Saddle Up(41)

Miranda grimaced. “I guess you’re right. I suppose I’ll have to take it elsewhere.”

“Enough about work,” Lexi said. “Tell me more about your wrangler. What happened while you were alone in the desert?”

“Nothing…much.”

Lexi huffed. “Don’t make me pull teeth, Miranda.”

“It’s too personal. I really don’t like to talk about sex.”

A slow grin spread over Lexi’s face. “So you did have sex?”

Miranda flushed, wanting to kick herself at the slip of the tongue. “Um, well, yeah. Sort of.”

“Sweetheart. Either you did or you didn’t. There is no ‘sort of’ when it comes to sex.”

“All right,” she sighed. “We were intimate, and it was amazing. Better than I ever could have imagined.”

“Really? Sounds promising. When are you going to rendezvous at your oasis again?”

Miranda looked away. “We aren’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because he has his life, and I have mine.”

“So that’s it? You aren’t even going to text? Call? Nothing?”

“No. I wish it could have been more, but we both knew it couldn’t go anywhere.”

“Now that’s a surprise.”

“What is?”

“That you’d give up the goods like that.” Lexi grinned. “I didn’t take you for a hussy like me.”

“I didn’t… I’m not… I mean it wasn’t like that. Honestly. It was weird, Lex, how it was between us. Like it was just meant to happen. Maybe I didn’t get to write my own Hollywood ending, but I’m still okay with it. I wouldn’t take it back.”

“I wish I could say that about even half of my past relationships,” Lexi said dryly. “So what now?”

“I’ll finish the film.” Miranda added her secret wish with a deprecating laugh. “Who knows? Maybe one day he’ll just show up, throw me on his horse, and take me off into the sunset.”

*

Three weeks later, Miranda was growing frustrated with her film. “Lexi, would you take a look at this? I’ve already spent countless hours on postproduction, and it’s just not working. I wish I could figure out why.”

“Sure. I’m no film critic, but I’ll take a peek.” Lexi sat down in front of the laptop, where Miranda was studying the video clips.

“Keep in mind it’s only the rough cut,” Miranda said. “In addition to being on that helicopter, I filmed the horses as they came into the traps, so I’d have dual perspective. I also have some great stills of wild horses that I’m going to edit in.”

“You’ve got some gorgeous video here,” Lexi remarked. “Some of this desert scenery is breathtaking…but…”

“I know.” Miranda grimaced. “It feels flat and passionless, doesn’t it? There’s nothing special here. Nothing to evoke any real emotion. Even the attempt to save the foal seems somehow lacking.”

“If you wanted to tug on the heartstrings, why didn’t you follow that story through?” Lexi asked.

“Because they wouldn’t let me. The pilot didn’t think I’d be strong enough to hold the horse. He said it was too dangerous, so I went out after the strays with Keith instead.”

Lexi grinned. “Can’t blame you there. As a semiemployed actress, I have to ask what you’re going to do about narration?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. For the most part, I’d planned to use archived interviews with Wild Horse Annie. She’s the one who started the whole mustang conservation movement.”

Lexi gave a big theatrical yawn. “Sounds dry as the desert. What about music? Maybe you can do something cool with that?”

“I’m still looking for what I want, but haven’t found it yet.”

“If you really want to stir emotion, you could use ‘Ride of the Valkyries.’ Start it right when that chopper pops up.”

Miranda snorted. “And remind people of Apocalypse Now? I don’t think so. This whole topic is already controversial enough.”

Lexi smirked. “You said you want to be evocative.”

“Not in that way.” Miranda sighed. “I need a unique angle, something to connect with the audience and make this feel more personal.”

“Honey, what you need is your hot Indian wrangler.”

“Keith? What do you mean?”

“I’m saying that he’s your angle, and he looks incredible on camera to boot. Didn’t you say he had his audience at that clinic eating out of his hand? He’s the ideal connection between those horses and your viewers. You need to ask him to narrate this.”

Lexi was absolutely right. Keith’s passion had come through in so many ways. He’d even risked his life to go after the runaway horses. Miranda advanced to the clip to where he rode down the cliff. “Take a look at this.”

Lexi gasped. “Was that for real?”

“Yes. Incredible, isn’t he?”

“Oh yeah. No doubt about it. You need to change your whole angle. He’s your real story.”

Miranda shook her head. “I don’t think he’d do it, Lex. I don’t even dare to ask him after what happened with him and Bibi.”