Page 22 of Flippin' Cowboy
Winnie choked on her coffee. “You’vegotto be kidding me!” The words running through her head were considerably saltier, but her nieces and nephew were at the table.
Autumn shook her head. “I wish I was, but Geoff’s playing to win here. His social media game is sharp.”
“It always has been.” Honesty forced Winnie to admit the truth. “His posts about our early renovation projects are what attracted Karla’s attention back when we were still total unknowns. And his follower count helped her convince the folks at The Renovation Channel to give us a show.”
“Well, the day can only get better from here on out,” Mom predicted confidently.
Winnie sighed. “Don’t bet on that. I’m meeting with Nick Evans to film our walkthrough at the Snowberry Springs Inn. I predict he won’t make it an hour before throwing a fit aboutsomething.”
She’d started to change her initial opinion of him as an arrogant grump as she watched him interact with his adorable little boy.
And then he’d yanked her back to reality, reminding her that he really was an ass. Who the hell did he think he was with his condescending attitude?
Don’t you worry about a thing, little girl. I, Mr. Rich Guy, will fix all your budget issues with my loads of money.
It got worse after that.
Instead of ordering food like a normal human being, he’d sat there with a sour expression until Grandma Abigail finally noticed he was the only one at the table without a plate or glass. She was the one who’d waved the server over to the table to ask him what he wanted to eat.
Evans had ordered the blue cheese bison burger, and seemed to enjoy it, though he probably felt like he was slumming.
No caviar, truffles, or organic microgreens anywhere in sight, Winnie thought. Just meat from her family’s ranch, mushrooms from Parker Farms down the road, and cheese from the Ornelas family dairy over in Bearpaw Ridge.
“I predict loads of fun,” Winnie finished.
Her appetite gone, she stared regretfully down at her plate of toast, eggs, and sausage. She’d better try to choke down something besides coffee.
It was going to be a very long, very busy day, and probably an extremely frustrating one, too.
∞∞∞
The actual televised walkthrough of the Snowberry Springs Inn didn’t take place until three hours after Nick showed up at precisely at 9:00 a.m.
Kegan had wanted to tag along, but Kelsey had distracted him with the promise of a pony ride. Nick remembered his first exhausting weeks of single parenthood and wondered how he’d ever managed without his friend’s expert childcare help.
When Nick arrived at the Snowberry Springs Inn, he expected to meet up with Winnie and for the two of them to begin their walkthrough right away.
Instead, he was whisked off to a makeup trailer, where he endured a half-hour of having the exposed skin of his face smothered in heavy foundation and bronzer.
Then someone popped in to walk him through the filming locations inside the building. The production assistant pointedout masking tape strips on the floor of each room and explained that Nick and Winnie were supposed to stand on their respective tape strips while discussing their observations and renovation plans.
Last night, Karla suggested that he and Winnie not exchange their thoughts about the restoration plan before filming. She wanted each of their reactions to the other’s proposals to be “authentic.”
Nick wondered if he was going to be too busy trying to hit his marks to think of anything interesting to say on camera.
When filming finally started around noon, Karla directed Nick to enter the building multiple times, so that Jake and the other camera operators could film him stepping into the entrance hall from numerous angles.
Winnie was supposed to be greeting him at some point, but she was nowhere to be seen.
By the seventh take of him opening the warped front door, he observed grimly that there was nothing authentic about this process at all.
So far, he hadn’t made it further into the building than the entrance hall, or caught more than a glimpse of Winnie, who was currently being filmed outside on the porch. Nick guessed she was talking about her family connection to the house’s original owner.
To his dismay, she was wearing that fucking pink tool belt over a pair of golden-brown canvas bib overalls and a long-sleeved fuchsia thermal pullover.
After a lunch break for soup, sandwiches, and chili catered by Winnie’s sister and The Yummy Cowboy staff, it was finally time for Nick and Winnie to film their first scene together.
After a fake greeting sequence, where Winnie introduced him as Montana’s best known historical preservationist, they began a torturously slow walkthrough of the main rooms.
