Page 2 of Country Road Romance

“I did, in fact,” she said.

“When does he get here?”

“Well,” she said, “the festival is in a few days, and he’s slated to arrive the first day of it so…Thursday.”

Jared sighed. A few days wasn’t that long to prepare for what he knew was going to be a very unpleasant experience dealing with a Hollywood diva, but he supposed it was better than nothing.

“Okay, fine. I just hope that Mr. Hollywood is content with riding in my old Ford pickup truck, because I’m not going to rent a car for him.”

Rebecca gave him a mischievous smile. “Actually, that’s perfect. If you happen to run into any reporters, and you most certainly will at some point, it'll be good for his image to be seen driving around in a truck just like regular people. It’ll help give them the impression that he really is the humble guy that he says he is.”

Jared didn’t even bother hiding his eye roll. “What are you, his publicist now?”

“No, but there’s always hope.”

“So what time should I be at the airport?”

Rebecca tapped her chin. “He’s set to land very early in the morning. So I’d say that you want to be there at eight at the latest. They’re hoping that they can get him into town without a lot of reporters noticing. I’m sure they’ll start hounding him later on, anyway, but at least he can have a bit of time out of the spotlight.”

“You have got to be kidding, right?”

Before Rebecca could say anything her phone started buzzing, and she gestured at him to stay there while she answered it.

“Hello? Yes, this is Rebecca. Oh, hello Councilman. Yes, we have someone already lined up to go pick up Charlie Garrett. Yes, everything’s in hand, I promise, and everything is going to go smoothly. You don’t have to worry about anything.” There was an ominous pause. “Yes, it is Jared, why do you ask? Oh, well, you don’t have to worry about that, either. He’s promised to be on his very best behavior. Okay, fine, yes. Goodbye, Councilman.”

“That,” she said, “as you might have guessed, was Councilman Rhodes.”

Jared hated just hearing that name. He’d had more than his fair share of run-ins with him, largely during meetings of the Council, when Jared had pointed out his many deficiencies when it came to protecting the rights of the queer community. In fact, he could distinctly remember the time when he’d called the man an idiot to his face, to conspicuous laughter from the gathered crowd and even from some of the other members of the Huntington City Council.

Clearly, he wasn’t one to forgive such a slight.

“And what did he have to say?” he asked innocently.

“He said that if you did anything to embarrass this city or himself again that he’d see to it that you were run out of town on a rail. At least, I think those were his words.”

That did sound like something the prickly Rhodes would say. He was as blue-blooded as they came, but he always liked to make it sound like he was one of the common people, hence his earthy little sayings that sounded like they came from some 1950s western.

“I’m glad you told him that I would be on my best behavior,” Jared said. “Though I suspect that his definition of what that means is probably different than ours.”

“I’m sure,” she said. “Ugh. I wish that Councilman Tate would hurry up and find a good reason to get rid of him.” She lowered her voice. “Confidentially, she told me that she’s been investigating him for some financial irregularities in his accounting, but so far she hasn’t been able to find anything. When she does, though, that’ll be the end of him. He’ll be out of our hair for good.”

“That day can’t come soon enough,” Jared said. “And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go. I have lots of good behavior to demonstrate.”

Before Rebecca could say anything to that he was out the door, a satisfied smirk plastered across his face.

The next fewdays passed in something of a blur, as preparations for the film festival finally heated up, and everyone put their heads down and got to work. It was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time, but Jared loved every minute of it, not least because it helped him put Charlie Garrett out of his mind, at least until Thursday.

When the day arrived he got up early, had some coffee and, yawning so big he thought for sure he was going to dislocate his jaw, went out to get his truck started.

Once outside, he paused for a minute to admire his old Ford F150. It was a deep burgundy color, and it had been a gift from his father when he’d graduated college years ago. He smiled wistfully thinking about how proud his parents had been of him, and how they’d always shown him unequivocal support, even after he’d come out as gay during his first semester at college.

I should go see them soon,he thought. Even though he tried to go home as often as possible, the fact that they lived in the northern part of the state meant that it sometimes took longer than he would have liked. They always told him that they understood, that he had his own life to lead and shouldn’t worry so much about them but, well, they weren’t getting any younger, and it weighed on his mind.

Standing here fretting about something that hasn’t happened yet isn’t going to get you to the airport any faster,he thought.

He got in and started the engine, savoring the way that it still purred and giving the wheel an affectionate pat. “That’s a good girl,” he said. “I treat you right, and you treat me right. And don’t let this Hollywood bigshot make you feel bad about yourself.”

Jared smiled to himself as he started driving toward the airport, for once actually enjoying being up before the sun. It was rather exciting, to think that he was up and about andstarting his day, when a lot of people were still waking up and having their coffee.

---