Page 43 of Yours, Always
Greyson shot a quick look to Prudence before guiding Rand away. Not far enough, though, as she could still hear their conversation. She felt a twinge of guilt for continuing to listen.
“Out? Out of what exactly?” Greyson was saying. “Being tooled around like a show pony and forced into movies I have no desire to make? With actors I have no desire to work with?” Prudence had not heard him sound so bitter. Burned-out, sure, but not bitter.
“Careful, Atwood,” Rand warned, his voice lowering.
Prudence couldn’t hear the rest of their conversation and saw Rand glance at his watch before he pivoted on his heels and stalked off.
Greyson ran a hand through his hair and collected himself before walking back to her.
“What was that about?” she questioned.
“I really don’t want to talk about it Pru. Annabelle is on her way over.”
Prudence frowned, trying to not be hurt Greyson wasn’t confiding in her, but it really wasn’t the right time or place. She turned to see Sebastian walking toward his car and Annabelle coming toward them.
“How are you doing, Grey?” Annabelle pulled him into a hug.
“Honestly, I’m better than I thought I’d be.”
“I’m going to have to talk to that director and get the footage of your wipeout,” Annabelle said, true to form, not letting Greyson off the hook. “That’s going to come in handy someday.”
Greyson laughed. “I already texted him and I had him burn anything past what he could use in the commercial. Figuratively burn, and by burn I mean hard delete.”
Prudence broke in. “What’s going on with you and Sebastian? Things were looking intense there.”
Annabelle shook head and blew out a rush of angry air. “I don’t get that guy. He just wants to change everything, like nothing that we have works for him. He wants the float to be blue and silver, no matter how stupid I told him that was because a bee is black and yellow, he just doesn’t care. He wants what he wants.”
“What are you supposed to do with all the supplies you already have?” Prudence asked.
“I have no clue, but he gave me a card to go buy everything blue and silver that I can.” Her eyes lit up. “I think we’re going to take this and go out to a nice lunch. He’ll be surprised when he comes back and sees that everything is still black and yellow.”
Prudence laughed. “He’s going to be so pissed.”
Annabelle smiled. “That’s exactly my point. Come on, let’s get this thing finished. I need some of that coffee.”
Greyson grabbed a handful of supplies. “I’m going to start running the streamers over here.” He walked to the back of the flatbed and started unraveling black and yellow streamers.
Annabelle lowered her voice and nodded toward Greyson. “He wasn’t supposed to be here today, was he?”
“No, he wasn’t,” Prudence said. “When I got here, he said he was going stir crazy.”
“Did he say anything about, well, anything?”
“Nope. Absolutely nothing.”
“What are you going to do?” Annabelle asked.
“I don’t think there’s any reason that we need to change our plan for tomorrow. It’s too public here even if I wanted to say something. Let’s just have some fun, hang out, see what we can do to piss off Sebastian, then go have a very expensive lunch. I think we deserve it.”
Annabelle laughed. “We deserve that and so much more for having to deal with him.”
Chapter Twenty
The day had come for the hay bale maze, the official start to the Fall Festival. A large swath of land to the south of the city was prepared each year with upwards of one hundred bales donated by local farmers. Prudence loved this day the most. It was the one activity during the Fall Festival that got Amber Falls residents out of the center and into the country. And what beautiful country it was. The air was crisp and clean, where a lungful never seemed like enough—it was ripe with the smell of cool sunshine. Stepping out of her car Prudence stopped and took a deep breath. It was a very different smell, she thought, than the warm sunshine she associated with the Summer Solstice Festival. While leaves swirled around the streets and sidewalks in town, they danced with complete abandon through the woods and across the farmlands out here. Sound seemed to travel better in the cold, with no leaves to hold on tightly to the secrets that whispered through the air. The echo of the brooks and rivers that flowed under the covered bridges traveled as a symphony across the countryside.
Despite the warmth of the sun there was still a chill in the air. Prudence pulled her scarf more tightly to her chin and walked over to the small volunteer group gathered near the maze entrance. She thought back to her conversation with Annabelle and Devlin during ladies’ night, crossing her fingers that the plan they’d hatched would go off without a hitch.
“Hey, AB, you ready?”