The Wonder of Christmas - Misty Cove, Book 2, Chapter 1

Chapter 1

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Excited about the prospect of starting another movie, Cheyenne West pulled her BMW into the parking spot with her name on the sign. She relaxed into the buttery leather of her seat and gave herself a few moments to gather her thoughts. It had been a rough week, what with her breakup with fellow-actor Oliver Compton, and she needed a few moments to simply sit quietly.

Unfortunately, this job that she’d dreamed of from the time she was a little girl didn’t offer much space to commune with her own thoughts.

Even now, from the other side of the studio fence, fans screamed her name and paparazzi snapped pictures.

She took a breath. No matter how much she’d thought she was prepared for fame, she hadn’t been. She’d never get used to this insanity. If she were honest, she hadn’t expected her career to take off like it did. She’d expected to act in a few made-for-TV roles and make a moderate living, but it seemed God had had other plans for her. She never would have thought that a little girl from the boonies of Washington would make it so big in Hollywood. God, keep me humble and faithful and make me a blessing to those around me. It was her constant prayer.

A few times, her rapid rise to fame had almost made her give up the gig. She’d skirted close to packing it in and resigning herself to a life of solitude. Three months ago, she’d honestly thought she was done. She’d known even then that things with Oliver were coming to an end, and she’d even been in a conversation with a real estate agent about selling her house.

But then her agent had handed her another script. And she’d loved the concept of the young adult dystopian storyline, which ended with such a message of hope. The world needed more hope. 

Her temptation to quit was likely simple exhaustion. She really just needed to sleep for a solid two weeks, and life would look better again. She smirked at herself in the rearview mirror. No chance for sleep today.

But after that, she’d be off for two whole weeks for the Christmas break. And now that she’d finally taken the step of telling Oliver she couldn’t see him anymore, maybe some of the stress would be out of her life. It wasn’t that he was that bad of a guy. He just wasn’t the kind of guy that she could see herself spending the rest of her life with. She’d met him at church, but it hadn’t taken her long to realize that his relationship with the Lord wasn’t a big priority in his life. Really, she ought to have broken up with him months ago, but it had been easier to just keep things as they were.

Until he’d forced her hand by asking that other girl out on a date.

She was glad to have the breakup behind her. Now she needed to focus on one day of shooting, and then she could go home for Christmas. Escape California for a few weeks.

It was an odd shooting schedule, but one that had been necessitated by her co-star’s already-scheduled shoot in Hawaii. Levi Carter had been a big name in the business since Cheyenne was a girl—she still remembered being so enamored as a senior in high school with all the coverage of his marrying his high school sweetheart. It was going to be a thrill to work with him.

Still, she wouldn’t complain about the time off. And neither would her parents, who’d been pestering her for a few months now to get home. It wasn’t that she hadn’t wanted to go. Life had just been crazy busy. Full throttle with no rest. Yes, heading home for Christmas would be just the break she needed to rejuvenate.

She poked at the dark circles beneath her eyes. Thankfully, the makeup department would have something to cover that, and maybe she’d be able to snatch a couple ten-minute naps between takes.

This time tomorrow, she’d be heading up the freeway toward home. Maybe she’d even leave tonight. The drive would be long, but she’d purchased two audiobooks from her favorite authors and, with plenty of coffee stops, she’d be there in a day and a half. Then she could sleep. Blessed day!

Summoning a smile, she gathered her leather Louis Vuitton backpack and stepped from her car. She waved broadly to her fans, then made her way inside.

She stopped cold. “Oliver. What are you doing here?”

His friend Sloan Chavez, who was the director for this movie, had probably let him onto the set. Oliver had worked with Sloan on several movies.

Hands thrust deep into the pockets of his ragged surfer jeans, Oliver tilted her a pout. “I had to see you.”

Anger, hot and sharp, rose in her. She raised her arms and spun, then daggered him a look. “There. You’ve seen me. Now you can go back to your other woman.” She made to brush past him.

He stepped into her path. Touched her arm. “Come on, babe. It wasn’t what you thought. Don’t do this to us.”

She laughed bitterly. She couldn’t help herself. Shaking off his hand, she stepped back. “So finding you on my balcony kissing another woman wasn’t what it seemed?”

He at least had the smarts to look sheepish. “I know I messed up—”

“Yes. You did. But honestly, Olly, we were over long before that. We just hadn’t done anything about it.”

“Don’t say that, Cheyenne. I made a mistake with that girl. She’s not the one for me.”

“Yeah? Well, neither am I.” She pushed past him again, and thankfully, this time he let her go.

Unsurprisingly, Sloan was the first to meet her in the hallway outside of makeup. Her caution immediately rose. Was he going to push her to reunite with his friend?   

“Cheyenne.” He nodded. “Right on time, I see. Great. I’ve been looking forward to shooting today’s scene.” His gaze slipped past her shoulder. “Everything okay?”  

“Yes. Thank you.” Relief coursed through her. Maybe he was a decent guy. She decided to skip over her conversation with Olly. “I’m really excited about the story. I think it’s going to mean a lot to people.” She pointed to the door behind him. “I’m just heading into makeup.”

He stepped out of her way. “See you on set. Let me know if you need anything.”

She thanked him, feeling relieved. This movie had the potential to be her best yet, so it was nice to see that the director seemed to be a nice man. She’d heard that he and his wife were one of the rarities in Hollywood who’d been married for a long time.

The day passed with relative ease. For being just before Christmas, the weather in California was sunny and balmy. Her co-actors were consummate professionals.

At noon, however, when she stepped outside for a few minutes during a break, she noticed Oliver had parked his Mercedes right next to her car. He was sitting behind the wheel, and he didn’t appear to be in any hurry to go anywhere. Great. She was going to have to face him yet again. How could the man not understand that she didn’t want to be with a guy who hadn’t had any qualms about cheating on her? She returned inside.

Christmas break couldn’t come soon enough.

Toward the end of the day, famished and weary, she entered the little trailer where craft service was laid out. Most of the crew had already headed home, but she and Levi had one more short scene to wrap up. She glanced at her watch. She had fifteen minutes to scarf down something to eat before she had to be back on set. She had just filled her plate with fruits and vegetables and was sitting down at one of the little tables when Sloan’s assistant stepped into the room.  

He laid a card on the table beside Cheyenne. “That’s from Mr. Sloan. You’re doing great out there.” With that, he left the room. 

Trepidation rising, Cheyenne reached for the card and opened it. It was a note scrawled in a sloping male hand. I feel it’s only fair to let you know that Oliver has been hired to replace Alex Johnson, who’s come down sick.

She dropped the card as though it had burned her. Alex Johnson had won the part of a key secondary role. Over half her scenes were shot with Alex. Now she was going to have to work with Oliver? Just great. Sloan had obviously known about her history with Oliver based on his reaction this morning.

She swallowed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Everything all right?”

She looked up, thankful to see that it was only Levi. He filled a plate from the bar.

He’d been professional but personable all day. The type of man she felt like she could trust. Still, she didn’t know him well enough to talk about something personal like this with him. On the other hand, who better than someone who’d been in the industry much longer than she had? Maybe working with Olly wasn’t going to be as bad as she thought?

Right. Her caution screamed for her not to be so naïve.

She fiddled with the card and waited till Levi sat down in the seat across from her.

“Sloan just let me know that he’s hired my ex-boyfriend, Oliver Compton, to replace Alex Johnson, who apparently came down sick.”

Levi grunted. “Heard he got sick. Sorry about your ex. I’ve worked with Olly. He’s a good actor.”

“Yes,” she offered lamely. Olly might be a good actor, but he was apparently bad at being faithful. She sank against the back of her chair. Great. Now what?

Levi scrutinized her steadily. “He do anything that makes you afraid for your safety?” He bit into a donut as he searched her face carefully.

She sighed. “No. I don’t think Olly would hurt me, but . . . let’s just say, he’s not as ready for our relationship to be over as I am. This morning when I first arrived, he confronted me and when I went out earlier for a break, he was in his car, parked right next to mine.”

One of Levi’s brows winged upward. “Well, you’ve got no scenes with him today.”

She frowned. “True, but Olly is nothing if not persistent.”

“Well, I can help you with that today. But in the future, if it comes to it and he’s making life miserable for you, simply let your bodyguard know that you need him to escort you right from the door of the studio to your car and that you don’t want Olly coming around.”

She frowned. “I don’t have one.”

“Come again?”

She shrugged. “I decided against it. Seemed like I didn’t need one at the time.”

He shook his head. “Forgive me for saying so, but with the track your career is taking, you need to hire someone. Right away. If you want, I can send you the information for my agency.”

She sighed. “Yes, that would be helpful. Thank you. Who knew my first need of one would be from my own poor choice in a man?”

“Happens more often than you think.” He rose and dumped his plate into the trash. “We better get to this last take, then I’ll walk you to your car. After that, you’ll have a couple weeks off. Maybe things will have calmed down by the time we resume shooting after the New Year.”

“I can hope.”

“Keep me in the loop, all right? If he does anything else to make you uncomfortable, I want to know about it.”

She nodded, feeling more confident. “Thank you.” What would make her feel even more at ease would be to get out of town right away. It made her stomach ache to think that Olly might show up at her house tonight. She never did like confrontation, which was why she’d let their relationship go on as long as she had in the first place.

Earlier. She’d pondered the thought, but now she was certain—she would leave for Mom and Dad’s tonight.

She could find a hotel somewhere tonight, and it would cut her drive into shorter spurts, which would be much nicer with her current state of exhaustion.

Yes. That would be better all around. She’d leave just as soon as she could get home and grab her bags.

She felt better already.

 

 

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