She got out of the shower and put on a pair of shorts and a tank top. The smell of dinner made her stomach clench. She was hungry, so she hurriedly combed out her hair and went into the main room of the trailer, where Colt was laying out forks and plates.
“Chinese food?”
“Yeah.”
“All that salt. I love looking puffy in front of the camera.”
Colt grinned. “You couldn’t look puffy if you tried. Sit down and eat.”
They ate, sipped wine, and roughed out tomorrow’s scenes in between bites.
“I met Logan McCormack, the owner of the ranch, today,” she said as she grabbed a fortune cookie.
“Yeah? What’s he like?”
“Incredibly sexy, in a brooding, loner cowboy sort of way.”
“Really. Would I like him?”
She laughed. “I think you’d love him. And Tony would kill you.”
“Hey, I’m devoted and madly in love and you know that. Doesn’t mean I can’t ogle.”
“I invited him to the set. He said his house manager is a big fan, so he’s going to bring her tomorrow.”
“Hmm.”
She looked at Colt. “Hmmm what?”
“You’re interested. Now I really can’t wait to meet him.”
“I didn’t say I was interested in him, only that he was interesting.”
“Same thing, isn’t it?”
“Not at all.” She cracked open her fortune cookie and popped a piece into her mouth as she unfolded the fortune and read it.
Your life is about to change in new and exciting ways.
She’d believe that when it happened.
Chapter 2
“HOW’S MY HAIR?”
Logan looked over at Martha as they rode toward the set. “What?”
She smoothed down her hair and checked herself in the mirror. “My hair, Logan. It’s humid out here. What if I get to take a picture with Desiree or Colt? How does it look?”
“It looks fine.”
Martha shot him a glare. “That is not a helpful statement.”
“Your hair looks nice, Martha. Definitely picture-worthy.”
“Too late. Just drive.”
Logan shrugged, not understanding why this whole thing was such a big damn deal. But he loved Martha, so he’d endure it for her.
There was a designated parking area, and he gave his name to security, who checked him off the list and gave Martha and him a day pass, which irritated the crap out of him.
“Why the hell do I have to have a pass to walk on my own goddamned property?” he grumbled as they were led through a gate.
“Oh, quit complaining,” Martha said, her eyes wide as she soaked it all in.
“This isn’t freakin’ Disneyland, you know. It’s McCormack property. You’ve been here before.”
“Oh, no, Logan. To me, it’s Disneyland. By way of Hollywood. Look at the set, all the people running around. They’ve turned the land into something magical.”
When he’d told her yesterday that he’d run into Des, she’d squealed, dinner forgotten as she asked him the celebrity version of twenty questions. What was Desiree like? Was she nice? What had they talked about? Was she as pretty in person as she was on the screen? Had Colt been there with her?
Damn, but the woman had been incessant. And when he’d told her Des had invited them on set, her eyes had grown wide as saucers, and he thought he might have had to hold her up. She’d gripped the counter and told him he was lying. When he’d assured her he wasn’t, she’d abandoned dinner and gone home, claiming she had to figure out what she was going to wear. Good thing dinner had been ready so all he and Martha’s husband, Ben, had to do was serve it up.
“This is amazing,” Martha said as they wound their way onto the set.
Didn’t look amazing at all to him. It looked like someone had taken piles of rocks and blown them up. There were plenty of trees and hills, but a lot of it was scrub. He supposed it was stark and desolate enough for their movie, though he had no idea why they didn’t film it in the desert in California.
He’d asked them that question and they’d told him there were no clouds out there, not the right kind of scenery for the location they required. Here, there were plenty of clouds to give them the gloomy feel for the shoot. Plus, it could potentially rain, and they needed that. They’d given him a lot of explanatory bullshit about this being the ideal location, Also, it was private property, which meant they could keep the movie secret from the media.
Whatever.
He had to admit they’d done a lot in the short time they’d been here. There were buildings and caves, all painted and kind of impressive. On the north end there were giant, steel-like structures painted gray and forbidding, which resembled some kind of futuristic metropolis.
Maybe it was supposed to look like that. Though only half of it looked like the set. The rest of it was cameras and what appeared like a train track and equipment and a hell of a lot of people.
“You must be Logan.” A young dark-haired woman came over, wearing capris and a tank top. She also had on a headset and carried a phone, a clipboard, and a digital notebook. “I’m Jessica, Desiree’s assistant.”
Logan shook her hand. “Nice to meet you. This is Martha.”
Jessica shook her hand. “Des told me you were coming today. We have chairs already set up for you to watch the filming. Follow me.”
Jessica led them to two chairs with a clear view of the set. “Right here. Is there anything I can bring you? Would you like a drink?”
“I’m fine,” Logan said.
“Me, too. Thank you, Jessica,” Martha said, smiling so wide Logan was afraid her face was going to break.
“Des will be out shortly to greet you, but then she’ll have to get right on set.”
“Fine with me. Thanks,” Logan said, hoping they could just watch a scene, Martha would be placated and then they could get out of there. He had work to do. Cows didn’t exactly manage themselves. And while his crew would work fine alone, he didn’t take days off. It wasn’t in his nature.
“This is so exciting,” Martha said, nearly wriggling in her chair. She really had gone all out, getting dressed up in her fancy slacks and Sunday blouse. She’d even put on makeup, something Martha did only for church and special events.