"Well, I try. So is Cyril here, or are you the boss now?"
"Cyril came back." Kayla sounded faintly surprised as she nodded toward a slender man in black jeans and a jacket that was totally inadequate for the weather. He was good-looking in a sort of narrow, French, I-sucked-a-lemon way, and was visibly trying not to shiver.
Jordan considered him for a moment. "If he was smart enough to dress for the weather I'd say I could see what you saw in him, but as things stand…"
Kayla snorted. "Fair. Hey, Andy," she said as the staggeringly attractive hero of her movie came over, a smile already in place as his gaze landed on Jordan. "You remember my friend Jordan?"
"How could I possibly forget? I can't believe you've stolen Kayla away repeatedly and yet left me alone and bereft, Jordan. I'm sure you promised me a date." The smile broadened, and Jordan, mindful of having made a fool of himself when he'd met this man a couple days ago, promised himself he'd do better.
Instead, for some reason, he said, "Heh heh heh" like a nervous twelve year old. He couldn't help it, somehow. Anderson was ridiculously handsome. Jordan had no desire at all to do anything about it, but the man's personal presence and beauty made him seem like he was from an entirely different dimension, one where people were just much, much prettier than the one Jordan lived in.
Kayla herself belonged to that dimension, honestly, but she wasn't throwing her own beauty around like it was a weapon of mass destruction, and that made all the difference. She wasacting as if she was a perfectly normal girl next door. Maybe that was even how she saw herself. But compared to Anderson's deliberate knock-you-over movie star presence, Kayla being chill wassomuch more attractive.
Of course, she giggled right out loud, which didn't help Jordan's overwhelmedness at all. Then she kicked snow over Anderson's boots, causing Barney to bounce after the snow as she said, "Stop it, you big lump," to Anderson. "Go spend your charisma on somebody who'll actually go out on a date with you."
Andy turned a ludicrously appealing pout on Kayla, who was apparently completely unaffected by the man's beauty. "I'm sure he'd go out with me if you would stop interfering, darling."
"He probably would, because you're a bulldozer,darling, but go bulldoze somebody else."
Andy's eyes narrowed with theatrical suspicion and he examined first Kayla, then Jordan, and finally Kayla again. "So it's likethat, is it?"
"It is," Kayla said cheerfully. "This one's mine."
A combination of relief and joy swelled in Jordan's chest and he found himself smiling foolishly at Kayla. She couldn't possibly mean it as any kind of permanent thing, but he really liked being claimed by her, even if only for a little while. Anderson, clearly not bothered, said, "Hmph," and sauntered off, leaving Jordan to shake his head.
"Are you really immune to him?"
"Off script I am," she said, still cheerfully. "And if I'd met him ten years ago I'd probably have fallen for his flirtations, at least for a little while, but you kind of get used to the charisma. Iwilladmit that he's extremely easy to fall in love with on set, but the man has the emotional depth of a teaspoon and the attention span of a disintegrating noodle. He leaves stunned or broken hearts behind all the time and comes out of it all emotionallyunscathed. If I'm stopping you from having a brief, baffling passionate affair with him, by all means, let me know and I'll step back?—"
"Please don't," Jordan said, wide-eyed again.
Kayla grinned up at him. "I thought you might say that. Honestly, he's a good guy, but he loves pretty people and you're a very handsome man."
"I'm on set with two actual film stars," Jordan said dryly. "I'm not that pretty."
"You underestimate yourself," Kayla assured him. "Even if you don't trust me on that, trust Anderson's taste. I've never seen him flirt with less than an eight. I dream he'll someday actually fall in love with a man who looks like Ernest Borgnine." Her grin lit up even more. "Better yet, a woman who looks like Ernest Borgnine."
"An eight, huh? I'm flattered. Is this the wrong time to admit I don't really know what Ernest Borgnine looked like?"
Kayla gave a theatrical sigh. "Normies. Yes, it's the wrong time. But you'd recognize him if you saw him." She started to take her phone out, presumably to bring up a picture of Borgnine, but places were called, and she winced apologetically. "They're calling my name. You can hang out if you want, as long as you stand where the crew tell you to and turn your phone ringer off."
"Yeah? I'd like to watch you work." Jordan turned his phone off and went where he was directed, then crouched in the snow to put booties on Barney's feet, and pull the dog's winter vest on him. "See, I learned from yesterday," he murmured to the dog. "We can stay out longer if your poor feet are warmer."
Barney, doing his best tragic puppy dog eyes, thrust his nose at the muffin basket, and got a sharp scold in return. Jordan swore the dog sat down and sulked while the set grew quiet for filming.
The scene, from what he could tell, was that Kayla and Anderson were starting to get along well, with their heads ducked together over cups of coffee as they walked down the street. He couldn't hear the lines, but he didn't need to: he'd watched enough romcoms to guess at the gist of what they were saying. Kayla raised her gaze to Anderson, her gorgeous blue eyes shining, and for a moment, it was clear all was right in their little cinematic world.
Watching her perform was wonderful. She was even more vibrant in real life than on film, and the chemistry she shared with Anderson could knock somebody down at fifteen paces. Having literallyjustwatched her blow him off in real life, Jordan knew it was a performance, but for the life of him he couldn't imagine how she did it. It was easier to understand with Anderson, who never seemed to turn the outrageous flirting off. Jordan wondered suddenly whether Anderson knew about Kayla's owl, but decided he probably didn't: it was hard to imagine the man keeping a secret. The two actors laughed, moving in to each other even more closely, starry-eyed until another absurdly good-looking man strode on set.
He was Anderson's polar opposite: dark-haired, dark-eyed, wearing a business suit and a long, expensive trench coat, as well as shining patent leather shoes that were obviously unsuitable for walking in the snow. Kayla reacted with surprised dismay: obviously this was the City Boyfriend, who had no business being in her hometown. She broke apart from Anderson, looking guilty, while confusion washed over Anderson's face.
Jordan bit back a laugh. He knew they were actors, but he reallybelievedAnderson's dismay in the moment, which was pretty incredible. The couple of times he'd been an extra, it had been for baseball films and he'd mostly been well away from the lead actors, not right up close to see their performances. Watching them now, Jordan thought he could spend the nextfifty years on sets, watching Kayla tell stories, and call it a life well-spent.
Her city boyfriend read the whole situation correctly in a heartbeat, making everybody uncomfortable. Jordan heard a crack in his voice as he said, "Rachel?" in confusion, and Kayla, miserable with guilt, slunk away from Anderson to say a line he couldn't hear, but which was almost certainly something like 'I can explain…'
The camera swung around, centering Kayla and the new guy. Anderson was now in the background, expression heartbroken, angry, stricken with understanding: all the things the Country Boyfriend ought to be feeling. As Kayla and the new guy moved closer together, Anderson glanced down, his entire posture one of sorrowful resigned acceptance, and his smile sad but suggesting he was glad somebody worthy of Kayla had stepped up. He turned away, moving out of the frame, and Jordan's heart actually broke a little bit for the guy.
Except as soon as he stepped out of frame, his posture changed completely, throwing off the character's cares and throwing a wink toward Jordan, who muffled a laugh. The man was incorrigible.
