STORY EXCERPT

Noticing that Sherry had disappeared to who knew where, Nina looked around for people she didn’t know. A tall, really well-built guy stood to the side of the set looking around with his hands in his pockets and his back to her. He looked like he might be a little older than she’d expected, considering the pay scale. But people did what they had to do to survive these days. Including her. He must be poor because his tight jeans were faded and clearly well worn. The tan shirt he wore looked dirty and had a tear in one long sleeve, and his work boots needed replacing pretty badly.

When he turned toward her, the blue brilliance of his eyes got her attention even at a distance, deep-set, bright blue framed by perfect sandy-blond brows to match his thick head of hair. Wow. It seemed grips were pretty good-looking these days. He might even do for in front of the camera if a project called for it. She realized she must look like an idiot to her new employee, standing there holding her briefcase in one hand with a tripod under her arm, a very bulky, heavy backpack over her other shoulder, and the camera case that felt like she would lose it at any moment.

He obviously did notice and made his way over to relieve her of some of her baggage. His strides were long, and he got there quickly.

“Need some help?” The voice was husky, and there was a very slight Southern accent.

Nina stared at first, then caught herself. What was his name? Crap…

Without a word he bent to take the camera case out of her hand and the backpack off her shoulder, then asked, “Where do these go?”

She looked to the right and started that way. “Over here. Follow me. John, right?”

“Judson.”

“Oh, okay, sorry, Judson. Welcome to DEP. Glad to have you onboard.” The words trailed behind her as she moved.

Damn, she was the worst at names, and Sherry had told her his name several times. Twenty-eight was too young for Alzheimer’s, she was sure of it. She reminded herself that her mother’s was hurried along with liquor, and Nina was a teetotaler, so no worries. She was certain, however, that Sherry hadn’t mentioned they’d hired someone who looked like this, which was unusual. Her dear friend never failed to mention a good-looking guy.

“Thanks, glad to be here,” Judson answered as he ambled along behind her.

“Have you done this type of work before?” she asked, a little embarrassed that she hadn’t even bothered to look at his resume.

“This is my first video gig,” he answered and smiled down at her, revealing a perfectly beautiful set of teeth accented by full lips.

Hmm. Not much of a conversationalist and a bit inexperienced for her taste, too. But, hot damn, was he cute!

“Thanks, Judson, just put that down here, and I’ll set the camera up. We never leave equipment overnight at any out of studio sets, so that’s why we didn’t set up last night. We always try to get things set before the day of the shoot,” Nina said and started unpacking. She didn’t try to explain that the ones used for the cooking show would produce footage inconsistent with what their cameras produced. He’d figure things out as they went.

Sherry came back to the set and began creating a dusty look for the kitchen with everything else in perfect order except for the dust.

“Hey, boss! Decided to show up, did ya?” Sherry called across the set as she slammed chalk erasers over the countertops.

“Oh, yeah, I thought it was a good idea. Hey, how’s the fairy dusting going? Did we get enough from all that chalk we scribbled with late into the night?” Nina moved the camera case further away from the dusting as she yelled to Sherry.

“We did, and I like the effect. Don’t you think it’s going to look like real dust?”

“We’ll still need to look at it on camera in this lighting, but it looked good when we tried it at the studio.” Nina worked while she spoke. They’d been asked to wait to the last moment to put their “dust” onto the pristine surfaces of the gourmet kitchen.

“Hi, there.” Sherry stopped in mid-slam of the chalk erasers and spoke to Judson.

“Hello, do you ladies need any more help?”

“Yes. Please go out to the truck and get the other camera and tripod,” Nina said to Judson. Sherry gave her an odd look.

“Sure thing. Which truck is it, and is it unlocked?”

“Oh, yeah, you’re new. It’s the old, blue Jeep parked near the door.”

Without a word, Judson left to get the requested items.

“What the hell?” Sherry asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean who is this guy?”

“The new grip, Judson. Right? Why are you asking me? You and Thomas hired him. Did you hire him over the phone, or what?” Nina stopped fooling with the camera and looked at Sherry like she’d grown horns.

“No, the new grip is John, and he looks nothing like that.

I don’t know who this guy is, but John is picking up some stuff for the shoot. He’ll be in any second.”