“Just one question before I go.” Hayley reduced her voice to a whisper. “Kyla told just us girls that you’re actually famous.”
“Hayley—” Jess sighed.
“Well, she sort of had to tell us so we’d leave you alone. But we ignore her sometimes, obviously. So? Is it true you’re actually a movie star?”
“Hayley, seriously.” Jess leveled her with a look only a mom could conjure up. “Sorry, Shelby. Hayley’s got a heart of absolute gold, but she has absolutely no self-censoring capabilities.”
“Thanks, Jess. I love you, too.” Hayley rolled her eyes.
Shelby smiled. “There’s something kind of refreshing about that, honestly.”
“You say that now.” Jess laughed. “But that’s because you don’t know her yet. She and Kyla and I go way back. We were the first three women to fall under the Whisper Creek cowboy spell, as cheesy as that sounds to anyone who hasn’t been here to experience it.”
“Cooper mentioned that. He suggested I avoid drinking the water.”
“Lexi tried that. Ask her how that worked out.” Jess smiled. “So what do you think? Girls’ night? Will you join us?”
Shelby leaned against the doorframe, looking at these two women who exuded kindness and a kind of—joy—she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Could they, too, end up being…friends?
“You know what? Yes,” she heard herself say. “I’ll come. Thank you. What can I bring?”
“Nothing.” Jess shook her head. “Just yourself. Unless you’re a whiz in the kitchen and have a specialty.”
“Jess.” Hayley shook her head quickly, and then Jess looked at Shelby like she’d just remembered something.
Like smoke, maybe.
“Nothing.” She cleared her throat delicately. “Just bring yourself.”
—
“Hey, Coop.” Gunnar sat down at the campfire later that night after all the guests had been fed, accounted for, and tucked into their tents a couple of miles from the lodge. “Thanks for filling in for Henniker on this trip.”
“No problem. Good to get back out here on the trail.”
It had been. The fresh air, the feel of a powerful horse underneath him, and the too-good-to-pass-for-camp-cooking food Ma had sent along had been a nice change from sitting around for too many idle hours when he wasn’t with Shelby. Gunnar was good, easy company, and the guests had been self-sufficient this time around, so all in all, it’d been a great trip so far.
Which had him wondering why he was harboring a strange longing to be somewhere else, along with the dull ache of not knowing what was happening back in Boston, or what it would mean for him.
Gunnar tossed another branch on the fire. “Miss Hollywood keeping you busy?”
Cooper bristled at the nickname, but bit his tongue. He’d been the one to coin it in the first place, after all. Not Gunnar’s fault for using it.
“It’s been fine. She—keeps to herself a lot.”
“Lexi said you’ve taken her into town a couple of times. She do okay in public? Doesn’t get attacked by paparazzi or anything?”
“No. She does okay. Wears disguises and stuff.” Cooper shivered as he pictured the hideous wig that had actually looked just fine on her. But he’d hated how it had covered up her blond curls.
Then he smiled as he pictured Shelby yesterday, eating her ice cream cone and analyzing Bess, or playing the gorgeous guitar at Liam’s place, or walking around Carefree simply enjoying…walking around.
“So what’s she like? I mean, really? Can’t say I’ve ever really known a famous person before.”
“You’d probably be surprised how normal she is.”
“Not a diva?”
“No.” Cooper shook his head. “Furthest thing from it. I would have expected full-on caviar-and-filet taste, but her favorite meals are spaghetti and hamburgers. She practically blanched when I suggested that sushi place on Magnolia. And the woman would give a pinky finger for Jenny’s donuts, I’m pretty sure.”
“Who wouldn’t, really? I mean, those donuts.”
Cooper rolled his eyes. “Don’t let Lexi hear you talking like that.”
“I know.” Gunnar patted his stomach. “Marrying a nurse has a downside I never predicted. She actually wants me to stay healthy so I can stick around for a while. Weird.”
“Poor you.”
Cooper felt his face fall a little as he thought about Lexi and Gunnar, the picture of newlywed bliss. What would it feel like to know someone had your back, literally and figuratively, for the rest of your life? What would it be like to go to bed at night knowing you’d wake up for hundreds of next-mornings beside your best friend?
He wondered if Shelby wondered the same thing, ever.
Then kicked himself for wondering.
“So, I gotta ask.” Gunnar poked at the fire with a long stick. “You hating Kyla for giving you this assignment? Or loving her?”
Cooper took a deep breath. Did he know, at this point?
“A little of both, I think.”
“Must be rough, losing all the riding time.”
“Yeah, definitely.”
Sure. Absolutely.
“But you seem to be coping.”
Cooper leveled him with a look. “Gunnar?”
“Okay.” Gunnar put both hands up, laughing.
“She’s just a normal—albeit so ridiculously famous you wouldn’t believe it—woman trying to have a normal vacation like a normal person. And I’m just the guy who’s been hired to make sure she doesn’t hate the place.”
“Gotcha.”
“And now I’m done with this girlish conversation and am heading to my tent before you ask any more questions the women sent you with.”
Gunnar let his jaw drop. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m just curious, that’s all.”
“Bullshit. Gunnar, how long have you lived here?”
“Longer than you, buddy.”
“Exactly.” Cooper rolled his eyes. “So if I know you were told to ferret out information, then you damn well know you’re not fooling anybody with your just curious bullshit. You can tell them all that things are going…fine. Shelby hasn’t fired me yet, so Kyla shouldn’t, either.”
“No dirt?”
“No dirt. She’s just a normal person trying to cope with normal things.”
Cooper thought back to Shelby’s face when she’d talked about the early years with her father, and how her eyes had changed when she’d described her more recent years on the road. He’d bet a million dollars he didn’t have that she’d prefer to live a quiet life in her dad’s Nashville hideaway cabin than go back out on the road and make a million more dollars.
Gunnar nodded thoughtfully. “Easy to think somebody’s got it easy, just because of the whole fame-and-fortune thing.”
“Nothing easy about it, from what I can tell.”
“Okay, so just answer me this, then. Kyla said if you wouldn’t dish on anything else, could you at least tell her Shelby’s getting better, whatever that means?”
He cleared his throat. “I can’t answer that right now, I guess.”
“Okay.” Gunnar studied him for a moment, then nodded and clapped Cooper on the shoulder. “Watch yourself, all right?”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know, really.” He shook his head thoughtfully. “I just—I have a feeling somebody did you in not too long ago. Just make sure you keep your head on straight with this one.”
“Gunnar?”
“I know.” He put up his hands. “I’d just hate to see her chew you up and spit you out on her way back to Hollywood. Because in two weeks, that’s where she’s going.”
Yeah. Cooper closed his eyes after Gunnar headed to his tent. In two weeks, she was.
And where would he be, at that point?
God only knew.
Chapter 19
“Be still my broken heart!” Hayley tossed an empty chocolate bar wrapper at the television in Jess’
s living room the next night. “Who kills the hero at the end?”
Jess rolled her eyes. “You picked this one. Have you not read the book?”
“No! And if I had, I would have given the author a piece of my mind! Who kills the hero? After I fall in love with him? After everything’s going to work out perfectly?” She stood up, shaking her head. “Happily-ever-after, my butt! Who pays these people?”
Shelby laughed from her position on the couch. She, too, had known that ending was coming, but she’d had time to put a pillow over her eyes first.
Kyla stood up and headed for the open kitchen at the back of the house. “That guy writes the sappiest love stories on earth, but gets mad when anyone tries to label him a romance writer.”
“Well, he’s right—he’s not.” Hayley shook her head. “A romance writer would never kill the freaking hero!” She grabbed her empty bottle to follow Kyla. “I’m gonna need some Princess Bride to recover from this.”
Lexi groaned from the other end of the couch. “Again? Seriously? Don’t you ever get sick of that movie?”
Hayley stopped dead and turned. “Who just spoke that sacrilege? Nobody gets sick of Princess Bride. It is simply not done.”
“Inconceivable,” Shelby said, with her best lisp, and Hayley grinned.
She pointed at Shelby. “I knew you were all right, Hollywood.” Then she swung her finger toward Lexi. “I’ll forgive you for this lapse, Lex, because you’re still new here.”
“Yeah, yeah. Not that new.”
“Still the newest.”
Lexi shook her head. “Nope. Shelby’s the newest.”
“Yeah, but she’s not staying. So you lose. Speaking of which, you’re gonna need to take what’s-her-name after she leaves.” Hayley pointed to the piglet currently curled up in Shelby’s lap.
Lexi rolled her eyes as she tossed a pillow toward Shelby. “We seriously need a new new girl.”
Shelby blocked the pillow. “Happy to stand in for tonight, if it helps.”
“Thank you. And if you could maybe arrange for it to be a permanent thing, that would be just fine.”
Shelby laughed, but her stomach flipped, knowing it would be impossible. “Not sure about that.”
“Now, now,” Kyla said, returning from the kitchen with a fresh bowl of popcorn. “We can work on it. We’re pretty good at it, when the occasion calls for it.”
“You’re telling me!” Lexi laughed. “Shelby, remind me to tell you one of these days what they did for me and Gunnar last year.”
Jess waggled her eyebrows. “We were exorcising her curse.”
“Curse?” Shelby smiled, looking from one to the other as they bounced words back and forth.
“Capital-C curse, yes.” Lexi nodded.
“Yup.” Hayley nodded. “We’re very, very good at making things happen.”
Shelby took a deep breath as they all laughed. For hours now, she’d watched them, listened to them…wanted to be them. Sure, three of them had been friends forever, but Lexi was just as much a part of the mix as if she’d shared a dorm with them back in Boston. They’d obviously pulled her into the fold like they had plenty of room.
And tonight? They’d pulled Shelby in, as well. They’d joked with her, told her stories about the cowboys and Ma, filled her in on how each of them had ended up out here in Whisper Creek, and just generally made her feel completely welcome and comfortable.
Sitting here in Jess’s living room, watching the sun set over the Crazies through the ridiculously huge windows, Shelby felt like she was having her weekly chick-flick night with her besties…not that she was crashing somebody else’s.
Lexi stuck her foot out to bounce Shelby’s. “So watch out, Shelby. They’ve been looking for a new mark, and you are one seriously good target.”
“Oh, don’t scare the girl this early in the night.” Hayley laughed. “We’ve got plenty of time to work on her still.”
Kyla leaned forward to spread out the stack of DVDs in front of the television. “Okay, what’s next? Ooh! How about this one?” She held up the cover, and Jess sighed as she put her hand to her chest.
“You know that one always gets my vote.”
Lexi nodded. “That man is—I mean—don’t tell Gunnar, but if he showed up on my doorstep, I might have to let him in. And keep him.”
“Actually, he’s kind of an arrogant ass. I don’t think you’d want him.”
All four women spun toward Shelby, whose eyes widened as she realized she’d said the words out loud.
“You know him?” Lexi’s eyes matched Shelby’s.
“We’ve, um, met.” And kissed. And almost—but, ass. “It was a long time ago.”
The girls all got closer. Hayley fired off questions. “So you are famous! What’s he really like? Seriously? He’s an ass? How did you meet him?”
“Um.” Shelby cringed. Why had she spoken? “It was…a shoot.”
“So you’re in movies!” Kyla’s jaw dropped. “Which ones?”
“No.” Shelby shook her head. “I’m not.”
“But…a shoot?”
“It was—not really a shoot, so much. More of a—” Video. For a Tara Gibson song, the one that I hated the most.
“A commercial? You do commercials? No wonder your face looks familiar!” Hayley clapped her hands like she’d figured it out. “Wait. I’m thinking. Butter! You do that butter one where they’re out in the field, and there’s the table. I’m right, right? Tell me I’m right.”
Jess smiled, putting a calming hand toward Hayley. “Excuse her. She’s never met a real celebrity before.”
“Oh, I forgot.” Hayley rolled her eyes. “All hail Miss Yogi to the Stars here.”
“I had one famous client ever. And he came into the studio because he was lost, okay?” Jess shook her head. “You’re the only one who ever brings it up, not me.”
Lexi cleared her throat, and Shelby tensed, wondering if she was about to tell the girls anything they’d talked about the other day.
“Could we please get back to this guy in the movie? Is he as tall as he looks? Please tell me he’s not really an ass. He’s not, right? He just had to pretend to be? Because you’re killing me here, Shelby.”
“Sorry.” Shelby laughed in relief. Lexi was just going along with the conversation. “But really, yes. You’d sooner drop him off a lobster boat than bring him home, I promise.”
“Dammit!” Lexi pulled a pillow close. “And I had such dreams.” Then she sat up straighter. “Who else do you know?”
Shelby shrugged. “I know a lot of people, I guess. But now I’m afraid to admit it, for fear of killing anyone else’s fantasies.”
“Can’t kill mine.” Hayley sighed. “I’m not telling you who it is.”
“Scott Eastwood,” the other three women chimed in at once, making Shelby laugh.
“Ah. Scott.” She nodded seriously. “Well, good news—your dream is safe. He’s—wow.”
Lexi narrowed her eyes. “You’ve met him? Seriously?”
“Yeah, but I totally fan-girled and embarrassed myself beyond belief. He was very kind, in spite of it.”
Hayley flopped back on the couch. “She’s met him. She’s probably had drinks with him—maybe shared a cigar. Sigh.” Then she popped up. “Wait! You know him, know him? Does that mean, say, we could know him? If we’re really super nice to you and everything? Which we would be anyway, of course?”
“His number is on my cell.”
“Stop. It!” Hayley held out a hand. “I have to see this.”
“Sorry.” Shelby cringed. “I left it in my cabin.”
“But you could totally call him up, or send him a text, and it wouldn’t be weird?”
“Well, there’s the fan-girling thing, so ye-es. It would definitely be weird.”
“But you could do it. You could hop on your private plane and just maybe happen to show up where he is, right? And bring friends?”
Shelby laughed again. “No plane. Sorry. Also, no stalking
. It’s—you know—creepy. And illegal. And creepy.”
Kyla’s eyes widened. “Have you ever had to deal with a stalker sort of thing?”
Shelby paused. What was she doing, opening up to these women like this? But then she looked around at their faces, and all she felt was…warmth. And somehow she knew it was okay. She could talk. They would listen. And it wouldn’t go any further than these walls.
She hoped.
“No stalkers, thank God. But I’m on a need-to-know basis with this sort of thing. I have a good security team.”
Hayley tipped her head. “This sort of thing being your own personal safety?”
“Well…” Shelby bristled a bit at her tone, but realized she was saying it in a caring way, not a judgmental one. “It’s complicated. There’s stuff I worry about, and stuff other people are paid to worry about. It’s just—just how it works, I guess. Hard to explain.”
Jess nodded. “I imagine it’d be pretty easy to get freaked out by all of that stuff, if you were privy to all the information the security people have.”
“Exactly. And I’m freaked out enough by the normal stuff, so we’re good.”
Shelby tried to make her voice sound confident, like she was really okay with other people running so much of her life without her knowledge, but in reality, that comfort had frayed significantly over the past couple of years.
It had frayed further since she’d been here, two thousand miles away from that very team.
For so long, it had been hammered into her head that her life was far too complicated for her to manage on her own—that the teams were in place so she could concentrate on her music, like a good little star…that she didn’t need to worry her pretty little head about stuff, because they had it all under control.
Since Daddy’s death, and since she’d arrived out here, she’d started wondering if what they had under control wasn’t so much her stuff as it was…her.
Hayley sighed pointedly. “Are you ever going to tell us what you do, for real? Because the more I think about it, I think the butter woman’s taller than you, even though she’s sitting the whole time.”
“It’s far less exciting than you’d think, Hayley. I promise.” Shelby laughed. “And if I told you, my assistant would make me hand out confidentiality agreements you’d all have to sign, and then it would be all weird, and…you know. Everything.” Her voice faded as she realized she had no idea what to say, really.
Meant to Be Page 17
