"Sylvia. She's a very nice woman, we've worked together on a lot of sets, and she didn't say anything to me yesterday so she's probably not bent out of shape."
Jordan was shaking his head. "No, I mean, I'm glad if she's not, but this is my bad and I definitely need to apologize. And I won't do it again."
"You're a pretty decent guy, aren't you?" Kayla said with a smile. "The catering trailer is over there. I can't decide if you should go bearing muffins of apology or not."
"I'll go, pretending I'm not carrying a basket of muffins," Jordan said wryly. "Back in a minute, unless she murders me."
Kayla's owl perked up as Jordan hurried off.Murder?
I hope not! No murdering the fated mate!
Oh,her owl said.Right.
Kayla chuckled and went into the market with Milo to film a scene where she was charmed by its rustic home-towny-ness,and he was tired and impatient of it all. They had a brief, awkward encounter with Anderson, who was enjoying himself with the townsfolk until he saw Kayla. The two men had a short, uncomfortable face-off while Kayla's character got increasingly fed up with both of them, and ended with telling Milo to go home and trying to reach out to Anderson, who wasn't ready to hear it. She was left alone in the market, bereft and unexpectedly weary from the little confrontation, but her young niece—Maria, the girl who'd accidentally chopped Kayla's real hair off—appeared to comfort her, and in-scene, Kayla brightened, allowing herself to enjoy the market after all.
To her surprise, once Cyril calledcut, there was a smattering of applause from the extras. Except a lot of them weren't extras in the usual sense: they were the people actually running the stalls, and very few of them had ever been this up close to a movie before. "You're really good!" someone called, and Kayla felt herself blushing.
"Thank you." She took a little bow and got a laugh and another little round of applause before Cyril called everybody back to their places to shoot the close-ups. They finally broke for lunch and there was a sudden rush of activity around the market as people started getting the last details sorted out for the official five p.m. opening. Prop material came down, real sales items went up, many of them with 'sold' tags already on them, because the crew had been shopping early. It was a friendly, cheerful bustle, everyone suddenly excited for the evening's events.
Kayla, a bit wistfully, said, "I wish I could be here for the opening. I remember it from when I was a kid," and then bit her tongue. She hadn't meant to mention being from Virtue again, especially not around other locals. So far she thought she'd managed to go under the radar, mostly because that little boy—Noah—had been so helpful in talking to everybody when they needed to delay the setup after Cyril's tantrum. Kayla hadn'tneeded to mention she used to be Kylie Quinn, thanks to Noah's help. But she remembered how there'd been a big Christmas-tree-lighting ceremony when she'd been a kid, and that sounded like a wonderful thing to see again.
"We should be done by about six tonight," Anderson said, coming up to her side. Maybe he'd been the only one to overhear. His expression was kind, anyway. "You can come mingle during opening evening, at least. Spend some time with your handsome new boyfriend while breaking my heart, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera."
"I'm in no danger of breaking your heart," Kayla said with confidence. "But it would be nice to have the evening off."
"What is it about Virtue that you don't want staining your history?" Anderson asked, less intensely than usual. He sounded genuinely curious for once, maybe even a little worried.
"Nothing," Kayla said in surprised honesty. "It's more the other way around. It's a quiet little town, Andy. A lot of people here don't want their business all over the place. I just don't want to draw attention to it, so they can keep their stories to themselves."
"No haunted memories or anything? No heartbreak lingering in the wings to sabotage you again? Or is that the story with Jordan?"
Kayla couldn't help a smile. "No, to all of that. Jordan and I barely knew each other in high school. It's a kindling, not a rekindling, of a romance. I really never imagined there was anything left in Virtue for me, so it's just a nice surprise."
"Just checking." Anderson touched her shoulder lightly, a gesture of support, then assumed his more usual overbearing charm. "Now come along, my darling. We've got to get you out of those layers and into something that I simply cannot resist."
Kayla huffed with amusement. "I'm pretty sure we're shooting an interior decorating scene next. I'm not exactly going to be sultry and sexy."
"Nonsense, darling, you always are, even in overalls and a paint-spattered waffle shirt. There's Jordan," Anderson added with a sparkle. "I'll let him walk you to set, since somehow, quite impossibly, it seems you both prefer each other's company overmine." He let out a dismayed little gasp that made Kayla laugh, and turned her over to Jordan as they reached him.
"I'm forgiven," he announced.
For a moment, Kayla didn't know what he meant, then caught her breath. "Oh, Sylvia forgave you for the muffins?"
"With a faint air of disappointed understanding that was much worse than a scolding," Jordan admitted solemnly. "And then she kept me in the catering trailer all morning, lecturing me about food safety on set while she prepped lunch. It was actually fascinating."
"Right?" Kayla demanded, delighted. "You should talk to everybody on the crew. Everything they do is so specialized and interesting. It's really great."
"I think I'd be in the way, but it does sound interesting. Sylvia said you'd have time for lunch and I'm supposed to walk you to the catering unit and then to the next set, which is…" He glanced dubiously across the town square. "Being filmed in the historical society building?"
"Yeah, that's my family's old B&B, for the purposes of the movie," Kayla said with a smile. "I'll show you around, but lunch first. I've been standing around smelling coffee and doughnuts for hours and I could eat a tree, right now."
"Pretty sure the lunch is better than that. Sylvia appears to be a genius." Jordan offered his arm, and Kayla took it, leaning against him a little as they made their way out of the market. The catering unit was set up in a parking lot behind the high school,which was closed for the holidays, and they shared a quick lunch before making their way toward the historical society, with Jordan muttering, "Last time I was in there, it was dank and terrifying, honestly. I'm a little afraid to go in now."
"It currently looks like a construction site, but it's not dank, at least. It's—" Kayla broke off as a tall, good-looking man came out of the building they were headed toward, his gaze scanning the square. When it landed on Kayla, he beamed, while she missed a step and stumbled, saved from a fall by Jordan's strong arm going around her waist.
"Are you okay? Kayla?"
"No, I'm…I'm fine," Kayla whispered, knowing she didn't sound fine as the man waved and trotted down the steps to stride toward them. "That's Boone. That's my ex. What is hedoinghere?"
