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“Good. Let’s wrap it up for the day and start fresh tomorrow. Clean up your tools and head out.”
The room swelled with the cheers of men about to get off work an hour early. Jake poured his cold coffee in the sink and watched his hopes of getting things back to normal swirl with it down the drain. He almost didn’t hear her as she walked past him.
“You’re not the only one who can manipulate a situation.”
* * *
By Friday,Jake was at his wits end. Now that she was on to his game, she was constantly one step ahead of him. He hadn’t been able to set up any of the scenes he still needed. The last episode was going to fall flat if he couldn't figure something out.
The suppliers weren’t budging. Her guys were watching him like a hawk while working like fiends, determined to win their rewards. He should have known that the youngest Valenti would have serious management skills. Trina and Lorena were tiptoeing around him in the production trailer. Even Dom was giving him the stink eye and refusing to go on camera.
The family he'd found on set was crumbling around him, and it was all his fault. He often worked with the same crew of people, sharing a language and a history with people he liked. He did what he could to keep his merry band together from project to project, but he'd always held himself a step apart, ready to walk away with his feelings intact when things ended.
He hadn't managed to keep his distance from the warm and welcoming Valenti family, and that had lowered his boundaries across the board. To have his people pull back from him instead of the other way around left him cut to the quick with his defenses down.
Even worse was that Frankie wouldn’t speak to him without Trina or Rico present. She wouldn't give him a chance.
He’d never been in a situation he couldn’t talk his way out of. He needed to explain. He wanted her to respect his job and his skills as much as he respected hers. Didn’t it just suck sideways that the first woman he’d fallen for in years was the one person who wouldn’t listen to him?
Jake sighed and packed it in at noon. He told his crew to leave and get an early start on the weekend. He had a flight to catch, and a different on-screen family to contend with. He'd told Brittani that he'd be there for her, and he did not intend to be made a liar. Maybe, just maybe, he'd regroup enough to figure out how the hell to make this right.
CHAPTER27
What was he playing at?
Frankie had been wondering this all afternoon, after Jake had uncharacteristically let his half of the crew leave early.
She was no fool. Sensing an opportunity to solidify loyalty, she’d let the construction guys go early as well. After less than one week of zero delays, they were actually ahead of schedule. These guys had been busting their asses for weeks, and were already working at peak efficiency. They had earned a break.
Work on the outbuildings was moving along fine now that she was no longer trusting Jake the Snake. Monday was soon enough to finish.
But now, all alone at the vineyard, doubts and second-guesses plagued her. Had he let everyone go so they would fall behind? Was this another trick? Waiting for the other shoe to drop was exhausting. She couldn’t shut off her paranoia, so instead of heading back home for Friday dinner, she was knocking things off the punch list for the nearly finished areas. She refused to give him ammunition to make her fall behind again.
Frankie had started measuring and cutting for the decking out back, but the dry, sun-scorched wind whipped her hair around and brought tears to her eyes. Already too close to tears for comfort, she abandoned her Skilsaw and settled for interior work. She dutifully went from room to room screwing faceplates on every outlet. She squinted as she finished the last one. The room had gone dim while she worked.
Frankie reached for her phone to call her mom and apologize for not making it to dinner, but the display made her pause. It was only four thirty. Why the hell did it look like dusk?
Frankie walked into the kitchen to check the bay window over the sink that looked out over the vines. A chill raced down her spine.
Gray billows of smoke rose from the back of the hills behind their property.
Fire.
One word guaranteed to strike fear into the hearts of Californians.
The hot, dry summer meant that the hills in the backcountry were covered in kindling. They were still months from the potential cooling rains of winter. A wildfire could spread fast and furious if not caught early. And judging by the size of the plumes, this one had caught hold.
Gratitude that the work site was clear of people raced through her head as she sprinted from the house and out to her truck. She called the fire department on her way back to check out the blaze. She parked her truck at the ridge that marked the high point of their property and climbed out. She had to see it. She had to know what she was dealing with.
The heat was already brutal, and gusting updrafts blew past her on the crest. The fire was creating its own weather. That hot and fast wind would drive the fire quickly. Right toward the vineyard.
She knew Enzo had taken precautions with the landscaping, but he wasn’t finished. She also knew that nothing would stop a fire determined to burn.
Coughing from the heat and particles of ash already swirling her way, Frankie turned back to her truck. She wasn’t going to let this fire take her family’s legacy.
They had protected the existing vineyards as best they could with wide gravel firebreaks around the edges, and grapevines had been known to survive a burn.
But they hadn’t cleared the areas around the outbuildings yet. With the babies coming earlier than expected, Enzo hadn’t had a chance, and Frankie had pushed off the landscaping to focus on the buildings. And now she could lose it all.
