This information surprised me. “Huh, how about that.”
“How about what?” Cletus asked, chewing on his bottom lip. I made a note of the action because he only ever chewed on his lip when he was agitated.
“Well, Sarah didn’t mention any of that when I talked to her this morning. She’d been modest about her writing.” Which made me like her even more. “So it’s fascinating to hear about how she’s basically launched someone else’s career and made no show of it.”
Cletus had no response to this, just kept chewing on his bottom lip and staring out the windshield. We passed a few moments in a contemplative hush, during which I decided I should look up Sarah’s film credits when I got a chance. On the other hand, maybe I wouldn’t. Maybe I’d just let her tell me about herself in her own time, let things progress naturally.
“Well, anyway,” I said—Cletus’s prolonged silence unsettled me and I needed to say something—“you’ll meet her this evening. Like I said, I’m picking her up at the end of the day. So I’d appreciate it if you made an effort to be nice.”
My brother shifted in his seat. “You whistling love songs means you really like this girl, huh?”
I nodded once. “That’s right.”
“You’ve never been one to misread women,” he said this mostly to himself. Then to me he put, “I’m assuming she’s given you reason to believe she’s interested, too?”
I grinned, nodding. “That’s right.”
His eyes darted to mine, then away. “It’s been a long time, Jethro. Not that I’ve been keeping track, per se. But you haven’t shown any particular interest in a woman, or women, in over five years.”
“That’s right,” I said for a third time, finding I needed to add, “but you know why that is, why I haven’t.”
“I guess I do.” Cletus’s voice was gentle, deep in a way that communicated concern. “It’s just, I know we give you a hard time, but we see you’ve been trying to make amends . . . with all of us. Your efforts haven’t gone unnoticed.”
I blinked. This wasn’t the direction I’d expected the conversation to go. I pressed on the brake, bringing the truck to a stop, and held still. The moment felt fragile and I wanted to make sure he knew I was serious.
“I appreciate you saying that, Cletus,” I said carefully. “But I don’t plan to disappoint this girl. I’m not like that anymore. Nothing has happened yet, but I wouldn’t be pursuing her if my intentions weren’t honorable.”
Cletus sighed, shaking his head, looking mildly frustrated. “I know that, dummy.”
I eyeballed my brother, at a loss. “Then what’s the problem?”
He didn’t respond. Not even when I pressed on the gas again and drove us to the next trap site. He just sat in his seat looking pensive and chewing his bottom lip sore.
CHAPTER 7
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
― Winston S. Churchill
~Sienna~
My makeup artist’s name was Susie Moist.
No lie. That was her name.
Thus, I couldn’t help but usually greet her as follows: “Susie . . . Moist?”
And she would always reply, “Not for you.”
But not today. Today I discovered her applying Tom’s makeup. Now this wouldn’t be that big of a deal, except Tom was in my trailer, sitting in my chair.
So, to recap, my sorta ex-boyfriend was in my trailer, sitting in my chair, and using my makeup artist.
“Hello, Tom. Susie,” I said stiffly from my place just outside the trailer. “How’s it hanging?”
Susie gave me a frown that communicated she was less than pleased to be doing Tom’s makeup.
Whereas Tom grinned like he was happy to see me. It was adorable. As was his nickname for me. “Sí-sí.”
Hilarious, right? Because I am Latina, and “sí” is “yes” in Spanish. So his nickname for me was “Yes-yes.”
. . . Don’t everybody swoon all at once.
I glanced at the front door of the trailer again, making sure it had my name on it—Sienna Diaz, not Sí-sí, because Sí-sí wasn’t my name—and sure enough, it was my trailer.
“Why are you in my trailer, Tom?” I made sure my tone was light, quizzical, and betrayed none of the irritation I felt. We were going to be working together for the next twelve or more weeks, and I was a professional. But I made note of the lesson: never date another actor, because one day you might have to work with him.
“I was bored. Make me a coffee. You make the best coffee.” He lifted his chin and gazed into Susie’s eyes, giving her his trademark smolder as she applied his lip liner. Susie was one of the toughest most pragmatic women I knew, but I could see it affected her. I wasn’t surprised. His smolder up close was no joke.