"No, hang on, I'm getting a text. They might still need us for a minute."
"Who's texting you?"
"Alex," I said, opening the text screen. "Let me see what he's saying.
Alex:
Knock on my trailer door in ten minutes.
The text was short, and it was a simple sentence—easy to read. But I wasn't going to share it with my sister.
"What did he say?" she said.
"Oh, just that he wanted to talk to us, or me, for just a second before we leave." I made eye contact with her and made a curious face. "We weren't supposed to get paid tonight, were we? That might be what he's doing is paying me. I'm not sure."
I was a horrible liar. I wanted to go into the trailer by myself, and I got the feeling he wanted me to. I wished it were already time for me to go there because I would have given her the old 'I'll be right back' routine.
Those minutes seemed like hours.
Audrey and Luna wanted to go with me to find his trailer, and I didn't know how to shake them, so they came with me. The ranch was large, and I had to get someone to help us find it. It wasn't too far from the building where we had just been filming. There were several other trailers around and a couple of those large tents. Lights were strung between the trailers, creating a festive atmosphere. A few members of the crew were in plain sight as we made it to that area.
"I'll be right back," I said to my sister and Audrey when I saw his trailer across the way. "I'll take care of this, and we'll get on the road," I added, wanting them to wait there.
I approached his trailer cautiously and gave two light knocks to the door.
Cameron answered the door, looking serious at first, but then she gave me a sweet but no-nonsense smile.
"Hey, did you need something?" she asked.
"Is that Josie?" I heard Alex ask the question from behind her.
"Yes, it's Josie," she said, turning.
I could hear him saying something about 'getting out' and 'needing to talk to me for two minutes about breakfast for the crew'. I got half-paranoid that my sister would hear that and rush in, saying she was the one to talk to for breakfast.
I braced myself and stood back as his trailer door opened and Cameron came down the two little steps. Judd was right behind her, and then four more people came out behind him. It was the two main actresses and the main actor, along with the horse trainer—the guy who owned the place. I had seen them all in passing and heard people talking about them, so I knew who they were. I had no idea all these people were in here, and I took a step back, feeling suddenly even more nervous.
"Come on in, Josie," I heard Alex call from inside.
I made eye contact with the last one out, who happened to be the horse trainer. We smiled at each other. I switched places with him and took the steps slowly. I stepped inside, letting the door close behind me.
It was nice in there—larger than I expected. There was a couch on the right, a little kitchenette on the wall in front of me, and a large desk with two monitors set up on the left. Alex was sitting in that production area to my left, and I turned toward him as I let the door close behind me.
"You still have your hair up," he said.
I hadn't expected that to be the first thing he said, and I reached up and touched it nervously. "Oh, yeah. Barb said I could just keep the bobbypins, so I figured…"
He grinned and crooked his finger at me, calling me over. My heart. My body. Warmth spread through my body at the sight of Alex making predatory eye contact and crooking that finger at me. It was smoldering. I walked toward him, feeling every step, hyper aware of my surroundings.
I stopped when I was right in front of him. He stayed in his chair, sprawled out, looking up at me. "What are you thinking?" I said.
One corner of his mouth raised in a half-grin. "I don't know if I should say all that, but I will say that you're gorgeous."
"Say all of it," I said.
"I can't," he said, with a knowing grin. "I have all of one minute with you before my team will be back in here."
"I know I didn't even mean for you to have to tell everyone to leav—"
