Page 82 of Hot to Trot

"But we're not finished." He reached out to stop her.

"We are for now." She sidestepped him."You better get back to your date. Who makes good pie. And is good on paper.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

SCARLET LAlD LOW for the next several days. She tweaked a few scenes for the play, crafted a final script that she dropped off for the high school drama teacher to edit, and spent hours driving along country roads less traveled with the top of the convertible down, her hair whipping in the wind, and the sun caressing her shoulders. She simply gave her mind time to untangle and her emotions room to unknot.

By Thursday night when she’d pulled into the parking area of Phoenix ready to start full run through of the patched together play, she’d finally reached a decision about her and Adam. And that decision was to do absolutely nothing.

That’s right. Nothing.

She’d fought against her feelings for such a long time that not fighting felt just as exhausting. No solution lay on either path. But what she had concluded is the she wasn’t going to overthink it. Overthinking had gotten her nowhere, except lost without her dang cellphone.

So they were attracted to one another. Big deal.

And they liked each other. Didn’t mean much.

And they wanted more than what they had. People didn’t alway get what they want.

So that’s where she was.

Nowhere.

"Hello, black magic woman," Georges said, opening the door of the center. Cool air-conditioning and her actors met her as she stepped inside.

“Hola,Georges.” She dropped her canvas bag holding a few props that Rayne and Aunt Frances had whipped together, including the Magpie’s jewel."Hola,guys. I wanted to talk to you about why is production is so important before we start our run-throughs tonight."

She delivered the speech Aunt Frances had inspired that day in the auditorium and had helped her perfect last night. For once, the guys paid attention.

"So you're saying this play is like us?" Miguel Two asked. "The community thinks this book is bad? And they thought the center was bad? Man, that's-"

"Don't say it," Scarlet warned, knowing some spicy language was forthcoming. "I'm pretty sure it's a rule violation."

"Then we gotta do this right,gringita."Tito nodded his head emphatically.

"Right." She handed out the final script, which consisted of five scenes adapted from the book. Brent had pulled some strings, gotten in touch with the author and received her permission for an adaptation. Scarlet wasn't a screenwriter, but she had been pleasantly surprised at how much she'd enjoyed translating the author's words and ideas into a script. "I've taken the liberty of highlighting each of your parts."

Tito frowned. "What about the cop?"

"Chief Hinton?"

"Yeah, he's doing this, too. He's Valken's servant, right? He eats the poison leaves from the fenberry tree and turns into another raven. That's the best part. When Marco kills him."

"You bloodthirsty pirates," Scarlet said, setting Adam's script on a chair with her bag.

The door to Phoenix opened and the man who'd haunted her thoughts stepped inside. Scarlet's heart sped up, beating like a thundering herd of Thoroughbreds around a racetrack. She wondered what he had been doing since they last spoke. Had he been trying to rationalize his feelings for her? Had he been wrestling over the dilemma of falling for the totally wrong person? Or had the ass made another list?

Falling…?

No, this wasn’t love. Not yet. Not even close.

Was it?

No.

She rifled through the tote, looking for the faceted jewel. Anything to look busy. To distract herself from the revolutionary thought that had invaded her mind.

"Hey, guys,” Adam said, weaving around scattered chairs as he approached. He didn't look at her. "Only a few days until we perform this. You guys ready?"

---