out.
Landon had been standing on the sidelines, drinking a cup of coffee and admiring his and his brother’s work. He spotted a production assistant, the script supervisor, and Christian and Poppy, but he saw not a single sign of any on-camera talent.
“Hair and makeup,” the production assistant called out.
Michael pulled his phone out of his pocket and started tapping on the screen. Normally, Landon would offer to go searching for them. It might give him a chance to accidentally run into Audrie. Even when he was avoiding her, he still held out hope that he might get to spend a few minutes in the same room as her.
But not today. Today, he was all about avoiding her. He’d even been hoping she would stay away from the set. It just hurt too much, knowing there was no way to make this right.
“Was someone looking for us?”
Jessica’s voice filled the barn as it always did. Everyone turned to look at her as intended, but she wasn’t alone today. Next to her was Peter, his hand linked in hers. They both looked happier than he’d ever seen either of them, even in character.
“Did we miss anything?” Peter asked as they continued toward the center of the room.
Jessica was looking around as they walked. “Wow, that’s a lot of Christmas cards.”
That was right. Jessica and Peter had completely missed the card-hanging chore last night. After Audrie signed the contract, she and Landon got back in his truck so he could take her to her car. It’d been parked at the barn—another surprise to him, considering nobody had mentioned that when he’d given her a ride all the way over to Trailer City.
Neither of them had spoken until they pulled into the parking area. “The car isn’t here,” she’d said. “I expected to see his car here.”
“Who?” He looked over at her, and in spite of himself, was struck by how beautiful she looked in the moonlight that streamed through his windshield.
“Peter,” she said. “Well, the car he’s been driving this week.”
Peter had somehow gotten his hands on a fancy sports car for the week. Landon didn’t ask questions, but Rourke hadn’t mentioned it, so he assumed the production company wasn’t footing the bill. But Audrie was right. Peter’s car was nowhere to be found.
With an awkward goodnight, she’d gotten in her car and driven home, but he wasn’t too disturbed by their conversation to notice as he entered the barn that Jessica and Peter were nowhere in sight. They’d left Trailer City and gone who knew where. Maybe on a date, maybe just to have some time alone together, away from everyone.
But now, as the two of them stood there, eyeing their surroundings, Landon finally processed what was going on here. They were a couple again, and they didn’t make any bones about it. It didn’t matter that Peter had given Tracie the impression that they had something. It also didn’t seem to matter that Jessica had been chasing around after Landon for the past couple of weeks. If he’d actually been interested in her, he would have been out of luck.
Landon didn’t blame Peter too much. He’d seen Jessica in action. She wanted what she wanted, and it didn’t really matter who was hurt in the process of her getting it.
“I hope the next cast brings a little less drama,” Landon commented to nobody in particular.
Not that anybody was listening, anyway. Now that Jessica and Peter were on set, everything had jumped into motion. Cameras were rolling into place, the script supervisor was going over the scene with the actors, and somehow, Audrie and the makeup artist had known to show up. They’d walked into the barn like they’d been waiting outside for Jessica.
As Landon stared at Audrie, who wasn’t even looking in his direction, anger surged through him. It wasn’t anger at Jessica or the circumstances. It was anger at himself. He should have stood up to his brother, told him he was seeing Audrie, and Jessica just needed to get used to it. But no, he’d chickened out. He thought he was doing what was best for the production, but in the end, he was just going along with what everyone expected of him as he always did.
