“We’ll hold you to that,” Eddie told her, then touched her cheek. “All right, young lady. You go get some sleep.”

“I will. Thanks.” She started for the door, then turned back. “About Del...”

Gladys waved her hand. “Not to worry. We’re only teasing about him. He’s like a son to us. Which is very sad, but there we are.”

Eddie nodded. “Don’t tell anyone, but we’re a lot more talk than action.”

A relief, Maya thought. She waved. “Your secret is safe with me.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

TWO DAYS AFTER the commercial shoot wrapped, Del and Maya were ready to get back to their town project. He watched her add segments together, then compare the finished product to a previous version.

“It works better the other way,” he told her. “With Priscilla and Reno in the middle. Ending with an elephant and a pony is fun, but the tone is off. To quote you, you’re not asking for the sale.”

“The call to action,” she said, her attention on the screen.

“Yeah. That. It’s missing.”

She wrinkled her nose. “It’s annoying when you’re right.”

He leaned back in his chair. “I don’t know. I kind of like it.”

“You would.” She sighed, then glanced to the screen in front of him. “Can you play them for me, back to back?”

He used the mouse to start the first video, then followed it with the second. Partway through, Maya stood and leaned over him. To get a better look, he told himself. Not to be closer to him, although that was a happy by-product.

She was still tired. He could tell by the way she carried herself. But she was getting caught up on rest. Her feistiness had returned. Their week of work had been as long and hard as she had promised, but still interesting as hell. He’d learned a ton, most of which he could apply to his new project. He would do a better job this time around. Not as good as Maya, but better than he’d been doing.

“Priscilla in the middle,” Maya said. “You’re right.” She returned to her seat and made a few notes. “I should have seen that.”

“You can’t be right about everything.”

“Why not?”

He chuckled. “Because I said so.”

“Well, then. It must be true.” She smiled at him. “That was a good time.”

He knew she was referring to the commercial shoot. “Yeah. Imagine what it must be like to have a crew like that all the time.”

“It would be a killer budget. For what you want to do, it’s not necessary. Frankly, that much production would get in the way. The kids can learn to ignore one person with a camera, but all those other people milling around?” She shook her head. “It would drive the story. By the time they started to ignore it, you’d have to be moving on.”

She angled her chair toward his. “So not the people, but I could sure get into the equipment. I have lens envy.”

“Just the lenses, not the camera?”

“Cameras are easy. It’s the lenses that kill you. Have you thought about applying for a grant? There must be several that you could qualify for. I’ve heard that writing grant proposals is a pain, but it could be worth it.”

“Something to think about,” he told her. In truth he didn’t need grant money. He’d sold his company for enough that he could afford to buy Maya any lens she wanted. A whole set, even. But he didn’t say that because he wouldn’t be buying them for her. He would be buying them for himself, or a camera guy, if he took one along.

Come with me. The words were there, just a breath away. All he had to do was say them. Make the offer. They could travel the world together.

Would she do it? Leave everything she’d ever known behind to travel with him? He had his doubts. Maya had always been more interested in the sensible choice. She hadn’t been willing to gamble on him before—when he’d had a stable kind of life to offer her. Why would she be willing to risk it all on him now? And even if she said she was, could he trust her to tell the truth? To follow through?

“You could talk to Mayor Marsha,” she said.

It took him a second to realize she was still talking about the grants.

“She seems to have all the answers,” he said.

“Not all of them.” She sighed. “Did you know someone in town gave me a scholarship and I can’t find out who? I’m sure Mayor Marsha knows, but she’s not telling.”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Mostly to thank them. It was a full ride. They paid for everything. I couldn’t have gone to college without it.”

Del put his hand over hers and squeezed her fingers. “That’s not true. You would have found another way. You were determined.”

“I’m not so sure.” She looked at him, then away. “I didn’t grow up here, like you did. My mom wasn’t exactly supportive. She used to tell me how much better her life would have been if I hadn’t been around.”

“You know she’s wrong about that. She was unhappy and taking it out on you.”

“Yeah, I know, but believing it in my head and believing it in my heart are two different things. She always said I wouldn’t ever amount to anything. That I was a screwup and useless. The thing I was best at was making her unhappy and disappointing her. So when I say I don’t know if I would have gotten through college on my own, I mean it. If I’d had to work two jobs, plus go to class... What if I’d heard her words in my head? What if I’d stopped believing in myself?”