Page 78 of He's The Reason Why

A running total that was beginning to rival the spending of some small countries cha-chinged in his head.

“Yes, but the rent’s super cheap and the locals were thrilled at the idea,” Marshall said.

Piper wandered back in and sat down at the table, cradling the phone against her shoulder while she wrote on her notepad. “Right. We’d want good, easy-to-grab-and-go options that work well in the heat, and maybe a final hoorah for the wrap party with fancier stuff.”

“Tell her we want bags of peanut M&M’s with all the yellow ones removed,” Marshall said.

“I’m not telling her that,” Blake said. “Stop listening in on her conversation. What about Virginia City?”

He typed out notes in his spreadsheet as Marshall continued.

“I think it’s a bust. Too big, and too greedy. They want as much as the ranch, but they can’t give us full blocks. They can let us have a street here or there, and a couple of abandoned warehouses, but they’re full of old mining equipment, of all things. It would be a lot of work just to clean them out. You’d think they’d payusfor that.”

“That sounds great,” Piper said to whoever was on the phone. “Send me menu options, and I’ll get the potential head count over to you as soon as I can. Remember, you might have to be mobile, and you’re bidding against a Hollywood heavy hitter.”

“That’s right. Weareheavy hitters,” Marshall said.

“She meant the caterer, not us.” Blake grunted at the notes he’d just made. Neither place sounded ideal. “What about option B?”

“Option B is we pick and choose based on need. There’s a saloon that would work for the buddy scene over in Goldfield, and an abandoned casino in Montgomery Pass that we could use, but it needs some work. Still, might be better than building from scratch. The old machines are still in there.”

“Really?” He couldn’t type notes fast enough. “Shoot me a text with links, would you? And pictures.”

“Will do.”

“Thanks,” Piper said. “I’ll get back to you as soon as they make the decision.”

“You’re welcome, Piper. Anytime,” Marshall said. “I’m sure Blake wouldloveto show you his appreciation.”

Blake gritted his teeth. Marshall was having way too much fun with this semi-three-way conversation. “What about the hometown scenes? Any ideas for that?”

“We’re still scouting, but so far I like Genoa. It’s about forty miles from Reno, about a thousand people including the dogs. Small, but quaint. I totally see our girl living there. Then there’s a town three hours away…” Blake could hear paper being flipped again. “Tonopah. It looks a little too run-down for what we’re looking for, town-wise, but there’s a nice park and a field that would be fantastic for the love scene. I’ve never seen that many stars. It’s like they had them imported. Speaking of which…do we have thoughts on who you’ll be kissing?”

Blake glanced up from his notes to find Piper watching him with a ghost of a smile. She could have been the model for how he’d pictured the lead girl when they wrote the original script all those years ago. Dark hair done up in a simple ponytail. No makeup. Beautiful, sunny smile. Soulful eyes that looked at the world with bold curiosity.

When he’d conjured up the character of the small-town girl, he’d taken every fantasy he’d ever had and wrapped it all up in the idea that somewhere there was a girl who saw past all the pretendglamour to the man underneath. She was the kind of girl who didn’t try to change who she was to suit anyone else. She was kind, down-to-earth, and staring right at him.

Piper’s smile widened a little, and a hint of the dimple appeared. “What?”

“Blake? Still there?” Marshall asked.

He started. He shouldnotbe staring at her like that. It put all kinds of bad ideas in his head. Ideas that would land him in serious trouble. “I have to go.”

“Hey, wait—” Marshall said.

Blake hung up.

He should say something. Anything. “You look excited. What’s up?”

Piper stood up and waved her notebook at him with a triumphant gleam in her eyes. “They’ll send a final bid after we give them an estimated head count, but they think they can do it for around thirty grand, and they’re totally mobile so they can go wherever we need. Within reason, that is.”

“Impressive.” He wrote the number down on a yellow sticky note. “Who’s this, and how did you find them?”

“Her name’s Katrina Cone.”

He wrote the name underneath the dollar figure and frowned at it. “I know that name. Is thattheKatrina Cone? TheTop Chefwinner?”

Piper nodded enthusiastically. “Lizzie’s friend Carrie is the chef at Belhurst, and she knows a whole network of people who cook. She trained with Katrina Cone in Paris, and she hooked me up.”

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