Page 37 of Crocodile Tears
“She’s already left for the day,” the PA chimed in, now fully ensconced in the protection of the hedge. By the time she delivered the third piece of bad news, she’d be on the other side of the fence where a bunch of sun lorikeets were currently watching the production.
“We didn’t have the budget to keep her until the end of the day? I swear to God, Deacon, I’m never doing you a favor again!” Gavin wrung the script in his hands and looked like he might wallop me with it. “By the time we get her back in hair and makeup, we?—”
“Will lose the light,” I finished, letting out a long-suffering sigh. I’d been a part of massive studio-sized projects before that were less of a clusterfuck than this one. “What if we?—”
I saw Dove trying to dart around the film crew with a bucket full of seeds in one hand and a spray bottle in the other.
“Dove!” I called.
She froze like a deer in headlights before slowly turning to look at me.
Gavin hustled over and looked between us. “Deacon, bud, what are you doing?”
“Finding a solution,” I grumbled as Dove wandered over. I slung my arm around her shoulder and held her tightly to my side to keep her from shirking my hold. I looked at Gavin as I waved her up and down. “Solution.”
Gavin adjusted his baseball cap and pursed his lips as he considered her.
Dove muttered from the corner of her mouth, “What is going on?”
“I need a favor,” I whispered back.
“What kind of favor?”
“I need to borrow your legs.”
“My legs?” she snapped, and I finally released her to turn my pleading gaze toward her.
“Ivy won't come out of her trailer and her stand-in has already left for the day. We're losing light, and it’s the second to last day of production, and all I'm doing is dipping you and pretending to kiss you.” I put a heavy emphasis on the wordpretending. “My head will be in the way. We don't actually have to kiss. It will only be your cargo shorts and boots and maybe a little hemline of your shirt. It’s the climax of the movie. Wehave toget this shot.”
Dove seemed entirely unsympathetic to my pleas. “So why not use a blow-up doll or something?”
“You think we just have sex dolls lying around that we can dress up?”
“Hey, you said sex doll, not me,” she quipped.
“Please?”
“Don’t you puppy eyes me,” she snarked. “You already used up all of your ‘pleases’ to rope me into the conservation trust.”
“You owe me for the helicopter,” I countered, folding my arms in a mirror position to her.
“Ugh! That is low.”
“I’ll go low if I have to,” I confessed. “You still owe me.”
I could see the night of Simon's birth flashing through her mind, see how angry she was that I’d used it as leverage, and I knew I’d won before she even spoke.
"Fine, I’ll do it,” she groused. “But then we're even. No more calling in favors.”
“Deal,” I said, giving the director a thumbs-up.
“Yes? Yes!” He fist pumped the air before pointing at a bunch of people to draft up paperwork for our sudden impromptu extra.
“How long is this going to take?” Dove grumbled. “I have a mountain of work to do now that Hawk and Hannah are both off the roster.”
“Ten minutes tops,” I promised. “And I’ll help you finish your shift.”
“Your help is the last thing I need.” She pursed her lips at me, taking in my pleading urgency. “Damn, you really do need this shot, huh?”
