by Nina Crespo
Rina automatically moved closer to him. Attraction. Philippa proclaiming that as part of the date scenario pinged loudly in her mind, and Rina took a step back. “Yes. Our appointment is still on.” Since it wasn’t a date, that was the perfect word to call it.
His eyes narrowed a bit with a quizzical look and then his gaze shifted past her shoulder. He smiled politely at Zurie then looked back at Rina. “Right, so about our appointment, I can actually come by earlier or we can meet after Brewed Haven closes. There’s been some changes on set. My schedule has freed up.”
Zurie’s heels tapped on the tiles as she shifted her stance reminding Rina she was still waiting...and listening. “No. Eight is great. Thanks. I’ll see you then.”
She turned and joined Zurie. At eight thirty she would use the excuse of needing to get back to the cafe for closing to bring their “appointment” to an end. A clearly defined time frame that was less than an hour—she was adding that one to the rules about what wasn’t a date.
As they walked briskly down the corridor, Zurie looked at her phone. “Now we’re back down to a fifteen-minute meeting, maybe I can squeeze in twenty. That guy, he’s part of the film crew, isn’t he? What type of appointment do you have with him?”
“We’re discussing some minor repair stuff at the cafe.” That wasn’t a lie. Just a vague explanation that shouldn’t open the topic up to more scrutiny.
“Isn’t Dennis handling repairs?”
The door to potential criticism widened. An object high in the left corner, and the perfect deflection, caught Rina’s attention. She smiled. “When did you install a new security camera?”
Zurie glanced up at it as she slid a card into the reader above the door handle. “A few weeks ago.” The locking mechanism disengaged and she opened the door. “I don’t know if anyone told you, but we had a scare awhile back when a little boy ran off from his father. Afterward, we decided the security here and at the stable needed an upgrade.”
Rina followed her into the office. Relieved the topic had moved from more questions about her appointment with Scott, she settled in one of the blue chairs in front of the oak desk. “Philippa mentioned that happened. Didn’t Tristan and Chloe find him?”
“Yes, they did. We were lucky the boy’s disappearance didn’t escalate to an even more serious issue.”
Zurie put her phone down as she sat behind the desk in a large brown leather chair that had belonged to their father. The top of her workspace was uncluttered and neat with just a wide-screen computer, a cube of tissues and a filled outbox on one top corner and a less full inbox on the other. The only other furniture was a round meeting table with black padded chairs at the other end of the room, and also a new addition since Rina had been in the office several weeks ago—a navy couch along the far wall.
With the tinted window behind her providing a view of one of the pastures, Zurie completely lived up to the image of being in charge. Their father had seemed larger than life too when he’d sat in that chair.
A vision of him at his desk in his office that had been in their family home came into Rina’s mind. As a little girl, she used to stop in and bug him at least once a day and he’d never gotten angry with her.
Hey, Sweet Pea...
That’s what he’d say when he spotted her in the doorway. His huge laugh had always filled the room and she’d loved hearing it. As she poked around his desk playing with his pens and pencils, he’d pretend that he didn’t realize her main objective was candy. Then he’d distract her, and suddenly his Jolly Rancher stash would appear on his desk. She loved the apple-flavored ones, and he always seemed to have more of those than any of the others.
“Did you hear what I said?” Zurie stared at her.
Rina reluctantly let go of the memory of their father and focused on the conversation. “Sorry. Can you repeat it?”
“Let me guess. You weren’t listening because you were daydreaming about your appointment?”
From the lack of amusement in Zurie’s expression, she wouldn’t believe that she was actually thinking about their father so what was the point of saying it. “I’m listening now.”
“I got a call from the production company last night and a follow-up email this morning. Nash Moreland injured himself yesterday. Everything is on hold until they sort out when he’s coming back.”
“Oh?” The production shutting down for a while, was that why Scott’s time had freed up? “So will the cast and crew still be around?”
“That’s undecided.” Zurie sank back in the chair. “If the set is shut down longer than a week, they’ll send everyone home. But every day they’re not filming is costing them money and us, too. All catering for the cast and crew has been suspended until further notice. And when they do go back into full production, catering may be stripped down to the essentials. Your pies are considered a luxury.” A brief flash of empathy shown in Zurie’s eyes. “There’s a strong chance your month-to-month contract may not be renewed.”
Disappointment dropped inside of Rina and she sank back in her seat. She’d been counting on that contract to buy some new equipment. Strange. Zurie had said they sent out a message. She hadn’t seen it. “I must have skipped over the email that went out. I’ll look for it.”
“They didn’t send it to you. I told them they didn’t need to because I’d keep you informed about what’s happening.”
But her contract was with the company not Zurie. She should have been cc’d on the correspondence. Why had Zurie butted in? Irritation started to rise inside of Rina. But knowing Zurie, offering to tell her about the situation was problem solving not a slight. Complaining about it would make her sound petty instead of professional. “Thanks for telling me about the changes. Can you send me a copy of the email, please?”
“Sure.” Zurie picked up her phone from the desk.
A chime rang on Rina’s phone. She’d reach out to the contact person and ask them to add her to the email chain. “Thanks for keeping me in the loop. I should head back to work.”
“Wait.” Zurie stalled her from getting up with a raised hand. “The contract isn’t all I wanted to talk to you about.”
Chapter Ten
Scott walked into Brewed Haven, and from the looks of things, it was fairly busy. Good food, great desserts and coffee—he could understand why it would be a popular spot on a Wednesday night.
Darby came out of the archway next to the counter carrying a tray of sodas. He waited until she dropped them off to customers, then approached her.
Recognizing him, Darby smiled. “Hi, Scott.” Her gaze moved down and up over his black button-down, dark jeans and black Timberlands. “Are you here for dinner?”
“Actually, I’m looking for Rina.”
“She’s in her office.” Darby led the way to the corridor. A crash of plates in the dining area made her grimace. “You know the way.” She pointed left as she started across the dining room. “First door on the right. Just knock before you go in.”
As he entered the corridor, servers rushed by him to pick up food from the service window farther up on the right and to dispense sodas from the beverage machine across from it.
Scott rapped on the office door a couple of times then slowly cracked it open. “Rina, it’s Scott.” He peeked in.
She wasn’t there. A large stack of books and a file folder indicated she’d been working there at some point.
Glancing out the large window looking out on the kitchen, he saw Rina with a bright yellow hairnet covering her braids. She and a young woman peered into a stock pot on the stove. Using a plastic spoon, Rina sampled the contents of the pot then spoke to the woman who nodded agreeably at whatever she was saying.
As Rina tossed the spoon into a nearby trash can, she spotted him through the window and gestured for him to wait one minute.
Scott nodded. He glanced at her full desk. Hopefully she was
n’t too busy to get away.
A few moments later, she came into the office through the kitchen door. “Sorry for making you wait. We ran out of chicken soup and had to make another batch.” She glanced at him on the way behind her desk. “You look nice.”
“Thanks.”
Honestly, he’d made an effort. When he’d talked to her in the hallway that morning, he’d just completed a light twenty-minute warm-up sprint on the elliptical. The way she’d backed away and abruptly ended their conversation had made him wonder if he’d offended her by being too sweaty. Impressing her was important. Although going for ice cream was part of a bet, technically, it was their first time going out together. And if he had any say in the matter, it wouldn’t be their last.
Rina took off the hairnet and apron, laid both on her desk, then snagged her phone from the top drawer. She seemed preoccupied. “I’m ready.”
As he followed her out, she slipped her hand into her back pocket and pulled out some folded money. He was going to tell her she didn’t need it, but he couldn’t tear his attention from the way her jeans clung to her curves.
Outside, she picked up the pace to the opposite sidewalk.
With his longer legs, he easily strode beside her. “So how’s your day been?”
Rina smiled up at him. “Is that question part of another bet?”
“No, because I’d lose. Your life is lot more fascinating than mine.”
She laughed ruefully. “Today, I’d settle for boring.”
Before he could ask why, they arrived at their destination and went inside. She ordered a small cup of chocolate cookie dough ice cream. He got a mint chocolate chip cone.
Rina handed the cashier her money before he could get his wallet out.
That’s okay, he’d pay the next time.
The well-lit space wasn’t full, but people were spread throughout the small seating area. One group in the middle were laughing and talking loudly.
“Can w—” Scott and Rina both spoke at the same time.
“You first,” he said.
“Can we walk instead of staying in here?”
That’s almost exactly what he’d planned to ask. “Great minds think alike.”
As she grabbed a few napkins from a dispenser on the counter, she gave him a quizzical look. “I guess they do.”
Outside, on the sidewalk, they weren’t practically running a marathon like they were on the way to the ice cream place, but she wasn’t talking or eating.
He licked his cone. “Is your ice cream okay?”
“It’s fine.”
“Busy day?”
“The usual. What about you? What are you doing now that filming is on hold?”
She was really good at changing the subject away from herself. He’d let her get away with it for now, but he really didn’t want to spend the entire time talking about himself. He wanted to know more about her. “A lot of sitting and waiting, at least for the rest of this week.”
“If it turns out to be longer, will you go home?”
He walked with her across the street to the town square. “That depends on how long. Right now, the director and the main production crew are determining if they can shoot around Nash until he gets back.”
“But you’re his stunt double. How would that work for you if he’s not around?”
“Even during a regular production schedule, Nash and I aren’t always working together. There’s a first unit or filming team that works with the main actors. The second unit films stunts and other scenes not involving them. When I’m not filming, I help Kyle and the other stunt performers with setups and rehearsals. Or if background extras are needed, sometimes I fill in there, too.”
They dropped down on the same bench they’d sat on the day before, facing the fountain.
She went quiet again.
At Tillbridge, she’d called going out for ice cream with him an appointment. Appointments often involved things people felt they had to do, not wanted to do. Did Rina feel obligated to go out with him because of their friendly bet or because he’d put her on the spot in the hallway by asking about it? Maybe she wasn’t eating her ice cream because she didn’t want to be there with him.
Just as he was about to ask Rina if she wanted to go back to the cafe, she asked, “How did you become a stuntman?”
He’d answered that question in polite conversations more times than he could count, but the sincere expression on her face prompted him to settle back on the bench. “A guy I was serving with in the navy thought he was the next Brad Pitt. When we were both honorably discharged in San Diego, he talked me into going with him to LA. Shortly after we got there, he won a part in a commercial, and I went with him to the filming. The acting part of things didn’t interest me, but what the stuntman was doing caught my attention so I talked to him, and he turned me on to a place offering stunt training. After that, it took some time to establish myself, but I did, and I haven’t stopped working since.”
“Is your friend still acting?”
“No. He eventually focused on his personal training business and invested in a gym with his brother.”
“So after the navy, you had no interest at all in joining your family’s business?”
“Not really.” He licked melting ice cream from the side of the cone. “I’d been gone for four years. My sister, Wendy, had been working her tail off helping my father build the company. She’s also highly organized and tenacious, and she loves corporate structure. I don’t.” He shrugged not knowing quite how to explain something that had felt like such a natural decision to him. “Even though I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after the navy, I knew working for my father wasn’t the right thing for me. But as his son, the expectation was that I would. My showing up would have just gotten in the way of Wendy establishing herself as the boss. I didn’t want that for her.”
Once again, she looked at him as if she was almost troubled by what he’d said. He couldn’t get a read on her. What was she thinking?
He turned partially and faced her. “Okay, that’s the second time you’ve done that. What’s up?”
She raised her brows at him. “Done what?”
“Given me a strange look. You’ve also been really quiet. Either I’ve got ice cream on my face or something is on your mind.”
Chapter Eleven
Rina stared back at him. Amusement but also a tiny bit of exasperation shown on his face. From his point of view, she couldn’t blame him. If he’d been giving her strange looks and not saying much, she’d wonder what was wrong, too.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to act weird.” Rina stuffed her napkins into her ice cream and set the cup between them on the bench. “It’s just that when we were in the ice cream shop, you said great minds think alike and that was the same thing I thought the other day when you’d said something. And just now, when you mentioned not wanting to ruin things for your sister at your father’s company, it reminded me of something Tristan did for my sister Zurie.”
“So our similarities on a few things bothers you?”
“No. I just haven’t had a conversation with someone where there so many coincidences. Even the organized and tenacious part you mentioned about your sister, fits my sister, too.”
“Does she also like to butt in, take control and give opinions about your life?”
“Exactly.”
He chuckled wryly and stuck the remainder of his cone in her cup. “Our sisters sound like long lost twins.”
“You’re right. They do.” Two people like Zurie in the world? That was a bit much. She loved Zurie, but...
Scott leaned toward her. “That part about our sisters being twins was supposed to make you laugh. Since you’re not, I’m guessing something happened between you and her today.”
Comparing experiences with their sisters was one thing, but telling him, a gu
y she barely knew, about the details of her meeting with Zurie? She couldn’t. She shouldn’t. But she couldn’t talk to Tristan. Something his father had done was part of the situation, and Tristan might feel he needed to get involved. Talking to Philippa about what she and Zurie had discussed was probably more appropriate. Actually, it hadn’t been a discussion. Zurie had dictated the solution and expected her to agree to it.
Rina released a long breath filled with frustration. But she really needed to talk right then and Scott was there. Maybe it would be easier to share what was going on with someone who didn’t know all of the details about her past mistakes. “Brewed Haven was my first big venture, and I was determined to make it the place of my dreams.”
He turned, angling his body more toward her. “There’s nothing wrong with that. A lot of people feel that way about their first business.”
“Well, my dreams weren’t inexpensive. When I had to make a choice between leasing one of the new spaces next to the flower shop or buying the building where a bakery used to be, I bought the building. Maybe I should have torn it down and started from scratch, but to me fixing up the place was like a phoenix rising from the ashes.” Kind of how she envisioned herself after the accident. Rina caught herself rubbing over her right knee.
Scott noticed, too. From his expression, he’d made the connection between what she was and wasn’t telling him. “You’ve done a great job rebuilding things.”
“Thank you. But there were consequences to spending so much up front. I didn’t have enough cash in reserve. Two years in, a storm came through, and there was a lot of damage. Insurance covered a good part of it, but I didn’t have the resources to rebuild plus run the cafe.” A shadow of feeling like a failure that she’d felt then fell over her now. “I missed a few loan payments, and I was too embarrassed to tell anyone about it.”
“But you worked it out.” He pointed to the cafe behind them. “Brewed Haven is still standing.”
