"Yeah. I don't know why she's never updated it, especially with the vote last year to bring the railroad back into town."
Kayla's stomach lurched. "Really? More people coming to Virtue?" She didn't know how a shifter sanctuary town could stay hidden and quiet if there were big Christmas markets and a working train line and whatever else was going on in Virtue these days.
"We've got to adapt to survive," Jordan said cheerfully. "Thanks, Tom. We'll come by again, I promise, but we'd bettercatch up to Noah before the whole town thinks he's the boss of us."
Tom grinned. "Noah already thinks he's the boss of the whole town, so it probably won't do you any harm. Good luck dealing with the director."
Kayla puffed her cheeks out, thinking about Cyril, and nodded gratefully to the sculptor. For the next couple of hours they worked their way through the booths, talking to every individual proprietor, although after the first half hour it was clear rumor preceded them. Noah abandoned them, feeling his work was done, and Kayla couldn't disagree: at that point most people wanted selfies and a minute or two of chat, their general feeling being that they were setting up early to accommodate the shoot anyway, so a half-day's delay wasn't going to make that much difference. Kayla was incredibly grateful, and told everyone as much, ending with a grin at the cider shop where she said, "I'm going to have the PA get the names and business names of everybody here and have you all thanked individually in the credits."
"We're going to be in the movies?" the woman asked in delight, and gave Kayla the hot cider for free. Kayla tried to argue, and ended up leaving an egregious tip instead.
Fingers wrapped around the cup, she bounced her shoulder off Jordan's as they walked away. "Thanks for sticking with me for two hours of schmoozing the locals."
"You are a local," Jordan said, amused. "And watching people light up when they get to talk to you was my treat."
"Not many people know I'm a local, though," Kayla protested, then glanced back at the market aisles. "I can't believe…any of this. I can't believe that market even exists. There were like five booths and a Santa Claus when I was a kid. Hardly any of those people actuallywerelocals. I'm sure they're from around the upstate area, but they're not Virtue natives." Forone thing, there hadn't been any shifters among them, but more importantly, nobodyhadrecognized her as Kylie Quinn, and she hadn't recognized any of them. "Virtue's really changed."
Jordan nodded as they wandered past the gazebo toward the playground side of the sidewalk. "Do you remember the county fair? I remember it as being pretty good when I was a kid, but I came back to Virtue just as it started this year and I went and it was fantastic. Nothing like what I remembered."
"Oh, you've only just come back?" That startled Kayla. "I thought you'd been back…well, since your injury, I guess. Since last year."
"Mmm, no. I stuck with the team a little while, hoping I could get my speed back, and then spent some time looking at coaching or managing, but…" Jordan shook his head. "I always thought I'd be into that, but it turns out I really wasn't. So I came back this fall because my parents moved down south and at least there was a house for me to live in." He grimaced. "That's not great, is it? Thirty-seven and skulking back to my parents' house to live."
Kayla snorted, an undignified sound she couldn't allow herself in films, most of the time. "First off, in this economy? Totally normal. But also, I bet they were glad to have you in the house, if they didn't want to sell it."
"They were," Jordan admitted. "They liked the idea of me coming home, even if they picked up and moved somewhere warmer. And it's given me a chance I wouldn't otherwise have, to figure out what I want to do."
"And to meet me again," Kayla said, half teasing. Her owl puffed up, feeling 'meeting her again' was too important to tease about.
I know, but how do Iexplainthat to him?Kayla asked, not really expecting an answer.
We show him,the owl said with obvious exasperation.
Well, not right here!
"Meeting you again is the best thing that's happened to me in years," Jordan said with a smile. "I'm feeling spoiled, getting to steal away a movie star for entire hours at a time. Speaking of which, I really should bring Barney home for a while. He's an incredibly tough dog, but he's been out here in the snow and cold for a long time and I want to get his feet warmed up. I don't want to be weird, but would you like to come over?"
There you go,the owl said, satisfied.Now we can tell him who-oo-oo we really are.
"I'd love to. There's so much I want to tell you."
"Starting with what actually happened today with your director?" Jordan glanced at her as he guided them down the sidewalk. "Is everything okay? It cannot be normal for a director to take an afternoon off."
That wasn't at all where Kayla had meant to start, but it would do. "Did I mention he's an ex? Apparently he thought doing this film together meant we were getting back together, and he's been a real pill when I wouldn't give him any more than the professional time of day. He cut Andy's scene time short so he could be mad at me for not being back on set 'on time,' and we had it out. I told him to shape up or I'd fire him."
Jordan's eyebrows shot up. "Can you do that?"
"I'm one of the producers, so, yes. I don't know if I can get a qualified director in fast enough to not lose a lot of time shooting, though." Kayla scuffed snow as they walked along. "So I told him I'd always wanted to direct, anyway."
A shout of laughter nearly deafened her. Kayla glanced at Jordan, whose smile spread across his face. "Good for you. Put him in his place. Can you? Direct, I mean."
"I've never done it before, but I think so, yes. I've been in this industry a long time and I know how it works." Shesmiled. "Probably not as well as I think I do, from a directorial standpoint, but…"
"Oh, I bet you do. This way." Jordan waved them down another street, the sounds of the town square and market space fading away. Trees overhead bowed with snow, clumps occasionally falling off, and the lawns were all buried in smooth, even whiteness. Kayla knew the neighborhood; a friend of hers had lived down this street. But then, Virtue was a small town, and it was hard to say there were any neighborhoods shedidn'tknow. Still, it felt comfortable, almost home-like, and she hadn't felt that in a long time.
That's Jordan,her owl said in wise tones.He feels like home.
Which was something Kayla didn't want to think about. She wasn't sure Jordan was settled again, here in Virtue, but Kayla lived in Los Angeles when she wasn't on site. Moving back to Virtue wasn't an option for somanyreasons, not the least of which was she truly didn't want to draw any more attention to her hometown. And maybe living here wouldn't, but that didn't address the fact that all the connections and auditions she needed were on the other side of the country. It was all…
