Second Chances in Hollywood by Sarah Hendess

Author:Sarah Hendess [Hendess, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance; 1950s; Hollywood; nursing; television; acting; mid-century; historical romance; abuse survivor; coworkers to lovers; trauma; grief; Kansas; D
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2022-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Robert loved watching Josie’s face light up when she saw the mechanical animals on the Rivers of the World Jungle Cruise. Afterward, he led her over a little bridge and through a stake wall into Frontierland, where he immediately burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Josie said.

“It looks like we’re on set.” He swept a hand to indicate the rows of mid-nineteenth-century-style buildings lining each side of the thoroughfare. They sported names like “Pendleton Woolen Mills” and “Frontier Trading Post.”

Josie laughed too. “At least it feels familiar.”

They skipped the pack mules, but they rode nearly everything else—the little mine train, the Indian war canoes, and the three-masted sailing ship Columbia, which Josie clearly loved. The way her eyes lit up made his heart swell with so much love he thought he might burst. There was no way he’d survive today, but there were worse ways to go.

After the ship, they relaxed in chairs under a green umbrella outside a restaurant and dug into heaping plates of fried chicken. He’d never seen a girl eat as fast as Josie did. Must be from competing with all those brothers at the dinner table.

About halfway through a drumstick, she dropped her chicken onto her plate and grabbed a fistful of napkins. She took a long time wiping her face and… Was she hiding?

“That guy’s staring at me,” she said.

Robert followed the tiny bit of her gaze that peeped over the napkins and saw a young man about Josie’s age staring at her from a few yards away, completely ignoring the pretty young lady he was holding hands with.

Damn. He so rarely got recognized in public that it hadn’t crossed his mind that Josie might. She’d only appeared in a handful of episodes so far, but this fellow sure seemed to recognize her. Robert caught the guy’s eye and spread his hands in a “what do you want?” gesture, and the young man and his date moved on. Robert watched them go, making sure they didn’t point Josie out to anyone else. He wasn’t about to let some punk kid wreck their day by attracting a crowd.

“We should talk to Wardrobe about putting you in a hat,” he said. “I almost never get recognized without one, especially if I’m wearing these.” He tapped the rim of his aviators.

“If I’m around long enough to bother.” Josie took a pull from her Coke bottle. “Merrill said he won’t know about next season until spring.”

“He’s a fool if he doesn’t keep you.” He snorted. “Well, he’s a fool anyway.”

Josie studied him for a moment. “What is the problem between you two?”

He sighed and leaned back in his seat. It was a reasonable question. He was surprised she hadn’t asked it before now. May as well answer it.

“It drives me crazy that he won’t give Deacon Bell any depth,” he said. “Sheriff Anderson’s got his daughter now, and Judah Mitchell is getting a love affair, but Deacon Bell is still nothing but ‘Yes, Sheriff, no, Sheriff, whatever you say, Sheriff.

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