High Noon: A Sweet Romance (Red Canyon Series Book 3) Read online

  “Hopefully there’s another explanation,” she said. There wasn’t a whole lot to say whenever he went on his famous rants. They weren’t obnoxious to listen to, only time consuming. She glanced up at the display case of a gun holster, sitting on a shelf. It looked dark with age, but the rumor was that it said Made in China on the back.

  “I’ll be watching them like a hawk for the next week. They can expect that. And their lockers too. They signed the release that we can search them, so they’re aware it can happen.”

  She remembered signing it when she’d started. The waiver was a page long, though she’d heard rumors that other types of employees saw a two-pager. She hadn’t understood it at the time; they weren’t working at a bank or a government building. It was an entertainment company more than anything else.

  “I just got done putting the finishing touches on the saloon,” Lynn said, hoping to direct the conversation to something more on-topic.

  “That’s good, because the first show there is in two days. I want it ready for when we do.”

  Even though it was virtually finished, two days was pretty quick. He had a habit of making decisions without as much planning as she, or the rest of the set crew, liked, with the communication usually being a memo, such as Show’s in a week—build this or We need a new admissions ticket booth in three days—go. It worked great to accomplish things without a lot of red tape, but it usually meant long shifts.

  “It should be fine,” Lynn said. “All we need is another coat of varnish on the bar, and that will be it. That, and airing out the building so that the varnish and coats of paint don’t make the customers pass out.”

  “Guests,” he corrected, almost as a twitch. Lynn didn’t see why it made a difference.

  “Your crew has done a great job. I appreciate the feedback, and I’ll talk to the crew head to get his opinion on things. Whatever we can do for the show to happen that day, I’m all for.”

  “We’ll make it happen,” she said.

  He leaned forward and folded his hands. “That’s what I need to talk to you about. There’s been a change of plans.”

  “What do you mean?” The look on his face made her stomach sink.

  He glanced at his computer screen, then back at her. “I don’t know if you’ve heard any of this, but there was an incident with some employees a few days ago. Two of them were dating, and everything went south. She kicked him out and threw all his stuff out on the front lawn, so the story goes. There was a lot of bad blood, and apparently a bunch of employees here took sides. Long story short, a whole group of them quit at once.”

  She was pretty sure nobody from her crew had quit. She’d seen all of them within the past two days. Even after racking her brain, she couldn’t think of who it had been.

  He took one long breath and exhaled. “So, I’ve needed to transfer people from one crew to another. I’ve been doing a lot of moving around the past few days, and I’ve got everyone placed except for one.”

  He didn’t want her on the set crew anymore. It hit her all at once. The only crew she felt comfortable working in wouldn’t be her home anymore. What would her new co-workers be like? How long would it take for her to fit in?

  “I’m going to make you a face character,” he said.

  Of all the crews he could’ve said, that one surprised her the most. “A face character?”

  He nodded. “I know it probably isn’t your first choice, but my hands are tied. I’ve got so many spots the corporate office says I have to fill, and I’ve run out of people.”

  It was actually her last choice. “So, I’ll have to dress up in a big dress and talk to customers like I don’t know what electricity is?”

  “Guests. And yes, we’ll train you on what to do and how to talk. We’ll provide the costume and all that. All you have to do is wear it, be nice, always pay attention to the guests, and play your character.”

  She almost didn’t know what to say. “But I’ve never acted before. I was in a play once in the third grade. I had one line. That’s the extent of my acting experience. If you put me out there, I’ll probably scare people away.”

  He spread his hands. “If I waited until I had seasoned actors to walk into my door before hiring them, I wouldn’t have anybody. Or hardly anyone. There’s only two face characters that had previous acting experience, and everyone else has managed to do it just fine.”

  “But what about my crew? I have responsibilities there.”

  “You’ve done great work, but the rest of the crew can make do just fine. In fact, the set crew has been a bit overstaffed for a while.”

  She bit her lip. She was running out of options. “What about new applicants? Isn’t there anyone new you can bring in instead of moving people around?”

  He blew air out between his lips. “Trust me, I’ve tried. I even put an ad in the newspaper. With the area growing like it is, most people already have jobs. It’ll probably be a year or two until the economy and labor market balance out the growth.”

  He doesn’t really think… “You’re not trying to sign me up to be a face character for two years, are you?”

  “No, definitely not. I just need to get over this hurdle. The entire time you’re in this new role, I’ll continue to look for a replacement. I could probably use more than just one, but even just getting to a skeleton crew is proving to be difficult.”

  Ugh. The thought of putting on layer after layer of fabric and lace made her shudder. She just imagined feeling completely claustrophobic while everyone stared at her, asking her ridiculous questions about what people ate back then.

  She shoved her hands into her lap. “And this is…mandatory?”

  “I know you don’t like the idea. I get it. I’ll do my best to keep looking, but until then, yes, I do need to make this change. You can hate me all you want, but my first priority is to keep the doors open and the lights on.”

  She lowered her heels to the floor. She didn’t realize that she’d been tensing up her leg muscles to the point where both were off the ground. “Just please promise me it’ll be quick. I’m the last person you want doing this. I’ve never done anything like it before.”

  “I’ll link you up with Carol, and she’ll get you trained starting tomorrow. Nobody expects you to be a pro right away.”

  The situation just went from bad to worse. “Why Carol, though? She’s not even a face character.”

  “True, but she’ll get you started with the nuts and bolts. A lot of it you just learn through experience and giving it a try. As long as you don’t tick off any guests, that’s a good start.”

  “I guess so.”

  He eased himself out of the chair as if he’d been sitting there a long time. “Okay, I’ll go ahead and give you the quick tour of where you’ll be working. I know you’re at the end of your shift, so I’ll make it quick, and Carol will pick up the rest.”

  Great. Just great. She’d rather pull a double-shift being trained by him than Carol. He led her out to the back part of the office, where she previously had no business being in. Before, she’d just go in the front part of the office, clock in, do her thing, then clock out and leave. At most, she used one of the small, square lockers, but that was it. Now, she had a whole new world to consider.

  He gestured down the hall. “I’ll take you down here and show you your new set of lockers.” These ones were a lot roomier, which made sense as most of the face characters probably stored their street clothes in them. That, and all their purses, cell phones, and wallets. She doubted any of those dresses had pockets, and if they did, likely not the size of a smartphone. If only they had known what technology they had missed out on.

  “These,” he said as he pointed to two different sets of doors, “are the dressing rooms where everyone changes into their costumes. That’s pretty self-explanatory.” They continued down the hallway until it opened up to a large room, filled with row upon row of pants, vests, shirts, and dresses. Most of them hung from those rolling costume racks, the one
s she usually saw on movie sets when she watched the behind-the-scenes parts of movies.

  “Obviously this is where we keep all the costumes,” he said. “You see through that open door, there? There are even more costumes beyond it—practically a warehouse. When you look at the office from the outside, you don’t realize how big it is, but it stretches back a ways. The company added onto it when they bought this location, years ago. If you ever wanted to see hundreds of corsets in a row, now’s your chance.”

  She didn’t. She hadn’t even realized the possibility of wearing a corset, for some reason. She was focused so much on the dresses that it slipped right past her. That could be even more claustrophobic.

  “Of course, that’s where we also keep the props too. Every pistol, tumbleweed, and signpost is stored when they’re not being used. Most employees would guess we only have one of everything, but you’d be surprised how many different copies we have. Things break a lot, especially those gag bottles that the face characters break over each other’s heads during performances. We have boxes of those.”

  Now that sounded interesting. She’d love to peruse the aisles of a place like that. Once, years ago, she’d watched a documentary about movie props. Some of the warehouses where they were kept seemed to go on forever. Their cataloging system must be insane. She wondered if there were fines if someone returned an item late, like how library books worked.

  There were a handful of people in the costume room, some looking like they were leaving costumes and some picking up. The people who were dropping off costumes aimed for a large pile on top of a table against the wall. Given the number of employees the park had, that pile probably had started yesterday, or at least that morning. If they let it continue much longer, it would soon be chest high.

  As one of the employees in the corner turned around, she recognized a familiar face. Vanessa held a spool of thread in one hand and a bonnet in the other. She nearly dropped both when she saw Lynn walking by, a puzzled look on her face. She mouthed the words What are you doing here?

  Lynn mouthed back I’ll tell you later. She couldn’t explain in-passing if she tried. Clearly the situation had taken on a life of its own. Vanessa nodded and went back to whatever she was doing, sewing something, but she glanced up a few more times. At least Vanessa had to know that it wasn’t all that bad. If Lynn was getting fired, he wouldn’t bother to walk her through new areas; he’d just drop her off at the front door. Small chance of that, considering the conversation she’d just been a part of. She now probably knew better than most about the labor crunch.

  He waved his hand. “You’ll get to know the costume and prop crew pretty well as you use and wear what they manage. I’ll introduce you to some of the other face characters as we go. That way you can know who you’ll be working with.”

  They passed into the next room, which was quite a bit smaller. This one had fold-out tables lining the walls, each with stacks of paper clipped together with names written in ink along the top. It almost looked like a spy room from the 1940s, where each agent would pick up their set of top-secret aliases and cover stories, only without the old-fashioned typewriters and with a lot more plastic in the room.

  He gestured to a woman picking up a stack of papers. “This is Rayleigh. She’s one of the face characters. She’s in a lot of our street scenes. Sometimes she plays the blacksmith’s wife.”

  Rayleigh extended her hand. “Nice to meet you. Welcome aboard.”

  Lynn shook it. “I’m already an employee here. I work with the set crew.”

  Rayleigh let her hand drop and tilted her head. “Oh, okay. Well, have fun out there.”

  Lynn didn’t blame her for being confused. She felt the same way. As they made their way across the room, with Samuel pointing out more things of interest, she met several more face characters. They were all nice, although she could tell how tight-knit they were. It made sense, as she felt the same way about her crew. Her old crew, anyway.

  They joked and messed around, often bumping shoulders or tossing things to each other. They were all a well-oiled machine, and here she was, an oddly-fitted nail hammered in at an awkward angle. She hoped she could fit in just as well, or at the least, well enough to not hate it before she could go back.

  “…and she just got back from maternity leave, thank God,” Samuel continued. “We really needed her back. You’ll see more of her later. I might have you shadow her here and there.”

  The door opened and a man walked inside. The sun was behind him, so she didn’t get a good look right away, her view further obscured by the wide-brimmed hat he wore, pulled down over his eyes. With a motion that looked like he’d done it a thousand times, he tugged off his leather gloves and tucked them behind his belt. Just before the door closed, and when he angled his body, there was just enough light to glint off his golden sheriff’s badge, firmly anchored to his form-fitting shirt.

  As he swept his gaze across the room, their eyes connected, and he gave a small nod, not unlike the one cowboys gave when they touched the front of their hat. He was a good actor. Most of them only went through the motions, but he looked like he lived and breathed the part.

  Hello… She must have said it out loud, because he turned and said hello back. The rich baritone of his voice was exactly the way she imagined he’d sound. He could easily be an audiobook narrator for a Western, and she’d drink up every word, despite it being low on the list of her favorite genres. A girl could make an exception.

  Thankfully, Samuel stepped in. “I see you’ve met Luke. Obviously, he’s one of the face characters too. Runs the place, if you believe his character’s back story. Sometimes I think he actually believes it.”

  Luke smiled. “Something like that. I’ve been here longer than most.”

  Samuel stopped just short of rolling his eyes. “Well, these days, that’s not all that long. Lynn here was on the set crew until I pulled her to be with you guys.”

  Still am, she wanted to say. Just a temporary transfer. It better be, anyway.

  “That’s good to hear,” Luke said. “We need it. Do you know your route yet? Or your back story?”

  “We haven’t gotten that far,” Samuel said. “Right now I’m giving her the grand tour.”

  Luke turned back to her. “It’s a lot to take in, but I hope you stick with it. It’s actually a lot of fun. It makes the kids happy.”

  “I’ll try my best.” Her mouth was suddenly rather dry. Her tongue felt twice the size it had been before he’d walked in.

  “If you have any questions, let me know,” Luke said. “I’ll help if I can.”

  She clasped her hands behind her back. “Thanks.” As soon as she did it, she let her hands go and put them back at her sides. It wasn’t like her. She wasn’t the shy type, no matter who it was around. “I like your hat.” It wasn’t the cleverest thing ever said, but it was all she could think of.

  He removed it to reveal short, dark hair, only slightly displaced. He didn’t seem to be wearing any hair gel or mousse, but it all had stayed in place rather well. “I like it too. I put dibs on it early on, and the props department was nice enough to put it aside for me. I can’t exactly put my name on it, but it’s the next best thing.”

  “All done for the day?” Samuel asked.

  Luke nodded. “All done. I finished my route along the north side and made sure to say hello to all the guests there. The next sheriff can start on the south side.”

  “There are two sheriffs?” Lynn asked.

  “There may be two, but I’m the best one.” Luke smiled. “There hasn’t been a successful bank robbery yet on my watch.”

  “Very funny,” Samuel said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Luke continued to remove his props, taking extra care when he removed his sheriff’s star. Lynn turned her neck to spot him placing it down on one of the props tables in the next room. When Samuel spoke next, she realized how she’d stopped paying attention to him for a few moments.

  “Well, that’s the br
oad scope of things. Any questions?”

  Lynn just had to hope that the parts she’d missed weren’t all that important, or if it was, that Carol would follow up on it later. “Not right now. But I’ll probably have more down the line.”

  “Go ahead and see Carol on your way out. You’ll need to schedule a time with her. I’m sure she has one in mind.”

  As Lynn left, she passed Luke on his way to the dressing room. Their eyes met briefly again before he turned the corner. She never thought of herself as someone who had a lot of awkward moments, but making eye contact with a man she’d just met before he undressed was certainly one of them. He seemed like a nice guy, comfortable in his role. She wouldn’t mind talking to him again.

  Chapter Three

  “I’m so excited, I can barely see straight.”

  “It’s not that big of a deal,” Lynn said. “It’s only a temporary thing. Then I’ll be back to jeans and T-shirts.”

  Vanessa picked up a floor-length skirt with a deep, muted purple color. “It is a big deal. I dress the same people every day, over and over, and this is my first opportunity to dress my best friend.”

  “What? You know plenty of people who are more your best friend than I am.”

  “My best work friend. Anyway, what do you think of this skirt?”

  Lynn looked it over like an exposed wire in a bathroom remodel. “It looks different than I thought it would. It’s not nearly as frilly.”

  “Oh, you see the different kinds of dresses around here. You know they’re different.”

  “To be honest, I never really paid attention. I’m usually carrying stuff, like lumber or power tools. I mean, I knew they were wearing something old, but that was about it. I’ve seen a lot of movies where they wear those poofy dresses and all that.”

  “We have those too,” Vanessa said. “Basically, the fashion was different depending on if a woman lived in the Wild West or in New England, for example. You wouldn’t wear the same thing to a tea party in Long Island that you would to a ranch in Salt Lake City. We have the women here dressed in a little bit of both, just to give the guests some variety.”