Marry Me at Christmas (Fool's Gold #19)(25)

“I have to go to LA for a day or so. I wanted you to know, in case you needed something for the wedding.”

She was silent for a second. “Okay. I think I’m going to be fine. Ginger’s gotten back to me on the invitations and the cake.”

He chuckled. “Let me guess. She went for the big one.”

“You know she didn’t. Although she did love the cookies as favors for the guests. I’ve ordered those and the cake. We have colors, by the way. Green and gold. They’re going to work beautifully with the invitations, and the cookie lady said she could do trim in those colors, no problem.”

“You’re taking care of the details. Thanks for that.”

“I’m happy to help. Are you really just going to be gone for a couple of days?”

He started to ask if she would miss him, but stopped himself. Mostly because he didn’t know the answer to the question. It wasn’t the kind of question a guy wanted hanging out there in space.

“That’s the plan,” he told her, realizing he wanted her to miss him. Even better, she could ask to go with him. He knew a great hotel where they could—

Back the truck up, he told himself. No way he was going there. Madeline deserved more than a couple of nights at a Beverly Hills hotel. She was looking for a lightning bolt. And while no guy could promise that, he wasn’t going to treat her like one of his temporary women.

“You need to make sure you’re back before the hayrides start,” she told him. “I know they sound silly, but they are so much fun. They’re out at this ranch and—Oh, it’s where Priscilla the elephant lives. The one from the parade.”

“Is there more than one elephant?”

She laughed. “No. We just have the one.”

“And Reno, her pony.”

“They are a couple.”

“I’ll be back and we’ll go on a hayride.”

“You’ll love it,” she promised. “There’s hot chocolate at the end.”

“Of course there is. Sounds fun.”

“Great, it’s a date. Have fun in LA. Drive safe.”

“I will.”

“Bye.”

She ended the call. He set down his phone and told himself her “it’s a date” comment had been meant in fun. It was an expression, not a promise. Which was kind of too bad.

SIX

JONNY DID HIS best to follow along as Annelise walked him through the contract. They were nearly done and normally he found the workings of Hollywood interesting. Just not today.

He kept getting distracted by the very tasteful holiday decorations in his manager’s office. There was a small tree in the corner, a flower arrangement on her bookshelves.

“You don’t decorate the office yourself, do you?” he asked.

She glanced at him. “It’s two more pages. Let’s get through them and then we can talk about anything you’d like.”

“Slave driver.”

“Always.”

He forced himself to focus on the small print, then when they’d gone over the final page, he pointed at the tree. “Did you do that?”

“No. Caryn takes care of it. Do you need her to find you a decorator for your new house? I thought you had a guy. Won’t he do holidays?”

“He does and he has. I was just wondering about the decorations. Did you know that in Fool’s Gold they don’t decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving?”

Annelise, a pretty woman with long dark hair and an easy smile, gazed at him. “How magical.”

“Are you being sarcastic, because it’s a very nice town.”

“I can tell. I can’t wait to visit.”

“They have festivals. You’d like that.”

“I would. I enjoy visiting small towns.”

“As long as at the end of the weekend you get to go home?”

“Exactly.”

He turned his attention back to the contract, then signed his name on the line. Annelise passed him the other copies and he did the same.

“I’ll call them right away and let them know it’s a done deal,” she told him. “The locations will be nice. I’ll have to visit you there, too.”

“You’re always welcome.”

Amish Revenge 2 would be filmed in Pennsylvania, but there was also going to be at least six weeks in the French and Italian Alps. Madeline’s parents had talked about wanting to travel more. He wondered if they would enjoy France or Italy. While he would be busy filming, there would be down days when he could show them around.

He shook his head, knowing he wasn’t fooling anyone, especially himself. While he liked Loretta and Joseph, the person he would most want to see in Europe would be Madeline.

Caryn, a tall, twentysomething brunette with streaks of purple in her short hair, walked in with coffee. Jonny took one of the mugs.

“You did a nice job with the decorations,” he said.

Caryn smiled at him. “Thanks. I have fun playing in Annelise’s office. We only do it at Christmas. Now if you could talk her into decorating for every holiday, that would be great.”

“Not going to happen,” Annelise said cheerfully. “But you can keep asking.”

“I will.” Caryn took the empty tray with her as she walked toward the door. “How’s your shopping coming?”