“My mama said to always listen to your intuition.”
“My intuition wants me to turn around and spend the weekend shopping at the Grove.”
They reached Ojai, and Nicola was surprised by the wave of disappointment that washed over her. She had expected something magical. But it was just a single strip of the stores rich people frequent, in the midst of rolling hills. Expensive clothing, dodgy art, sushi, and nouvelle cuisine. They drove through it in a minute, and the GPS sent them up a winding country road back into the mountains, turning onto an unmarked driveway sandwiched between towering walls of oleander, pink and white flowers everywhere.
After almost a mile, a guard’s building made of huge rocks appeared in front of them, blocking the road.
Nicola wound her window down to speak to the genial Burl Ives–ish guard, but before she got a word out, he greeted her by name.
“Miss Wallace, welcome to Prairie Blossom,” he said. “And I see you have Miss Jones with you.”
With a smile, the guard handed two sheets of paper and a pen to the girls.
“If you’d both be so kind as to sign this NDA,” he said. “It’s a standard form—you can’t shoot anything from the movie and share it online, and you can’t reveal any plot points or costumes or anything. The usual stuff.”
The guard waited patiently for the signed papers to be back in his hand. He then asked for their driver’s licenses, photocopied them, and meticulously stapled them to their NDAs.
“Thank you, ladies.” The guard smiled genially. “I now own you both.” He handed them another paper.
“Here’s your map of Prairie Blossom,” he said. “I’ll let Mr. O’Riordan know you’ve arrived. He’s asked that you drive directly to your accommodations, in the Hammond Building. Just follow this road all the way to the main area and you’ll see a sign directing you to the house on the right. Park out front and Mr. O’Riordan will meet you there.”
“Thank you, sir.” Nicola smiled as the huge metal gates creaked inward and they sped off along the dusty road through the oleander.
A turn pushed them through a break in the hedge, and both girls gasped as the estate spread out below them—a huge Roman-inspired collection of terra-cotta mansions and smaller buildings nestled among groves of olive trees. An emerald polo field was surrounded by medieval bleachers and dwarfed by a life-size prop spaceship, smooth and silver with razor-blade wings, that was crashed into the grass.
“That’s one hell of an alien DUI,” laughed Kara. Nicola shook her head. It was going to be a weird weekend.
The signs to the Hammond Building appeared just beyond the polo field. Nicola slowed as she took a blind corner into a driveway that wrapped around an ornate round fountain, water spilling down into a lily pond. She killed the engine to park behind Seamus’s truck. A wood door opened in the house and Seamus, clad in gym shorts and nothing else, bounded out.
“I’m sorry, gurl, but holy fuck, he fine,” Kara said, fanning herself.
“Keep it in your pants, sister.”
Seamus was at her car door before she could get her seat belt undone. He threw it open with a gentlemanly flourish and kneeled before Nicola.
“Welcome to my kingdom, m’lady,” he said, in his poshest English accent.
Nicola grabbed his hand and was hauled out of the car and into his arms.
“Why, my lord, your estate is every bit as…”
He shut her up with a kiss. He’d been working out and he smelled just the right amount of clean and manly. Stop it, her mind screamed. You’re acting like a fifteen-year-old.
“Get a mansion,” Kara barked at them, and they broke apart laughing.
“Hey, Kara, how are you?’ Seamus asked, and Nicola noticed an odd tension in his voice. She looked from him to her friend and saw them locking eyes.
“I’m good, O’Riordan,” Kara said, looking away. “Hey, Nic, can you pop the trunk?”
Nicola bent and tugged several times at the trunk latch on the driver’s side floor until it finally released with a slow creak. Both women walked to the trunk to get their bags, and Seamus waved them away.
“Ladies, please head inside. I will take care of your bags.”
Kara shrugged, quipped, “Okay, Jeeves,” and headed inside. Nicola turned to Seamus.
“Lemme help,” she said. He shook his head and leaned in and kissed her forehead softly.
“Our room is the big room at the top of the stairs. Head on up.”
Nicola gave in and walked inside.
* * *
Seamus grabbed the two huge suitcases and set them on the ground. He pulled them both behind him along the pressed sand path between beds of lavender.