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There was a slight sharpness to her tone toward the end. She was no longer pouring on the syrupy sweetness. She sounded a little demanding, actually. It was bordering on a “you will help me or else” tone.
And she was right, if that was what the tone meant. First, in her eyes, he was there as a consultant. Second, he was also Sugar Cookie Productions’ president’s brother. She didn’t have to know he was part owner in this venture to realize it was in his best interests to go along with whatever she wanted.
The last thing the production needed was their lead actress walking off. They had to do whatever it took to keep her happy. But “whatever it took” definitely had its limits.
Suddenly, the flap to the food tent was pulled back, and light streamed in. Landon tried not to show just how relieved he was that they had company.
“Sure, I’ll help,” he told Jessica, who was still looking up at him, a sweet smile pasted on her face. “We’ll figure out a time later.”
“Maybe we could find a quiet area during lunch,” she said.
She took another step toward him. Behind her, Landon caught sight of the bright red apron that made spotting Audrie in a crowd easier today. She’d just entered the tent. The last thing he wanted was for her to see Jessica standing way too close to him.
“I have to do a thing,” he told Jessica. “We’ll talk later.”
Without waiting for her response, he wove around her and headed straight for Audrie. She was talking to one of the camera guys, and a slight twinge of jealousy shot through him, which was odd. He wasn’t the jealous type, so it was a fairly unfamiliar sensation. She’d definitely scrambled his brainwaves in the short time he’d known her.
“Landon, over here!” his brother’s voice rang through the air, hitting those nerves Rourke had been on all morning.
Wasn’t it enough that he’d helped fetch cast and crew members food and equipment? Good enough to have a few minutes to eat a sandwich and talk to a beautiful woman, anyway? Apparently not.
As if that weren’t bad enough, that was the very moment Audrie’s gaze landed on him. He gave her an apologetic smile and a slight shrug before turning and heading back toward the table at the far end of the tent where his brother and the executive producer sat. It looked like this was going to be a working lunch for everyone at the table, which included Michael, the executive producer, and the script supervisor.
They all had lunch in front of them, which made the fact that Landon sat down without food more noticeable. Maybe that would give him an excuse to get out of this. He could say he needed to go grab some lunch and maybe exit the tent.
“Have a seat,” Michael said, gesturing to the empty chair next to the executive producer.
Why Michael was ordering him around was beyond him, but Landon shrugged and pulled the chair back before plopping down on it.
“Everything seems to be going well,” Landon commented.
“You and the hair girl are getting along.” That came from Landon’s brother. “I heard the two of you were hanging out this morning.”
“I was just making sure everyone’s hair was done on time as instructed,” Landon said, keeping a bored look on his face to show it was no big deal.
“Don’t get all wound up about it.” Rourke waved his hand in the air dismissively. “We were just wondering if you might get her involved in a project this afternoon.”
Landon looked from Rourke to Michael to the executive producer to the script supervisor. “Audrie Bishop is her name,” Landon said. “Not ‘the hair girl.’”
“Is that her name?” Rourke laughed. He and Michael exchanged a look. “She’ll be gone in a day or two when we replace her with someone else. I may as well not get too used to her.”
“She might have some clients coming in this afternoon,” Landon said. “I’m not sure she’ll be free to work on a project.”
“After that.” Rourke waved his fork in the air before using it to spear a potato in the potato salad on his plate. “Whenever you can work it in. I just need you to round up some Christmas cards. As many as you can find in Corbin. I’d say go to a nearby town, but it doesn’t look like there are stores even ten or twenty miles away.”
“We’ll need them by Wednesday,” the script supervisor said. “We can order them online if necessary.”
Rourke, chewing, kept his eyes on his brother through all this. Once he’d swallowed his bite, he said, “We just need to fill an entire barn interior with Christmas cards.”
“That’s later in the shooting schedule,” Michael said. “For now, we only have to make it look like they’re signing some of those cards. A big stack, if you can manage it.”
“They’re sending out Christmas cards in the scene,” the script supervisor explained. “It’s a whole…thing.”
“What’s the hair lady’s name?” Rourke asked.
Landon felt a little annoyed that his brother couldn’t seem to get her name down. It was almost like he was doing it on purpose.
“Audrie Bishop,” Landon said.
