After a long pause, Ford said, “Well, it sounds like you’ll have time to take a run with me tomorrow, so bring your sneakers. I’ve got to stay in shape to keep ahead of these two.”
Tanner laughed. “Not hardly. Don’t let Ford fool you, Ronnie. He’s the best of the best.”
“Because he learned from Mac, who’s even better,” Aiden said, with a direct look my way. Like I was in any position to counter that statement? I’d seen Mac for a total of two hours in the last two decades.
Aiden’s challenge reminded me that I was not among friends, and I was pretty quiet for the rest of dinner. I helped put the food away and did my dishes—even though Aiden left his on the table and said that someone would take care of it. If he wanted to live like a slob, that was his business.
Once I retreated upstairs to my room, I found I had several text messages from Emma and Maddie, both warning me that my stepbrothers worked on the movie. I checked my email and saw that the one I’d written to them hadn’t even sent, it was just sitting there in the draft folder. Evidently the signal hadn’t been strong enough. No wonder they hadn’t answered it—they hadn’t gotten it.
So how did they find out about Aiden and Tanner? Tonio must’ve pieced it together. Too bad he hadn’t figured it out a little sooner. He’d kept better track of Mac than I had over the years, but he couldn’t have known that Mac was working with his stepsons on this movie or he would’ve warned me.
I thought about calling Emma or Maddie—it wasn’t too late back home—but somehow, I couldn’t. The mood I was in, all it would take was one sympathetic, friendly comment and I’d probably start crying. I hated crying and I almost never did it, but it was like all the hurt from Mac leaving that I thought I’d gotten over years ago was all so near the surface.
I wanted to talk to my friends, but I just couldn’t yet. So I texted them and my mom and Tonio and lied through my teeth. Everything was fine. I was having a great time. It was beautiful out here.
Well, that last one wasn’t really a lie. The desert, mesas, and canyons were beautiful in a sort of desolate way. But the other things were lies.
I wondered how much longer it would be until they were true.
8
Ronnie
The next morning, after helping out Tina for an hour, I changed into my running clothes and laced up my sneakers. It wasn’t hard to find Ford. Tina had told me he worked in the biggest building on the lot. It was the one that reminded me of an airplane hangar.
I entered through the first door I could find and then halted to take it all in. The vast interior of the building was entirely open, essentially one big room with a mega-high ceiling. But it seemed to serve two purposes. The far end looked like a parking garage. There were many vehicles there. Some were race cars, and I was pretty sure I spotted the Mustang that had almost mowed me over my first day here. Other vehicles were packed with movie-making equipment. A few even had buckets for lifting people in the air like firetrucks did.
But the half of the building closest to me was completely different—it was a gym. Thick mats were everywhere, as well as ropes and platforms—perhaps to practice jumping off of? There were a few sparring rings, and I saw two men fighting—or, hopefully, stage fighting—in a ring near the invisible divider that separated the cars from the cardio.
There were a few racks of free weights, but otherwise, the place looked more like a ninja gym than a regular one. There was even an obstacle course set up along one wall.
I heard Ford’s voice before I saw him. He seemed to be arguing with someone. Tina told me that Mac got angry when people didn’t follow safe practices—maybe Ford did too?
Turning in a slow circle, I still couldn’t see him. Then his voice came again, and I tilted my head upward. He and another man were on a platform about twelve feet in the air. It had stairs leading up to it, and a railing lined the sides of the platform.
Ford had his back to me, but his wavy hair wasn’t hard to recognize. He seemed to be scolding the other man for being late.
“Roger was here at nine. Where were you?”
“I had a flat tire. We’re in the middle of the goddamn desert, in case you haven’t noticed.” The second man stepped into sight and alarmingly close to Ford. The stranger had a few inches and at least fifty pounds on the fight coordinator.