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Yep, he was pretty sure the critter was rolling its eyes. It gave one half-hearted chatter, and Chris tensed his jaw, his glower intensifying.
“None of that,” he growled.
“We’re clear, sir,” Daphne said.
“All right. Then everyone head back to the house. I’ll follow once you’re all safe.”
“Shouldn’t you shoot it or something?” Sofia said.
The porcupine looked her way, as if affronted.
“No,” Chris said firmly. “We do not shoot animals out of fear. The fear is our problem. This beast is on its own territory, and we are the intruders. It is leaving us in peace, and so we should do the same. Mutual respect between neighbors in our shared forest home.”
Okay, that was a little over the top, but both camera operators made noises of agreement. Daphne steered them toward the house. Then she came back with Tika, who had been keeping her distance from the porcupine.
“Everyone safe?” he said.
Daphne glanced over, caught the amused twitch of his lips, and laughed softly. “Crisis averted, thanks to the fearless Zane Remington,” she said.
“It was nothing, dear lady. Nothing at all.” He tipped an imaginary hat to the porcupine. “You did a fine job in your supporting role. See the front desk for your SAG check.”
Daphne shook her head, and they went to join the others.
DAPHNE
Okay, so the porcupine encounter was… Daphne wanted to say “ridiculous” but then, two hours later, she saw the footage and had to tip her own imaginary hat to Chris. While the raw footage would be fully edited, the magazine execs were anxiously awaiting scenes from this interview—being part of their first foray into TV—so the crew took a break to speed-edit the porcupine encounter while Daphne went inside to clean and prep lunch. When she came out, they had sample footage and it was… well, anything but ridiculous, really.
As an unpublished writer, she’d heard horror stories about the book-editing process. They’re going to do terrible things to your manuscript! They’ll change characters! Rewrite dialogue! Cut scenes! Alicia hadn’t changed a single word—she’d only made suggestions, mostly about higher-level aspects like plot elements—and if Daphne agreed, then Daphne made the changes in her own words. Editing, she’d discovered, was a blessing, helping mold her ramblings into clean and cohesive storytelling.
That’s what the camera crew had done with that raw footage. In their case, it was all cutting. Splice, splice, and resplice to turn an absurd animal encounter into a heroic rescue. In the new version, Sofia and the camera duo had been walking through the woods admiring the scenery when her male camera operator yelped “Look out!” and Sofia saw the porcupine and screamed. A split second later, Chris was there.
Skip the bits where he talked about hedgehogs and downplayed the danger. That would have ruined the tension. Instead, cut straight to him sidestepping into danger’s path, while instructing and reassuring Sofia in his Zane voice. They even left in one part where he referenced the book—her publicist would be thrilled.
From there, cut to a closeup of him glaring at the chattering porcupine. Daphne’d had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing at that, but on film, it actually looked like a tense standoff. Then one final segment of Daphne’s back as she herded Sofia to safety while Chris stood guard against the killer rodent.
The execs loved it. “More of this!!!” they messaged Sofia. More of what? Wander the forest looking for wildlife Zane could stare into submission?
Luckily, Sofia didn’t suggest that. Sure, she’d panicked over a porcupine, but Daphne wasn’t holding that against her, having seen plenty of tourists do the same.
Daphne kept hoping Chris might find time to get away from the crew so they could plot their new Zane strategy, now that she understood he was someone she could plot with. Which was a huge relief.
He wasn’t an actor. Wasn’t an asshole. Wasn’t someone who never read anything longer than a fortune-cookie message.
Chris was an accountant. A sweet and smart guy who wasn’t afraid to get a little silly.
He was someone she could work with. As for getting time alone, when Chris suggested helping Daphne clear up after lunch, Sofia put her foot down. Look what happened the last time he left her alone. No more of that. If she was braving the wilderness, she needed her protector.
In the afternoon, there was a book-talk interview by the lake. After the porcupine incident—when he’d proven he’d read the book—Daphne had no problem leaving that in Chris’s hands. She took some downtime, prepping muffin batter for tomorrow and, yes, doing a bit of stress-cleaning.
Soon it was time for an afternoon break. Then there’d be another film segment before the crew left for the evening, and she could grill up some bison burgers while she and Chris talked.
She loaded up the coffee tray and added a plate of freshly baked cookies. Then she headed outside to the patio table where Sofia was telling the story of her first celebrity interview.
“I get home, so proud of myself for getting him to answer tough questions, and the recording was gone.”
“Did you have a backup?” Chris asked.
“I was so nervous I couldn’t even be sure I’d hit Record. So here I am, this amazing interview with zero proof it happened—Oh my God, do I smell cookies?”
