Page 14 of Cooped Up for Christmas

I blinked as a deep bass thrummed around me. Then I turned and locked gazes with a really hot cowboy.

“Howdy,” I said, responding as he offered to shake my hand. Imagine that. Civility. In this day and age. “How do you do?”

“I’m Whit,” he said in a tone that made clear he expected I’d heard of him.

“Of course. Of course. So nice to have you here.”

“I’m that one’s pa.” He squinted his eyes and pointed at Farley. “So, as a good old fashioned Southern gentleman, it’s incumbent upon me to apologize, in advance, for anything she might say or do.” He tipped his hat. “She’s still learning to tame the ego, you know?”

Oh yeah. I’d already figured that out. It must be hard to be a teen superstar and remember to be humble. “She’s young. She’ll come along.”

“I reckon she will. Well, let me do the introductions…” He went on to point at everyone in his party and call out their names and how they were all connected, even though they’d all scattered. I did a pretty good job of keeping up.

Boy howdy. Whit Weaver was a hot cowboy, from the top of his Stetson to the tip of his roach-killer boots. Of that, there was no doubt. But with the very sexy Mr. Weaver came his (also very sexy) girlfriend, Sabine. Girl being the operative word. She wasn’t Farley’s age, but barely. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been attracted to men who are attracted to way-too-young women. So yeah. No temptation there.

In addition to Whit and Sabine, the group consisted of three other adults—including Carmella Smith, Jamison’s mother; Tommy Astro, Farley’s manager; and Tommy’s executive secretary, Miranda Givens—as well as a bunch of late-model teenagers. As best I could tell, there was Farley and Jamison—the famous couple featured in every supermarket tabloid—and their posses. Jamison’s friends included two young trouble makers named Dion Hastings and Bobby Ebersol. Neither was old enough to drink, but I noticed them eyeing the liquor cabinet.

Farley had her royal court too—composed of princesses, I had to imagine, because they were both wearing tiaras. Judging from their entitled expressions, Tressa and Keiko would be trouble too, I could feel it in my bones. The third member of Farley’s posse was a young man with very artistic eye makeup and a dramatic personality, named Jaxon. Then, there was Farley’s (gluten-free) little sister, Tania. And finally, Eliza.

I wasn’t sure what to make of Eliza, Farley’s cousin, who appeared to be cast as Cinderella in this fairy-tale fantasy, judging from her ordinary appearance and the undeniable fact that she was carrying Farley’s purse and soda. And her Chihuahua. Not to mention, she had that ubiquitous smudge on her cheek. Cinderellas always have smudges on their cheeks, don’t they? I think it’s required.

When I counted them up, there were nine young adults in the party. Was it only nine? It seemed like more. Point being, there were a lot of teens. A lot.

None of them wanted to hear what I had to say, so I turned back to Whit. “Please let me introduce our leadership team. This is our chef, Noel Matisse.” I waited as they all oohed and awed over the fact that he was French—and while he enjoyed the adulation. “This is Ken Nora, your activities director. He’s handling the shopping, outings, and the Fairy Ball. And this is Cameron Cooper.” I leaned in and whispered, “He likes when you call him Rocky. He’s a former Navy SEAL and our high adventure contractor.” I shot Coop a smile. “Still, as always, chasing the rush.”

I guess he missed the dig completely, considering he winked at me as he stepped forward to shake hands.

“You’re not the Cameron Cooper? The stuntman? From the movies?” Gosh, Tommy Astro really knew his movie stuntmen. Also, Coop was a stuntman?

“The very one.”

“Oh my God. This is great! We have a real stuntman teaching us to mountain surf.”

“Right.” Coop nodded. “We have three adventures planned. Tomorrow, we’re taking the helicopters to the mountains to do some snow surfing. Then, on the 24th, we’ll have some black diamond skiing. We also have snowmobiles coming in. There are some great runs around here.”

“That sounds awesome.” And yeah. Tommy had yet to release Coop’s hand.

“We hope you enjoy it,” he said, wiggling his fingers a little.

“And anything you want or need,” I added, before I tore Coop away from his new-found-fan, “do not hesitate to ask. The staff will bring up your luggage straight away.”

With a nod to my minions, they all flowed back to their stations. Those who were heading to the staff lodge melted into the scenery and slipped out the back door. It was a ballet of subtle perfection.

I was, in that moment, so proud.

Jed, however, seemed to have forgotten what to do and kind of just stood there.

I thought about it for a minute and realized having someone just standing there—ostensibly awaiting a command—wasn’t such a bad idea. It’s a wonder I’d never thought of it before. So, when Coop and I made our way into the scenery as well, I just left him there.

Eventually, he’d realize he was responsible for the luggage.

“Thanks for saving me,” Coop said, as we walked through the dark guest kitchen. Noel had shut down hours ago.

“Your fault,” I snorted, “for being an almost movie star.”

“Almost?”

I grinned at his outrage. “Don’t hate me, hate the system.”