Days of searching online and getting nowhere brought Ella right back to the place where the adventure had begun, the attic. Rome was on set, so she was in the house alone, save the security guards and Lenore who was in the kitchen humming as she prepared to drop a stew into the crockpot for dinner. Ella stood at the top of the ladder looking around at all of the paintings, trying to imagine F. Ward here painting. Why had she left these behind?
She decided to do an inventory of the paintings here. Maybe that would give her some clues. Pulling out her cell phone, Ella m
The call came a couple of days later. It was no surprise that Ella was alone when her phone rang, the unknown number alarming her. Since Rome’s movie production had kicked into high gear, she was alone most of the time, unless she was with Lenore. She’d been spending a lot of time on the beach, just sticking her toes in the waves or sitting on the sand. That was where she was when her phone chimed in her pocket, letting her know that someone wanted to speak to her.“Hello?” Ella said, caution filling her voice. Even though the chances that it w
Getting Rome to agree to let her take the car the next day was no easy feat, especially when Ella hadn’t been exactly honest with him when he’d asked where she was going and why. “I just need to go see someone about a business proposition,” she’d explained. He’d arched an eyebrow and stared at her. “I don’t want to tell you all of the details at the moment because it’s nothing solid yet.” She’d shrugged like it didn’t matter, and he’d eventually agreed, even though he wasn’t thrilled about it.
The moment Ella saw the sign for the retirement community, her stomach muscles tightened, and a wave of nausea washed over her. It wasn’t that she was nervous about meeting Fae--although she was a little. It was more the fact that the people inside were going to scrutinize her ID, and she hated the fact that the name on the license wasn’t her own.“Are you all right?” Charles asked, pulling into a parking spot.
“Oh, my. I’d forgotten just how busy I was that summer.” Fae held Ella’s phone in her hand, the screen shaking slightly as the woman battled old age and her nerves. She was scrolling through the pictures slowly, taking each one in. “I completely lost myself in my work that summer and did an awful job of paying attention to my friends and family.”Ella wasn’t sure what to say. She hadn’t realized that all of those paintings had been done in one summer. If that were truly the case, then she could only imagine the long hour
“That’s lunch! Be back in one hour. That includes traveling time!” Jackson, the director, shouted through his megaphone on the setof Rome’s movie.The scene they’d been working on was particularly difficult, so he was ready for the break. When he’d originally auditioned for this movie, he’d wanted to play this part because it would push his acting to new levels, but it was also emotionally draining, so he was glad to have a few minutes to go into his trailer and recoup. While most of the rest of the cast and crew w
“You sure are awfully quiet,” Charles remarked as he drove Ella back to the house. His voice brought her head around, the cityscape blurring in the corner of her eye as she realized she hadn’t seen any of it anyway.“Sorry. Just lost in thought.” She smiled, thinking for once the thoughts she’d been lost in were productive and satisfying, not terrifying and pessimistic.
The restaurant was busy with the lunch time crowd as Rome walked in the door, glancing around and quickly finding Al’s familiar face in the back. The executive lifted his hand, a smile on his face. Rome returned the smile and waved before heading that direction, skirting around a waitress and a young girl who was clearly not having the best day as she shouted at her mother and flung her chair backward across the tile floor with a screech.It wasn’t an elegant restaurant, that was for certain, but the casual atmosphere of Shooters made it a hit with the you
A glass of sweet tea on the table next to her, Ella sat on the back patio, her laptop poised on her knees, as she finished adding a banner to her website. It was starting to come along, everything falling into place, and before long, she’d be ready to reveal her new enterprise to the world.Over the last few days, she’d spoken to Fae several times, running ideas past her and getting her take on most of the details. Fae was like the grandmother she’d never had, always encouraging her and also coming up with moments of inspiration that sent Ella off in