beer, if you want.”
“No,” Josh said quickly. “If you bring it, I’d have to offer you one, and then maybe you’d take it, and then you’d bedrinking around my horses, and letting rookies ride them is bad enough. I don’t want to make them deal with rookies who’ve been drinking.”
“Complicated,” Charlotte said, and Josh definitely got the impression she was talking about more than his ban on drinking and riding. “But, okay. Your barn, your rules.”
Well, he liked the sound of that, at least. So he gave her a nod, then turned back in Kevin’s direction. “You measuring down there?”
“Oh,” he said. His smile was more of a grimace. “Could you just give me those numbers one more—”
“Thirty-two by seventeen and three-quarters, and nineteen and a half by sixteen even.” Charlotte smiled, then said to Josh, “Kevin said maybe we could have a lesson tonight, after it’s cooled down a little but before it gets dark. Maybe around seven?”
Damn. This was really happening. Josh wondered what state the house was in, and then resolved to just keep them outside. He’d clean the front bathroom. That was it. Make sure the hallway that led to it was in good shape. No more. “Yeah,” he said reluctantly. “Okay. Kevin told you how to get there?”
“He didn’t. He wasn’t quite
that
presumptuous! Maybe you could come up to the house when you’re done working? We could give you a down payment on the drinks, and you could give us directions?”
But there was no way he was going to sit around on the deck of one of these fancy cottages and drink with the movie stars. Those days were gone, and he was glad of it. Besides, she’d already demonstrated that she had a good memory. “Take the highway north out of town, turn left at the abandoned church, then right at the top of the hill, and I’m the third driveway on the right.”
She blinked as if taking a moment to store the information in her memory banks, then nodded. “Okay. No down payment.We’ll see you around seven.” She turned and headed for the house, and they both watched her go.
“There is no way you can handle a woman like that,” Josh said to his cousin. It wasn’t a warning, just a calm statement of fact.
Kevin shook his head. “I’ll do it or die trying.” Then he looked down at the sheet of plywood he’d hauled out of the back of the pickup. “Could I just get those measurements one more time?”
Eight
“SO, WHAT’S THE story?” Charlotte asked as she and Ashley headed out on the highway. They both had jeans on, but Charlotte was wearing a fitted, low-cut blouse while Ashley had opted for a long-sleeve work shirt in an unflattering army green that she’d found at the town’s small department store that afternoon. It was a shirt that clearly said I-have-no-interest-in-you-sexually-or-otherwise, and it was the best purchase Ashley had made in months.
“The story? What story?” She knew it wouldn’t work, but she decided to play dumb anyway. It seemed appropriate to mount some level of defense. “I just decided that I wanted the part. Well, no, I always knew I wanted the part. I just decided that I owed it to myself to
try
for the part. I’m not going to do the bastards’ dirty work for them. If they want to reject me, they can at least go to the trouble of doing it themselves instead of brainwashing me into doing it for them.” That’s what the sisters in the script would have done.
“Okay, that is all excellent, and I love it that you’re going to try. But I think you know that’s not what I’m talking about,” Charlotte said.
“You played a psychiatrist for two episodes of a TV series. You are not actually a therapist.”
“Ah, but isn’t it interesting that your mind automatically went to ‘therapy’ just because I asked you a simple question. Yes, very interesting, I think. Don’t you?”
Ashley refused to look over and see Charlotte’s triumphant grin. Instead, she focused on
“No,” Josh said quickly. “If you bring it, I’d have to offer you one, and then maybe you’d take it, and then you’d bedrinking around my horses, and letting rookies ride them is bad enough. I don’t want to make them deal with rookies who’ve been drinking.”
“Complicated,” Charlotte said, and Josh definitely got the impression she was talking about more than his ban on drinking and riding. “But, okay. Your barn, your rules.”
Well, he liked the sound of that, at least. So he gave her a nod, then turned back in Kevin’s direction. “You measuring down there?”
“Oh,” he said. His smile was more of a grimace. “Could you just give me those numbers one more—”
“Thirty-two by seventeen and three-quarters, and nineteen and a half by sixteen even.” Charlotte smiled, then said to Josh, “Kevin said maybe we could have a lesson tonight, after it’s cooled down a little but before it gets dark. Maybe around seven?”
Damn. This was really happening. Josh wondered what state the house was in, and then resolved to just keep them outside. He’d clean the front bathroom. That was it. Make sure the hallway that led to it was in good shape. No more. “Yeah,” he said reluctantly. “Okay. Kevin told you how to get there?”
“He didn’t. He wasn’t quite
that
presumptuous! Maybe you could come up to the house when you’re done working? We could give you a down payment on the drinks, and you could give us directions?”
But there was no way he was going to sit around on the deck of one of these fancy cottages and drink with the movie stars. Those days were gone, and he was glad of it. Besides, she’d already demonstrated that she had a good memory. “Take the highway north out of town, turn left at the abandoned church, then right at the top of the hill, and I’m the third driveway on the right.”
She blinked as if taking a moment to store the information in her memory banks, then nodded. “Okay. No down payment.We’ll see you around seven.” She turned and headed for the house, and they both watched her go.
“There is no way you can handle a woman like that,” Josh said to his cousin. It wasn’t a warning, just a calm statement of fact.
Kevin shook his head. “I’ll do it or die trying.” Then he looked down at the sheet of plywood he’d hauled out of the back of the pickup. “Could I just get those measurements one more time?”
Eight
“SO, WHAT’S THE story?” Charlotte asked as she and Ashley headed out on the highway. They both had jeans on, but Charlotte was wearing a fitted, low-cut blouse while Ashley had opted for a long-sleeve work shirt in an unflattering army green that she’d found at the town’s small department store that afternoon. It was a shirt that clearly said I-have-no-interest-in-you-sexually-or-otherwise, and it was the best purchase Ashley had made in months.
“The story? What story?” She knew it wouldn’t work, but she decided to play dumb anyway. It seemed appropriate to mount some level of defense. “I just decided that I wanted the part. Well, no, I always knew I wanted the part. I just decided that I owed it to myself to
try
for the part. I’m not going to do the bastards’ dirty work for them. If they want to reject me, they can at least go to the trouble of doing it themselves instead of brainwashing me into doing it for them.” That’s what the sisters in the script would have done.
“Okay, that is all excellent, and I love it that you’re going to try. But I think you know that’s not what I’m talking about,” Charlotte said.
“You played a psychiatrist for two episodes of a TV series. You are not actually a therapist.”
“Ah, but isn’t it interesting that your mind automatically went to ‘therapy’ just because I asked you a simple question. Yes, very interesting, I think. Don’t you?”
Ashley refused to look over and see Charlotte’s triumphant grin. Instead, she focused on
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