“Why did you put air quotes around the word borrowing?” she asked as I held the passenger door open for her.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the suspicion in her voice. “Ask me no questions, I’ll tell you no lies.”
She grinned up at me as she stretched her seatbelt across her impressive chest. “I have lots more questions for you… but not about that.” I grinned as I closed her door.
The waiter at the diner was Latino, and Ronnie ordered her breakfast in what sounded like flawless Spanish. I ordered in English for myself—eggs, bacon, pancakes, and coffee.
“That was impressive,” I said when the waiter left. “Your mom’s Mexican, right?”
“Yes, but she came to the states with her parents when she was in her teens.”
“Have you ever been there?”
“Just once. She took my brother and me for a week right before I started sixth grade.”
“Did you like it there?”
“Yes, but it wasn’t a very happy occasion. We went because my mom’s grandfather was dying. I’d love to go back someday.”
It was hard to believe that she was half Mexican and had only been there once while I’d been there a half dozen times. Then again, it was a lot easier to get to Mexico from California than from Tennessee.
Our coffee came, and Ronnie cautiously tried it. Her smile told me it had hit the mark. God, she looked amazing when she smiled.
After a few more sips, she looked up at me. “So, do you and Aiden and Ford always work together?”
I leaned back in the booth, stretching my legs at an angle so that I wouldn’t crowd her. “Usually. I mean, Aiden and I are sort of a package deal, but when Mac’s the stunt coordinator, he always hires Ford right off the bat. So yeah, the four of us often work together.”
She nodded. “Do you ever work with stunt women?”
“Sometimes—there are some really talented ones out there.” Ronnie leaned forward and seemed interested in my answer. “But for this kind of action movie, most of the actors are male, so there isn’t much call for stunt women. We’ve got one on staff, but she didn’t come out here. She’s not needed until a scene near the end when Sierra gets taken by the villain and Aiden has to rescue her.”
“Sierra?”
“Aiden’s love interest in the movie.”
“Oh, right. I think I heard some of the crew mention her.”
The coffee I’d just gulped settled uneasily in my stomach. “What did you hear?”
“Just that she was coming next week.” Her eyes sharpened. “Why?”
“No reason.”
“Tanner.” She said my name in a way that let me know she wasn’t buying it.
I sighed. “Aiden and Sierra don’t get along all that well.”
Ronnie cocked her head to the side. “That’s a shame, but does it matter? I mean, they said that the two leads in Dirty Dancing didn’t always get along, but it was an amazing movie.”
For a moment, I wondered if Ronnie’s strength and grace translated well to dancing. Someday, I hoped I’d find out. “It can be rough on set when the leads don’t get along.”
Ronnie grinned. “How so? Do they make everyone choose sides? Is it the sharks and the jets around the set?”
“You watch too many movies.”
“Says the man who makes his living from the movies. But come on, tell me more about Sierra. Is she pretty?”
“Of course.” It felt weird saying that in front of Ronnie, but it was true.
“I don’t recognize her name. Do you know what else she’s been in?”
“Not much. I think this is her first big break.”
A shadow crossed Ronnie’s face. “Then it’s a shame it’s not going well.”
I nodded. Rumor was, they were thinking of replacing her. Part of that had to do with Aiden. She was replaceable—he wasn’t. That wasn’t really fair to Sierra, but that’s how things worked. I didn’t want to get into all of that with Ronnie, and I especially didn’t want to betray Aiden’s trust by revealing more than I should. But Ronnie looked so concerned about a woman she’d never met that I had to give her a bit more info. “She’s just new. She doesn’t really know how things work on set.”
“Neither do I, yet you and Ford have been patient and explained a lot of things to me.”
It didn’t escape my notice that Aiden wasn’t on her list of helpful people. “It may not always seem like it, but Aiden takes his work very seriously. He remembers what it was like to be Bad Guy Number Three and he’ll never let himself go back to that kind of thing again.”
The food came, and it was a welcome respite from Ronnie’s questions. Plus, I was hungry. Ronnie ate half her omelet before bringing up the subject again. “I overheard at lunch one day that Aiden yelled at her.”
I put down the bite of pancake I’d cut off with my fork. Ronnie leaned forward and speared it with her fork, putting it in her mouth with an impish smile. I couldn’t help but grin back, but then my grin faded as I answered her question. “He was just frustrated. She was holding up the entire shoot. And no matter what you heard, he didn’t lose his temper. He just… told her what he thought of her professionalism.”