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After knocking on the door, he immediately stepped back. If that door came flying open again, he didn’t want to be on the other side of it. He half-expected an angry Jessica to come running out, realizing she was late, or for her to throw the door open and tell him she was coming.
Instead, he once again heard a pleasant voice on the other side of the door call out, “Come in.”
Landon let out the breath he’d been holding and pushed the door open, stepping into the trailer. The chair was empty. There was no sign of Jessica in the small space around it, either. Just Audrie, who had her back to him as she did something at the counter.
Her gaze met his in the mirror just to the right of her, and she turned and smiled. “I guess my work here is done,” she said. Was that a hint of sadness in her voice, or was he just hearing what he wanted to hear?
A smile spread over his face, and he shook his head. “Nope. Not yet.”
He should feel worse about being the bearer of bad news. Maybe he could’ve even sent Christian to deliver it since the two of them seemed to have a friendship.
But he hoped she wouldn’t be disappointed to know she’d be spending more time on set. Maybe a part of him even hoped she’d be excited at the prospect of getting to know him a little better.
“What do you mean?” She tilted her head slightly, but her smile didn’t falter.
He was definitely watching her expression too closely for signs that he might have caught her interest. She’d certainly caught his.
“They need you out there,” he said. “Standing nearby for touchups, that sort of thing, like the makeup person does. Christian didn’t mention that?”
She set the brush she’d been holding down on the counter, then turned back to him, crossing her arms over her chest. “Nobody mentioned that. I have a salon to run. I have a full day of appointments scheduled.”
He wasn’t sure what to say to that. Nobody had really asked his opinion on who should fill in for the missing hairstylist. In fact, he was somewhat sure her friend Christian was the one who’d recommended her.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Is there someone at your salon who can cover for you there?”
He could have suggested she send someone else to the set. Maybe there was another stylist in town she could recommend. But he really didn’t want her to do that. Besides the fact that he wanted to get to know her a little better, she was no doubt the most qualified stylist in this small town, and they needed someone who was qualified. That was especially important if the altitude would jack up their stars’ hair.
“My sister could probably take some of the appointments, but…” She chewed her lip, looking around.
His instinct was to do whatever it took to convince her to stay—not just for personal reasons, but because they really needed a good hairstylist this week. If she left, he wasn’t sure what would happen. Jessica might walk off the set, which would require them to shut down the entire shoot and start over in a couple of weeks when the next actress was available.
But he couldn’t do that. That wouldn’t be the right thing for her. As intriguing as she was, he also liked her. She had a kind face, and she’d handled this morning’s temper tantrum better than he would have.
So, he took a deep breath and leveled with her. “It probably won’t be just for today. We’re talking at least a couple of days until they can line up someone else and fly them out here, and that’s if they find someone who’s available right away. I don’t know what you make at your salon, but my brother has a little wiggle room in the budget to pay you more than what you were quoted for this.” He gestured toward the empty chair.
“It’s not about money.” She shook her head. “I agreed to do this without any pay whatsoever to help out my friend, but I can’t leave the entire town hanging. So many people rely on me for their haircuts.”
“I get it. You have to do what you have to do. But is there any way you can help out at least some of the time, maybe when you don’t have other customers?”
She gasped, as though an idea had just dropped into her brain. “I could cut their hair here.” She looked around. “I have everything I need to do the work.”
Landon looked around. “I don’t know about the liability with that.”
“Check with your brother,” she said. “I’m sure it’d be okay with Christian. We could set up a separate section of the trailer just for my customers. Or I could do it right here, if that’s okay with everyone. I think it could work.” She smiled. “My sister could help with some of the overflow back at the salon, but I’ll have the ones she can’t take come here.”
Talk to his brother. That was right. One of the bad things about not revealing that he was a partner in Sugar Cookie Productions was that on set, everyone assumed his brother was in charge. It could get annoying sometimes, like now.
“I’ll tell you what.” Landon eyed the door. “I’ll go talk to my brother, and you see what you can work out. Come find me when you’re ready.”
He half-expected her to tell him off. Why would she come find him? But how else would he know if she was staying or not?
Meanwhile, he was going to tell his brother that Audrie would be cutting hair in the makeup trailer. If there was one thing he’d learned in life, it was not to ask permission. He was a partner in this venture, so if he wanted Audrie to stick around, the production company wouldn’t stand in the way.
He’d make sure of it.
3
It took Audrie a few extra seconds to get her bearings when she stepped out of the hair trailer. She knew this property from front to back and side to side, but inside that little room in the trailer, it had been easy to create a new world for herself. A world where she wasn’t actually standing in a building with wheels on Snowy Canyon Ranch.
