The first part looked good—so good that I felt alarm at seeing a woman struggle against a big man like that. But I guess that meant the scene was working. After dragging Sierra over to the car, Tanner tried to open the nonexistent door, but that allowed Sierra to almost get away. I could imagine the rage that would be on Aiden’s face when they played this scene for real. I didn’t doubt he’d be able to clearly show the audience the stakes of the scene. Sierra was lucky she had Tanner to practice with.
It all went well until Tanner had her pressed up against the mat and lowered his head to hers.
Ford cussed under his breath, and I felt a surprising flash of jealousy—until I saw what had upset Ford.
Sierra had frozen. She was completely motionless, almost as if she’d just seen Medusa’s head and turned into stone. Tanner let her go and backed away.
“He doesn’t actually kiss her?”
Ford looked briefly amused. “Stunt doubles don’t usually get those kinds of perks.”
He got to his feet and went over to talk to Tanner and Sierra.
It seemed kinder to leave them be. Sierra looked ashamed, and she didn’t need me witnessing her less than stellar performance. It was time to go see if Tina had anything she needed me to do.
Throughout the afternoon, I wondered how the filming was going. If Aiden was being patient. If Sierra was performing the stunts correctly. But Tina actually kept me busy, for once, doing some data entry for her.
By the time Tina left, my eyes were blurry from too much screen time. I sought out Ford, and he said that the guys would be ready to leave in fifteen minutes.
“Good. How did filming that scene go today?”
“I wasn’t there, so I don’t know.”
I stared him down. “Yes, you do.”
He sighed. “All right, I heard it didn’t go well.”
“Did Aiden yell?”
“Not that I know of.” Ford cocked his head to the side as he looked at me. “He’s really not a bad guy, Ronnie. He and Tanner are my best friends. Do I look like the kind of man who’d have a monster for a best friend?”
Instead of answering that, I just smirked at him. “Look where you work. That kind of thing happens all the time in movies.”
“I’m serious, Ronnie. He’s a good man. I think you were just predisposed to not like him and he was predisposed to not like you.”
That was annoying—but he might have a point. A tiny one. But it didn’t change anything.
Ford sighed. “Talking to either of you about that is about as useful as talking to a tumbleweed.” It was news to me that he’d spoken to Aiden about his treatment of me. “Anyway, I have to do a few more things before I head out. Could you do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
He jogged over to a shelf along the wall. To my amusement, I caught myself checking out his cute ass—something he always accused me of doing. Hmm, maybe he had a point about that, too. When he returned, he had a pair of sunglasses in his hand. “Sierra left these here. Can you take them to her?”
“Sure. Do you know where she is?”
“If she’s still on set, she’s probably in one of the trailers. Hers will be labeled.”
“Will do, boss.” I gave Ford a mock salute, and his green eyes glinted as he raised his eyebrows at me. When I turned to go, I felt a quick slap on my ass. I yelped but kept going so that Ford couldn’t see my grin. It was hot when Ford kept me on my toes.
Sierra’s trailer was at the end of the row, past hair and makeup and a bunch of other ones. The lights were off, but I went up the wooden steps and knocked on the door anyway. No one answered, so I looked around to see if there was a place to put the sunglasses where they wouldn’t get stepped on in the morning. I climbed back down and while I was looking, I saw movement in the window next to the door.
“Sierra?” I knocked on the window. “It’s Ronnie.”
A moment later, the door opened a crack, but from my angle, I could see her face. Her red, tearstained face. “You left your sunglasses at the gym.” I handed them up to her.
“Thanks.” Though she was obviously upset, she didn’t sound it. But actors must know ways of projecting their voices. She started to pull the door shut.
“Wait!”
Sierra paused, her eyes cast downward. “Can we just talk tomorrow?”
“Sure,” I said, looking her in the eye. “But want to drink tonight?”
Her tentative smile was answer enough.
14
Ronnie
My original plan was to hire Evan to drive us to O’Dowd’s, but then Sierra volunteered that she’d been assigned a driver for the duration of her stay. After she and I climbed in the backseat, I leaned forward to tell the driver where we were going.