LITMIR.BIZ

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to talk about this among themselves and either win the dissenting brother over or come to some sort of an understanding they could all agree to. They wouldn’t be able to do that if she was standing around within earshot.

      “Thank you, but I’d better be on my way,” Val told the older man, rising to her feet. Taking the initiative, she shook his hand. “Thank you for your time and I hope we’ll be seeing one another again very soon.”

      Rafe got to his feet, as well. “I’ll walk you to your car,” he told her. It wasn’t an offer so much as a statement.

      “Um, Miss Jones—” Ray began, catching her attention as she started to leave.

      Val stopped and looked at the youngest member of the family, waiting. “Yes?”

      “Who’s going to be in this picture of yours?” he asked. It was well-known that his father was only aware of the stars from a bygone era and his brothers weren’t interested in the current celebrities who frequented the silver screen, but Ray loved the entertainment world. There were several actresses who had more than captured his admiring attention and he seemed eager to know if any of them would be in town if all this turned out well.

      Val didn’t bother correcting Ray by saying it wasn’t her movie. A movie belonged to the producer, to the director, to the writer who had come up with the script and to all the performers who were in it. She was just involved in taking the story and giving it a physical basis where it could unfold.

      She thought for a moment, trying to remember the names she’d been told. Coincidentally, her mother had been the casting director for Cowboys and India, and her mother had been the one who’d told her who was going to be in this picture.

      “Melinda Perkins and Jonathan Kelly are the leading performers,” Val answered, remembering. “If you want to know the full cast, I can get that fo—”

      “Melinda Perkins?” Ray echoed, his voice rising an octave or so as he repeated the popular actress’s name in absolute stunned reverence. “Melinda Perkins is going to be here, standing right here, making a movie?” he asked, his breath growing short as his eyes widened with star-struck wonder.

      Val’s mouth curved as she nodded. “Unless someone’s come up with an alternate way to film on location, she’ll be here.”

      “Melinda Perkins, filming right here in Forever,” Ray repeated more to himself than to any of his brothers or father, looking even more dazed than he had just a minute ago.

      “You already said that,” Mike pointed out, shaking his head at what he viewed as juvenile behavior. When he received no response from Ray, other than an utterly goofy look, Mike took the flat of his hand and hit his brother upside his head. “Get a grip, kid,” he instructed sharply.

      Ray blinked, looking at his oldest brother ruefully, although there were threads of annoyance woven into his expression.

      “Miguel,” his father said warningly. He himself had never raised a hand to even one of his children and he disapproved of that sort of behavior displayed by any of his offspring.

      It was Val who came to Ray’s rescue. “Don’t feel bad,” she told the younger man. “Melinda has that sort of an effect on a lot of people.”

      Ray flushed slightly, but he was obviously grateful for her defense. He grinned at her. “Mostly men, I’m guessing.”

      Val didn’t answer. Instead, she smiled at him, the look on her face telling Ray that his guess was absolutely right.

      “Miss Jones?” Miguel Sr. broke into the existing conversation. But rather than have her come back to him, the older man crossed over to her. “Are you planning on doing any of your filming in the town itself?” he asked as the thought suddenly occurred to him.

      “Most likely,” she answered. “I think that the director is going to want to get as much of the local color into this film as possible. That means,” she added quickly, “that he’s going to want to tap some of the local people to act as extras.”

      “Extras?” Mike repeated. “Extra what?”

      Ray rolled his eyes but Val pretended that this was a perfectly normal question, not one she took for granted.

      “Extra people. People who fill in the spaces behind and near the principle actors.” She directed her words to the brothers. “You could pick up a little money just by walking around. No dialogue to memorize,” she promised.

      Miguel rolled her words over in his head. He didn’t see a downside to this, but that didn’t mean that some of the other people who lived in Forever wouldn’t. “I think you might want to present this idea to Miss Joan.”

      “Miss Joan?” Val echoed a little uncertainly. She glanced at Rafe for an explanation.

      He was quick to fill her in. “Miss Joan owns the local—and only—diner. It’s also the only restaurant in town. Nothing happens in Forever without her knowing about it. She kind of runs the town,” he admitted. “There is a town council in place, but mostly they just listen to what Miss Joan says and go along with it. She’s been in Forever as long as anyone can remember.”

      Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Miguel nodding at his son’s words. “So this Miss Joan would be the one to win over,” Val said thoughtfully, already planning how to best appeal to the woman she had yet to meet.

      “She’d be the one to win over,” Mike echoed, nodding his head.

      “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind,” Val replied, adding, “I’ll try to be particularly charming. Thank you,” she told Miguel warmly, pausing at the door to shake his hand again.

      He closed both his hands over her small one and assured her, “My pleasure.”

      “If you’re going to go talk to Miss Joan,” Rafe spoke up, joining her at the door, “maybe I should go with you. Always good to have someone from the home team on your side,” he added innocently. Having been somewhat undecided when she’d originally told him what she was doing, he’d decided that having Val around might prove to be very interesting. And she was incredibly easy on the eyes, he thought.

      “What about the fence?” his father asked belatedly. He liked the idea of his son going into town with this beauty, but he couldn’t afford to appear lax.

      “The fence isn’t going anywhere, Dad,” Rafe responded. His thoughts were that he could always look for the break later today, or first thing in the morning. At the moment, this bright, perky woman had captured his full attention.

      “Maybe not,” his father agreed. “But the cattle apparently are.”

      Mike frowned, looking from Rafe to his father. “I’ll take care of finding the break, Dad,” Mike volunteered. “Let Rafe go with her to town.” He offered Val a very small smile. “Can’t have the lady thinking we’re a bunch of rude cavemen now, can we?”

      “I wouldn’t have thought that anyway,” Val assured Mike, then turned toward Rafe and added, “But I wouldn’t mind having a guide come with me to make the introductions.”

      She flashed the smile at him. Rafe found he was having less and less resistance to it every time he saw the smile on her lips.

      Miguel could see that he wasn’t about to get any decent work out of Gabriel’s twin brother today, not judging by the smitten expression on his face.

      Seeking to encourage what he felt he saw unfolding before him, Miguel waved Rafe off. “Your brother has a good suggestion. Go, show our guest the way to Miss Joan’s.”

      Rafe had already gone out through the front door. Stopping at the porch, he looked back over his shoulder for a second, nodding his thanks not just to his father, but to Mike, as well. The latter had really surprised him, he had to admit. He was not accustomed to having Mike go out of his way to be nice to him.

      “Thanks,” Rafe tossed over his shoulder.

      But

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