Looking back on it, Frank Doyle could have kicked himself for asking Gabe if he'd like to go along on the delivery of sacks of feed supplements to the Brighton Ranch. He'd had no idea that they were filming a movie there and he had no idea who was involved in the movie or that the ranch's manager, Sterling Fisher, had been one of Gabe's clients at the Lone Star Diner in Guthrie.
They were at one of the barns, within sight of the huge, rambling, weather-beaten wood Victorian main house that stood out on the flat arid land like some sort of alien spaceship plunked down in a desert. They were unloading feed bags from the back of Frank's pickup truck and wondering what all of the activity and unusual equipment surrounding the house, with its incongruous patch of grass lawn out front, was about when Frank went stiff. Gabe turned to see what Frank was looking at, taking a few seconds to understand why Frank looked so shocked and concerned.
There was a fancy convertible sitting in front of the ranch house--not really a ranch house; more a displaced Victorian mansion. It was a 1954 Ford Sunliner convertible, two-tone yellow and white. Perched on the top of the driver's seat was a young sunny blonde woman in a frilly yellow dress with white trimmings. And standing on the ground beside her, with an arm around her waist and all trimmed out in black leather faux cowboy apparel was... Collin Chisholm, Gabe's motorcycle lover from the Lone Star Diner. Three photographers were circling them, taking still shots.
"Isn't that--?" Frank started to ask.
"Yes," Gabe said, and then after taking a moment to absorb what he was seeing, he added, "I wonder what's going on."
Further speculation was short circuited when a small, emaciated woman with owl eyes and owl eyeglasses dominating her face, showed up, holding a clipboard, and said, "All of the extras are gathering over there near the horse corral."
"We're not extra, Ma'am," Frank said, with a smile, tipping his cowboy hat at the woman. "We're here to make a feed delivery. But can you tell us what's going on over at the house?"
"Filming a movie.
Big Sky Country
," she said, a cigarette wagging at the corner of her mouth. "An A movie. Epic. A Texas family goes from dirt ranching to millionaires in two generations and very nearly to pot after that. Those are publicity shots. Most of the 'before' part has already been filmed. The oil wells go in next week--that's the millionaire part. We're about to go on hiatus from the house remodeling."
"And those people--the girl in the convertible and the cowpoke?" Frank followed up.
"Pamela Barker. Surprised you don't recognize her. This year's ingΓ©nue bombshell. The daughter of the family. The young man is Collin Chisholm, up and coming heartthrob. On the porch, talking to who I don't know is Jay Jones, box office cash register and heartthrob of two decades ago. Jones is playing the family patriarch. Susan Tyler, leading lady, just flies in for her scenes and then flies back to California. The production had to lease a plane just for her. You sure you two aren't here to play extras? You're both perfect for it."
"The other man on the porch is Sterling Fisher," Frank said. "He lives in that house. But, no, Ma'am, I'm just here to deliver feed. Maybe Gabe here, though..."
He turned and looked at Gabe and his heart flipped up into his throat. The suggestion was the very last thing he should have said, he immediately recognized. Gabe had the star-struck look in his eyes and his gaze was fixed on Collin Chisholm, who had now seen them and was walking toward them, his eyes on Gabe.
"What's entailed in being an extra in this movie?" Gabe asked.
Gabe was so taken with exchanging looks with Collin that he didn't notice that the men on the porch--the ranch manager and major stockholder, Sterling Fisher, and the handsome, mature leading actor, Jay Jones, were now also looking at him. Fisher was talking, and Jones was smiling.
* * * *
"No, it's fine if you stay here until they don't need you any more for filming," Frank said, his voice sounding enthusiastic but the look he was giving Gabriel didn't match that. Gabriel, who had gotten the name upgrade when the casting woman decided that's what she'd write on her clipboard because it sounded better as a movie name, was starry eyed and looking at the activity going on around him, his gaze constantly going back to Collin Chisholm, rather than to Frank.
"There's probably room in the bunkhouse," the casting woman said, her cigarette wagging at the corner of her mouth, although she sounded a bit dubious. "Never can tell when we need the extras to form up, so it would be best if you were here when you were needed."
"He can bunk in my trailer," Collin Chisholm chimed in, with a smile. This made Frank's brow knit a little deeper, but the casting woman seemed to be cheered by the offer, completely indifferent to the dynamics that were playing out.
"Terrific. See costuming over there in that barn," she said, turning to the newly minted Gabriel, the housing issue being solved as far as she was concerned. "They'll have the last word on what you wear in the scenes where you're background, but I wouldn't be surprised if they decide you are perfect just the way you are--maybe even with the shirt off."
"Yeah, I think he's perfect just the way he is," Collin said, giving Gabriel the eye.
Turning toward the truck, Frank said, "I'll bring your stuff back when I deliver the next load of feed later this afternoon." It wasn't clear whether either Gabriel or Collin heard him, though, as Collin had a hand on Gabriel's forearm and was already moving out to show him to the actor's trailer.
As the male heartthrob second lead in the motion picture, Collin rated one of the bigger trailers. There were three compartments--the central compartment included the living area off to one side and a kitchenette and L-shaped bench, with a dining table, off to the other side. A short hallway, with a closet on one side, and a small bathroom, with shower on the other, led from the kitchen/dining space to a bedroom at the back of the trailer that was dominated by a double bed. Up front, off the living area, a small compartment accommodated two bunk beds and a built-in armoire.