Page 50 of Happy Trails & Honey Pots

“Off?”

“Not yourself. Distracted. Distant.”

“I have a lot on my mind. I’m producing, acting, and co-directing.” Those were all excuses that I was sure she’d see right through, but there was no way I was going to cop to telling her that I had feelings for the widow of the man whose life story I had bought the rights to and was portraying.

“Is something going on between you and Zoe?”

If there was one thing that Braxton didn’t do, it was beat around the bush. She always got straight to the point. It had been a trait I’d always admired and appreciated until it was directed at me about something I didn’t want to face.

I looked her directly in the eye and answered honestly, “No.”

She stared at me for a few seconds, then tilted her head to the left. “Do you want there to be?”

Before I could answer, there was a loud knock on the door.

“Come in,” I called out.

Carly opened the door.

“Pyro needs to see you. There is a problem with the next setup.”

I stood and headed down the steps to see Ezra, the special effects coordinator who was in charge of our pyrotechnics.

Even though I knew Braxton would probably bring the subject up again, I was glad for the momentary reprieve. Whatever I felt for Zoe, whatever we’d shared together, was clearly over. I needed to accept that and move on.

Which was going to be a little difficult considering I was going back to Firefly Island in two weeks and would be playing out her love story on screen. Talk about a plot twist.

23

ZOE

Sunlight shimmeredoff the diamond ring etched in the Blush Bridal glass front as I pulled up and parked in front of the store in the Downtown Arts District. My lips pursed as I inhaled a deep breath. The last time I’d been here was for my own wedding dress fitting twelve years ago. Sometimes, it was still strange for me to think I got married when I was only sixteen years old.

If it weren’t for Walter, I wouldn’t have had a wedding dress at all. He’d insisted on me getting one. He called ahead to the store, gave them his credit card, and told Nadia to take me there without me knowing what was going on. When I got home and asked him why he’d done it, he said it was because I was “his girl” now. That was all the explanation he gave.

He’d called me that ever since—his girl.Even though we weren’t blood, Walter had always welcomed me as his own family. It meant a lot, especially since his own daughter had left and my family had disowned me.

I reached over and grabbed my purse from the passenger seat. When I did, I saw that I had a new voicemail from Miles. He’d called earlier when I was at work. I’d sent him to voicemail, but I didn’t think he’d left a message. I played it now.

“Hi, it’s Miles. Can you give me a call back? I needed to run something by you. Thanks, bye.”

In the two weeks he’d been in New Mexico, he’d called or texted every single day. At first, I thought it was just because he felt guilty about our night together or scared that I would change my mind about the movie if he ghosted me.

Even if that were the case, I’d thought about calling him back just to be polite. Every day, I told myself this was going to be the day that I would. I’d pick up my phone to do it and then lose my nerve. I had thanked him for the flowers, but that was at the end of an email asking if the Zoe character could be blonde, so it didn’t really count.

The problem was, he wasn’t just some guy. He was Miles Ford. Since he’d been in town, I saw him everywhere. I saw him on magazine covers at the grocery store. He was on patients' TV screens when I went into rooms to check on them. People were constantly asking me about him because they knew he was playing Austin in the movie.

There was no escaping the magnitude of who he was. It was almost as if I didn’t know that person. I knew Miles, not Miles Ford. It was very difficult for me to reconcile the two people. And it made it hard for me to know what to say to him. Also, I was being a big chicken because I slept with him and wasn’t sure what the etiquette was when one sleeps with a Hollywood star. So yeah, there was that, too.

And to make matters even worse, AJ wanted to invite Miles to his birthday party, which was on the Saturday before they were set to start filming here in Firefly. He’d begged me to let him send him an invitation, and I’d been stalling. The truth was the only reason I didn’t want him to was because I didn’t want Miles to think that I had anything to do with it. I didn’t want to look like a desperate housewife or that I was delusional enough to think that there was actually something between us. I didn’tknow if I should just put my pride aside and let AJ send him the invite or if that was even appropriate. Yes, he was technically his co-star, but Miles was a twenty-six-year-old man. Why would he want to go to a twelve-year-old’s birthday party?

Was I overthinking this?

I did have a tendency to do that.

I stepped out of the car into the sunshine and closed my eyes as it warmed my face. My life had gotten complicated, and it was my own fault. If I’d kept things strictly professional, then I wouldn’t feel strange returning phone calls. I wouldn’t have had to try and sift through my reservations over whether or not my son should be allowed to extend an invitation to his hero for his birthday party.

As I opened the door to the shop, I was greeted by Heather Lenox from behind the counter. She inherited the shop from her mom Lydia, who opened Blush Bridal in the forties. Heather was in her sixties now and had helped me find my dress for my courthouse wedding.

---