Anticipation fills me as I wait for Winthrop’s reaction to my presentation. The head of Denouement Studios is once again holding my future happiness in his palm, only this time I also have him by the short hairs.
My boss leans back in his chair. “Why do I have a feeling you’re going to do this whether I say yes or no?”
Travis asked me the same thing. The business plan is solid. Travis and I spent the last four days working endlessly on the proposal. We both called in every favor we were owed to put together a bulletproof financial plan with an unquestionable upside. So why cut Winthrop in on it? Why not go at it alone?
I told Travis it’s always better to have friends in the movie business rather than enemies. And now I tell Winthrop the same thing, making it perfectly clear at the same time that he’s correct in assuming I’m doing this whether he’s in or not.
“But I’d rather do it with you,” I conclude.
Winthrop leans his elbows on the desk. “Walk me through the numbers again…”
“This is how much the property costs,” I say. “And that’s how much we’d save in studio rental fees over ten years, assuming we filmed just one movie per year in Emerald Creek. This figure shows the tax subsidy the state of Indiana is offering over five years for new companies operating within the state. Creating our own filming studio in Emerald Creek would save us millions of dollars. The property, with the hills, the lake, the river, and the flat pastures, is really versatile. We could shoot a million different things on it.”
Winthrop sighs. “So you want to make Emerald Creek the new Atlanta?”
“Emerald is the new black,” I say.
“And we’d be partners.”
“Yeah, fifty-fifty.”
“What I don’t get is why you also want to open a movie theater in town?”
“Because there’s a property on the market downtown that’d be just perfect,” I say, referring to the Petersons’ building on Ironwood. The zoning issue wouldn’t be a problem if we turned it into a movie theater. “And any respectable studio needs a movie theater. We could host premieres there, private showings for investors, pre-screenings. It’d be truly complementary to the studios. Plus, the owners are in a hurry to sell, so we’d get it for a good price. But, of course, the movie theater isn’t essential.”
“No, I like it.” Winthrop chuckles. “I like all of it. All right, Sam, I thought you’d gone soft, but I’m happy to see your teeth are still sharp. And you really wouldn’t mind moving to Indiana permanently?”
The truth is I’m practically dying to go, but I need to play it cool with my boss. “The opportunity is too good to pass up, and I’d still be keeping an office here and traveling for work. I wouldn’t exactly be stuck there all the time.”
Winthrop knocks twice on his wooden desk. “Okay, Samantha, I’m in.”
* * *
Four hours later I’m on a plane headed to Emerald Creek to surprise Travis with the news that Denouement Studios Emerald Creek is happening. My head is buzzing with everything I have to do, start a company, build a movie studio, pack my apartment… I’ll be swamped in work for the next million years and I’ve never been happier.
My surprise-the-mayor-with-the-good-news plan goes smoothly until my rental car blows a tire on the dirt road shortcut from his mother’s house to his place.
I get out of the car, searching the horizon for any sign of other human life. There isn’t any. No one except Travis and his mom, and now me, uses this road.
I see only three options.
One. I try to change the tire myself. Not really an option.
Two. I call the tow company. But Joe, the owner knows me and knows that I’m dating Travis so, with my luck, the gossip that the mayor’s girlfriend is stranded on a dirt road somewhere would spread across town with the speed of fire and reach City Hall before I do, thus ruining my surprise.
So, three, I might just call the man himself and ask him to come save me.
Travis picks up on the third ring. “I’ve been trying to call you all day.” He skips hello.
“I know, my phone was off.” I toy with him a little.
“Didn’t the meeting go as planned?”
I could give the mayor another mysterious answer, but I don’t have it in me to torture him. “My phone was off because I was on a plane.”
Travis’s voice takes a hopeful tone as he asks, “A plane headed where?”
“Oh, this little town in the middle of nowhere that’s about to become the new Hollywood of the Midwest.”
“Your boss went for it?”
“Yep, I’m officially the new head of Denouement Studios Emerald Creek.”
“Wow!” he whoops. “Why didn’t you call me to tell me right away?”
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“So why are you calling me now?”
“I blew a tire.”
“Mmm, we have to up your survival skills, Baker, if you want to fit in the country lifestyle. Where are you?”
“Five miles off the dirt road down to your mother’s ranch.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Travis hangs up.
Ten minutes later, I’m searching the sky for the telling puff of dust of an incoming vehicle but find none.
Instead, I hear the thunder of hooves coming from my right. I turn toward the field and spot Travis atop a massive black horse, galloping my way. Horse and rider leap over the fence in a tournament-worthy jump and come to a spectacular halt just a few inches shy of my nose.
I look up at him. “Show off.”
Travis flashes me his signature good-boy-misbehaving grin.
“What are you doing off riding in the middle of the afternoon, Mr. Mayor?”
“It’s past office hours by a long shot,” he says. “And I was too worried to sit still in an office. I needed some fresh air, so I took Smokey for a ride.” He pats the beast’s neck.
“Are you going to get off that horse and kiss me or what?” I ask.
“I’d rather you got on it.”
“You’re not changing my tire?”
“I could think of better ways to spend the evening. We can come back for the car tomorrow.”
“So, we’re just going to leave the car here by the road?”
“Yep.”
I shrug. A while ago, I might’ve protested about leaving my suitcase in an unattended car for an entire night, but now I know no one in Emerald Creek would ever steal anything from it.
Travis extends a hand toward me and I take it.
He pulls me up onto the horse and turns to me as I sit in the saddle behind him. “Welcome home, Baker. Should I start the papers to make you an honorary citizen of Emerald Creek?”
“I’d like that very much, Mr. Mayor,” I say with a grin so wide it threatens to split my cheeks.
We kiss until Smokey neighs beneath us. Guess the horse doesn’t like to sit still either.
“Hold on tight,” Travis says as he turns the beast around and, with a toe-curling, “Yee-haw,” sets the stallion to a gallop.
The wind blows into my hair, and I wrap my arms around Travis’s waist. I squint my eyes against the low glare of the sun, and a freeing chuckle bubbles out of me as I realize we’re literally riding into the sunset.