"I know Alex from here, actually. We're friends from last year, when I was cooking. He came in and ate breakfast. He sat at Luna's table, which we need to do today since you're full."
"Oh, I think I remember that. Okay, so, you two are going to eat back here?"
"Yeah, we already put in our order with Carly.
"Okay, great. Well, move things around if you need to, and holler at me if you need anything."
My sister smiled at Alex. She didn't mean anything by it, but I cringed inwardly because of how pretty she was. My sister was more extreme than me in every way. She was more daring, more adventurous, more outgoing, more beautiful. You name it, and Audrey had more of it than me. She didn't mean anything by the beautiful smile that was aimed at Alex, and I tried not to assume that he would fall for her right there in front of my very eyes.
Luna was holding my hand, and she pulled me along, taking me to her table. "Did you see my new baby?" she asked me, holding one of the new toys her mom had waiting here.
"I saw her in a picture, but I haven't met her yet," I said as I went to the table and took a seat. I pulled Luna into my lap so that she wouldn't absentmindedly take the only other chair.
"What are you going to name her?" I asked.
"Curly."
I nodded. "Curly? Okay."
"Cause her hair." She cut her eyes at Alex after he sat down. "Does he want to hold my baby?" she asked, leaning into me and speaking quietly.
"I don't know, let's ask him." I glanced at Alex. My eyes met his, and in that moment, I could not understand how this man had ended up sitting across from me. The things that had happened between us before seemed so tucked away in my mind that it was hard to believe I was looking at his face again. He was like a fictional character. He was too good to be true. The whole thing felt surreal.
"Would you like to hold baby Curly?" I asked, trying not to smile.
"Sure." He reached for the baby. "Is she sleeping or awake?" he asked.
"She's awake," Luna answered, smiling.
"Okay, well, I'm not too used to holding babies," he said, propping the baby on his shoulder. "My brother has a baby, but he lives in Pennsylvania."
Luna laughed like he was joking, and that made Alex laugh as well, which in turn made me laugh.
His smile. He had perfect white teeth, and I could not look at his face, and especially not his mouth, without thinking about the night we kissed.
"So, you're filming now?" I asked him. "Is it a series, like you wanted?"
"Yes, we're moving forward with the series as it was originally planned. Six parts. We're not necessarily working in order as we film."
"So, you're staying at that ranch in Deer Lodge?" I asked.
"Yes. We have trailers and these cool enclosed tents that we rented. They have electricity and everything, so we're not roughing it, but at the same time, we are. The trailers have tiny bathrooms. We share a common eating area. One of the tents has a portable kitchen."
"How many of you are there?"
"There are between twenty and thirty of us who are working regularly. It's not just actors, we have people helping Henry with the horses and things like that. Then we have days when even more are brought in, extras, for scenes with a lot of people. We have that happening now for a scene we're filming tomorrow night. The scene takes place at a dance, and we've got a hundred extras coming. You can dress up and come out there if you want to be in a movie."
"I want to," Luna offered since she was listening to him.
"You would be a great actress, I bet."
"Yes, I am," she agreed, even though she wasn't sure exactly what he was talking about.
"It's going to be fun," he said to me. "We have musicians playing, and Cameron's got a whole scene choreographed. That's what's happening right now. They're rehearsing it again today."
"And the girls who are playing your great, great grandma… how old are they in this scene?"
"They're twenty-one and twenty-two in real life, and they're playing teenage girls. The women in the real story were closer to fifteen, but we're going for seventeen-ish, and we definitely pull that off. The actors are young-looking, and we have makeup tricks. Then, we'll have to do the opposite and make them look older when we film the later scenes. The cast looks good. I'm happy with how it's all coming together."
