Page 76 of Flippin' Cowboy
Neither of them said anything else as Emily bustled around them, preparing them for the day’s filming. Tension filled the air between them, thick and bitter as scorched coffee.
Luckily, Winnie and Nick didn’t have any segments filmed together today.
Winnie’s main job for this morning was to supervise the carpenters as they began framing the new hotel rooms on the inn’s second floor. She also needed to meet with Jason, her master carpenter, and Rick Stinson, her head plumber, to discuss how to convert the building’s original single bathroom into a kitchenette and coffee station that took advantage of the existing plumbing.
Nick’s schedule had him out at the hot spring pavilion all day, filming several segments discussing the building’s history and architecture. He’d done extensive research in the town’s archives over the past few weeks and prepared a short talk about what happened to Caroline Snowberry’s saloon and bordello after Montana outlawed prostitution in 1917, followed by Prohibition driving the state’s saloonkeepers out of business.
Winnie was upstairs in the house, in the middle of her meeting with Jason Lund and Rick Stinson, when her phone began vibrating nonstop with a cascade of text messages and emails.
The flooring guys had completed installing the reclaimed floor boards from Al Beckman’s place earlier in the morning. Now, they were running a big sander to prep the new floors for staining and finishing, forcing her to raise her voice in order to be heard.
At first, the flood of notifications sent a spear of worry through her. Had someone in the family gotten into an accident? WasGrandma Abigail okay? Or was there some new disaster brewing at The Renovation Channel’s office?
“Excuse me,” she shouted at Jason and Rick, and pulled her phone from the breast pocket of her overalls.
With a mixture of relief and disgust, she saw all the calls and texts all came from unknown numbers. She turned off her phone and resumed her discussion.
As soon as the meeting ended, Winnie made her way downstairs to check on the installation of a commercial range, vent hood, and refrigeration units in the kitchen.
Smartphone in hand, Autumn rushed to intercept her. “Winnie! Have you seen the news?”
“What news?” Winnie asked. “Did someone die?”
“You turned your phone off again, didn’t you?” Autumn accused.
She pulled out her own smartphone and swiped at it before turning to show Winnie the screen.
“Winnie Snowberry’s new squeeze???” blared the headline at the top of the Celeb*Spark gossip blog. Below it, Winnie saw two photos of her and Nick.
In the first shot, she and Nick were standing hand in hand in front of a dinosaur skeleton at Museum of the Rockies. Her face was turned up to him, and she was smiling. In the second photo, someone had photographed Nick leaning over to kiss her during dinner at The Yummy Cowboy.
“Crap,” Winnie said numbly.
“And this isn’t the only site reporting that you two are an item,” Autumn told her. “It’s all over the Internet. Looks like somepeople recognized you guys when you took the kids to Bozeman last week.”
Feeling sick to her stomach, Winnie finally looked at her text messages and transcribed voicemails. Sure enough, all the messages she’d received over the past hour were from reporters and representatives of various celebrity news websites.
“Nick’s going to be furious,” she said. “Well, even more furious than he already is.”
Especially if any paparazzi showed up in town to harass them.
She’d gotten used to media scrutiny after the first season ofRestoring Seattleaired. But it was going to be a new and probably unpleasant experience for her partner.
Especially since it looked like their short-lived relationship might be over just as it became public.
Worst of all, she feared Nick might quit the show rather than putting up with Geoff’s guest appearances.
After all, he’s rich as sin. He doesn’t need this job the way I do, she thought bitterly.And he sure as hell doesn’t need me.
“Thanks for letting me know, Autumn. Would you mind handling the publicity?” She felt like a coward, but she just didn’t have the energy pennies to spend on this.
“Of course,” Autumn assured her. “That’s what I’m here for, as your publicistandyour sister. I’ll craft a statement from you guys right away—something short and dignified, and get it to you and Nick before the end of day for approval.”
“Thanks. You’re the best,” Winnie said with genuine gratitude. She stuffed her phone back in her pocket and hugged her sister. “I’ll just ignore this thing and let you deal with them.”
Autumn stepped back and gave Winnie a penetrating look. “Speaking of Nick, what on earth is going on between you two? I heard you guys had a big fight here at the house yesterday. And you look terrible today.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Winnie said, shaking her head.
