Payback (36 page)

“He fired me…from his house.  Didn’t like that I had told you about the engagement ring.”

“Oh.”

When Caden returned with Jack on Monday night, he carried him up to the door in his arms.  They had spent the day at Legoland in San Diego and both were beat.  Jack was asleep with his head on his dad’s shoulder when Marie opened the door.

“He’s been out for a couple of hours.”

Marie let Caden take Jack back to his bedroom and put him down. “Was Legoland worth the money?”

“Yeah, it’s a great place for kids up to about seven…after that I’d go to Disneyland.”

“Well, send me an email the next time you want to take him. In the meantime, here.” She handed a dozen pages of revisions.

“You’ve been busy.”

“Yeah, I, uh, don’t have any distractions like fiancés or guys who want to date me,” she said sarcastically.

“I’m too tired to fight.” He started for the front door but then stopped. “Jeremiah is the new director
, and he wants us all up in Montana setting up in early April so we can begin filming by May.”

“That’s two weeks from now!”

“I know.  He moved it up because it wasn’t a heavy snow year and we should get an early spring.”

“I guess that’s okay.  I’m all caught up on my revisions. I’ll start packing.”

“I’ll fly you two up with Jeremiah and Cathy Shelton. They’ll both be staying with me at my house. We have a dozen of those portable buildings being set up as dorms for the cast and crew. We’ve also booked several cabin rentals for the rest.”

“Who is staying with Jason and me?”

“No one.  I consider the house mostly Jason’s, and he had no objection to having you stay with him because he knows you, but I didn’t want to push anyone else on him.” Caden opened the front door slowly, as if he still had more to say.  Finally, he turned to her and offered, “If we can’t be friends, can we at least be civil for Jack?  He’s very clingy and wants to sleep with Brooke and me. I think he’s picking up on our problems.”

Marie nodded. “Nancy said the same thing.  I can be civil.”

Caden gave a conciliatory smile, “I’m glad. Good night.”

Moving an entire crew to northern Montana wasn’t easy.  Huge electrical cables, water pipes
, and new septic tanks had to be built down by Trailer Town, which was what the locals had nicknamed the U-shaped area that consisted of the mobile bunkhouse buildings, a couple of single-wide trailers, three large recreational vehicles, and a building that had men and women’s bathrooms and showers. There was also the guard’s building, which was ten yards away from the temporary housing. 

In addition to the town, a large lot was graded so that the filming equipment could be stored and several trailers installed for editing and the crew to work.  Caden and Jeremiah had contracted with the Whitefish Coffee Shop to do the catering for breakfast, lunch
, and, when needed, dinner.  Because the little café wasn’t really set up to cater, Caden helped them purchase the necessary tables, chairs, plasticware and awnings for the crews’ meals.  Dinners were often set up in the middle of Trailer Town so that the crew could unwind and clean up before dinner. Because Whitefish Coffee Shop was doing the catering, it meant that Ona spent a lot of time on the ranch. 

Caden hired a lot of locals
, not only to provide necessary services for the crew, but as extras in the movie which called for people who could ride horses, dance the two-step and generally look like people from Colorado. In addition to the movie, Caden had to hire extra help with the hay baling and to tend the cattle since he and some of the other usual workers would be helping with the movie.  The town was buzzing with excitement over the fact that just about everyone in a fifty-mile radius was going to be employed that summer thanks to Caden and Marie.

Marie moved back in with Jason
, who quickly became Jack’s new best friend.  After hunting around, Marie settled on Ona’s niece, Penny, as a nanny to watch Jack while she worked. Penny often stayed overnight at the ranch, which, according to Penny, was like living in Disneyland twenty-four/seven.

By the time they started filming
in Montana, most of Brooke’s scenes, which weren’t many and were supposed to take place mainly in Los Angeles, were finished. Cathy Shelton, the female lead, decided to stay at the Whitefish Lodge on the lake for privacy so that her boyfriend could fly up to be with her from time to time.  Jeremiah stayed with Caden and Brooke. Occasionally, some of the money men would fly in and spend a night at Caden’s. He’d always bring them over to Jason’s just to show off the basement, but they would sleep at his house, meaning that Jack, Jason, Penny, and Marie had the humongous house mostly to themselves.

The second unit arrived in advance in order to film scenery shots
, along with some crowd scenes in Whitefish and in the local bars. It took them several weeks in helicopters, on horseback, cranes, and in the back of pickup trucks. The helicopters went deep into Caden’s property, into places that had been buried so deep in snow Marie didn’t even know they existed.

Jeremiah, Caden, Bill (the editor)
, and Marie would screen some of their film each night for areas they thought could pass for scenes in the screenplay.  Marie was moved, her eyes widening at the sight of forests, meadows, granite mountaintops, massive waterfalls, lakes and rivers that lit up the screen.  Mostly silent, Caden would occasionally tell them the name of a landmark and explain where it was located on the property. 

Jeremiah shook his head. “I remember some of these places, especially Iron Horse Falls, but that lake and river, I don’t remember seeing them.”

“That’s because they’re in the northwest. We didn’t go riding out there because of the grizzlies. Remember?”

“Oh, yeah, now I remember. I can’t get over how beautiful it is,” Jeremiah said.

“It’s breathtaking,” she added.

Caden turned to look at Marie with his beautiful cobalt eyes. “It will be Jack’s one day.”

“Part of it. Don’t forget your new family.”

“Marie…” he growled out a warning. 

The others turned to look at her, somewhat surprised since Caden rarely showed anger in public. Marie shrugged. “I’m just sayin’.”

When Cathy arrived at the ranch with Brooke, Marie immediately felt like an old mare.  Brooke looked hot and stylish in her
Seven for All Mankind
jeans,
Ralph Lauren
shirt, a suede vest tailored to her figure, and handmade cowboy boots with three- inch heels. Marie almost laughed when she caught Jason’s roll of the eyes when he saw her boots. No working woman in Montana would wear a three- inch heel on a cowboy boot.  Still, it looked damn good on her. Cathy was wearing a cute peasant blouse by
DNKY
that showed plenty of breasts matched to a beautiful jean skirt that came a few inches above her knee. She must have gone to the same bootmaker because her heels were at least three inches too.

Brooke received an ove
r-zealous kiss from Caden that Marie thought was for her benefit more than out of desire. Cathy stepped up and kissed him too. Jason, who was standing next to Caden, was introduced, and then Caden and the two women took off for the house. I hadn’t even received a sideways glance.

“Ouch!” Jason winced. “Did he really do that? Did Caden fail to introduce you?”

“I know Brooke, but I haven’t met Cathy.”

“And you still haven’t. Are all the people in Hollywood
always rude?”

“No, there’s a few exceptions…like me.” Marie gave him a wink and a grin.

Jason gave her a sideways hug back to show his appreciation. “Well, I have to muck and feed the horses.”

“I’ll help,” Marie offered
, knowing that Caden would probably be unavailable to go over the latest changes to the screenplay.

Jason took one side of the stables and Marie took the other. The stalls had more muck, the mixture of dirty hay and horse manure, than usual. As she moved from stall to stall, raking, shoveling and washing down, she finally reached Jubilee’s stall and was surprised to find herself ankle deep in horse manure. As she cleaned, she wondered how long Brooke would stay once Caden started spending most of his days on the set filming. It was then that she hear
d Caden’s voice as he approached her stall with Brook and Cathy on his arms. 

“And in the next stall…oh, Jubilee is out of her stall,” he said with some surprise in his voice.  I popped my head out and saw the three of them staring at me.  I was in a pair of old Wrangler jeans stuffed into rubber boots three sizes too large for my feet. The army green
T-shirt I was wearing had bleach stains on inappropriate areas. I had stuffed my shoulder-length blonde hair into a
Moose Drool Ale
ball cap to keep it out of my face. I had no makeup on, and I was wearing dirty, old work gloves.

“Caden, I didn’t know that you hired women to work on your ranch?” Cathy said with a pleasant smile flashed my way.

“That’s Marie,” Brooke tried to sound sweet, but the vitriol in those two words wasn’t lost on anyone in the stables.

“Marie?” Cathy asked with curiosity. “Oh! Marie! Marie Morrigan?”

As Cathy stepped forward with her hand extended, Marie threw up her hands. “Cathy, I don’t think you want to get within five feet of me right now. I appreciate the gesture, but I’ll be happy to shake your hand later when I’ve cleaned up.”

“I didn’t expect you to be actually working on the ranch!” she said.

“I’m helping Jason.”

“You know you don’t have to do that.  Jason gets paid very good money to do this,” Caden protested.

“I heard that!” Jason yelled from one of the stalls. He approached the group and stared into Caden’s eyes. “My
friend, Marie¸
offered to help out.”

Caden turned to Marie and shook his head.  “You are a screenwriter. You’re a professional on a professional film shoot. You’re not a ranch hand.”

“And you’re not the boss of me. I don’t need your permission to help Jason.”

He crossed his
long arms across his chest. “As a matter of fact, you do need my permission.  This is my—”

Marie pushed the shovel handle into his chest.  “Of course I need you
r permission…you own this ranch; you pay me ten thousand dollars; you bought my book and screenplay.  I understand—
you fucking own me
.” As she stomped off, her overgrown boots plopped into a puddle of water which sprayed the water and some of the horse feces up onto Caden’s perfectly ironed jeans.

“Mother-fucker!” Caden cried out. 

Marie stopped and turned, noticing the poop on his jeans and started laughing at him. 

“It’s not funny!” Brooke defended Caden.

“Really Brooke, really?  Normally, Caden would be in the stall mucking right beside us, but this pompous, fussbudget,
movie-star
Caden can’t stand to get his hands dirty. As far as I’m concerned, you can have movie-star Caden. I liked him better with hay in his hair and a willingness to pitch in.” Marie began the march back to the mudroom to take off the rubber boots and put on her cowboy boots.

“Marie!” he yelled, even more pissed, but she didn’t turn around.

Jason walked up and frowned at Caden before taking the shovel from him. “Jesus, Caden, what’s wrong with you? When did you stop appreciating someone who offered to do a decent day’s work without asking for anything?”

Caden was embarrassed
, both by Marie’s insolence in front of Brooke and Cathy and Jason’s disappointment in his behavior. Jason finished the stall, while Caden solemnly finished up the tour of the stables and guided the women back to the house. He watched as Marie took the path through the woods to the other house.  He’d have to buy her a vehicle to run back and forth so that she and Jack wouldn’t have to walk through the forests now that the grizzlies were awake and hungry.

“Damn her,
” Caden grumbled, as he continued into the house

Brooke gave Cathy a grin to let her know she was pleased that Caden was pissed off at Marie.  Cathy whispered to her, “I don’t know why you felt so threatened. She’s not very pretty
, and they clearly don’t get along anymore.”

“I hope you’re right.”

That evening they held a catered barbeque with a country-western band, out on the deck. The entire crew and numerous locals enjoyed the scenery, the food, the band and the booze.  At nine o’clock, the band announced that Caden wanted to address the crowd.

Caden, dressed in a cotton plaid shirt with pearl snaps, finely tailored jeans that fit his body perfectly
, and a well-worn Stetson, went to the front of the band and held out his hand for Brooke to join him. Marie, standing in a corner of the deck with Jack in her arms, watched as Brooke joined Caden.  She couldn’t help notice the different looks on the faces of the crowd. The locals were drinking in the beautiful woman who crossed the deck and took Caden’s hand whereas the Hollywood crowd wasn’t impressed by the five-foot-ten-inch beauty with the beautiful brunette locks that flowed over her shoulders.

Marie
wondered if Brooke was cold, because all the actress had on was a fringed suede vest that exposed her breasts and midriff, a short jean skirt that sat low on her hips, and a felt white cowboy hat accented by turquoise earrings that dangled behind her curls. Her long, suntanned legs were exposed until they reached her white cowboy boots with the three-inch heels. The local men all looked as if they were about to pounce, while their women were all holding onto their men to remind them that they were anchored and any attempt to pounce would result in an equal and opposite reaction on their part. 

“Friends, I’d like for you to meet Brooke Paulson. Brooke and I would like to announce that we are engaged to be married.” He gave Brooke a
hug around her waist and a kiss, as cheers went up from the crowd.

Marie couldn’t help but notice several sideway
s glances her way by the local women, as if they wondered how she was taking it. In order to support Caden, Marie grinned and pretended as if she was delighted, but inside a light was flickering out.   Waiting another half hour to prove that she was enjoying the celebration, Marie finally excused herself to her Whitefish friends, grabbed her backpack, a flashlight and made her way down the path through the forest with Jack. The summer night was cloudless, allowing so many stars to shine through that Marie was dumbfounded just looking up at them.  Jack was asleep on her shoulder as she continued down the dirt path towards Jason’s house.  Just as she started down a slight grade, she heard the snap of a branch behind her. Stifling a scream, she stopped and shone the flashlight behind her and was shocked to see a figure staring back.

“Damn it, Marie, this is g
rizzly country and walking around in the forest at night is just plain stupid without a gun.”

“We’re fine.
We only have another few minutes and we’ll be home. I have my bear spray. Go back to your party.”

Checking his anger, Caden
tried to sound calm.  “But your bear spray is inside that backpack. Did you ever think that you’d have to put Jack down, reach behind, grab the can and aim it if you saw a bear? That bear would be on you before you could get your backpack open.”

Even though she tried to look defiant, he knew he’d made his point.

“I’ll pull the spray out and put it in the mesh where I keep my water bottle.  Would that make you feel better?”

He was beside her
, taking Jack from her arms.  “You keep your bear spray handy while I carry Jack. I’m going to get you a vehicle so you can shuttle back and forth between the houses without worrying about bears.”

“I like the walk. It’s so beautiful up here, I just can’t get enough. I wish I could spend some time in the backcountry.”

He took a deep breath and nodded. “I know.  Whenever we’re out in the more remote areas, I feel cheated, like I don’t want to share it with everyone.”

“Me too. You told me that Glacier National Park was great to hike in this time of year. Maybe I’ll get someone to watch Jack and go spend a day hiking.”

Shaking his head he exhaled loudly, “That’s fine, but make sure you hike with a buddy. Glacier is the playground for grizzlies.”

She chuckled.

“What are you laughing about?”

“You. Thanks for worrying about me,” she said as they approached the back patio of the house.

He briefly closed his eyes as he thought about it.  “I wish I didn’t.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll soon have your second family.”

His whole body clenched as he handed Jack back to her. “Fuck you.”

They parted in silence.

Shooting started, and Marie found herself arguing with Caden on almost every scene.  Surprisingly, Jeremiah and the producer tended to agree with Marie. The animosity became so obvious Jeremiah finally took Caden aside.

“What the hell is going on with you?  Marie can’t sneeze without you screwin’ with her. What did she do to piss you off?  Is this going to start interfering with the film?”

Caden’s hands gripped his hips, as he looked everywhere but into Jeremiah’s eyes. The problem wasn’t anger, it was anything but anger. The problem was watching her and Jack walk around the ranch, the ranch he wanted to share with them. Just that morning he woke up with a nice morning erection and thought maybe Brooke might be willing to give it a go.  She groaned, pushed him away and hissed, “It’s just a morning boner. Go pee and it will go away.”