She whacks, and a bit of loose flour goes flying, landing on our faces. She grimaces and looks over at me before we both break into a laugh. Swiping the flour off our noses, she seems to come back down from whatever was possessing her. Taking a deep breath, she looks up at the ceiling before meeting my gaze.
“Sorry about that.”
“I don’t think it’s me you need to apologize to,” I gesture to the beat-up ball of dough, and Jill smiles.
“I’m so frustrated, it’s the perfect location, and the dickhead landowner couldn’t even be bothered to meet withus,” she explains as she digs in a drawer. A few seconds later she’s holding up flower-shaped cookie cutters and handing one to me.
“He completely blew you off?” I ask as she grabs a rolling pin.
“He sent some employees to meet with us and give us the runaround. I flew all the way out there with Starlight executives, drove a car to the middle of nowhere, andthat’swhat I got.” She begins rolling with renewed aggression. “He couldn’t even give us the time of day himself.” Despite her handling, the dough is rolled out into a perfectly even sheet. “Just so rude, you know?”
She uses her cookie cutter to make cookies with perfect-looking petals. I’m reluctant to help since there’s no way mine will come out half as good, but Jill doesn’t take no for an answer. She gestures for me to cut out shapes.
“It’s the fact that he didn’t even meet with us. Like he couldn’t even be bothered to do us the courtesy of saying no to our faces.”
“So you’re going to look for a new filming location?”
“No,” she answers firmly.
I look at her as if she’s grown two heads. “No?”
“Nope,” she says, popping the “p”.
“Okay...?”
“I want that filming site.” Her voice is full of a determination I’ve never heard before. “I’m going to get it.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. I’ll figure something out. Kill him with kindness and make it impossible to refuse.” She begins scooping the cookies onto the baking tray. She moves quickly, with ease, whereas I struggle to get mine onto the tray without warping the shape of the petals.
“Well, it can’t hurt to try,” I offer.
“There’s no ‘try’. I’m going to get it. Mark my words. I’ll get that ranch.”
I lift my hands in supplication. “Aye aye, captain.”
She flicks more flour in my direction before popping the cookies into the oven.
The sound of my cellphone ringing pulls my attention away. It’s stuck somewhere in my bag. Heading over to where my purse rests atop one of the barstools, I curse when I accidentally knock it onto the floor. The contents go flying and scatter across the floor.
“Shit,” I mutter as I drop to the ground and start grabbing everything. I knew I should’ve cleaned this bag out weeks ago.
“Here, let me help,” Jill’s sunny voice sounds from a few feet away. I scramble to toss the various hand creams and lip glosses back into the bag when Jill speaks.
“Clover... what’s this?” Her voice is soft, but there’s a bit of an edge to it. Confused, I look up to see her holding the bottle of caffeine pills. My stomach drops.Fuck.
Chapter Fifty-Six
CLOVER
Jill isn’t making eye contact with me. She’s scrutinising the bottle. Flying to my feet quicker than I ever have, I head over to her and grab it from her hands.
“Oh, this? It’s just some medicine I have.” A piss-poor lie, and Jill senses it.
“Clover, I know what that is.”
I wince.
