Austin managed to look back up at Harper and instantly regretted it. At some point, she’d gotten closer, or maybe the room just felt smaller the longer the two of them hid inside. But with their sudden proximity, he could see her face better than he had the last few days.
A couple of stray blond hairs framed her face, and the longer he stared, the softer her eyes became. They were the same gray eyes he’d stared into day after day in college, but the face around them had changed in the last four years.
There were the smallest lines forming in the corners, like her eyes were smiling even when her mouth wasn’t. It was so unlike the botoxed starlets Austin was used to seeing. Even the production crew all seemed to get work done and spent hours obsessing over their weight and looks in an effort to fit in with the actresses. Harper’s untouched face was a breath of fresh air he hadn’t realized he needed.
“Austin?”
Her voice broke the trance, and he shook his head.
“Yeah, sorry.” He cleared his throat. “So, um, can we trust Sienna and Fox not to say anything?”
We. Another one of those words that felt louder than the others. Or had he just said it louder? He needed to get out of this small room, and yet it was the only place he could actually talk to Harper without getting in trouble.
Harper nodded. “Yeah. Sienna is a little over the top, but she knows that we can’t have any other problems. And Fox, well, he’s as loyal as they come.”
Loyal. Everything Austin wasn’t. “Okay. That’s good.” He nodded. “But we still need to figure out what to do about Audrey. This is supposed to be dress day.”
Harper bit her bottom lip. “And what exactly is supposed to happen on dress day?”
Austin looked back down at the clipboard—again. “The bridesmaids won the table decorating contest, so you’re supposed to go dress shopping at a couple of boutiques today. Audrey has to be there.”
A small sound of frustration came from Harper. “Well, she won’t be. Isn’t there anything you can do? You’re a production assistant, right? Can you stall?”
Austin shook his head. “I can’t.”
“But you’re a part of this whole crazy show.”
Austin sighed. He really didn’t want to admit how little power he had, but they were running out of time. Eventually, someone would come looking for him, or Harper—or both. And it would be bad news for everyone if they got caught together, especially in the safe room.
He took a deep breath. “Most days, I’m little more than a glorified coffee guy. Trust me when I say there is literally nothing I can do.”
Harper stared at him for a moment before she nodded. “Okay, but even so, you’ve got to know a believable reason for Audrey to be missing.”
He didn’t.
The two stood in silence, both frantically trying to come up with an excuse. The seconds seemed to drag on until they both looked at each other and said at the same time, “We can pretend she’s sick.”
It felt like old times, when they would constantly say the same thing at the same time, or finish each other's sentences. Austin couldn’t count how many times his college girlfriends would get jealous of his and Harper’s friendship and the way they were always in tune with one another.
Austin and Harper laughed, but it only lasted a minute before they both seemed to realize that this wasn’t like old times. Things had changed. By some unspoken cue, they both sobered.
Harper played with the hem of her shirt. “So, we pretend Audrey’s sick. How do we do this?”
“I don’t know. I can go talk to Bruce and let him know she’s been throwing up all morning.”
Harper’s face scrunched up. “Does it have to be something so unflattering?”
“If it’s just a stuffy nose, he’s going to tell her to take some cold medicine and suck it up. Even with this, I can’t promise he won’t shove a bottle of the pink stuff in my hand and tell me to give it to her.”
“Okay.” Her eyes went to the ground. “Well, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Harper’s eyes met his. “So what do we do now?”
Now?
Now, Austin wanted to explain why he’d left without saying goodbye and apologize for hurting her. But he knew he couldn’t. Not with his entire career and her sister’s wedding hanging in the balance.
“I’m going to have you go out first. See if there are any cameramen or other crew members in the hall. If not, knock on the door three times, and I’ll know it’s safe. You go find Sienna and Fox, and explain to them what’s going on. And I’ll go find Bruce.”
Harper nodded. “And if there’s someone out there?”
“Don’t knock.”
She took a breath, her annoyance barely contained. “What if it’s someone from the wedding party looking to take a break in the safe room?”
Austin wasn’t sure. Harper had said Sienna and Fox were trustworthy, and he wanted to believe her. But what about the other contestants? He didn’t know much about Harper’s family other than what she’d told him ages ago and what he’d seen. Mostly just the normal kind of family drama, though that Harry guy seemed like a real jerk.
He met her gaze. “Let’s just hope that the coast is clear.”
Harper agreed and slowly opened the door to the safe room. She peeked out the door, and Austin wanted to yell at her to just act casual but was afraid that if anyone was in the hall, they’d recognize his voice.
Mercifully, Harper finally walked into the hall and closed the door behind her. But once he was alone, time seemed to stretch on. Austin held his breath for what felt like an eternity as he waited for the knocks to come.
Eventually, they did.
He let out a relieved sigh and walked out. Harper was already walking left, not bothering to look back at him over her shoulder. And that was good. It was better than good. That meant she was taking Audrey’s disappearance seriously.
With a tug at his heart, he watched Harper walk away for the briefest moment before he turned and walked in the opposite direction in search of Bruce.
Three
5 Days Until Dream Wedding
Harper’s good luck with the cameras had finally run out. On her way to find Sienna and Fox, she passed three roaming the halls on their way to set up for the first shot of the day. Harper checked her watch. Only thirty minutes until everyone was supposed to be in the meeting room. Hopefully that would be enough time to come up with some sort of plan.
Harper shook her head. Of course it was enough time for a plan. She could make three dozen cookies in thirty minutes, this should be easy. Or at least, it would be easy if the picture of Austin’s frown wasn’t stuck in her mind.
It was unfair how good he looked. California was clearly where Austin was supposed to be. He was probably on the beach every weekend, surrounded by beautiful starlets drooling all over him just like her roommates used to in college.
It was amazing how all the work she’d done over the last four years had been undone within moments of seeing Austin. She felt like the same inadequate girl from college—the too curvy, not pretty enough friend who happened to be a girl. Never the girlfriend.
Being trapped in the safe room tested her in unbearable ways. It took all her willpower to stay focused on Audrey’s disappearance when there were so many other questions bouncing around in her mind.
Harper had wanted to ask him why he left. Why he never called. She wanted to know what he’d thought of all the awful superhero movies that had come out in the past year. She wondered if his arms still felt the same wrapped around her as they did when they were friends.
No, thinking about her ex-best friend would only distract her from what she needed to do. She laid it out step by step in her mind, like creating a new recipe. If she followed the recipe, nothing could go wrong.
Step 1: Find Fox and Sienna.
Step 2: Tell them that, as far as anyone knew, Audrey was sick in her room.
Step 3: Try not to get caught as sh
e went around trying to find the bride.
Easy as pie, right?
It should have been, but even with a plan in place, Harper’s heart raced as she ran up the stairs of the inn. She stopped to catch her breath when she reached the top.
She took a moment to admire the artwork that covered the walls. The owners had bought a lot from local talent and maybe the bakery could use some art. Harper shook her head. This always happened. She’d get halfway through something and get distracted. Things always got done eventually, but she couldn’t linger. Not today. She had a wedding and a reality show to save. With thoughts of a furious producer racing in her mind, she barreled down the hallway, turned a corner and ran right into Sienna and Fox coming in the opposite direction.
“There you are!” Her younger sister barely stopped in time, saving the two girls from an embarrassing collision.
Harper sucked in a deep breath. “Sorry. I’ve been running around trying to figure out what to do.”
Sienna threw up her hands. “And? What are we going to do?”
“Shh! Not here.” Harper cast a glance back over her shoulder then dragged Sienna further down the hall and into her room.
It was ridiculous to have to stay at The Emerald Inn when Harper had a perfectly good apartment in town, but it was nice to not worry about cleaning or cooking for a few days. Despite the state of her own bedroom, Harper loved a tidy room. She just didn’t have the time or energy to do it herself. Harper couldn’t help but smile and breathe in deeply as she pushed her sister into her hotel room. Fox was close on their heels, and as soon as he was inside, Harper shut the door and leaned against it.
“Have you seen anyone else this morning?” Harper spoke quietly.
The hall behind the door was empty but it wouldn’t stay like that for long. Plus the rooms weren’t off limits for filming. Nothing was, except the safe room and the bathrooms. Assuming they didn’t get caught, this would be their only chance at a covert planning session without drawing attention from the production crew.
Sienna shook her head. “We came back up here to look for her, but didn’t pass anyone. I think they’re all in the dining hall or meeting room already.”
“Why did you look? I already told you she wasn’t here.”
Sienna’s cheeks went bright red. “I-uh-we…”
Harper couldn't figure out what had caused her sister to turn into a stammering idiot, until her eyes turned to Fox. He didn’t say anything, but his matching blush was all the explanation Harper needed.
Harper exhaled slowly through her nose. The meeting room was surely packed with crew members by now. The brand new couple was just killing two birds with one stone. Looking for Audrey while enjoying a few stolen moments away from the cameras.
Not that Harper could blame them. She’d just had a stolen moment of her own with Austin, hadn’t she? She ignored the tug at her heart reminding her it wasn’t the same thing. Austin had never been hers. And besides, Harper was over him, and totally focused on solving the major crisis at hand.
So why was her heart racing at the thought of his amber eyes gazing into hers in the safe room?
Fox cleared his throat. “We thought maybe Audrey left a note somewhere.” He glanced at Sienna.
Harper tried not to roll her eyes. She’d already searched and knew there wasn’t a note.
“We tried calling, too, but it went right to voicemail,” Sienna said, sitting on the chair by the window. The light caught her perfect honey blond waves as she shook them off of her shoulders.
Harper’s hand moved to the messy knot on top of her head. If she’d known she would be trapped in the safe room with Austin this morning she might have done something more than throw it up in her usual haphazard way.
Audrey. Finding Audrey. That’s what Harper needed to think about right now. Not her hair. Not Austin.
Sienna looked up at her with wide eyes. “Do you think something bad happened to her?”
“I’m sure she’s just gone somewhere to get a little peace.” Harper sounded much more certain than she felt. “We’ve all been feeling totally cooped up.”
Fox gave a soft “no kidding” and went to stand behind Sienna to lay a protective hand on her shoulder.
Sienna shook her head. “But we can’t afford anymore screw-ups. She knows that. What are we going to do?”
“We’ll find her,” Fox said, his voice calm.
Sienna smiled adoringly up at Fox. Harper felt like an intruder to a private moment from her position leaning against the door.
Harper cleared her throat. “Austin’s going to tell Bruce that Audrey is sick.”
“Who’s Austin?” Sienna’s brows drew together.
With a churning twist of her stomach, Harper realized her mistake.
“Oh, just the production assistant who was there this morning,” said Harper, wiping her clammy hands on her jeans. “His name was on his badge, remember?”
“Sure. Okay.” Sienna nodded, but clearly didn’t remember. She only had eyes for Fox this morning.
“He overheard us talking, so I had to tell him what was going on. But I told him I’d get her back here by tonight, and we just needed some time.”
“Are you sure we can trust him?” asked Fox, his lips twisted down in a frown. “He works for the show. For Bruce. This could all be a set up.”
The words echoed Austin’s question about Fox and Sienna. Why was everyone so suspicious of everyone else? And why were they all relying on Harper and her judge of character? She was far from the expert, given her history with her friends and family. She’d thought Austin would always stand by her. And Milo, her big brother. They’d both left her, and it had been a total shock each time.
But, in her gut, the same one that could tell a burned cookie from half a mile away, she knew that she could trust Austin with this secret.
“I trust him.” Her words came out strong, without hesitation. Sienna’s eyebrows shot up, but before she could open her mouth to inquire further, Harper pushed on. “But you may need to hang out in her room, to fend off anyone else who comes looking for her.”
“And how exactly are we supposed to do that? Just because Audrey is feeling under the weather doesn’t make her impossible to find,” Sienna said.
“She’d need to be more than a little sick.” Harper lifted a shoulder. “Austin is going to tell Bruce that she’s throwing up.”
“And what? Fox hides in the bathroom and makes sick noises while I fend off cameramen?”
Harper bit her bottom lip and looked at Fox. “If you wouldn’t mind?”
He sighed and rubbed his hands through his hair. “I don’t know. I mean, I’d do anything for Audrey and Eli and...Sienna.” He looked down and smiled. Harper tried to keep the yearning she felt deep in her bones for a relationship of her own under control. “But won’t they start wondering where I am? And why Sienna and I are apart after what happened last night?”
“Well, that would be the second part of my plan.” Harper pushed off against the door. “We need to provide a distraction.”
The solution to everything that suddenly came to mind involved using the newfound love between the best man and her little sister to their advantage. Harper hated that it would make Sienna look bad, especially after all the crap Audrey and Harper had given her about being too dramatic this week, but what other choice did they have?
Harper took a deep breath and held it for a moment. “I think you two should get into a really big fight,” she said looking between Sienna and Fox.
Sienna shot up out of her seat. “No way. No more pretending.”
“We don’t really have a ton of options right now.” Harper twisted her hands together. “We can all say Audrey is barfing her guts out, and you can make it sound convincing for a while, but then what are they supposed to film all day? We need to give them something good.”
“But after everything Fox did yesterday, will they really believe it?” Sienna put her hand in his, turning her wide blue eyes up
at him. Fox’s on-camera declaration of love had been perfect. The kind Harper had been hoping for her entire life and knew she’d never get.
And, of course, Sienna made a great point. Harper wasn’t sure the production staff—or, more importantly, Bruce—would believe these two were anything but gaga over each other.
Fox looked down at his honeybun, the words “no way” etched all over his face.
That couldn’t happen. Harper needed them to get with the program until they could find Audrey. After that, she didn’t care what the two of them did in their happily ever after.
“Are you not a good enough actress to make everyone think you hate him?” Harper said.
Sienna’s nostrils flared, and Harper felt a surge of success. The sisters were nothing if not super competitive. She’d thrown out the challenge, and now Sienna would have to accept.
“It’ll mean Fox needs to be on camera a lot, though.” Sienna looked up at him, her eyes soft. “I know you don’t want that.”
Fox closed his eyes and sat down in the chair, head in his hands.
Harper held her breath. She knew Sienna could do it, but it took two to make an epic, fake fight believable.
Finally, Fox looked up and opened his eyes. “I’m here to make sure Eli and Audrey get the dream wedding they want and deserve. If that means pretending to lose my breakfast and throwing a hissy fit for the camera then well…” He shrugged. “I guess that’s what I’ll have to do.”
Sienna threw her arms around him, and Harper was tempted to rush across the room to do the same. This guy was everything Sienna needed. Loyal and generous.
Basically the opposite of all the men in Harper’s life.
“What are you going to do while we’re busy battling it out?” Sienna asked, her arms still around Fox’s shoulders.
Harper shrugged. “I’m the only one allowed to leave the property, so I’ll go look in town, at her house.” Technically that was true. She was allowed with permission from the producer, but Harper didn’t have any intention of letting him know about this trip.
“Won’t the cameras follow you?” Fox asked. “It’s not like you can just go around town unnoticed. They were there the other night at the bakery.”
The Bridesmaid & The Ex (Wedding Games Book 2) Page 2