I tightened the lid on the spice box.
Then I moved the garnish tray one inch farther from the cook edge and kept working.
“Sunny,” Caprice called. “Can you give me a touch more visual drama on the table? Maybe cluster some ingredients closer to the flame path once we light for B-roll?”
“I’m not doing that.”
Caprice blinked. “You said no?”
“I’m not. It’ll look prettier for three seconds and be in the way for the entire round.”
“The shot needs depth.”
“The shot can have depth from an angle that doesn’t put a jar of honey beside a hot pan.”
Ed lowered the camera. “I could get depth from the other side if the cable snake gets to live behind Flint.”
Flint turned from his station and looked at me.
I held the no myself.
Caprice tapped her pen against the clipboard, checked the shot line, the hot zone, and Ed’s angle, then nodded. “Fine. Ed, change the angle. Joelle, mark the boundaries again. Sunny, keep your pretty jars where they won’t become evidence.”
“Thank you,” I said.
Caprice aimed a finger at me. “Don’t sound smug. We’re still behind.”
“I’m not smug. I’m safe and glamorous. It’s a new category.”
Flint’s laugh came from his side, low and brief.
I looked over before I could stop myself.
He was already looking at me.
Daylight sat on Flint’s shoulders instead of firelight. My pulse still jumped, but this time I had clipboards, cameras, and Ed’s resentment toward cables waiting ten yards away.
I walked to the supply table for more towels. Flint arrived there at the same time, reaching for a roll of tape.
For once, neither of us pretended it was accidental.
The supply table sat behind the camper, just out of Ed’s current frame and far enough from Caprice that her headset muttering blurred into production noise. Pine shade cut across Flint’s shoulder. A breeze moved through the grass, lifting the edge of my apron.
Flint took the tape. “You handled Caprice.”
“I handle Caprice all the time.”
“You told her no on safety.”
“I told her no on table logic.”
His gaze stayed on mine. “Same thing today.”
I swallowed. “Maybe I finally listened to one of your many lectures.”
“I only lectured when necessary.”
“You lectured about shoes.”
