Tempted By The Movie Star. Anna DePalo
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didn’t know they were made of logs. And there are four?”
“Now there are,” Cade said. “But originally there were only three. Damon and Phil built the fourth one last summer, so technically only the first three are historic. Especially the first one.” He glanced at Matt. “Is it okay if I tell her about the brotherhood?”
“Go for it.”
“I should hope you can tell her,” Lexi said. “She volunteered to clean cabins, for pity’s sake. She’s working hard to save Matt’s reputation. Geena’s aces in my book.”
Geena flashed Lexi a smile. “Thanks.”
“So, the story of the brotherhood.” Cade adjusted his grip on a second mop he carried on his shoulder like a rifle. “The first three guys Rosie brought home were Damon Harrison, Finn O’Roarke and me. Damon’s—”
“I know who Damon is,” she said. “And Finn’s the guy who brews the beer we drank last night.”
“Exactly. So we created the Thunder Mountain Brotherhood. We had a blood-brother ceremony in the woods where we swore to be straight with everyone, protect the weak and be loyal to one another for life.” He stated the pledge without a trace of mockery. He’d obviously believed in the concept then and he believed in it now.
Geena’s throat tightened as she imagined three homeless boys pledging to stick together through thick and thin. “That’s very cool.”
“We thought so, too, but unfortunately we were kind of exclusive. We claimed the first cabin and although it sleeps four, we wouldn’t let anybody else in.”
Matt shook his head. “Tell me about it. You acted like you were royalty.”
“I know. We were obnoxious. But we finally grew up and realized that every guy who shared the experience of living here with Rosie and Herb should be a part of the brotherhood, so now it’s official. Everybody’s in.” He reached over and punched Matt lightly on the arm. “I hope you weren’t too traumatized by being excluded for a while, big guy.”
“Nah. There’s always the cool crowd and then the rest of us.”
“Yeah, but today I’m just a lowly cowhand and you’re a famous movie star.”
Matt grinned at him. “Bite me.”
“And get sued by your studio for damaging the goods? No, thanks.” He turned back to Geena. “Anyway, that was life in the cabins. Never a dull moment.”
“Yeah, and I loved it,” Matt said, “despite being lorded over by three megalomaniacs. I used to pretend we were all living on the frontier.”
“Which wasn’t so far from the truth, considering we had to hike down to the bathhouse in the middle of the night to take care of business. Speaking for myself, I felt like Davy Crockett every time I made that journey.”
Geena blinked. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No, he’s not.” Matt looked over at her and grinned. “There’s no running water in the cabins.”
“Really? How could you manage without indoor bathrooms?”
“Oh, we had indoor bathrooms,” Cade said. “We just had to go outdoors to get to ’em. Rain or shine, sleet or snow, down the path we would go.”
“Sometimes we had to shovel first, like if we had six feet of snow,” Matt said.
“And that was if you could get out your door to shovel.” Cade shifted his mop to the other shoulder. “Once the snow was so deep we couldn’t pry the doors open. I don’t think you’d arrived yet, Matt. Dad dug us out or we would’ve had to climb out a window. I’ll bet we had a good ten feet that year.”
She couldn’t imagine, but then she was a California girl. “I suppose there are bathrooms in the cabins now, though, for the academy students.”
“Nope.” Matt shook his head.
“No?”
“They have to do the same thing we did. It’s tradition. Toughens them up.”
She held out the bucket she was carrying. “So, you’re saying in order to mop the floors we have to haul water from the bathhouse?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Wow, this will be more of an adventure than I thought!”
“You really don’t have to do this.” Lexi came over to put an arm around her. “Offering to help was a nice gesture, but I’m starting to feel bad about having you do manual labor on your business trip. The three of us can handle it.”
“Nice try, but there’s no way you’re getting rid of me now. I was the kid who never went to camp. I would have loved to—” She stopped in her tracks as the semicircle of four cabins came into view. Nestled in a grassy meadow, they did look as if a family of settlers might have constructed them. Tall pines ringed the meadow and wind sighed through the top branches, making a sound that was hauntingly familiar.
Benches surrounded a fire pit in the middle of the cabin area and the lingering scent of charred logs blended with the aroma of pine. She longed to sit on one of those benches, roast marshmallows and tell ghost stories. Then she’d pile into a cabin with her friends and zip herself into her very own sleeping bag.
“Like it?” Matt’s question brought her out of her daydream.
“I don’t just like it. I love it.” She realized everyone was watching her with a bemused smile. “This may sound ridiculous, but seeing this meadow is like finding something I didn’t know I missed. I can’t hear traffic noises or sirens or jackhammers. Maybe I’ve always needed a place like this in my life. I just didn’t know it.”
Matt had been bowled over by Geena’s transformation from city girl to country girl thanks to Rosie’s magic closet. Then she’d made those heartfelt comments as she’d stood gazing at the log cabins where he’d spent the happiest years of his life. She’d reacted to the meadow exactly as he had the first time he’d laid eyes on it. She was rapidly turning into the girl of his dreams.
Now he really wanted to take her over to his ranch so she could picture herself going there with him next time he came home. He wouldn’t let himself plan too far into the future because that would be foolish. But if he’d found a woman who loved both the film industry and the rural beauty of Wyoming, they could have some fun together.
Once she’d finished exclaiming over the rustic beauty of the cabins and their setting, Cade handed out directions. “We only have one vacuum so we’ll have to trade that back and forth. You two can take it first and we’ll wash windows until you’re done. Then you can wash windows and mop floors while we vacuum. We’ll reverse the process for the next two.”
“Got it.” Matt said.
Cade settled his hat more firmly on his head. “You need to flip the mattresses and look for any items they left behind. After the fall semester we found somebody’s credit card.”
“Aye, aye, sir.” Geena gave him a snappy salute.
Cade’s eyes sparkled with laughter. “You’ll do, recruit. See you in a few.” He and Lexi headed off.
“Nice salute.” Matt carried the vacuum cleaner, and Geena took the bucket and mop.
“Learned it in an acting class in case we ever had an audition for a military role. Did you take any classes or are you just a natural born talent?”
“I took community college courses while I was here and enrolled in a couple of acting studios once I hit LA. That was expensive, though, so mostly I watched Westerns because I knew that’s where I could shine.”
“Lots