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“You have no reason to be sorry,” she said.
“Uh, yeah, I do. I wanted to say something before the crew arrived, and then they showed up early, and I should have waited, but with all the questions I couldn’t answer, I panicked. I was terrified of blowing this for you.”
“I understand.”
She stood facing the mirror, trying not to look at him, but still catching his face over her shoulder.
“You don’t need to be so nice, D. I should have realized how stressed you were and held off on the confessional.”
“This is more than you expected, and I understand why you need to quit. I’m grateful for everything you’ve done, and I’ll handle it from here.”
He blinked at her in the mirror. “Quit?”
“This is too much. You’re not an actor, and this has escalated out of control. That’s why you told me, right?”
“No.” He laid a hand on her arm and turned her around. “No, Daphne. Not at all. I told you because I realized I need help to pull this off. You deserved to know that you didn’t hire an actual actor. I got caught up in the role, but goofing around on text messages and phone calls is one thing. Being here and pretending to be someone else? Realizing I could get caught out and ruin your career? I couldn’t do that.”
“If you did want to quit, you’re under no obligation—”
“I don’t. Let’s get through this interview and then discuss next steps. My priority right now is not screwing this up for you.”
Her eyes filled with tears again.
“Oh, and by the way…” He leaned into her ear. “I totally read your book. Twice. And I cannot wait for the next one.”
She burst into tears. Not just tears, but jagged sobs that came from nowhere, as if she’d been stuffing all her stress behind a wall, and it finally broke.
“Oh God, I’m sorry,” she said, putting her hands over her face. “Here you are, trying to be nice, and I start ugly-crying.”
“Doesn’t look like ugly-crying to me. And I’m not being nice. I really did love—”
“Stop.” She wagged a finger at him in mock reproval, sniffing back tears. “Keep that up, and I’ll never stop crying. Apparently, I’ve been wound even tighter than I realized.”
He pulled her into a half hug and patted her back. “You’ve been under a lot of strain, and this didn’t help. But I will help. I’m not Chris Ainsworth, who might blithely say asinine things and mess this up for you. I know I’m in over my head, and I need help. But, if it’s any consolation, I also know your book backward and forward. You said Theo uses a composite rifle. She has a compound bow, too, right?”
Daphne sniffled and nodded.
“See? I might barely know my rifles from my shotguns, but I know the book. We can do this. Okay?”
“Okay.” She looked up at him. “Thank you.”
“For being a city boy who might not know which end of a gun to hold?”
She smiled. “For being a guy who’ll admit he doesn’t know which end of a gun to hold. And who’ll lie and tell me I’m not ugly-crying when…” She looked in the mirror and made a face. “Well, between that and stress-puking, it can’t get any worse, right?”
He gave her another quick hug. “It’ll be fine. Now, since the crew is still taking pictures of the pretty scenery, let’s discuss—”
A scream reverberated through the house.
“Was that—?” Chris said.
“From outside.”
Oh no. The grizzly.
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHRIS
