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“Sort of?” Her brows arched high. “Maybe things would work out better if you were more sure.”
And wasn’t that part of his morning debate. All morning. “Yes, ma’am. I know it’s a date, I’m just not so sure she does.”
“Ah.” The woman’s smile widened. “Don’t worry so much. I bet she knows too.”
“Love you, Grams.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
Lila Baron giggled like a schoolgirl and patted her grandson lightly on the arm. “Go win her over.”
Grams was still standing in the doorway as he drove off. That woman was unconditional love personified. He hated to think what life would be like when she or the Governor were no longer around. Turning his head from side to side, he shook away those thoughts. Instead, he picked up the phone as he turned onto the main road. “Hey, Fred. Are we all set?”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Baron. Just what you asked for. We’re ready when you are.”
“Great. We’ll be there in about an hour.”
“We’ll be waiting.”
Call disconnected, he raised the volume on the stereo searching for something to distract him from third and fourth guessing himself. The drive into town went by faster than he’d expected. First thing he noticed, Kate had added a new basket of seasonal flowers on the front porch steps. The woman really had a touch with all things living, whether plant or animal. A vision of her giggling at the calf licking her face brought a smile to his own.
As the other day, the door flung open before he could knock. “Hi. I—”
“Saw me pull up,” he finished for her.
Her head bobbed, and hands gently at her side, she did a semi turn. “Is this okay? Or should I change into something else?”
“Perfect.” As far as he was concerned, everything about her was perfect. From her strappy sandals, to the jeans that hugged her curves, to the sweet smile, and sparkling green eyes. Absolutely perfect.
“I’ll freely admit, I’m not so sure about today.” Kate folded her hands on her lap.
“Why is that?”
“Getting in a car when you don’t know where you’re going with someone you’ve only recently met is everything every girl’s mother warned her against, not to mention the start of many a good or bad horror film.”
That made Craig laugh. She had a point about the horror films.
“No offense,” she added.
“None taken. Besides,” he glanced in her direction and flashed his best aren’t I cute smile, “I’ve never produced a horror film.”
Her head tipped and she leaned against the door. “How’d you go from making films to building a studio? I mean, there are a lot of producers who don’t own their own studios?”
“Correct, but there are a lot who do.”
She nodded. “So you’re just following the crowd?”
From the way her brows buckled, it was clear she already knew him well enough to question that concept. He smiled and shook his head. “Nope. It’s practical. A lot of the good perks for filmmakers are coming from cities in out-of-the-way places—for Texas—most popular right now is Canada. Frankly, the flying back and forth to film sites is losing its charm.”
“I can understand that.”
“Besides, I’ve got a big project upcoming and having wide open space options to film in one place instead of moving crew all over for different locations would be a huge money saver, not to mention remove the logistics nightmare of coordinating all of it.”
“Won’t it take a long time to build a studio?”
He nodded. “Everything I plan to do, yes. Initial construction for immediate filming of smaller projects—not really. Getting from buying the rights to a movie to actually start filming takes a lot longer than you would think. Mostly because there are so many moving parts, so many different parties involved, and usually they don’t like each other, or talk to each other, so everything takes ten times longer than in the ordinary business world.”
“Doesn’t that sound fun?” Even though she was smiling at him, her tone dripped with sarcasm.
“You know,” his grin broadened, “it really is. The art of making the deal is often more fun than the process or the finished product.”
