“Hank. It’s been a long time,” Ashley drawled and offered her right hand for a benign handshake, issuing him a single eyebrow lift of distrust.
He gave her a wounded look—which impressed her not at all—and she pointed her question to the sheriff. “Evening, Sheriff. What are y’all talking about?”
Sheriff James scratched his chin, openly inspecting us. “Well I suppose there’s no harm in telling, since everybody is going to know soon enough. Some Hollywood types are filming a movie out at Cades Cove and the surrounding areas, permission came down through federal channels. I imagine Drew knows all about it, has for months, I suspect.”
Ashley’s eyes widened with bewilderment. “He’s said nothing to me about it.”
“The man is good at keeping secrets,” Hank said darkly.
I scowled at my business partner, then turned to Ash. “You know how Drew is, he probably forgot about it. That or he thought Hollywood people using the park wasn’t important enough to mention.”
My sister’s smile was soft and warm and her gaze grew introspective. She was obviously thinking of Drew and his peculiar manner. “You’re probably right. He’ll spend an hour describing new bear cubs he spotted on the prairie, but he’d likely pay no mind to the making of a movie in his backyard.”
“How fascinating,” Hank deadpanned, frowning.
Although I considered Drew a good friend, I couldn’t be too irritated with Hank. Half the men in Green Valley were in love with my sister. Just like half the women were in love with my brother Billy. Hank’s envy was amusing as hell.
“The whole thing will be over in three months, or so they told my office. They’ll be holding auditions for extras next Friday,” the sheriff remarked offhandedly, as though the entire situation was perplexing, and he was trying to sort through it.
“Anybody famous in it? Anyone we would know?” Ashley asked the question most people would likely ask sooner or later.
“Not anyone I know.” The sheriff shrugged. “But then I don’t watch many movies these days. They’re not what they used to be.”
“Tom Low is in it.” Hank stared past me unseeingly as he recalled several more names. “Jon Will, Ken Hess, Janice Kenner, and Sienna Diaz are all I can recall.”
“Whoa.” Ashley’s eyes grew round and her mouth fell open. “Sienna Diaz? And Tom Low? Holy moly pudding pie.”
Hank gave Ashley a small grin. “Holy moly pudding pie?”
“Kiss the wind and make it cry,” Ash continued her odd rhyme, still too stunned to speak anything but nonsense.
“Should we know who these people are?” I asked, glancing between my sister, Sheriff James, and Hank. The sheriff was no help.
“Sienna Diaz just won an Oscar this year, first Latina to win Best Actress ever, and only the fourth to be nominated. And she won for a comedic role, which is unheard of. Her last few movies were huge hits.”
“Then who is Tom Low?” I asked, none of this ringing any bells.
“He’s Sienna’s ex-boyfriend, and his career has kinda been suffering since they split.”
I squinted at Ash. “How do you know this stuff?”
She shrugged and wrinkled her nose at me like I was the weird one. “Everybody knows this stuff, except for national park rangers who don’t watch TV.”
“She’s right.” Hank nodded. “I know this stuff.”
“Well, I don’t know this stuff.” The sheriff shot me a commiserating glance. “Regardless, these people will be descending upon us next week. I need to go find Daisy and give her a heads-up, likely they’ll be wanting some of her doughnuts and pie.”
I pointed to where Daisy Payton was standing at the far end of the bar. “She’s over there, said she was getting a drink.”
“Thanks, son.” Being a man of few words and fewer sentiments, Sheriff James gave Ashley and me a tight smile, then moved to intercept Daisy.
I watched him go and inadvertently made eye contact with a female. Hastily, I yanked my eyes to Ashley and turned us so my back was to the woman.
“Oh good grief, Jethro.” Ashley’s sigh was both amused and exasperated. “Haven’t you figured it out by now? Cletus didn’t invite any of your old lady friends to this shindig.”
I glared at my sister, mouth agape. “Are you serious?”
Hank tried to hide his laughter behind his hand. “You’re so gullible, Jethro. Cletus told me all about how he was going to make you think he’d invited the Tanner twins. He was just messing with you. They ain’t here.”
Ashley reached forward and pinched my cheek. “My big brother, scared to death of women.”