“It’s not that—” Chey began, then stopped and let out a short laugh of disbelief. “I’m sorry. Truly. I’m not usually like this. It’s just, I feel like I left the farm and stepped into an alternate universe.”
Vivi smiled. “Why do you think I adored my work so much? I got to do that every day. Only in my case I left a three-story walk-up in the Bronx and took two very un-Cinderella-like trains to get from home to fantasy-land, but I’d have traveled farther and lived in far worse for the chance it gave me, the world it gave me.”
Wyatt noticed that Vivi hadn’t said anything directly in response to Grant’s declaration, but the fact that she hadn’t taken her hand from his and had declared them to be the closest of confidants said a great deal.
“Where are you flying off to,” Chey said, “if it’s okay to ask?” She smiled at Vivi. “Pure nosey, star-struck curiosity now. Not interrogating your date.”
“New York,” Vivi said, and Wyatt noted she didn’t deny it was a date, either. “Grant and I haven’t been in touch for quite some time.” She was smiling, but there was a world of emotion in her eyes. “He thought I might enjoy spending the afternoon at some of our old haunts.” She glanced at him. “The ones that are still around, at any rate.”
“That’s lovely,” Chey said, smiling at Grant. “Just for the afternoon?”
“Perhaps the evening, as well,” Grant said, then glanced at Vivi. “If I can talk her into it.”
Wyatt knew Chey must be bursting at the seams with questions for Vivi over this startling and definitely quite juicy revelation about her past. Heck, Wyatt had questions, and he’d just met Vivi.
Vivi did slide her hand from Grant’s then to reach for the creamer. “I’m sure you’re both wondering why I would have contacted Grant regarding our issue with the resort deal.”
Leave it to Vivi to cut to the chase.
“It had crossed my mind,” Chey said wryly.
Vivi glanced at Grant, as if seeking his okay to reveal his secret. He nodded, and she looked back to them. “It’s somewhat common knowledge that Grant owns a great deal of property out west and spends most of his time there. Much less known is his work supporting environmental and green energy research that’s being done and tested out there. He’s been outspoken about our need to pay more attention to conservation and has done a great deal to raise awareness, but behind the scenes, he’s been putting his money where his mouth is, and personally financing a number of different projects.”
Wyatt extended his hand to Grant again. “That’s phenomenal. Thank you.”
Grant shook his hand, but said, “I think we all have a responsibility to give back. This planet we all live on is pretty much indestructible, but that doesn’t mean it will always be hospitable. At least to us. We’ve documented its formation enough to know it hasn’t been in the past and will likely, at some point, not be again. It’s in all our best interests to make sure we’re still welcome on it for as long as humanly—and I mean that specifically—possible.”
“Here, here,” Wyatt said.
“Some of us have bigger platforms than others,” he went on, with a nod to Wyatt. “I have been vocal in trying to draw attention to various specific things we can do to improve and extend our ultimate stay here. There is progress being made.”
“I had no idea you were so involved,” Wyatt said, then grinned. “You may be sorry I know that now. We’re—Reed Planet—is always looking for ways to bring attention to the various projects we take on.”
“I imagine we can find some overlap there,” Grant said. “We’ll definitely talk.” He glanced at Vivi again, who returned his gaze.
Grant’s smile was full-on movie idol perfection. Vivi’s was softer, and though maybe not tentative, also not the twinkling display Wyatt had witnessed countless times even in their brief shared history.
“Vivi tells me that you are trying to preserve a lake and local wilderness area, that it’s being considered for a big, commercial resort that will increase revenue, but likely diminish the charm and general joie de vivre of your mountain paradise.”
“You make it sound a lot more exciting than it is,” Chey said with a laugh. “But yes. The problem is twofold. Three-fold, actually.” She went on to explain to him the situation.
“I’ve seen this happen before,” Grant said. “I owned a ranch in northern California and saw the same developers-to-the-rescue dynamic happen there. What was once a stunning rustic retreat and classic western town looks more like Sacramento now than Rustling Pine Lake. And the locals, myself included, eventually packed up, sold our properties—some of them had been in the same family dating back to the gold rush—and moved further out, started over.”
“We don’t want to see that happen,” Chey said. “But it’s not exactly an environmental or green energy issue we’re having. It’s a topographically diverse area, and richer for it.”
Grant smiled. “Vivi tells me you all just moved out there a few years ago. Your passion and reverence for your new home is good to see. That’s exactly the kind of growth and support places like yours need.”
“So, what would your connection be?” Wyatt asked, then explained what they were hoping for, much the same way he’d presented it to the people who had been at the farm the day before.
Grant nodded. “That’s the perfect alternate plan. It just so happens that one of the organizations I’ve been working with is designing green-energy friendly designs for newly developing areas. It’s a challenge to rework already established areas and update them to new technologies, especially when the owners don’t see any need to change anything. But if we can start that way in areas with new development, we get the benefit of not perpetuating systems that drain the environment rather than work with it and enhance it, and as new communities develop and grow, they become models for showing previously developed areas why they should consider upgrading and improving their systems.”
“That’s . . . wonderful,” Wyatt said, beaming. He looked at Vivi. “This is so much more than I’d hoped for.” He looked back at Grant. “So, are you saying you think the lake property could be developed into one of these green-energy prototypes?”
Grant nodded. “I am.”
Wyatt laughed. “That’s incredible.”
“It’s not a slam dunk,” Grant said. “There are a lot of particulars that will need to be hammered out between the group and your council. This won’t be a typical build, and there are a lot of other variables involved that will have to be considered and agreed upon.” He sat forward and braced his elbows on his knees. “I won’t sugarcoat this. The big, shiny resort they already have in hand will be cheaper to build, faster to go up, and quicker to reap rewards, both for the town, and from what I hear, their own pockets if they are working some kind of back deal with the builder or whoever is financing it.”
“Would you be willing to put your face on our campaign to get them to consider this alternative plan?” Wyatt asked. “Would you work with me to do that? My following, and yours?”
Grant chuckled. “We might be able to work something out.”
Just then a man stuck his head into the room. “We’ve been cleared for takeoff, Mr. Harper,” he said, then ducked back out.
Three of them stood and Chey and Wyatt both shook hands with Grant again. “I can’t tell you how much we appreciate this,” Chey said. “And please accept our apologies, again, for so rudely interrupting your, uh, meeting.” She winked at Vivi.
“No apologies needed. Now Vivi and I won’t have to spend what time we have together talking business.” He offered Vivi his hand, which she took as she also stood. “Perhaps with this out of the way, I can convince you to let me take you to dinner.”
“We’ll see,” was all that Vivi said.
She was smiling, and there was clearly a very real fondness there for Grant, but she was also obviously holding part of herself back. All the same, Wyatt had no doubt she could hold her own, and if she didn’t want to go to New York, or di
nner, or anything else, he was quite certain she wouldn’t.
“No umbrella required?” Chey asked, apparently on the same wavelength. She wanted what was best for Vivi, and, as amazing as he seemed to be, both by cinematic reputation and in real life, she wasn’t quite sure that Grant Harper was it.
“Just for the rain, darling,” Vivi said, her expression reassuring. She took Chey’s hand and squeezed it. “We’ll talk tomorrow, hmm?”
“We will,” Chey agreed with a smile and a nod, and let her hand go. “We will indeed,” Wyatt heard her say under her breath.
“I expect I don’t want to know what that was all about,” Grant said in an aside to Wyatt as the two women left the lounge room first.
“You would expect right,” Wyatt said. “But she’s a woman with many, shall we say, hidden talents. So, I’d be sure to keep a gentlemanly distance until invited otherwise.”
Grant chuckled at that. “Message received,” he said, and clapped Wyatt on the shoulder. “And, just so you know, that was never in question. I honestly never expected to have this opportunity. I most certainly will take utmost care not to squander it.”
Wyatt turned to him just before they left the lounge. “Not to speak out of turn, but as someone presently trying to do the same thing, most definitely take care.” He paused, then said the rest of what was on his mind. “I’m not sure, but if her beloved new home,” he emphasized, “hadn’t been put at risk, I don’t know that she’d have contacted you. At least not this week. I can’t speak for all of eternity, but—”
“Actually, she made that abundantly clear when we first spoke,” Grant confided candidly, then smiled. “Have no fear.”
Wyatt chuckled. Of course she had. Vivi didn’t take no stuff. Just ask Paul Hammond. “There might be some additional obstacles put in place in this deal, by someone who didn’t heed Vivi’s warning,” Wyatt said, revealing that bit of info for several reasons. He met Grant’s gaze. “Someone in a position to make things even more challenging when you step into the picture. And not because you’re Grant Harper, screen legend. You understand what I mean?”
Grant frowned now but nodded.
“I’m only telling you this because I think you have her best interests at heart, and she could use your support. Whatever she ends up deciding about your second chance, I hope you will be her champion. Because we will.”
“You can count on it.”
Wyatt watched Grant as he walked over to Vivi, all dashing good looks and down to earth charm, every bit of it sincere.
Chey joined him and they waved to Vivi, then watched as Grant escorted her toward the open end of the hangar and out to the tarmac beyond and his waiting jet.
“What did you just say to him?” she asked.
“Why do you think I said something?”
Chey looked from the departing couple to Wyatt. “Because Mr. Harper has a very different look in his eyes now.” She smiled. “Kind of the same one I see when I look into yours.”
He pulled her into his arms. “Then that is a very good thing indeed.”
Chapter Eleven
The following morning, Chey, Hannah, and Avery were all seated around the big kitchen table, sipping coffee and waiting for Vivi to make an appearance.
Hannah looked at her watch. “It’s almost eight-thirty. I don’t think I’ve ever known her to be down later than seven, seven-thirty.” She laughed. “Or later than me, anyway.”
“Her median time is twelve minutes after seven,” Avery said, pushing her glasses up her pert nose and making some notes in the spiral notebook she always had at hand. “So, this is definitely an aberration.”
“I shudder to think what kind of data you have on my habits,” Chey said.
Avery just looked up and wiggled her eyebrows. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
Chey lifted a hand. “No, no. I think I’m good.”
“Actually,” Avery went on, “there’s been a dramatic uptick in data entry in your binder—”
“I have a binder?” Chey paused just before taking a sip of her coffee. “Like, the three-ring kind? Okay, now I definitely don’t want to know. I have the most boring life ever. What could you possibly—”
“Maybe that was true last week,” Avery said. “Now? With Reed Planet carrying you off every time we turn around?” She looked back to her notes. “Yeah, not so much.”
“His name is Wyatt, and he doesn’t—” Chey broke off, and took a big sip of coffee instead. Because saying he didn’t carry her off would be a bold-faced lie. Just that morning, he’d carried her to the shower. And then back to bed.
“Someone’s cheeks are pretty pink at the moment,” Hannah said, and gave Chey a broad, knowing grin when she just scowled at her. “Welcome to the club,” she said, offering her mug for a toast.
Chey frowned, but touched her mug to Hannah’s and said, “What club?”
“The one where you come into the kitchen twenty minutes late looking like the cat who just had a whole bowl of cream, and the rest of us get to grill you on who put that look on your face.”
“Yep,” Avery added. “Paybacks, meet hell.”
“You’re all very droll this morning,” Chey said, “but I’m not the focus of this little meeting today. We’re here to talk about Vivi. I want us to support her however she needs us to. I just couldn’t tell from seeing her yesterday what that support should be.”
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you sat in a private lounge in a private airplane hangar, in touching distance of Grant Harper. I mean . . .” Hannah fanned herself. “Is he really all that in person?”
Chey wasn’t normally a gossip girl, or fangirl. In fact, she’d have said she’d be the very last one to be either of those things. The only reason she’d told Hannah and Avery about Grant Harper was because she was worried about whatever minefield Vivi was making her way through and wanted the other two to know what she’d witnessed. However, there was no getting around the fact that she’d literally stood there and gawked at the man yesterday. There was also no guarantee she wouldn’t again if she was ever in the same room with him. She set her mug down and with all due reverence, said, “Oh, he’s so, so much more than all that.”
Hannah gave a quiet little squeal. “It’s all kind of exciting, isn’t it? I mean, who knew Vivi has one of the most legendary stage and film stars panting after her?”
“I wouldn’t say panting—” Chey began.
“He dropped everything and flew here on a moment’s notice, picked her up in a Rolls, then flew her to New York for the afternoon,” Avery pointed out. “That’s the definition of panting. Hollywood style.”
Chey nodded, conceding her point. “I’ll admit, he’s definitely a full-tilt screen idol when he walks in the room. He’s more impressive in person than on screen, which is saying something. So, he’s a lot to just . . . take in. But then he talks to you and he’s really about a lot more than that. In fact, no part of our conversation had anything to do with his career, or Vivi’s, other than that’s how they met when they were young.”
“It all sounds so romantic,” Avery said, pausing in her chart making long enough to have a dreamy-eyed moment.
“It kind of was,” Chey admitted. “I’m not gonna lie.” She finished off the last of her lavender scone. “I’m just not sure what happens next in that fairy tale. Or what she wants to happen next.”
“Good morning, darlings,” Vivi said, sweeping into the room as she spoke, all casual and show stopping at the same time. Her hair was swept up in a flawless chignon, the lavender streaks perfectly accentuating every curve. Makeup, also flawless. Multiple bangles jingled at her wrists, with matching tasteful accoutrements around her neck and dangling from her ears. All of this glamour had been paired with very casual duck pants, a blue and white striped boat shirt, and canvas flats. Yet she still managed to command the room with the aplomb of a red-carpet entrance. “That coffee smells divine. I’m so sorry I wasn’t down earlier to brew you all a p
ot.”
She poured herself a cup and turned to face them, leaning her hip against the counter. “You’re all here bright and early. I can’t recall the last time we all four managed that. I suppose you have our charts for us, Avery, with our schedules for the week? I can’t believe how fast time is just flying by. There’s so much to be done before our official spring opening, but it’s so exciting, isn’t it?”
Chey, Hannah, and Avery just looked at her. “Really, Vivi?” This from Chey. “If you think you can go waltzing off to New York with a full-on screen idol and not at least share some of the—”
“Good morning, ladies,” came that singular baritone from the kitchen doorway. “I hope I’m not intruding. That coffee smells pretty amazing.”
“Oh my,” Hannah said as Grant Harper walked right into their kitchen. She barely managed to bobble her mug back on the table instead of dropping it straight to the floor.
“Good morning, Mr. Harper,” Chey said, giving Vivi a “well, well, well” look of admiration and outright curiosity. She was proud of how she held it together this time, especially when this encounter was easily as shocking as the first time she’d met him. “Welcome to Lavender Blue. This is Hannah Montgomery and Avery Kent,” she said, motioning to each. “The other two partners in our farming endeavor.”
“Grant, please,” he said, and nodded at Hannah and Avery, flashing that legendary smile, ocean blue eyes on full twinkle as he did. “Pleasure to meet you all.”
He wore faded jeans, a blue pullover that was just the right amount of snug across those broad shoulders, and he was barefoot, Chey noted, as he crossed the room to accept a freshly poured mug from Vivi. All of that was devastatingly sexy and made her want to go find Wyatt and jump him immediately.
“I won’t intrude,” he said congenially. “I know you all have a business to run here. I haven’t seen the whole setup in the daylight as yet, but the view from the window upstairs was pretty spectacular.” He turned to Vivi. “I’ve got some calls to make before our meeting later. Let me know when you’re ready.” He stole a scone from the plate on the kitchen table, then shot them a devilish wink and lifted his mug in a salute. “Have a good day, everyone.” And he was gone.
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