California Dreaming: Four Contemporary Romances (106 page)

He didn’t want to push her too hard, but he wanted to remind her he was willing to take a risk. Time was running out. The shoot was almost over.

He signed the checklist the set manager gave to him. Since Doug had been taken to San Francisco, there had been no more incidents. Unfortunately, James was now short-handed.

He watched the crew pack up the last of the lights, and then walked the perimeter with a few of the senior people, to make sure nothing was left behind. Tomorrow, he and a few of the crew would make sure the landscape was put back as close to normal as possible. Regardless of his efforts, he had no doubt the National Park Service would charge him for something he’d overlooked. He’d already built the fees into his budget.

Mandy was leaving tomorrow.

James had made arrangements with Sally to help with after dinner chores so Mandy could be freed up to spend a few hours with him before she left.

It was after eight by the time everything was stowed in kitchen trailer.

Sally put a big box of pre-packaged donuts, granola bars, and fruit on the counter. “We’ll put this out in the morning, as well as a thermos of coffee. James, please tell everyone we’ll be closing up shop at nine, so be sure to come by to get what they want before that.”

“Okay.” James looked at Mandy. “Ready?”

“Where are we going?”

He grinned. “Our usual spot.” He lifted a bottle of wine and two glasses. “The last of the Yosemite wine. I figured drinking it was better than carrying it home.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Her voice was firm, but he could see the uncertainty in her eyes.

He leaned in close and whispered, “I’m not going to ravage you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Her eyes widened a moment, and then she said, “Oh, darn.”

“I could change my mind.”

Sally made a shooing motion. “Get out of here. Let an old lady get her rest. I’ve got a long ride to LA tomorrow.”

“I’ll be here at seven,” Mandy said.

“Thanks.”

James took Mandy’s hand as they walked down the path to the dining tent. Neither of them spoke until after he’d uncorked the bottle and poured the wine. He held up his glass. “Here’s to your second successful location shoot.”

They clinked and drank.

“What’s next for you?” she asked.

“I’m not sure. I have a couple of feelers out for more location manager jobs, but we’re hitting a slow season. No one likes to shoot around the holidays. With the uncertainty about what actually happened up here, people are a little reluctant to give me a chance again.”

“Did Doug ever confess?”

James nodded. “The cops called me. His lawyer convinced him to plea bargain. Doug was behind everything that happened. Once he’s formally charged and convicted, the news will go out. He’ll never work in Hollywood again.”

“But why?”

“Jealousy. He wanted my job and didn’t want to wait around and climb the ladder to get it. He figured if he sabotaged the set, I’d be fired, and he could ride in on a white horse and save the day.” He glanced at Mandy. “The fact that he wanted to date you, and I was in the way, only added fuel to the fire.”

Her smile looked forced. “You were a little territorial.”

He frowned and took another sip of wine. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what he did, and why he did it. His actions seemed so unreasonable. Then I realized how single focused he was. He had a goal, and he was going to achieve it. No matter what.” James swirled the garnet liquid in his glass. “It put the final nail in the coffin of my life plan.” He squeezed her hand. “A career is good. Goals are even better. But life without companionship can twist your soul.” He raised his glass. “Here’s to a chance at a future.”

She hesitated for a moment, but clinked her glass to his.

“I’m still going back to Costanoa,” she said.

He nodded. “I know. I’m going to woo you right out of there.”

She smiled. “We’ll see.”

He placed his hand on hers. “The next few weeks are going to be hectic, wrapping everything up. I’ve also got to chase contacts for a new job.”

“So you won’t be up to see me.”

The disappointment in her voice pleased him. He took a sip of wine. “I was thinking. Instead of flying back and forth this month, how about we spend a weekend together? Separate rooms of course.”

“Of course.”

He leaned over and kissed her. “Unless you want to have different arrangements.” He drew her close and intensified the kiss.

She pulled her lips away from his with barely enough space between them to whisper, “I can handle it if you can.” She re-engaged him, her passion hardening his resolve.

He was going to win this woman, and give her all the happiness she’d never had as a kid—happiness she deserved and would give back to him tenfold.

After two weeks back in Costanoa, Mandy’s life settled into a routine. With the holidays approaching, shifts in the grill were up again, but they still weren’t to the levels she’d had this time last year. She’d upped her visits to the therapist to once a week. Whatever it took, she needed to get her life on track.

The inn’s business was growing. Sarah and Hunter were thinking about adding a late afternoon serving and an after-dinner dessert to entice more upscale customers to extend their stay. Mandy quickly became involved in menu planning, as well as working with the inn and a limousine company to plan picnic trips of the region.

Lola hadn’t called since they'd said good-bye in Yosemite.

James emailed her a few times a week. He sounded discouraged. Mandy, surprising herself, suggested they set up a time to have a call.

She’d just finished changing out of her uniform into a tee-shirt and yoga pants when the doorbell rang.
Drat
. No one else was home.

She ran down the stairs and opened the door. “I’m sorry, but we’re totally booked for the next month.”

“I’m not here for a room, Mandy.”

“Do I—” The tall man in pressed slacks and shirt standing before her looked familiar.

He also had the same too-good-looks that James had had when she first saw him, except it was an older, more polished, richer look. In fact, he looked like an older version of …

Dana Russell.

“Hi, Dana.” She tried not to let the disappointment of two decades of abandonment show in her voice.

His hands moved awkwardly. If he’d had a hat, its brim would be curled every which way. “May I come in? I’d suggest we sit out here.” He pointed to the garden bench on the far side of the parking lot. “But it’s a little damp.”

Mandy hesitated. “How did you find me?”

He looked away briefly and then returned his gaze to her. “Someone you met during your filming.”

That meant Sally or James. They were the only ones who had her address. She’d have a thing or two to say to whichever one had blabbed.

“Well?” Dana asked.

“I suppose.” She’d heard Lola out all these years. Dana deserved his turn.

He walked into the hallway. “What a beautiful piece!” He exclaimed while looking at the Victorian hall stand. He peered closer. “Doesn’t look antique. Whoever did this has wonderful craftsmanship.”

“Hunter did it for Sarah. She owns the place, and they’re together. I suppose sometime they’ll get married, but I’m really not sure when. See, Sarah just had her baby, but Hunter’s not the father.” She slammed her mouth closed. Her father was going to think she was as big as a mental case as Lola.

It’s just nerves. The therapist had stressed over and over again that her miscues were the result of never learning coping skills, not the result of illness.

She straightened her spine. “Living room’s to the left,” she said as she closed the front door. “Do you want anything to drink? Water? Coffee?”

“No thanks,” he said.

She followed him to the living room.

He stared at the Victorian sofa, as if determining whether his big frame would break it.

“It’s safe,” she said. “Hunter reinforced it.”

“Hunter must be quite the man.”

“He is.”

Dana sat on the couch.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“You really are bitter. I’m sorry. It wasn’t something I’d planned to do to my oldest daughter.”

I should have been your only daughter.

She kept silent.

“I suppose Lola has told you her side of the story.”

Mandy shrugged.

Dana sighed. “Will you let me tell you my side?”

“Whatever.”

“God, I hate that phrase. I can’t wait until it leaves the common lexicon. In fact, I won’t let them use it in any of my movies.”

“Whatever.” She said it to spite him.

And maybe to make him laugh.

The moment hung in the balance.

Then he smiled.

She stopped breathing for a moment. It was
her
smile.

In spite of herself, she smiled back.

That’s when he burst into a roar of laughter.

She joined in. The laughter went on for several minutes. As it died down, she wondered at their mutual glee.

A memory surfaced. It was summertime. They were in a backyard. Hollywood? New Jersey?

It didn’t matter. What was important was the laughter she’d shared with her father. She couldn’t even remember what they were laughing about.

Her mother had sat to the side in a plastic K-Mart lawn chair, smoking a cigarette.

She hadn’t been laughing.

Mandy sobered immediately. Her loyalty lay with Lola, didn’t it? This man had abandoned them both. “What do you want?” she asked, repeating her previous question.

“I suppose the easy answer is I want you to forgive me.”

“Not so easy to do.”

“No, I know that.” He wrung his hands again. “Look, while I don’t know what Lola told you, I can guess.”

“She didn’t have to tell me anything. I was there, remember?”

They stared at each other. All Mandy could remember was her mother’s pain—which became her pain.

She let out a sigh. “Okay. Tell me your side.”

Now that she’d given him permission, he didn’t appear to know what to say.

Having learned from her shrink, she let the silence linger.

After a few minutes of silence, he began. “When I met your mother, I fell wildly in love with her. She was mercurial. I was drawn like a moth to a flame.”

Mandy rolled her eyes. “Dana, you’re sounding like a grade B Hollywood romance. I know you grew up in theater, but can you try to keep it real?”

He chuckled. Imitating a Bogart voice, he said, “Where have you been all my life, sweetheart?”

She had to laugh. That, too, was a voice from her childhood.

He smiled, but it was bittersweet. “I did love her, you know.”

She withheld judgment. She’d never seen that love, so she couldn’t confirm or deny.

“I know it sounds like Hollywood, but your mother was bright, lovely, and fun to be around. I fell hard for her while we were in college. What I didn’t know was how brittle she was.” He sighed. “In the beginning things were new and fresh. She’d been a starlet on Broadway, and we went west to repeat a role she’d had in a movie. Then—” He looked up at Mandy.

She thought she could see a faint blush on his cheek.

“Then she became pregnant.”

“With me?”

Dana nodded.

They let the room breathe the silence for a minute or two.

“What happened?” Mandy asked.

“She couldn’t work for a while.” He grimaced. “Not a lot of roles for pregnant ingénues. There weren’t that many roles for ingénues in general at that time. The world was in love with action heroes and cartoon mermaids.”

Mandy’s heart ached for her mother. Lola’s identity was wrapped in the mink stole of the parts she played. Without lines to learn, she’d begun the slow drift into madness.

“What happened?” Mandy asked quietly.

“Unfortunately, that’s when my career began to take off. I was good at the more technical aspects of motion pictures that were emerging, and began to get well-paying jobs. I made the mistake of telling Lola she didn’t have to work. She could stay home and take care of you.”

Dana stared at the floor. “She started having lunch dates.” All emotion had left his voice. “I came home once and found you alone, asleep in your crib.” He looked at Mandy. “You were okay, but I couldn’t take that chance again. I hired an au pair.” He barked out a laugh. “Lola accused me of hiring the girl because I was tired of her.”

Mandy remembered what Lola had said. “But wasn’t that Catherine? Wasn’t Lola right? You were messing around with the nanny.” She stood up and walked to the doorway.

Dana sat up. “No, that wasn’t Catherine. Her name was Rosita, and I never touched her. I was true to Lola and I adored you. At least until … ”

“Until what?”

He cleared his throat. “I think I’ll have that glass of water now, if I might.”

“Sure.” She went to the kitchen and filled a tumbler with water. Her hands were shaking. Was it rage? Or fear of what she was going to hear next?

He was standing when she returned to the living room. “Thanks.”

She returned to her station by the doorjamb and waited.

After taking a long drink of water, he placed the glass on an end table. “Her lunch dates went from discreet affairs to more wild behavior. Rumors flew.” He walked to a window and looked out. “She … it was … pretty graphic. Stuff you don’t need to know.”

“How can I believe you? According to Lola, you were the one out at swingers clubs, a starlet on each arm.”

He turned to face her. Sadness etched lines she hadn’t seen before in his face. “I’m not surprised she said that, but it isn’t true. The only way I can prove it is to introduce you to some of my old friends and let them tell you how it was.”

Suddenly, she knew who had spilled the beans. “Old friends like Sally Minor?”

He took a deep breath. “Yeah.”

“She’s the one who told you where I lived, isn’t she?”

He nodded. “She’s only trying to help.”

“Help who? Me or you?”

He straightened. She could see the powerful movie producer in his stance, a man in control, used to having his orders obeyed.

She pulled herself up equally as straight. She was no man’s doormat.