That Weekend...

by Jennifer Mckenzie

  “No.” She shook her head. The color had drained from her face.

  “Let’s go.”

  The buzz of the room had grown louder as excitement and fury warred with one another. Jake could hear the sound of flesh hitting flesh. He used one arm as a blocker, steering people out of his path, and kept the other on Ava. She’d locked both arms around his waist now. He shouldn’t have noticed how good it felt.

  “You okay?” he asked once they’d popped out the front door and into the cold Idaho night. He led her away from the front of the club and the people spilling out onto the sidewalk.

  Her skin was still paler than normal, but she wasn’t wincing or holding her casted arm. “What happened?” She was shivering, probably from a combination of the temperature and the fight.

  “Stupid people who had too much to drink and decided to show off.”

  “Stupid men,” she said. “Woman don’t usually throw punches.”

  Jake smiled. “Not usually. Though I recall someone telling me to warn the masses, because with her fancy new cast she was going to kick ass and take names.”

  “I never said take names. Or kick ass. But I totally could.” She waved her arm around. She still didn’t look tough. “Or not.”

  He helped her into her coat. But even once she was buttoned up, her lips continued to quiver, so he put his arm around her as they turned away from the club and headed back to the hotel. He told himself that he was just doing what any good friend would do. She was rattled from the fight and needed some support.

  And, by the way, he also owned a bridge in Brooklyn that was for sale.

  “You don’t think Brandon was in there, do you?” They were almost back to the hotel when she asked.

  Jake considered it. “I didn’t see him.” He was pretty sure they would have stumbled across him at some point if he’d still been around.

  “Yeah.” But her eyebrows were making a worried V shape. “We should call him to make sure.” The wind whistled around their legs as she punched in the number. After a minute, she glanced up at him. “He’s not answering.”

  “I’m sure he’s fine. Probably holed up in a warm hotel room. I suggest we do the same.” He tugged her forward, getting a move on. He tried to feel happy about the abrupt end to their evening. It had surely halted any less-than-professional impulses. And it was still early enough that he could do a bit of work on the pilot.

  “Brandon?” Ava was talking into her phone now. “Oh, God. You’re not answering. I hope that’s because you met someone. There was a fight at the club. This is why I don’t like to go out with you. If Jake hadn’t rescued me...” She glanced at him. “Anyway, call me when you get this. Or Jake. Let us know you’re okay or if we have to bail you out of prison.”

  “He was likely gone before we even got there,” Jake said when she put the phone away.

  “You’re probably right.” She tucked her chin into her coat. Her hair bounced in the wind and brushed the back of his hand. He pretended not to notice.

  When they finally reached her room, she turned to look at him. “I really wish Brandon would call back.” Her mouth turned down. “You’re sure he’s okay?”

  “Brandon can take care of himself. I’m sure he’s fine.” Jake told himself not to be suckered in by the sweet tilt of her lips.

  “Yeah.” She chewed on her lower lip. “But I’m still worried. You want to come in for a nightcap and worry with me? I don’t feel like being alone right now.”

  How was he supposed to say no to that?

  They found a movie to watch on TV and settled in to wait. Jake claimed the desk chair, while Ava sprawled on the bed. Finally, Brandon called and assured them that he was all right and didn’t need them to bail him out. He’d left the club before any of the excitement started. Jake figured that was the end of the evening. “Well, I guess I’ll head off.” He started to push himself out of the chair.

  “You might as well watch the end of the movie,” Ava said. She glanced over to the hard plastic seat he’d taken. “You sure you wouldn’t rather sit on the bed? That thing does not look comfortable.”

  It wasn’t, but Jake didn’t trust himself on the bed with her. “I’m good.” He stood up anyway. “You can tell me how it ends tomorrow.”

  “Sure.” Disappointment flashed in her eyes before she covered it with a friendly smile. She walked him over to the door. “See you tomorrow.”

  Jake battled his own flash of disappointment as the door clicked shut behind him. Then he pushed it aside and headed for his room.

  Realizing he’d never turned his phone back on after dinner, Jake powered it up as he walked. It buzzed with new messages. Probably Rachel again. Did his annoying, high-energy sister never sleep?

  He slipped his key into the door and scrolled through his call list. Six calls total. Two from Rachel during dinner. He gave himself a mental pat on the back for avoiding those. One from Carly when they’d been at the club, and three from Alex, all in the past hour.

  A cold shiver trickled down the back of Jake’s neck. He hadn’t been able to get hold of Carly all week. And why would Alex be calling after midnight on a random Wednesday? He called Alex first. “What’s going on?” he asked as soon as his friend picked up.

  Alex was equally direct. “You talk to Carly recently?”

  “No, I’ve been trying to reach her since Saturday, but I keep getting her voice mail.” Jake tossed his wallet on the small desk in the corner of the room and hung his jacket over the back of the chair. “Why?”

  “She quit.”

  The cold shiver intensified, sending a sharp spasm down his back. Jake sank onto the bed. “What do you mean quit?”

  “She got another job. She’s not doing the pilot.”

  “Alex, did you—”

  “Of course not. She called me this evening after she couldn’t reach you, said she was sorry to do this, but she had another offer.”

  No. Hell, no. Jake closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “With who? When does she start?”

  “I didn’t ask for the details.”

  “Well, you should have. We’re supposed to start shooting in two weeks.” Not nearly enough time to hire a new host. And without a host, there was no way they were going to be able to keep on schedule. Jake squeezed his nose harder.

  “I was kind of caught off guard,” Alex said. “I’ll call her back. Damn. I might have sworn at her.”

  “No, leave it. I’ll call her.” His mind was already ticking on fast-forward, all thoughts of the flirtation that wasn’t a flirtation with Ava gone.

  If he was lucky, he might be able to convince Carly to shoot the pilot anyway. After all, it was only a single weekend of work. And then he could worry about doing another round of auditions. He hoped that the same batch who’d shown up the previous times weren’t the only applicants. His stomach soured at the thought that Rachel would no doubt ask next time they spoke, and he’d have to tell her and word would get back to his father. Maybe if he worked fast he could fix the problem before then.

  “We’re still meeting the investors on Friday, right?’

  “Yes.”

  “And they won’t back off if we don’t have a host, right?”

  “As long as we don’t tell them.”

  “Then we won’t.” Jake rose and sat in the small desk chair that was only slightly more comfortable than the one in Ava’s room. He started scribbling notes on the hotel pad. “We won’t mention it at all unless
they ask. And if they do, we tell them that we have a couple of options to choose from and should they be interested in investing, they can help.”

  “You are good,” Alex said. He paused. “You know what kills me about this?”

  Jake was still making notes. Book a room for auditions, send out a casting call, go over his notes from the first set of auditions as there were sure to be some repeats. “What? That your perfect record of only backing winners might fail?”

  “Hell, no. I still have every faith that our show is going to be a big hit.” Jake was glad one of them was. “But I regret that I didn’t sleep with her.”

  Jake snorted. “Like you had a chance.”

  “I did. She called me a few times, but I always pretended that I was busy because you told me that she was off-limits. I wonder if I could work something out before she leaves.”

  “You swore at her,” Jake reminded him.

  “That just tells her I’m passionate.”

  “Don’t call her until I’ve talked to her,” he warned his friend. “I might still be able to salvage this.”

  “And if not?”

  “Then feel free to make your move.”

  Carly answered after one ring when he called. “Jake, hi. Have you talked to Alex? You have, I can tell. I feel terrible about this. I was really looking forward to working with you, but I just couldn’t turn this down. It’s a two-year contract with a soap and if I’m good...” She trailed off.

  “It’s fine, Carly,” Jake assured her. What else was he going to say? “Listen, I know you aren’t available to be the permanent host, but I’m hoping you can still shoot the pilot for us.”

  “Oh?”

  He needed her to say yes. If she agreed, everything would be okay. He could figure out the next steps later when he had time. But there was no time to get another host for the pilot. “It’s only one weekend and we’ve got everything set up.”

  “But I’m leaving town tomorrow. I start the show next week.”

  “We aren’t filming for another two weeks. What’s your schedule like then?” His mind was working quickly, running through everything he knew about television production and trying to find a way to make this happen. Since television tended to film Monday to Friday, like office jobs except that they could be working day or night, the cast and crew generally had their weekends free. “We could fly you in Friday night and make sure you’re back by Monday’s call time.”

  “Oh, Jake.” He could tell by her tone that he wasn’t going to like her answer. “I would. I totally would, but my agent has me booked solid doing promotions and interviews around L.A. for the entire month. I have to be there.”

  “Could we work around them? Could you take even one day off?”

  “I’m really sorry, but I can’t.” She did sound sorry. “Maybe I could ask a friend or see if my agent knows someone?”

  Probably someone who’d already been in to see him. Someone he’d already turned down as not having that something special he wanted for his show. He couldn’t and wouldn’t trust his production to just anyone. The pilot was the big pitch; if it wasn’t great, he might as well not even bother.

  “No, that’s okay, Carly.” His hope deflated as quickly as it had risen. “Don’t worry about it.” This wasn’t her problem to solve. It was his.

  He hung up and then hurled his phone across the room, where it bounced off the bed and landed on the floor. It didn’t make him feel any better. Nothing was going to make him feel better.

  The overwhelming fear that he was going to fail again filled him. He beat it back. Rachel told him that he hadn’t failed, that things not working out the way he’d hoped was just life. But that was easy for her to say. Her life had pretty much gone according to plan.

  She hadn’t dealt with snarky whispers about getting her job because of who her father was. He doubted any of Rachel’s professorial peers had even seen any of their dad’s productions. She hadn’t had to work longer and harder than her colleagues to get only half the recognition. And she’d never had to wonder that maybe they were right.

  To hell with that. He shook off the old questions about his success being based on name and not merit. He hadn’t moved all this way just to let those demons get the better of him. They were wrong. He was going to prove that once and for all.

  Just as soon as he found a new host for his show.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “WAIT, YOU WANT ME to host this pilot?” Ava stared at Jake.

  He nodded and reached across the scarred pine table for her hand. “I wouldn’t ask, but I’m desperate.”

  The excitement that had flowed through her body at his words eased considerably. She tugged her hand free. “Gee, don’t flatter me or anything.”

  “Ava.” He reached out and caught her hand again, squeezed lightly. “I meant that you’d be saving my ass. And for the record, I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think you’d be great.”

  “That’s a little better.” She looked up from their joined hands. Was it wrong that she was enjoying his touch as much as his request? “Wouldn’t hurt if you wanted to go on for a while about how great I am, though.”

  A small smile began to curl his lips. “Does this mean you’ll do it?”

  “Maybe.” Her heart was beating a little too fast, the thump in her ears drowning out his voice. She pulled her hand free and let it drop to her lap before he could capture it again.

  “Maybe doesn’t sound like yes.”

  “I haven’t said no, either. Tell me more about it.”

  When Jake had shown up at her room this morning and informed her that he’d changed their flights home, she’d been surprised. It wasn’t standard procedure to extend an assignment unless there was a world-altering story driving it. But when she’d asked, he’d simply said that he wanted to talk to her about something and he didn’t want the pressures of home to intrude.

  He’d taken her to a restaurant on the side of a mountain, one that required a sleigh to get to. His thigh had pressed against hers the entire way. And when they’d finally arrived at the adorable log cabin, he’d kept his hand on her back until they were seated. She wondered now if those had just been ploys to butter her up.

  Jake leaned forward. “I’m not asking you to do it free.”

  “Okay.” Ava didn’t care about the money. It wouldn’t be enough to pay off her mortgage or change her life in any drastic way, but she didn’t say that. It was nice to know that he was prepared to offer her fair compensation.

  “It would mean a lot to me.”

  She thought about it. “How long will it take? A week? Two?” He’d only said they were filming a pilot, not whether it was broken up into a long shoot around their normal work hours or a quick one jammed into a few short days.

  “Just one weekend.”

  “Filming both days? Morning through night?”

  “Filming both days. Afternoon and evening the first day, morning and afternoon the second.”

  “When?”

  “Two weeks from now. Saturday and Sunday.” His eyes twinkled as he relaxed. “This is starting to sound like a yes.”

  She picked up her water glass and sipped. Jake had explained that his original host had quit and that he didn’t have time to audition another host before filming. But that didn’t explain why he’d settled on her. She wasn’t the only choice in town. She wasn’t even the only choice at the station. “What about Tommy?”

  “What about Tommy?” Jake
sat back, his surprise evident.

  “Did you consider him?” Because if he had—if she was second choice again—then she didn’t owe him anything.

  “No.” His hand snaked out across the table, peeling her hand off the glass before she could react. “I didn’t.” He tightened his grip when she would have pulled free.

  “What about Danica?”

  He looked surprised. “No. You’re the only person I’ve asked. The only person I trust with this.”

  That helped.

  “I didn’t know the promotion was still bothering you.” He let his fingers go slack, allowing her to remove her hand if she wanted to. She didn’t. “I’ll understand if you say no.”

  “I didn’t say no and it’s not still bothering me.” Okay, it was, but only a little. “I understand your reasons. It was just disappointing. I’d worked really hard and I felt I’d earned it.”

  “I know.” His thumb kneaded her palm. “If it helps, you earned this.”

  Ava looked away, afraid that if she didn’t she’d agree without even considering the ramifications. Except, as she gazed around the restaurant, taking in the large floor-to-ceiling fireplace, the small stage and dance area where a band played country tunes and locals two-stepped to their hearts’ content, she couldn’t think of any.

  Beneath the music, there was the clang of pots and pans from the kitchen. The scent of roast beef filled the air. The rubbing motion of Jake’s hand against hers soothed her remaining hurt feelings. She turned back to him. “Okay, this is an official yes.”

  His smile spread across his face. He leaned forward, tugged on her hand, so she had to move as well or be bisected by the table, and kissed her. “Thank you.”

  Her heart thumped wildly, but she managed a semiprofessional smile as she settled back in her seat. “You’re welcome.”