“I couldn’t agree with you more, ma’am,” Spencer said in a thick Southern drawl. “Love hasn’t only bloomed on our canvas.”
It wasn’t easy, but Ellie managed to hold back an eye roll at the cheesy line.
“Oh, Dallas,” his leading lady said, resting her head on his shoulder. “You make my heart sing.”
Ellie was afraid she was going to laugh out loud and moved to the row in front of them. As she got a look at the last painter’s canvas, the gurgle of laughter in her throat dissolved. “Painting the background black was an inspired choice,” she whispered near her sister’s ear so it looked like she was studying the painting and not talking. “The flowers will really stand out.”
Bri had agreed to take part in today’s scene for one reason and one reason only. They’d promised she could skip her physical therapy session. Two months into her recovery, her sister was doing better than expected. At least physically.
Her sister snorted at the idea of her painting flowers. Spencer cleared his throat. The participants weren’t supposed to talk or make any noise unless they’d been given lines. Her grandfather had lost his chance to be in the scene when he burped.
Ellie’s mother, who was sitting beside Bri, tapped a finger to the side of her head. She wanted Ellie to read her mind. Ellie sighed inwardly. It was her own fault. She was the one who’d come up with the idea.
Ellie stared into her mother’s eyes. I’m worried about your sister. She’s not herself. I don’t know who she is anymore. Maybe you should call her doctor.
Calling Cal would not improve her sister’s mood. She’d refused to go to him since they’d had an argument—a loud one—two weeks ago. Ellie didn’t know what their fight had been about. But she had a feeling it was personal and not doctor-patient related. However, that wasn’t something she could say to her mother at the moment, so she gave her an almost imperceptible nod.
She also couldn’t tell her mother that part of Bri’s struggle was knowing that Dimitri was her father. Her mother had decided it wasn’t fair to keep the truth from Bri, and she was tired of living a lie. She wasn’t back with Dimitri though. She was spending as much time as she could with Bri and Ellie while at the same time trying to make amends to Ellie’s father. Ellie didn’t know if her parents’ relationship would recover, but she appreciated the effort her mother was making.
“Forget the flowers. I want to paint him,” Jeannie said, pointing her paintbrush at the bare-chested man rowing across the lake. Two of Jeannie’s friends wolf-whistled, standing up to wave at Nate.
Ellie pressed her lips together. They were in trouble now.
“Cut!” Spencer yelled, getting up from his chair. He walked to Ellie and put his hands on her shoulders. “I know this has been a tiring couple of weeks for you but could you work up a little enthusiasm? Maybe smile instead of staring everyone down?”
“I wasn’t staring anyone down.” Maybe she had been. Spencer had no idea how exhausting it was with everyone trying to get her to read their minds. “But I’m not the one who messed up the scene. It was Jeannie and her friends.”
“I know. My assistant is taking care of that now.” He nodded at the man trying to coax Jeannie and her friends off their chairs.
Good luck with that, Ellie thought.
Spencer continued. “Although it would be helpful if Nate put on a T-shirt before he decided to row over. But I was about to call ‘cut’ ten seconds ago because of your face. It’s a very beautiful face, but it was a frowny face,” Spencer said with a wink. “Just remind yourself that once we put this scene to bed, we film the final scene tonight. That should make you smile. And if that doesn’t work, think of all the money you’ll rake in once the movie releases. Everyone will want to stay at Mirror Lake Inn.”
“You’re right. I’ll do better. And I really do appreciate you including the inn in the title and in so many of the scenes.” Spencer had titled the movie Love Blooms at Mirror Lake Inn.
“Take your paws off my woman, Dallas,” Nate said as he strolled toward them, wiping his sweaty forehead with his T-shirt.
Ellie rolled her eyes. Nate thought Spencer’s character’s name was hilarious and teased him about it every chance he got, which was pretty much all the time. The cast and crew were staying at the inn and at the cabins.
“Honestly, Nate, would you put some clothes on?” Spencer said. “You’re distracting my cast and crew.”
Nate made a face and looked down at himself. He had absolutely no idea how incredibly hot he looked right now with his sweat-slicked bronzed body and all that sexy ink. “It’s almost eighty degrees out. We don’t all have people following us around with fans to keep us cool.”
“Har har. I’ll give you guys two minutes and not a second more,” Spencer said, and then walked off to talk to one of the cameramen.
“Whatever you’re thinking of saying to him, don’t,” Ellie told Nate. “The extras in this scene are stressing him out.”
“I don’t want to waste our two minutes on him anyway.” He pulled her against him.
“You’re all sweaty. You’re going to stain my top.”
“You didn’t mind last night.” He tapped his finger against the side of his head.
“No way. I know exactly what you’re thinking about, and I don’t need that image in my mind while we’re filming this scene. And I was naked last night. I didn’t have to worry about stains.”
“You’re killing me, babe.” He tapped his lips. “Just lay a quick one on me.”
Their quick one must have gone over the two-minute mark because Spencer yelled, “Cut!”
“I’m not going to miss them when they pack up tomorrow morning,” Nate said. “It’ll be nice to get back to normal.”
“It’s been a lot of work but it’s been fun too. Everyone is excited about tonight. You should wrap up over at the cabins soon. Your family will be here in a couple of hours. Ryder and Gina too.”
Ryder, Gina, and Toby arrived every weekend to help get the cabins into shape. Ellie hadn’t had the heart to separate Ryder and Toby. They would have been lost without each other. No matter how cool Ryder tried to play it. He missed Joe and the judge too. Ellie had a feeling the teenager would be spending his summers on Mirror Lake just like she once had.
“One more roof to go. But don’t worry, I wouldn’t miss tonight for anything. Just one thing: as of now, stay out of my head, beautiful.”
“Now you’ve got me curious. Do you have a surprise for me? Nate, what are you planning?” she called as he walked to the sliding glass doors.
He glanced over his shoulder and waggled his eyebrows at her.
“Places, people,” Spencer yelled, waving over a woman.
She took her place in front of Ellie’s painting with the clapper board. “Scene five, take one hundred and forty-three,” the woman said wearily, clacking the boards together.
It took three more tries before they got the scene right. Spencer had asked everyone to return at nine o’clock to film the last scene of the movie. The man was demanding, but, according to the cast and crew, an excellent director. He was also happy they’d chosen Highland Falls as the winning location. The other night at Highland Brew, he’d announced that Happy Ever After Entertainment would be filming there again, which had guaranteed he was man of the hour.