Love on Location

by September Roberts

  Steve’s eyes crinkled as he smiled and then he picked up a megaphone. “People, attention on the set.” Speaking away from the amplifier, he said to Alex, “Why don’t you stand up on the costume trailer steps so everyone can see you.”

  Maggie leaned close and whispered, “You’ll be great,” before finding a place in the crowd.

  Alex nodded and walked slowly toward the trailer.

  As soon as she was in position, Steve thrust the megaphone into her hands. When she pushed the button and cleared her throat, a magnified squeal made the crowd jump. “Sorry,” she mumbled. Glancing out at the sea of faces, she found encouragement from Maggie. After taking a deep breath, she said, “Hi, my name is Alex Mitchell. I’m the assistant manager at Twisted Juniper. Welcome to our park. There are a few guidelines you need to follow while you’re here. Please stay on the paths as much as possible; the earth is very fragile. Cairns, the little stacks of rocks, will mark the borders.” She pointed to a tiny tower of stone nearby. “When you’re hauling equipment, it must be carried by hand. Twisted Juniper is home to a variety of protected plants and animals, and I can’t stress enough how important it is you minimize your impact on them. My job is to make sure you can do your work safely without harming the environment. There will be a number of rangers working with you, so please feel free to ask questions. We’re easy to spot since we’re all dressed the same.” She pointed to Maggie, who raised her hand and gestured down at her matching outfit. A quiet laugh worked through the crowd. “Any questions?” She didn’t try too hard to find one and stepped down, handing the megaphone back to Steve before anyone else could talk to her.

  “Are the horses here yet?” she asked him.

  “No. They’ll come in a few days,” he answered.

  “I’ll need to discuss the disposal of manure. It’s full of seeds that aren’t native to this area. We can’t afford to have any more noxious weeds here, so it’ll need to be picked up immediately.”

  “I’ll send the wrangler to you when he gets here. Is there anything else I need to know?”

  “Not that I can think of. I’ll get out of your way so you can get to it.” The sooner they started, the sooner they would leave, which was just fine by her.

  Steve nodded, turned away from her, and started barking orders through the megaphone.

  “Maggie, will you please ask Neal and Robyn to help supervise today? They’ll need walkies.” She touched the walkie-talkie on her belt. “The others will need some instructions. Oh, and can you let Koko out for me at lunch?”

  “You bet,” Maggie said as cheerfully as ever before lumbering away.

  Alex watched as the camera and sound crews began the time-consuming task of carrying their heavy equipment from the vans to the set. Pity tugged at her as she watched them abandon their hand trucks at the end of the paved parking lot and struggle with the thick cables and huge black boxes. It took several hours to get their gear in place, and when the crew stopped for the day, she thanked them and finished a few small tasks at the Visitor Center before her shift ended.

  When she poked her head into Maggie’s office she couldn’t help but smile. “You were right. It wasn’t so bad.”

  “I told you.” Maggie grinned.

  “Thanks for helping me today. I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

  “Unless Henry decides to come tonight, which would be totally fine,” Maggie said to her swollen stomach. “I’m too old for this,” she said.

  “You are not. Thirty-five is perfect.” Maggie was only four years older than Alex, so she wasn’t about to let her friend think she was too old.

  “My back is killing me.” She rubbed along her spine.

  “I don’t think age has anything to do with that. My mom was almost forty when she had my little brother and she said her back hurt the worst with me, but she likes to blame me for everything.”

  “Troublemaker,” Maggie said and then got back to the project on her desk.

  On the short walk to her house, Alex hummed. Everything really was fine. One day down, thirteen more to go. The typical duties she had would be disrupted a little, but she was sure she could handle it.

  She’d never been so wrong in her life.

  Chapter Two

  “This place is a shit hole,” Blaze mumbled as he ducked his head out of the commuter plane. The landing strip looked like a long-forgotten highway with weeds growing in the abundant cracks. A row of boxy fluorescent lights illuminated the desolate landscape, including a tiny air control tower, which doubled as a car rental. Three cars were parked outside. Three.

  Nate cleared his throat, so Blaze stepped out onto the rickety stairs leading away from the aircraft. The metal frame creaked under his feet, making him grip the handrail a little tighter.

  No one greeted them. No fans, no cameras, nothing, just a uniformed man strolling back to the lone structure after delivering the rolling stairs.

  Blaze stopped on the last step, making Nate bump into him. “Where are we?”

  “The Dembi airport. I already told you,” Nate snapped and gave him a shove.

  Blaze shrugged but refused to move. Nate probably had told him, but he didn’t care enough to listen. Plus, he’d helped himself to a few drinks on the short trip, which always made time with Nate more tolerable. “I thought we were going to a hotel.” The dark night that surrounded them didn’t show any signs of civilization. “There’s nothing around here for miles.”

  “It’s a thirty-minute drive.” Nate sighed. “I don’t know why I let you drink. At least one of us is sober.”

  “Let me?” Blaze mocked and then finished descending the stairs. “How are we getting there?”

  “A driver is supposed to be meeting us here.” Nate came up alongside him, checked his phone, and then scanned the empty parking lot.

  Blaze dropped his duffle bag on the worn asphalt. “Did you request an invisible van?”

  Nate had already started dialing and had his back to Blaze. “Where’s our van?” He listened to the response. “What are we supposed to do? You expect us to wait another hour? Out here?” A groan accompanied the disconnection before he stalked toward the building.

  “What’s going on?” Blaze asked as he ran after him.

  Nate didn’t respond; he just kept walking.

  By the time they reached the tower, the aircraft had moved to the end of the runway and its engine whined as it prepared to take off. Blaze considered running after the plane to head home, but his agent would kill him. It might be worth it. Too late. The wheels lifted off the ground and the plane blasted him with grit as it took off.

  “Come on,” Nate grumbled as he held the door open to the passenger waiting room. It looked more like a doctor’s office. Half a dozen chairs lined the walls and a man stood behind the solitary counter.

  The man had been watching a rerun of an old sitcom on the ancient TV mounted on the wall across from him. “Welcome to Dembi Airport.” He narrowed his eyes. “Are you two Hollywood types?”

  “What does it look like?” Blaze asked as he straightened his back.

  “If I could figure that out, I wouldn’t have asked, would I?” the man replied. “You missed your van. They left about…” He paused to look at his watch for more than thirty seconds. “Twenty minutes ago.”

  “They were supposed to wait for us,” Nate ground out.

  “I can call into town if you’d like,” he offered as he slowly pointed to an olive green corded phone attached to the wall.

  “I already called.” Nate slumped into one of the dumpy chairs and dropped his bag on the floor.

  “We’re not staying, are we?” Blaze was tired and had no intention of waiting another hour and a half before he could get to bed.

  “Do you have any better ideas, genius?” Nate snapped.

  “Let’s rent a car.” Blaze nodded to the parking lot. “They’re for rent, right?” he asked loud enough that the man behind the counter could hear him.

  “One of them is mine, but
the other two are fair game. Which one are you interested in?” The man pulled out a stack of papers from behind the counter.

  Blaze went to the window and sneered as he sized up the two worn cars. “Neither.”

  The man must not have heard him, because he added, “The white one is a little nicer. It has a heater that works.”

  Blaze’s shoulders sagged. “We’ll take the white one.”

  “What do you mean, we?” Nate asked. “You can’t rent a car.”

  Blaze turned to face him. “Would you rather sit here and wait for a van to come get us? Maybe you’re interested in watching the rest of this episode.” He pointed a thumb at the TV, which had developed a gray band that flickered across the screen and distorted the image. “Or maybe you want to spend more quality time with me? Is that it? You want to bond?”

  Nate rolled his eyes.

  “We could braid each other’s hair and talk about boys,” he added with a fake smile. “Isn’t that what best friends do?” Blaze sat in the chair right next to Nate and leaned his head close. “Do me first.”

  Nate sighed and walked to the counter. “We’ll take the white one.” He pulled two wallets out of his luggage, one Nate’s the other Blaze’s. “You’re paying for this.” To prove his point, he removed one of Blaze’s credit cards.

  “Fine by me.” Blaze watched TV for a few minutes while Nate filled out the paperwork and called to cancel the van.

  With keys in hand, Nate went to the car, and Blaze followed immediately. They put their bags in the trunk and then Nate got behind the wheel. “Here’s a map of the area.”

  Blaze turned the overhead light on and looked at the folded paper as Nate started the car. There was one road that led to Dembi. “Turn right and drive until you reach the interstate. Pretty straightforward.” His eyes followed the lines on the map all the way to Twisted Juniper State Park. It would be a long drive for filming every day. Why had he taken the job?

  After switching the tiny light off, he leaned his seat back as far as it would go, and closed his eyes.

  Nate drove in silence for a while and then said, “Here’s the interstate.”

  “Turn the heater on, will you? It’s a little chilly.”

  Nate complied as Blaze put his seat back up.

  “Now we’re really living it up, huh?” Blaze smiled.

  Nate shook his head.

  The fabric on the ceiling was peeling from the corners and the faux leather dashboard was cracking, but at least the heater worked.

  As they approached the city, the sky began to glow. Nate drove toward a massive new building overlooking the small town. It was a little after midnight and they were all alone on the roads. In California, the roads were never empty.

  “Here we are,” Nate announced as he pulled up next to a row of white vans with a rental logo painted on the side. “I’ll go check us in.”

  Blaze nodded and waited in the car. A sidewalk wound around the perimeter of the parking lot and disappeared into the night.

  “You’re in room 212. I’m in 215.” Nate gave Blaze a keycard.

  Blaze scanned the parking lot before getting out. “Where is everyone?”

  Nate shrugged and shouldered his bag. “Sleeping? It was empty in the lobby, too. You’re safe.”

  Blaze couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone to a hotel without a paparazzi accompaniment. “Cool.” With the bag over his shoulder, he followed Nate inside. The man behind the lobby desk nodded to acknowledge them but immediately went back to work.

  The hotel seemed pretty upscale for such a small town. From the lobby, signs were posted for the pool, gym, and restaurant and bar. Fresh flowers were positioned in massive vases throughout the spacious room.

  Once they were in the elevator, Nate said, “He assured me they are very discreet here. They’re probably getting paid double to keep their mouths shut.” The doors slid open and they walked down the hall together in silence. “Night.”

  “Night,” Blaze echoed as he pushed his key into the slot and stepped into his room. It was smaller than the suites he was used to, but the bed was clean and comfortable, which was all that mattered. He kicked off his shoes, pulled back the comforter, and fell asleep.

  ****

  The room phone woke Blaze several hours later. Nate had arranged a wake-up call, of course. Couldn’t be late for work. He stretched and pushed the curtain open. From his window, he had a view of the entire sleepy town. The hotel sat on a ridge overlooking Dembi; it was small but beautiful. The sun had started to lighten the sky, but sunrise was still a ways off.

  He smoothed his rumpled clothes, tied his running shoes, and pushed out into the hall, stopping at Nate’s door so he could return the favor. “Wakey, wakey,” he said as he pounded on the thin door.

  “Asshole,” Nate grumbled.

  Blaze smiled and yanked the door to the stairway open, following them down, past the lobby, and outside to the sidewalk. What had appeared dismal and gray when they’d arrived, turned out to be a dusty red landscape as far as the eye could see. The sidewalk he had eyed the night before gave way to a dirt path that cut into the side of the ridge. He dug his shoes into the red soil and followed the trail onto a rocky rim that spanned a mile to the east. As the sun approached, it turned the dull sky a cheery blue and painted the ground bright red. Stunned by the beauty, Blaze stopped in his tracks and stored the images of his surroundings in his memory. Never before had he seen such a contrast of colors: blue, red, and pale green dotted the landscape.

  The sun warmed him while he stretched every muscle in his body. Push-ups came next and then he started running.

  The invigorating breeze was perfect. He breathed deep, savoring the fresh air as he rounded the edge of the cliff and looped back toward the hotel. By the time he returned, the caravan of vehicles was loading up.

  “Where have you been?” Nate demanded.

  Blaze pointed over his shoulder. “I went for a run. I thought that’s why you woke me up so early.”

  “We need to go and you need a shower. Hurry.” Nate wrinkled his nose and pointed to the sweat marks under Blaze’s arms and around his neck.

  “Last time I checked, I’m the star. We’ll go when I’m ready.” Once Blaze was out of sight he hustled to his room, showered in record time, and returned to the parking lot to get into the last van. A few of the extras offered their seats to him, but he declined and squeezed into the very back. Nate followed, naturally.

  With the van loaded the driver headed out of town, straight into the heart of the desert. Blaze tried to sleep on the hour-long trip to the park, but Nate filled the time with idle prattle.

  “Steve said the assistant park manager would be waiting for us.” The screen on Nate’s phone displayed a paragraph of text. “Alex Mitchell.”

  “Whatever.” Blaze couldn’t care less what the ranger’s name was. As long as the guy didn’t get in his way, things would work out fine. Of course things never worked out just fine. They always wanted something from him: autographs, pictures, or an hour-long chat. “Did you get me anything to eat?”

  “I’ll get you something on set.” Nate looked out the window. “It’s pretty here. I didn’t think it would be.” Blaze followed his gaze and nodded before Nate went on, “We need to be on set earlier tomorrow. You’ll have to plan your run accordingly.”

  “Fine.” Blaze propped his foot on his bent knee. Tiny red rocks were wedged into the bottom of his shoes. He smiled and could almost feel the wind on his face again.

  They passed through the entrance gate and finally pulled into a parking lot next to the other vans. Blaze waited patiently while everyone got out and then grinned when murmurs went through the crowd.

  “I have arrived,” he announced as he strutted toward the waiting cast. While he had enjoyed the solitude and anonymity, there was nothing quite like a sea of adoring fans. A few faces were familiar, but most were extras he hadn’t worked with before. One of the women was already in costume and smiled at him.
By the cut of her dress, she was probably playing a prostitute. “Hot damn,” he said before introducing himself. She was the kind of woman who had gotten him in trouble in the past.

  “Blaze. Costume is waiting,” Nate reminded him.

  “In a minute. I’m getting to know—what did you say your name was?”

  “Caitlin,” she said.

  “Caitlin.” They shook hands slowly. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  “Likewise.”

  “See you on set,” he said and winked.

  She blushed.

  “Costume waits for no man.” Blaze laughed and then followed Nate to the costume trailer. “I was just being friendly.”

  “With the prettiest woman on set,” Nate added. “I bet she’d look even better on her knees. You’ll have to let me know,” he said with a nudge.

  Blaze nodded and stepped into the costume trailer. It was the same wardrobe he’d been wearing for months, but he’d never worn it outside. So far, everything had been shot in a studio. Mr. Reid, the director, had insisted on filming the action sequences on location, which meant everyone and everything had to be transported to the middle of the Utah desert.

  Javier handed him a pile of neatly folded clothes and motioned to a tiny dressing room. “Carol will get your props when you’re dressed.”

  “Nice to see you, too, Javier.”

  Javier smiled and pushed him into a dressing room.

  Blaze changed quickly and then got his gun and holster from Carol. It felt real around his waist, and his scuffed up cowboy boots and hat were the final touch. When he left the trailer, he truly felt like Buck, the Wild West outlaw he was playing.

  Nate waited outside with a packaged muffin. “Where are your clothes?”

  “In the dressing room.” Blaze snatched his breakfast out of Nate’s hand.

  Nate grunted and pushed past him. “Don’t worry, I’ll clean up after you, as per usual.”

  “Isn’t that what you’re paid for?” Blaze didn’t get far before the seam of his pants rubbed against his boot. He put his muffin down just in front of him on a flat red rock as he squatted to adjust his costume. Within seconds, something swooped in and stole it. “Hey,” he shouted.