California Dreaming: Four Contemporary Romances (100 page)

James laughed. “It’s a glamorous tent and there’re two beds, so I’m sure you’ll be comfortable.”

Mandy glared at him.

“But what about showers? And a bathroom? Surely you don’t expect me to go in the woods? I’m a well-known actress.”

James smiled, but there was a new wariness in his eyes. “There are several well-known actors here. I’m afraid there’s only a communal bathroom and shower.” He dangled the keys back in front of her. “Perhaps you’ll be more comfortable in the village. I’m sure Sally would give Mandy the day off tomorrow so she could spend time with you after your long trip.”

Behind her mother, Mandy was wildly shaking her head. Spending the day alone with Lola was not the scenario she had in mind at all.

“Other well-known actors here? Anyone I might know?” Lola didn’t reach for the keys.

James rattled off a list of a few of the well-known actors on the set. Lola stopped him when he came to George Stubbins’s name.

“Lovely!” She turned to Mandy. “I know I told you I couldn’t remember George, but seeing how handsome James is, it simply jogged my memory. George was so good looking. I can’t wait to get reacquainted.”

I bet.

“Does that mean you want to stay in a tent with
communal
bathrooms? No privacy.” Mandy tried to put as much negativity in her voice as possible.

Lola waved her hand. “I’m sure if you can stand it, I can as well.” Then she pointed a finger at James. “Lead on, Macduff.”

Mandy stifled her groan. Her mother liked to drop lines from Shakespeare as often as she could.

James retrieved the suitcase from the trunk of the car and rolled it down the parking lot in the direction of the tent cabins.

Lola readjusted her sunglasses and pranced after him.

Shaking her head, Mandy snagged her purse from her car and followed the conga line.

James deposited the suitcase on the spare bed. “I’ll see you ladies later at dinner. Let me know if you need anything.”

“And where is your … um … tent cabin, my dear boy?”

Lola could make anything sound suggestive.

Red flamed James’s neck. “Down that way.” He pointed toward his tent. “But Sally is right next door. I’m sure she could help you with anything you need. Have a nice stay, Ms. Parker.” James hopped down the steps.

Mandy turned to her mother. “How long will you be here?”

“Now darling, don’t be like that. I wanted to see you. You never come east anymore, darling, and you know how much I miss you.”

“But I’m working. What are you going to do all day?”

“I’m an actor. I’m used to sitting around all day. I’ve got my magazines. I’ll sit out by the set and watch them shoot.”

“I don’t think the director is going to like that.”

Again the hand wave.

“I’m sure I have enough friends here to convince … who’s the director?”

“Beth Ann Colbert.”

Her mother brightened. “Oh, that’s easy, then. Beth Ann and I go way back.”

That’s what I’m afraid of.

“Now where are those communal bathrooms you said were nearby?”

Mandy gave her directions. As soon as Lola left, Mandy sat on her bed, thankful the only noise was a nearby stellar jay squawking its outrage.

How dare her mother show up unannounced? How long was she planning on staying? And what amount of damage would she do before she left?

Maybe Beth Ann would tell her to get lost.

Fat chance. Mandy’s luck didn’t run that way.

She looked around the small tent cabin, a structure far too small to hold Lola’s stage-hewn personality. It wouldn’t be long. Lola Parker wasn’t one for roughing it. If she didn’t take off in a few days, Mandy would enlist James’s help to speed her mother on her way.

Someone rapped on the pole outside the tent.

She stood and opened the flap.

James waited outside. “Is it safe?” he asked.

Mandy took the two steps from the tent platform. “I’m sorry. I had no idea she was going to show up.”

He touched her arm. “It’s not your fault. Based on what you’ve told me I’m quite sure you didn’t invite her.” He chuckled, and then his expression grew serious. “I know I promised I wouldn’t do this, but I can’t seem to help myself.”

He cupped his hand under her chin and he kissed her.

The brief imprint of his mouth on hers sweetly stoked her fire in ways she didn’t want to admit.

He lifted his head and stared into her eyes. “I’ve wanted to do that for days.” He rubbed his thumb along her cheek. “Ever since you told me you were seeing someone. I wanted to see if you were serious about him.”

He kissed her again, his lips lingering a little longer this time before releasing her. “No, not serious. You better dump him. And forget anyone else who’s flirting with you.”

Mandy shook her head, but let a smile turn the corner of her mouth up. “Like Doug?

James’s voice was a growl. “Exactly.”

“You’re nuts.” His smile broadened.

“Maybe. I keep trying to put you out of my mind. You don’t fit into my life plan.” He smiled ruefully. “But my mother thinks life is going to laugh at my plan anyway.”

“Going to make a change?”

“It’s a thought.”

The click of high heels on the walkway made Mandy take a step back from James.

“Halloo! Mandy, which tent is yours? They all look alike!” Lola’s voice wafted before her like a cloud of cheap perfume. “Oh, there you are! And the young man is back again!” Her mother’s arched eyebrow was out of a late-night Groucho Marx movie.

Sheesh.

“James stopped by to tell me about a request from one of the actors.”

“I see.” Lola’s voice told Mandy she didn’t believe the lie at all. She’d been able to spot Mandy’s fibs from a very early age.

James glanced at his watch. “They should be serving supper soon. May I walk you two ladies over?”

“That would be lovely.” Lola slipped her arm through his, giving a glance of triumph to Mandy.

No matter how old her mother got, she wanted to be the center of male attention. Whatever she did seemed to work, because no matter what their age, men flocked to Lola.

“Are you coming, darling?” Lola said over her shoulder.

I wonder if she knows how much of a caricature of herself she’s becoming.

Defiant, Mandy took her time catching up, but she entered the dinner tent in time to hear hushed whispers circle. Her mother gave little waves as James took her to the cafeteria-style line.

“Hey, Mandy?” Sally’s voice broke Mandy’s chain of irritation.

Mandy turned to her boss. “What’s up?” She tried to remove the tension from her voice.

Sally flicked a glance to the chow line. “Your mother?”

Mandy nodded.

“I thought I recognized her. What’s she doing here?”

“Dunno.” Mandy shrugged.

Sally cleared her throat. “I see. Anyway, the lodge just informed me they’re going to close down the dining tent a week earlier than planned. Seems like too many of their staff need to go back to school.”

“What does that mean?”

“More work, I’m afraid. You’d planned to go to Costanoa on Monday for your appointment, right?”

Mandy nodded.

“Is that still on?” Sally nodded toward Lola.

“She better be gone by then,” Mandy said.

Sally grinned. “Okay, assuming she’s no longer here, can you pick up some extra supplies in Santa Cruz so we can make it through two weeks of dinner as well as lunch? That’s all we need. Beth Ann hopes to wrap up shooting by then.” She frowned. “If nothing else happens.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Little things. No more lights or props have disappeared. The locks James got seem to be holding, but someone rearranged the set last night. Cost them extra time this morning. I overheard Beth Ann giving James a tongue-lashing yesterday, telling him he should have hired a guard. She’s pissed, and I’m afraid rightly so. It’s James’s job to make sure this kind of stuff doesn’t happen.”

“Doug said he thought James should hire a guard, too. Do you think he said it to Beth Ann? Do you think she’d fire James and put Doug in his place?”

Sally shook her head. “Probably not, but she won’t give him the recommendation he wants.”

“That would be a problem for him.”

Sally nodded. “Shall we get some food? It’s one of the last meals we don’t have to cook ourselves.”

As Mandy trailed Sally to the food line, her mind raced. Too much going on. Sabotage on the set. The lodge closing early. Lola’s entrance.

Mandy’s fingers went to her lips.

The kiss.

“Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?” Lola took a lacy nightgown from her suitcase. “It was so nice to see George again.” She frowned at Mandy. “He said you can be standoffish. That’s not the way to make it in this business.”

Was her mother trying to pimp her out? There had been something odd about her mother’s conversation with George, though. Lola had looked almost embarrassed.

Should she say something? Mandy glanced at her mother who was setting into her evening routine of creams and powders.

Mandy smiled. “Better be careful with the perfume, Lola. There are bears, you know.”

Lola dropped the tube she was holding. “Bears?”

“Uh-huh. Didn’t you read the website? No food, no heavy scents.”

“Have you seen one?” Lola was wide-eyed. “How can you work in a food trailer when you know you could be attacked by an animal?”

Mandy laughed. “The only thing I’ve seen is a nasty raccoon and several over-eager squirrels. We’re careful.”

Lola sat down next to Mandy on her bed and grabbed her hand. “I want you to give up this nonsense right now.”

Mandy pulled her hand from her mothers. “It’s not nonsense. It’s what I want to do—what I have to do. Work has been slow. I need a new car. This fell into my lap.” She stood, walked to the front of the tent, and stared at the night sky wondering what James was doing and wishing she could put him out of her mind.

She turned back to her mother. “I like doing what I’m doing. It’s my life, not yours.”

Lola stood and faced her. “You’re just like Dana. Too bullheaded for your own good.” She wagged her finger. “You’ll see. You’ll wind up in the same place I did—alone while your man chases after younger tail.”

“Don’t be crass, Lola. I’m not you, and I’m not Dana. I’m me.” The tension rose in her body, like it always did when her mother tried to control her life. “Why
are
you here?”

“You never come home anymore. I’m lonely. You’re my only child. You should come visit me, not make me chase you to some God-forsaken place where they have bears.”

If her mother hadn’t looked so pitiful, Mandy would have laughed. “I don’t like New Jersey,” she said. “And I can’t afford to visit.”

Lola gave her simpering smile, the one she always used when she was about to cast her line into Mandy’s emotions and snag her hook in guilt.

Mandy held up her hand. “Don’t. I’m too old for your games.” She waved at the pile of cosmetics on Lola’s bed. “Why don’t you finish your nightly routine and go to bed? I have an early call.” She pushed aside the tent flap.

“Where are you going?” Fear simmered around the edges of Lola’s voice.

“For a walk.”

“You’re leaving me alone?”

Mandy shook her head. “Nothing’s going to bother you, Lola. I’ll be back in a little while.” She sighed. “Just go to bed.”

“But—”

“Goodnight.”

Mandy grabbed a flashlight and walked toward the lodge, away from James’s tent and Lola’s insanity.

She tried to love Lola, and at some level she did. Since her first talk with the therapist, though, Mandy had begun to have hope she didn’t have to
be
her mother. She could forge her own life with her own dreams and actions. Even if she was bipolar, there were treatments to follow that would help her stabilize.

Maybe she
should
see Dana. James and Sally said he was a good guy. While her mother said Dana Russell had never bothered to find out what was up with his little girl, Mandy was no longer sure that was true. Over the years she’d seen her mother twist the truth more than once to get her way.

Why should the truth about Dana be any different?

Her therapist might have some ideas on how to approach her father.

A figure came around the corner.

Her heart upped its pace.

“Hello!” the man called out.

She recognized James’s voice.

Her heart didn’t slow.

“Hi,” she called back, but stopped walking. Which James was this? The one with the plan? Or the one who wanted to kiss her?

He came toward her. “Did you leave Lola alone?”

“Yes. I needed a little time for myself. How about you?”

“Thinking.” He looked down at her, his face shadowy in the dark. “I’m sure Sally told you about the set change.”

“Yes.”

“I’m trying to figure out when this stuff happens. It has to be at night or we’d see someone.”

“Do you have any idea who’s responsible? Or why?”

James shook his head. “It’s making me look bad, though. Maybe that’s the point.”

“Why would someone want that?”

James shrugged. “The business is very competitive.”

“Really? Competitive enough to sabotage an entire movie? You’re not the only one who gets hurt.”

“True. Whatever the reason, it’s still my responsibility to find out who’s doing it and stop it. Mind if I walk with you?”

She hesitated. “No kissing.”

He paused. “Okay. No kissing.”

She frowned at his answer. Drat. She was becoming as contrary as he was. Maybe she should tell him to go in a different direction, but if there was someone lurking in the dark, she’d be better off having James with her.

She started across the parking lot. He walked by her side.

Too damn close by her side.

The moonlight was strong enough they didn’t need a flashlight. Without the hubbub of the traffic, the river’s rushing dominated the night sounds. They walked down the path into the meadows, near the spot where the Tuolumne River cut across the grass.

She knew he wanted to kiss her. The tension radiated from his body.

The trouble was she wanted him to kiss her, too. Had he meant what he’d said about the potential to change his life plan?