“Kane, how are you doing?”

  “I’m fine, Johnny. How are you?”

  “Just finished up helping out a friend with their horses. And I’m ready for dinner. Did you eat yet? It’s pasta night here.”

  “Oh, well, thanks, but I’m sweaty after my run.”

  “So, you wash up, then you come eat with us, yes?”

  Not wanting to be rude, he smiled. “Of course. Yes. Thank you.”

  Johnny led the way into the house. Maureen met them in the hall, kissing Johnny on the cheek, then looked over at Kane. “Oh, Kane, I’m so glad to see you. Are you staying for dinner?”

  “I was invited by Johnny.”

  She gave him a sweet smile. “Wonderful.”

  “I was running and I need a place to wash up.”

  “Right this way.” She led him to a half bath off the hall. “There’s washcloths and towels in the cabinet.”

  “Thanks.” He made his way into the bathroom, found a washcloth and used it to wipe the sweat from his face and body. Feeling a little more refreshed, he walked out and heard talking, so he followed the sound, realizing it was coming from the dining room, where all the good smells were.

  Johnny and Maureen were there, along with Erin and her husband, Jason, and their baby, JJ.

  “Kane will be joining us for dinner tonight,” Maureen said.

  Jason grinned, stood and walked over to Kane, shaking his hand. “Hey, man. Good to see you again.”

  “You, too. How’s it going?”

  “Busy as always. How’s the movie star thing?”

  Kane shrugged. “Keeps me out of trouble.”

  “Hi, Kane,” Erin said, offering up a knowing smile as she fed crackers to the baby, who grabbed them from his high chair.

  “I can smell the meatballs from upstairs. I can’t wait—” Mae stopped when she caught sight of him. “Kane, what are you doing here?”

  “Uh, Johnny saw me outside when I was running and invited me to dinner.” He offered up an apologetic half smile.

  “Oh. Well, isn’t that nice?”

  She’d changed from when he saw her earlier. Now she was in leggings and a sweatshirt, her hair pulled back in a loose bun. He wanted to hug her, kiss her, breathe her in, but he kept his distance because he distinctly got the “back off” vibes from her. He didn’t know why, but this wasn’t the place or time to question her.

  Instead, he sat next to Johnny, who talked to him about the ranch and the horses, something he was always keen to chat about. He ate an amazing spaghetti and meatballs dinner, along with salad and freshly baked bread.

  “This is excellent,” he said.

  “Louise is quite the cook,” Maureen said. “She keeps us all well fed.”

  “You’re very lucky.”

  “Oh, don’t tell me that your catering services on set are starving you to death,” Erin said.

  “Not at all. The food’s good. But there’s a lot to be said for a home-cooked meal.”

  “I can’t imagine being away from home while you’re on location,” Jason said. “I’m sure it’s hard.”

  “It can be. But I’ve seen some amazing places, so I can’t complain.”

  Maureen and Johnny both asked him about some of the places he’d been, so he spent the rest of the meal telling them about his favorite location shoots. He’d noticed during dinner that Mae had been uncharacteristically quiet. She’d answer questions if she was asked, but she was normally so engaging that her being so introverted wasn’t like her at all.

  Maybe she’d just had a bad day. Then again, maybe it was him being here that set her off. She hadn’t wanted to have lunch with him today. In fact, she’d been in a hurry to get away from him. Before he left tonight he intended to find out what was going on.

  Except that after dinner Johnny had taken him out back to show him his horses. Jason had come with him, the reason he and Erin had stayed for dinner. One of the horses had a hoof infection that Jason had been tending to, and Jason had showed up after hours to check on the horse, a mare named Rosemary.

  “She’s a beauty,” Kane said as Jason gave the mare her meds.

  “She’s bella, sì.” Johnny swept his hand over her back. “Such a sweet girl.”

  “She’ll be fine in about a week,” Jason said. “But you know you can call me anytime if something comes up.”

  Johnny nodded. “I will. Grazie.”

  “I’m…gonna head back inside to talk to Mae.”

  Johnny and Jason barely acknowledged him with nods since they were deep in conversation about one of the other horses, so he made his way to the house.

  He came in the back door, making his way into the dining room. Mae sat at the table with Erin, the two of them in animated conversation about something. Erin said something and Mae shook her head furiously.

  “Nothing gets resolved until you talk,” Erin said.

  Mae shushed her when he walked into the room. “Hey.”

  Erin stood. “Is Jason finished out there?”

  “I think so.”

  “I’m gonna go tell him I’m ready to go. We need to put JJ to bed.”

  “Okay,” Mae said. She got up. “I should—”

  “Mae, wait,” Kane said. “Can we talk?”

  “I guess.”

  “How about we take a walk?”

  “Sure. Let me say goodbye to Erin, and then I need to grab a jacket.”

  She went out back for a minute, came back and grabbed her jacket by the door. They walked outside. It was a cool, clear night, but no wind. Stars were out, and if this were a date, it would be a great night for it.

  But it wasn’t.

  “How are you doing?” she asked as they walked down the path through the woods.

  “I’m good. I got a lot of rest last night. That helped.”

  “I’m happy to hear that.”

  He stopped and turned to face her. “Tell me what’s upsetting you.”

  “Nothing is upsetting me. I’m just…giving you space.”

  “I don’t want space from you, Mae. I want to be with you. I want to spend time with you. Tell me how I fucked up so I can make it better.”

  “You didn’t—”

  “Mae. Tell me.”

  He could tell from the consternation on her face that she had a million thoughts running through her head and he was about to get hit with all of them. He welcomed them because he needed to know why she was upset.

  “Okay, fine. You got a raw deal with your parents, and I sympathize, I really do. But instead of sharing your pain with me, you shut me out and got into your own head. And then you yelled at me. I don’t like being yelled at. I mean, sure, you apologized and all, but how can I be sure that you won’t fly off into an angry mood the next time—I don’t know, you have a shitty day of filming?”

  He started to laugh, because that just wasn’t who he was. Then again, he hadn’t really shown her who he was the past few days, had he?

  “I’m sorry, Mae. You’re right. I did get into my head. My parents’ marriage blew up and I didn’t know anything about it. That’s life-changing news. It’s not ‘Hey, I had a bad day of work’ kind of shit. And you’re right that I should have shared with you, but I didn’t know how to handle all these negative feelings I was having. It was kind of a first for me, ya know?”

  “Okay. I can understand that.”

  They had made their way to the production area. He led her toward his trailer and paused, asking without words if she was interested in stepping in. She nodded, so they went inside.

  “Something to drink?” he asked.

  “Just water for me.”

  He grabbed waters for both of them and they sat on the sofa. He got close to her, because he wanted to make sure she understood what he was saying.

  “It’s obvious I hurt you, and I’m really sorry about that. My feelings were confusing to me. If I’m honest, they still are. I’m constantly pissed off and I don’t know why and I’m not the kind of person who holds anger inside, so I just don’t know what to do with it. If you feel like I keep taking it out on you—I am so sorry about that.”

  She took his hand. “I appreciate the apology. And to clarify, you’re not taking it out on me. It was my feelings about the situation that I needed to work through, which you’re helping me with. I wanted to help you and…I don’t know, I guess there was no way I could ease your pain. That’s hard for me.”

  He shrugged. “Some problems can’t be solved.”

  “Also hard for me to acknowledge.”

  He smiled. “I can’t tell you how much you being here for me has helped. Even if the situation hasn’t changed—can’t be changed. It helps knowing you’re here to talk through it.”

  Now Mae smiled, and his whole world brightened. “The fact you’re talking to me about how you feel is helpful. Closing yourself off only makes that anger fester.”

  “You sound like you know what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, believe me, I do. When I found out about Isaac’s cheating, and right before our wedding? I can’t even explain the level of anger I felt. I mean, I-wanted-to-kill-him levels of anger. And I had nowhere to go with that rage, because obviously I couldn’t actually murder him.”

  “Too bad.”

  She let out a laugh. “Yeah. I held all that anger inside—for a while, but all it did was make me lash out at everyone else. The smallest thing would set me off. It wasn’t long before I realized I was alienating myself from everyone who cared about me. And I was mimicking Isaac’s personality of blowing up about every little thing, which was one of the things that irritated me the most about him.”

  No wonder she was so upset with him. “So, what helped you?”

  “First off, talking about my feelings, which wasn’t always the easiest thing for me to do, because I had always prided myself on being able to handle things on my own. Until I couldn’t anymore, and I realized I didn’t have to. I had friends who were willing to sit, listen and commiserate with my pain. And a few suggested therapy so I could talk to someone who wasn’t directly involved in my situation. It was the best advice I’d ever been given.”

  “I’ve never tried therapy. Not sure that’s really going to be for me.”

  She squeezed his hand. “Maybe it’s not, but if you don’t mind a little unsolicited advice?”

  He nodded. “Of course.”

  “Your world has turned upside down in an instant. Your parents’ loving, stable marriage—or at least that’s what you thought it was—has disintegrated, and you’re upset about it. Rightly so. And you have all these feelings about it. I am here for you to talk about those feelings anytime you want to because I care about you. But having someone to walk you through your feelings, to channel that anger so it doesn’t eat you up inside, might be worth your time.”

  “Maybe.”

  “And if you find out it isn’t worth it, then you’ve lost nothing but a few hours, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Even better, you can do therapy online. I can recommend an excellent therapist here locally, and she also takes online appointments. She is very discreet. Or, you can have your agent or PR people or whoever your Hollywood people are recommend someone.”

  He had to admit that having someone outside the business to talk to might be a good idea. “I’ll book an appointment with someone. I appreciate it. I think you’re right that I need someone on the outside of all this to talk to.”

  “I hope it helps.”

  “I hope so, too. And thank you for understanding. I’m sorry again for being such a jerk.”

  “The fact that you realized it gives me hope for you.” She gave him a lopsided grin.

  He laughed, instant relief washing over him.

  “Do you want to hang out for a while and watch a movie?”

  She shrugged. “As long as it’s not one of yours.”

  “Oh, you think you’re funny, huh?”

  “I’m hilarious and you know it.”

  He laughed, shook his head and grabbed the remote. She grabbed the blanket off the back of the sofa, kicked off her boots and draped her legs over his while he started the movie.

  Now things felt a little more normal, and a lot more right with his world.

  Things were always right with his world when Mae was in it.

  Chapter

  twenty-nine

  Mae couldn’t believe there were only a few weeks until Christmas. Since she was currently staying at the Bellinis’, she hadn’t bothered digging out the decorations at her apartment, but she’d really enjoyed helping the Bellinis decorate their house.

  They went all out with two Christmas trees, seasonal décor all over the house, and lights on the house, the barn and all across the property. The outside lights were all white because of winter weddings, and since they celebrated weddings of all faiths, the white lights would suffice no matter what type of wedding they celebrated. Besides, since the nights were getting colder, most of the weddings were inside the barn and could be lighted according to the couple’s wants and customs.

  Once decorating was done, baking started. Louise rarely gave up control over her kitchen, but since she left at night, Mae enjoyed making breads and cakes and cookies whenever she had the chance. She had spent last night elbows-deep in flour and sugar and decorating.

  She wasn’t filming today, but Kane had been busy with back-to-back scenes with his film brother and best friend the past couple of days, so she hadn’t seen him and, frankly, she’d missed him. They’d talked, but they hadn’t really been together since he’d also been filming some night scenes. She figured if she brought some of the stuff she’d baked, maybe she could see Kane for a few minutes.

  After packaging up some cookies and bread she’d made the night before, she put on her sweater and walked over to the production area.

  The weather continued to be ideal. Sunny and in the low seventies, and today there was no wind, making it a perfect day. She figured the production company was probably pretty happy about the ideal conditions for filming, too. In some places, late November and December were awful, but here, it could stay nice all the way into January.

  She made her way through the path. Security knew her well by now and let her in, and she headed toward where filming was occurring, surprised to see a woman and a man in the middle of a scene that had been set up at a small gazebo they had erected in a clearing in the woods. It always surprised her how quickly the crew could put together something phenomenal and beautiful, making it look like it had always been there. She stood quietly while the actors completed the scene, an emotional one with declarations of love that ended in a very passionate kiss. When Alexis called cut, there was a flurry of activity as if that romantic scene hadn’t even happened.

  Moviemaking was weird.

  “Hey.”

  She flipped around to see Kane standing there. “Hey, yourself. I was watching the scene they were just filming.”

  “Oh, yeah. My best friend and my ex-girlfriend.”

  “Oh. Complicated.”

  “Very. I slip in next, though it’s kind of filmed out of order since in the movie he comes in after I leave. He’s actually in love with her, only she doesn’t realize it yet because she thinks she’s still in love with me. Which she isn’t. Kind of a subplot.”

  “Got it. That should be fun in the movie.”

  “I hope so. What are you doing here?”

  She picked up the bag she’d brought. “I baked.”

  His brows lifted. “Ohhh. I can’t wait to see what you brought. Can you hang out while I do this scene?”

  She thought about what she had going on and realized she didn’t have any meetings, so she nodded. “Yes, I have some time.”

  After putting the snacks on the table for everyone to enjoy, she made her way back to the scene in the woods. Kane was standing inside the gazebo, a prop phone in his hand. He looked amazing in dark jeans and a striped button-down shirt. He had started pacing, and Alexis called action. He was talking on the phone with someone, and the actress stood just outside the gazebo. Kane noticed her and told whoever he was talking to that he’d call them back.

  “I’m sorry, Blake. I didn’t know you were on the phone.”

  “It’s okay, Sarah. What’s up?”

  The actress—or her character, Sarah—walked fully into the gazebo, stopping in front of Kane. “I thought we could have a minute to talk—alone. See if we can recapture that magic we had.”

  Kane laid his hands on Sarah’s shoulders. “Sarah. I think what you’re looking for from me is an apology, something you didn’t get when we broke up all those years ago.”

  She laid her hand on his chest and moved in to him. Close to him. “No, what I want from you is what we both want. What we both need, Blake. A reconciliation.”

  He took her hand and wrapped both of his around it. “What about Jeff?”

  She frowned and backed up a step, turning away from him. “Jeff? I don’t have feelings for Jeff.”

  “Don’t you? You’re so afraid of getting hurt again that you’re throwing yourself at a guy you don’t even care about—that would be me, by the way. Come on, Sarah. Jeff loves you.”

  She turned to face him again, her eyes wide. “He…loves me?”

  Even from this distance, Mae could see the tears welling in Sarah’s eyes. Wow. She was good.

  “Hell yeah he does.”

  This was spoken by the actor who’d been with Sarah in the last scene as he walked into the gazebo.