At least for her....
Whenever she was within visual distance of the man, all of her “Hollywood sophistication,” as he’d once called it, went right out the window.
The man did it for her. Plain and simple.
Unfortunately, she did nothing for him. Well, outside of irritating the hell out of the man. She sighed.
Keanu seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face whenever she was around him. But none of that mattered, anyway. It was probably a good thing she did nothing for him in the way of attraction, because it couldn’t go anywhere.
Not that she could or had let Keanu know exactly how attracted she was to him. She was the producer on the show, not one of the hundreds of groupies the ranch seemed to have, women who came by the site just to get a glimpse of Hawaii’s new Dynamic Duo, the cheesy but—Lord only knows—accurate name the sexy twin ranch owners had been dubbed by the media.
“The show is doing great, better than expected. The ratings are continuing to top the number-one spot,” Sonia stated, forcing thoughts of Keanu from her mind and focusing on her staff. “And we’ve been renewed for a second season!” She waited for the exclamations of excitement to calm. She had just been given the news, and although she wasn’t all that sure that they’d be able to convince the Kealohas, in particular Keanu Kealoha, to allow them to continue, she kept that part to herself.
She smiled at her staff, knowing pride was in her voice. But she had invested a lot in the show. Once she had agreed to produce it, she’d made sure that every aspect of the show was given attention it deserved.
She knew that Keanu and his family had given permission initially to bring awareness of the impact of ranching on the environment to not only Hawaii but also the world. It wasn’t for the money, as they were one of the most profitable ranches in Hawaii. Neither was it for attention, even though the ranch now had tours for tourists, mostly women coming out to see the sexy twins of Kealoha Ranch.
They had done it for a much more noble reason. Although she didn’t fully understand the whys of his agreement, she hadn’t looked a gift horse in the mouth after he’d finally agreed.
Her only hope was that Keanu would continue to tolerate them on his ranch, as more and more she got the impression the sexy cowboy was less than pleased with their presence.
“Is the direction for the show going to change?” Briana, her director of photography, drawled the question.
“That’s a good question. So far the objective remains the same—why tamper with what works? As for a second season and the direction, we’re going to keep going in the same vein. Show all aspects of ranch life. We can worry later about editing out what doesn’t work.”
“Now Ms. Sonia, you can not deny that a big part of what is making the show a hit is Mr. Fine and his equally gorgeous brother...Mr. Finer,” the woman drawled, her Southern accent and way she drew out the word fine making Sonia laugh despite herself.
Briana was from Tennessee, and her drawling manner of speech, up-front manner and dry wit, coupled with the magic she brought to the angle of her camera had been the reasons Sonia had hired her to lead the camera department.
“I say we take it up a notch! I can see it now,” she began, warming up to her theatrics. She closed her eyes and placed her hands in front of her face, mimicking a camera as she spoke. “Sweat dripping from their naked chests, the amber glow of the setting sun behind them as the twins come home from a long, hard day, wrangling—” she paused dramatically “—cattle.”
Everyone laughed at her antics, including Sonia. Besides the magic she brought to her camera work, drama was most definitely Briana’s middle name. But that same drama, when channeled, was what also had brought the young woman awards in her field.
“Of course I am fully aware of the...impact...of the twins on the show,” Sonia conceded, and held up a hand admitting defeat once the laughter died. “I just don’t want to miss out on good footage. That is what makes the show work. All aspects. Fine is wonderful, it works,” she said, and ignored the snicker of laughter from her female-dominated crew. “But if we don’t capture the heart of the ranching life, it’s all just fluff,” she replied, sobering. “And not only do I not produce fluff, I don’t want to do the ranch a disservice.” She finished and saw heads nodding in agreement.
“We won’t miss good footage again, Sonia. I’ll make sure of it!” her assistant replied, bobbing her head up and down as she stood beside Sonia. “In fact, I’ll be out on location in the morning with them to make sure of it,” she replied.
“Great, Patricia, I’m sure Bri would appreciate anything you can do to help her accomplish that objective,” Sonia carefully replied. “Now let’s quickly finish the schedule.”
Again Sonia unconsciously rubbed at the back of her neck as her glance fell over the schedule, her fingers on the screen of her iPad as she flipped through the digital pages on-screen as the crew gathered their own notes, comparing them with the others.
“Tired, boss?”
She glanced away from the small screen of her iPad as she turned to Patricia, frowning.
“Saw you rubbing your neck. It’s been a long day...” Patricia murmured, sympathy in her tone.
Sonia brought her hand down immediately. It wasn’t the long day that made her rub her neck. It was him.
She didn’t have to turn around to know who was in the large stable, along with her staff and the young stable boys who worked the Kealoha.
She refused to give him even that much power over her.
She brought a purposeful smile to her face. “Yes, it’s been a long day, but I’m fine, Tricia. But thanks,” she tacked on, seeing the crestfallen look on the older woman’s face.
She was always careful with her assistant’s feelings, even when the woman made some crazy faux pas or screwed up a location site, Sonia covered for her, something that was becoming harder and harder to do, each day.
In a lot of ways, she felt empathy for the older woman. It wasn’t easy, the business they were in. So much competition to not only get to the top of their field but stay there, as well.
At one point in her career, Patricia had been on her way to the top; however, bad choices, both career and personal—in the way of drinking—had drastically changed her career path. Paranoid, due to the alcohol, Tricia began to blame those who worked for her for sloppy mistakes. Mistakes that were actually hers, and hers alone.
It didn’t take long for her to gain a reputation as not only an alcoholic but one who mistreated her staff, blaming them for her mistakes.
She’d eventually gotten help for the drinking. But it had come too little, too late.
Despite all of that, Sonia felt a deep sense of loyalty to her once mentor and felt as though she owed Patricia.
As a young woman, Sonia had interned with Patricia Haynes, who at the time had been affiliated with both a major network as well as public television network. As the producer of several shows on a local public television, Patricia had wielded a certain amount of power. The two women had clicked, with Patricia sharing valuable information with Sonia, willing and eager to help Sonia in any way she could as she learned the ins and outs of producing a television
