“Well Vanessa, I thought you’d come by,” Sally-Anne said turning a wrinkled face to her. She smiled and patted her grey hair. “I still think my Charlie should have married you all those years ago, and not that horrible stick insect he did marry.”
“That is real kind of you, Sally-Anne,” Vanessa said, “But we both know Charlie hates the theatre and it’s my life.” She smiled and so did Sally-Anne.
“So, I’m giving up the old place,” Sally-Anne said sadly. “Can’t keep it up. Not without my darling Hank by my side. And my daughter Annabelle, she’s decided I have to go live with her in Vermont.” She said it like it was a dirty word. “I don’t want to live in Vermont. But anyway, I suppose that’s the way of the world. One minute you make the decisions for your kids, and the next they’re making them for you.” She shook her head. “Time is a bastard.”
“Amen to that,” Vanessa said taking a seat next to the old woman.
Feeling that they were intruding on this conversation, Rosemary and Willow melted away.
Malcolm was talking to Tyler and Kyle over by the far corner, and they silently sidled over that way.
“It’s a lovely piece of land,” Tyler said. He was looking out from the porch across the fields that started almost from the back steps.
“That it is,” Malcolm said. “We can take a drive around it if you like?”
“Not necessary,” Kyle said. “We both worked this land when Mr. Sawyer was still with us. We’re cow hands by profession.”
“Is that so?” Malcolm asked. Though he smiled, Willow got the impression that he really didn’t care what other people did for a living. “So will you run the ranch as a ranch or do you have other plans, should you decide to purchase of course?”
Tyler regarded the man for a moment, “We have plans.”
Just then Malcolm’s phone rang, an annoying jangle in the still air, and he stepped aside to answer it.
Willow and Rosemary reached the porch railing and stood looking out over the land. Nothing but rolling grassland stretching all the way to their own fence which was far in the distance and not visible. The theatre was on a parcel of land that could be called a plot. It was big enough for the theatre, the small house they all lived in, as well as the gift shop, and the outdoor area where people could have a picnic on fine days. But it was a small piece of land compared with this. They would only need another slice and it would be enough.
“It will be perfect for us,” Kyle said his gaze out across the field. “All that space.”
Tyler smiled, “And that, my friend, is why I brought you along. You get my vision, unlike my brother.”
“Jesse has other things on his mind, “Kyle chuckled. “Now, we just have to win the bidding war. You think Vanessa’s gonna make an offer?”
Just then Tyler caught sight of Willow and Rosemary so close by, and he looked right at them.
“You know, eavesdropping is rude,” Tyler said.
“It’s hard not to hear you,” Willow said plaintively. “So what are your plans for this place?”
“What are yours?” Kyle asked.
“We want to open a themed hotel and restaurant, you know expand our theatre,” Rosemary said. Willow thumped her in the ribs.
“Ouch!” Rosemary protested, “What? I didn’t think it was secret or anything!”
“It’s not!” Willow said hotly. She wasn’t sure why but she didn’t want to tell them anything. What if they thought it was lame?
“Oh now I know you!” Kyle exclaimed and threw his hands up in the air. “You’re those dancing girls. You do that show about cowboys and outlaws. I saw it once, it was cool.”
“You saw the show?” Rosemary asked flabbergasted.
“Sure,” Kyle said. “Our buddy Ryan is big on theatre.”
“And you liked it?” Willow asked. “It’s very tongue in cheek.”
“That’s what’s so cool about it,” Kyle said. “Thought I recognized you.”
“Have you seen the show?” Willow asked Tyler a little shyly. Suddenly what he thought of her work was important to her.
Tyler smiled broadly and shook his head. “Sadly I have not had the pleasure,” he said.
“Well you could come and see us perform tonight,” Rosemary said, a little too hopefully in Willow’s opinion.
“Speaking of which my dears, we have to go,” said Aunt Vanessa who had come up behind them. “It was such a pleasure seeing you boys again. Do come to the show tonight. That performance begins at seven pee-emm sharp. Tickets at the door.”
She flashed them a brilliant smile, and sashayed around the porch to the front steps. Rosemary and Willow nodded to Tyler and Kyle, and then followed her. Willow was all a dither. Why did Kyle think there was going to be a bidding war? Would they be able to even get into the war if there was one, and how on earth would they win it? Maybe Aunt Vanessa’s friendship with Sally-Anne would play a part in her decision of who to sell to. But then again, maybe not.
It was a silent drive home for the ladies, each lost in her own thoughts.
Willow thought about Tyler. She thought about the effect he had on her. How he made her feel when he smiled at her. And she thought about how much this expansion meant to her Aunt Vanessa. If she was going to have to outbid Tyler for that farm, well then she was going to have to bring her A game. And for that, she would have to put that really strong attraction she felt for him, way in the back of her mind. She would have to put it so far away that it would leave her head clear to think. No feelings, this was business. No she was wrong about that, this was family.
The Outlaw Theatre was a converted old barn. Naturally, it had been added on to and changed, but in the end what it was, was a rustic theatre experience. It was a place where the audience sat on plastic seats, with their feet in the sawdust, and watched people sing and dance on a stage, that was everything from a saloon, to a high street at noon, to the inside of a bank.
The cast and crew of the theatre were a solid bunch, who had worked together for a great many years. Vanessa was in charge of everything, but instead of being a megalomaniac about it, she welcomed input from everyone.
Willow and Rosemary had grown up in this place, with the lights of the dressing room mirrors in their eyes. They had worn stage makeup before they had ever put eye shadow and lipstick on to go out. And they had done it all together. They still shared the same dressing room trailer out back.
Willow regarded herself in the mirror. The matinee had been a good crowd. A whole bus load of Japanese tourists had disgorged its photo-taking cargo, and the theatre had twinkled like a starry night sky with all the cameras clicking away. Usually Aunt Vanessa didn’t allow such things, but she was feeling generous today, and anyway the tour guide said they might have a revolt on their hands if they said no to photos. So it was photos during the show and then more after, where Willow, Rosemary and the rest of the cast, posed for a shot with each tourist.
Now as the crew reset the stage, Willow sighed and held a facial wipe up to her face.
“Should I even bother?” she asked. “I mean we’re on again in two hours.”
Rosemary was industriously wiping her face clean. “And what else are we going to do for two hours? I’m not going to go home to wash the dishes that’s for sure.” And she sat back and placed her stockinged feet on the counter top.
“Good point,” Willow said and began to wipe the heavy makeup off. She gingerly peeled her false eyelashes off and placed them in their plastic container. “Do you ever get tired of this?”
“Of the show, or performing?” Rosemary asked. She had picked up a magazine and was leafing through it.
“Both I guess,” Willow said watching her sister in the mirror.
Rosemary shook her head, “I get sick of the show sometimes. But show biz? Never! I want to go all the way to Hollywood. What about you?”
Willow smiled. One half of her lips still had red lipstick on, and the other was now clean. It was a strange effect. “Nope, I love this
place. I just don’t know if I want to still be squeezed into a corset, and pretending to be Big Nose Kate, when I’m forty. You know what I mean?”
“Totally,” Rosemary said. “Maybe we could branch out a bit. Take a Shakespeare play and turn it into a Western or something? What? It could be fun!”
Willow laughed, “Oh sure. But which one to choose? Not A Midsummer Night’s Dream, that would be too weird. The Tempest? Twelfth Night?”
“Hell no! King Lear! But we have to speak in old English accents,” Rosemary laughed putting on a rather bad accent herself. “Do you think Aunt Vanessa would go for it?”
“No,” Willow said and shook her head. Her face was clean now and she reached up and undid the clips fastening her hair on top of her head. The strawberry blonde curls tumbled around her to below her shoulders.
“You are so pretty,” Rosemary said cocking her head on one side. “I hope that Tyler comes tonight so he can ask you out on a date.”
“Rose!” Willow protested, “He wants the Sawyer’s land too. He’s the enemy.”
“No he’s not,” Rosemary laughed. “He’s just a guy who wants to buy a farm. And he’s got the most perfect ass, ever! Did you see it, so perky in his jeans?” She growled making clawing motions with her hands. “Makes you just want to squeeze it!”
Willow threw her eyeliner at her. It bounced off Rosemary’s arm and she picked it up.
“You can’t say you didn’t notice how hot he is,” Rosemary said handing it back.
“I noticed, but we need the farm more than he does,” Willow said.
“Whatever,” Rosemary said and picked up her magazine again.
Willow sighed. She had noticed Tyler, but she wasn’t going to let that get in her way.
“So who was the guy I saw you talking to after the show?” she asked Rosemary.
“Oh him?”
“Yeah, so spill the beans,” Willow said.
“None to spill sister dear,” Rosemary said casually. “He saw the show and asked me out for coffee tomorrow. His name is Dave and he has the most intense greyish eyes, it’s weird but in a good way.”
“Good. So are you going?” Willow asked.
“Maybe,” Rosemary said. “I said I’d call him tomorrow.”
Seven p.m. rolled around and Willow and Rosemary were backstage again waiting to go on. The opening number was quite a complex musical number with a lot of dance moves and characters running on and off stage. Willow and Rosemary and the rest of the female cast, were dressed as prostitutes in corsets, pantaloons and petticoats with their hair in ribboned pigtails.
Willow’s cue came and she ran onto stage and stopped in the middle to deliver her line.
“Oh Uncle Alfie, please say it ain’t so,” she said and as she did her eyes alighted on someone in the audience. He had very fair hair and a goatee. Willow stood a moment longer than she was supposed to, feeling her heart jump in her chest. Oh God he was here! She ran off on the opposite side.
“Oh, he’s here,” she whispered to herself.
“What?” Randall asked. He was dressed as a lawman and sporting the most luxuriant, black moustache that he had waxed to up-turned perfection.
“Nothing, sorry I was talking to myself,” Willow said.
Randal patted her hand, “You need to get out in the fresh air more, dear.”
“Something like that,” Willow said.
And she was on again, this time running up steps on stage to a raised platform.
“Who will save us?” she crooned in her prostitute voice. There was a railing since this was supposed to be a balcony overlooking the street below. She waved out to the audience and smiled brightly, trying not to look at Tyler. But he drew her eye every time.
The song started. Rosemary and Joan, a large actress with jet black hair who always played the Madam, began to sing together. Their voices always worked so well with Rosemary taking the high notes, while Joan took the low ones. It was lovely.
Willow moved along the platform, her mind only half on her performance. Tyler was sitting with a whole big group of people. They were all together, passing a popcorn bucket and some other snacks along their row.
Suddenly, the spotlight was on her. Shit she had almost missed her cue. Willow began to sing her verse of the song. While she was busy, she climbed over the railing and grabbed onto the fireman’s pole in front of her. She had done this a million times. And each time she remembered that there was a little nail sticking out of the railing at just the wrong angle. Each time she did this she remembered to lift her petticoat.
This time, with her head full of Tyler, she totally forgot.
And as Willow slid down the pole for the end of her verse, she was accompanied by a horrible ripping sound. When she reached the bottom of the pole and stepped away from it to continue the dance routine with her partner, she realized that her petticoat had ripped all the way down the side and was lying on the floor in a heap.
Willow pulled her face in fake embarrassment, crossed her hands over her crotch in a coy gesture, and then carried on dancing in her white pantaloons. The audience went nuts and clapped like mad for her.
After that Willow relaxed and enjoyed the performance. Whenever she looked at Tyler, he was smiling. He seemed to be enjoying the show a lot. And as they took their final bow at the end, Tyler and his whole row stood up, clapping and cheering loudly.
Willow couldn’t help but beam.
When Willow came into the foyer, she was greeted by several friends she hadn’t even noticed in the audience. She was hugged and kissed on the cheeks, and congratulated on her performance. Of course the petticoat incident was a great hit. Although Willow loved the praise, and under normal circumstances would have wanted to speak to these people for longer, today she had one thing on her mind; finding Tyler.
He waited until she was finally alone.
“Quite the fan club,” he said smiling.
“Tyler, so you came,” Willow said unable to mask her joy.
He bowed. “Of course. I’d like you to meet my brother Jesse and his fine young lady, Jamie.” Willow shook the hand of a man who was exactly like Tyler, only missing the goatee. Jamie hugged her and congratulated her on her performance. Next came Kyle, who shook her hand. Then a couple, Wyatt and Jess who laughed, and smiled and shook her hand, and finally she was introduced to Ryan. He said that tonight was one of her better performances.
Willow was amazed at how all the men looked similar. They were all broad shouldered, with the same eyes. The eyes were the really weird bit, they looked golden. When she commented on this everyone just laughed.
“Well, Jesse here is my brother,” Tyler said, “And Wyatt there is my cousin. So we’re all kinda related.”
“It is a strong gene they say,” Jess told her with a rueful smile. “So have you been in the theatre long?”
Willow nodded. “Since I was nine.”
“You have a lovely voice,” Jamie said. She had her hand in Jesse’s and they seemed very much in love. For a moment Willow was almost jealous.
Willow led them all over to the bar in the corner of the foyer and poured them drinks. She’d cover the tab she said, but Tyler flatly refused, and handed the money over to Pete the barman. They stayed late, talking and laughing all together like a huge family. Willow looked around for Rosemary, feeling the lack of her sister quite acutely, but Rose wasn’t there. Well she was her own person, Willow conceded, and let it go.
Reinicke (Bear Shifter Dating Agency Romance) (Bear Dating Agency Book 5) Page 59