Finding Mr. Right Now (19 page)

Glenn nodded, his jaw tight. “Probably.”

“Plus Ronnie would hate it,” she added quickly. “She’s not even enthusiastic about riding the gondola. You put her out there on a paraglider and she’ll turn green.”

“It’d give her date a chance to talk her down,” Darryl cut in quickly. “One of them could be the hero of the hour.”

“And when she did it and was scared shitless, she’d send him packing. How is that even remotely fair?” Monica raised an eyebrow.

Fairness had been on her mind a lot lately. In the days since they’d arrived from Salt Box, Ronnie had sent off two of the three bachelors who hadn’t been with them. Monica was afraid being in Salt Box had given Billy Joe and Brendan an extra edge. Ronnie was even being sweet to Paul, as if she’d managed to forget finding them together on the veranda of the Praeger House. Then again, knowing Ronnie, she might actually have forgotten all about that. She seemed to have a real gift for seeing the world the way she wanted it to be.

Monica hadn’t been able to forget that particular Praeger House episode herself. Every time she saw Paul, she felt as if her hormones were doing a little dance across her skin. So far, they hadn’t been able to do much more than smile at each other as the shots were set up for each day’s activities. Like all the other bachelors, he was usually participating in interviews, taking part in activities, or filming “candid scenes” at the Bachelor House, although he usually ended up on the sidelines with those. They hadn’t even had a chance to speak, let alone make any plans to get together.

She wondered if he was still interested in getting together. After all, his promises might have been just a momentary reaction to good sex. It didn’t mean he wanted to settle down with her for something more now that they were at Elkhorn Run.

She really wished he would, though.

As luck would have it, she had a single room to herself at the hotel, right across the hall from Ronnie’s. Theoretically she was on call for whatever Ronnie needed, but Ronnie tended to go to sleep early. Monica let her mind drift to ways Paul could sneak out of the Bachelor House and into the main building. Then again, she didn’t have a clue as to how she could bring it up the next time she saw him.

Want to come up and see my etchings, big boy?

She blew out a breath. Darryl was talking again. She needed to pay attention. Lord only knew what he’d come up with next.

“Don’t you ever get tired of playing it safe?” he sneered in her direction. “Jesus, you think miniature golf is going to pull in ratings?”

Monica gritted her teeth. The miniature golf game had been entirely her idea, based on a really epic miniature golf course she’d found on her last trip through Salt Box. “Maybe it’s not life threatening, but it’ll give the bachelors a chance for some nice interaction with Ronnie.”

Darryl made a raspberry sound. He looked like he was pouting. This also wasn’t exactly unexpected—it was his usual reaction when one of his ideas was rejected.

“Fine,” he fumed, “there’s always the zip line.”

“That might work.” Glenn tapped his fingers against his lips. “Those lines aren’t usually that high and they’d be attached to harnesses so Ronnie wouldn’t feel like she was going to fall. And the visuals would be good.”

Darryl smiled a bit smugly. Could he actually be smarter than he looked—using the paragliding suggestion to get what he really wanted? She considered everything she’d learned about him since they’d arrived.
Nah.

“Ronnie has motion sickness,” she cautioned. “You might end up with shots of her puking at altitude.”

“Ah hell, let’s try it. You haven’t come up with anything better.” Glenn stood, dropping his iPhone into his pocket while Sid gathered the papers he’d been doodling on. “Set it up for tomorrow.” He strode from the room without a glance in her direction.

Sid did glance at her, but then he quickly glanced away.
What’s up?
She gritted her teeth. She was clearly going crazy, seeing conspiracies everywhere she looked.

“Set it up. Sure. I can do that.” She managed to change her grimace to an artificial smile as she turned to Darryl. “Any other ideas that I’ll need to do reconnaissance on?”

“Well, there’s skinny dipping at the hot springs.” Darryl gave her a faintly malicious grin. “You might want to make sure we can have the whole place to ourselves instead of sharing with the tourists.”

“They’re not skinny dipping anywhere,” she said through gritted teeth. “The camera angles would be a bitch.”

“Guess they’ll have to wear suits, then.” He sighed, pudgy lips pouting. “Too bad. It’s much better without.”

“Based on what?”

“I tried it myself a couple of days ago at the hot springs in the mountains outside town. Fantastic experience. You should give it a whirl, Monica. Want me to show you the way?” He gave her another evil grin.

Monica studied him. He was, in fact, one of the least attractive men she’d ever seen. Shaggy brown hair that needed a wash. Faintly greasy complexion. His T-shirt had a stain of something that might once have been tomato sauce near the collar.

“No thanks,” she said.

Darryl huffed a fake sigh. “Your loss.”

“No doubt.” Her smile felt more like a lip flex. “I need the address of the zip line place.”

Darryl dug through his pile of papers, then handed her a Website printout. “It’s back toward the ski area. The hot springs are outside the Salt Box city limits going the other way.”

Monica frowned. “I thought the Salt Box municipal swimming pool was a hot springs—the one in the center of town.”

He gave her another nasty smile. “I’m not talking about the public pool. This one’s private. Here.” He handed her another printout.

She stared down at the pictures of vaguely hippie-looking people lying next to a stone-lined pool. “It looks like a spa.”

Darryl was still digging through his papers. “It is. Some of the time.”

She shrugged. “We can handle a spa. We’ve used one before. I’ll talk to the management there and see what we can work out.”

Darryl smirked again. “Be sure and ask them about the ‘suit optional’ possibilities.”

She smirked back. “Get bent, Darryl.”

She headed up the walkway toward the terrace at the back of the resort where cell phone reception was marginally better. Glenn had designated the terrace as the ideal setting for the opening and closing scenes of each episode, and she had to admit it was probably the most picturesque part of the hotel, given that it didn’t have any views of the dead pine forest. Plus there was a large fire pit in the middle of the terrace that could provide flames in the background of some evening shots.

Ronnie was lounging in one of the terrace chairs, her face turned up to the mountain sunshine, sunglasses firmly in place. She wore shorts and a tank top, her bright cotton blouse spread across the back of her chair. Monica thought about asking her if she’d put on sunscreen, and then told herself to cool it. Ronnie didn’t need her hovering.

“Hi Monica,” Ronnie said, not turning her head.

“Hi Ronnie. Did they let you go for a while?” Early afternoons were usually pretty quiet around
Finding Mr. Right
. Interviews were shot in the morning, “dates” in the afternoon and evening. Around lunchtime, Glenn usually reviewed the footage from the previous day before they went on with shooting whatever they had scheduled.

“Glenn said I could have a couple of hours.” Ronnie sighed. “You want to have lunch with me?”

Monica sighed inwardly. She had three or four calls she needed to make before they started the afternoon’s activities. On the other hand, Ronnie still seemed a little shaky on the whole no-fraternizing-on-the-side thing. Not that Monica had much to brag about in that area. Eating together was probably a good idea.

“Sure. Why don’t we go to the dining room here? That way you’ll have plenty of time to change for the afternoon.”

“Oh, I thought we were doing it this evening.” Ronnie’s forehead furrowed. “I mean, that’s what Glenn said. After supper.”

“The miniature golf?” Monica shook her head. “The call sheet says two.”

Ronnie looked faintly perplexed, still in furrowed forehead mode. “But Glenn said they were calling the whole miniature golf thing off. Didn’t he tell you?”

A quick shiver of apprehension slid down Monica’s backbone. “No. Nobody mentioned it to me. What are we doing instead?”

Ronnie shrugged. “The rodeo. Kathleen went down to that western store downtown and bought me a new shirt. It’s got embroidery and everything.”

Monica stared. “The rodeo? What are you doing at the rodeo? And who’s doing it with you?”

Ronnie shrugged again. “They haven’t told me yet. I mean it’s a date, so they wouldn’t tell me anything in advance, would they? A group date, I guess.”

“A group date. Instead of the miniature golf.” Monica sat still, trying to ignore the feeling that she’d been cut out of the loop for a particular reason. And that reason probably wasn’t good, particularly if it involved Darryl. “So you’re going to go see the rodeo?”

“Not exactly. Glenn said they had this rodeo here in town every week, and this week we’re going to be in it too.”

“
In
the rodeo? You mean like performing?”

Ronnie shrugged again. “Maybe.”

Monica took a deep breath. “Have you ever been in a rodeo before?”

“No, but I used to ride horses at my grandfather’s place back in Florida. Of course that was a few years ago.”

“How many years ago exactly?”

Ronnie frowned, apparently doing some mental addition. “Maybe six or seven…or ten or eleven. I mean, I was pretty little when I did it.”

“And you haven’t done any riding since then?”

“No, but I don’t think this is riding exactly. Anyway, Glenn said it would be real exciting. And I’ve got the new shirt and all.” She took her blouse from the back of her chair and started to put it on again.

Monica took another deep breath. “Okay, sweetie, why don’t you go ahead and order some lunch. I need to check some things with Sid, and then I’ll come join you.”

“Okay.” Ronnie smiled as she got to her feet. “It’s all going to work out, Monica. You’ll see.”

“Oh, yeah,” Monica murmured. “I’ll most definitely see.”

At least when she found Sid in the makeshift studio they’d set up to view videotape, he was slightly embarrassed. “I know I should have told you, Monica, but Darryl got the whole thing set up on his own. Glenn okayed it, and then he probably forgot he hadn’t told you about it already. And you’ve got to admit, miniature golf is pretty lame for a stunt.”

“It might not be riveting, but nobody’s likely to get hurt playing miniature golf.” Monica gripped the back of a chair. She sounded almost exactly like her mother.

Sid shook his head. “Nobody’s going to get hurt doing this either. According to Darryl, the guy at the rodeo said they have people do this all the time. It’s not a professional rodeo kind of event.”

She ran a hand across her forehead, willing the headache not to develop. “What exactly are they going to be doing?”

“As I understand it, there’s a kind of relay horse race at the end of the evening. They’ve got teams. Each horse and rider goes up and back the length of the arena. On the way out, the first rider grabs a piece of rope from a person standing at the side and then they give it to the next rider. After that they pass the rope back and forth between the riders until the end just like running a relay race. They’ve got two separate heats and then the final. The bachelors can do the rope on the first couple of heats, and then Ronnie can do the final.”

Monica’s headache was definitely on. “You’re going to have Ronnie standing out next to a galloping horse, trying to hand a rope to the rider? Have you thought about what could happen if she misses?”

Sid made an exasperated sound. “See, now this is why Glenn and Darryl didn’t discuss the whole idea with you. You’re always talking about all the bad things that could happen and not seeing the possibilities. It’s perfectly safe. She won’t be that close to the damn horse. And it’s bound to be a dynamite sequence on the show. If we can get the right camera angles, it’ll be fantastic.”

Monica pinched the bridge of her nose. “What about the insurance people?”

“They cleared it. We checked it all out, Monica, believe me. Darryl’s come up with a real winner here. Maybe you should start listening to his suggestions instead of sneering at everything he says.”

She dug her fingernails into her palms to keep from saying anything more. There was probably no future in arguing anyway, and maybe everything would work out. “Does Glenn still want me to go ahead with the other things, the zip line and the hot springs? Or is Darryl going to do those too?” She hoped she didn’t sound as petulant as she was afraid she did.

Sid shrugged. “Go ahead. We’ll need more activities later in the week, and Glenn can decide which one to use later on. And you’ll need to be at the rodeo grounds at six so you can help everybody get set up.” He gave her one of his I-work-for-the-director looks and headed back up the hall toward the conference room.

Monica blew out a breath and started toward the resort restaurant. At least she could talk to Ronnie about being extra careful.