Action!

The 23-year old executive assistant blushed again and thanked him as he headed outside where it was around 37 degrees. At least it wasn't currently snowing.

Burke walked out to the bus, took another look at the pretty face on the side, then went to the door and knocked. The door opened and the driver asked if he could be of service.

"I was hoping to see if..."

"Well hello there, gorgeous!" another young, pretty face said in a very happy voice. "Would you like to come in? I'd be happy to warm you up."

Burke ignored the innuendo as he walked up the steps and heard another, slightly richer female voice say, "Who is it, Anne?"

"I don't know, but he's...hot as hell!" the girl called back. "Maybe this town won't be so bad after all."

Now on the bus, the young mayor could see the other woman who was obviously Ms. Taylor Farris, and she was every bit as attractive in person as she was on the side of a bus. In fact, she was even more beautiful in person.

"May I ask who you are?" the young assistant said as she walked him back.

"Sorry. I'm Burke Decker. I'm the mayor of Diamond Rock."

"Taylor? This is the town's hunky mayor, B..."

"I heard," she said barely looking up. "How may I help you, Mr. Mayor?"

She gave him a quick glance then went back to the script she was reading.

"Well, I wanted to welcome you to our fair city, and see if I could be of any service."

"No, thank you. We're good," she said still not looking up.

"Okay. Well, if you do need anything, please let me know."

"Give Anne your number and if anything pops up, we'll let you know. Thanks for stopping by."

"Um...there is one thing I need to ask you," Burke said.

The actress finally looked up and was surprised when she saw him. He was actually a very handsome guy.

She guessed him to be maybe 25 or so and asked, "Aren't you a little young to be a mayor?"

Burke smiled and said, "Perhaps, but the people decided to give a chance, so for the next three years, at least, they're stuck with me. Oh, and I'll be three years older by then so that should help with my age problem."

Taylor didn't want to laugh but she couldn't help it. She chuckled softly then said, "Would you like to have a seat?"

"Could I get you anything? Some coffee or maybe a drink?" she asked.

"Um...it's 10am," he said politely.

"Sorry. I forgot we're not in Manhattan? Coffee?"

"Yes, please."

Anne had two cups poured into fine china in no time and after a first sip, Taylor said, "How may I help you?"

Burke explained the problem which wasn't exactly a problem but more of a concern.

"So where would you like us to move to?" Taylor asked as though moving would be a huge inconvenience.

"There aren't a lot of good places to recommend as you'd either be blocking someone's business or a driveway. I can offer you my driveway if that works for you. I have a very modest home, but the driveway is huge. You're welcome to share it with me if you'd like. It's just a couple of miles straight down the road we're on."

Taylor looked at him for a moment then said, "Okay. Give Anne your address and we'll check it out. I'm not saying we'll stay there, but if it's reasonable, I'll consider it."

Burke was trying to decide if she was just busy or if this was the way she normally did business as he handed his business card to Anne who smiled happily and said, "I think I may even enjoy being here."

Taylor gave her a look, and she stopped smiling and listened.

"You have to excuse my assistant. She assumed we'd be filming somewhere where they have to pipe in sunlight."

"Ah, okay," Burke said. "No worries. We've requisitioned plenty of sunlight. Enough to last your entire stay."

Anne started to giggle then stopped until she saw Taylor trying not to laugh then let go.

"I like your sense of humor," she told him.

"In a job like mine it's pretty much indispensable," he told her with a warm smile.

Taylor'd seen a thousand pretty boys and paid no attention to them. But there was something different about this one. Maybe it had something to do with the fact he wasn't exactly a 'pretty boy'. He was more—ruggedly handsome—and yet almost kind of pretty in a masculine sort of way. She guessed him to be around 15 years younger than her and was within a couple of years even though it didn't matter. But were he say...35 or so, she could possibly see herself wanting to get to him a little better. Well, if she was planning on staying in this God-forsaken cow pasture; something she had no intention of doing.

And then he removed his gloves revealing a wide, gold wedding band and that was that. Taylor had done her share of hooking up and sleeping around, but the one thing she'd never done was sleep with someone else's husband.

"So what does one do for fun in Diamond Back?" Taylor asked once again botching the name.

Burke let it slide and said, "Oh, well. All kinds of things. Yeah, it's a regular laugh a minute around here. I mean, we've got the corn harvest in the fall, and then there's the...Christmas pageant in the winter. That's just two weeks from tomorrow, by the way."

"I'll put that on my calendar," Taylor said in a way that let him know she had no such intention.

"You may be thinking that's no big deal, but let me tell you, Ms. Farris, we even have sleigh rides. Uh-huh. Drawn by actual horses so poke fun if you like, but this is the real deal. The big time. Yep. All that right here in good old Diamond...Back."

She couldn't help but laugh at his silliness again.

"Horse-drawn sleigh rides, huh? That sounds rather Central Park. Hmmm. Maybe this place isn't the end of the world," she said now being a bit playful back.

"You see! We've got all kinds of stuff to do around here. In fact, if you ever run out of things to do, just let me know. There are five diners in this town."

Burke leaned closer then said very quietly, "And that's in addition to all the restaurants, bars, and pool halls."

Taylor chuckled again as Burke continued.

"And if that's not enough, we just got a new karaoke machine in at the Diamond Rock Bar & Grill."

"Oh. Wow! I had no idea. I'm impressed. Can you sing, Mayor Decker?"

"I'm no Tim McGraw but I can hold my own."

He saw the confused look on her face as she turned to Anne.

"Big country singer," she told her boss.

Burke also saw her mouth, "Smokin' hot!"

"Ah, okay. I don't 'do' country, but at least I understand now," Taylor said.

"Around here we like to say 'karaoke is the new symphony'," Burke told her very seriously causing Taylor to laugh again.

She sighed then said, "As they say, all the good ones are taken."

Burke saw her glance at his wedding ring and thought about explaining but decided it wasn't the time or place. They were just getting acquainted and his goal was to establish and maintain a cordial relationship.

"I can see you're busy, Ms. Farris, and I've taken up enough of your time. I just wanted to stop by and say hello and let you know we're very happy to have you here."

"I'm glad you did, and please call me Taylor," she said.

"And I'm Burke," he reminded her.

"No worries, Burke. We'll move the bus," she told him. "Anne will see you out."

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Taylor," he said as he stood up.

"Feel free to stop by the set and say hello anytime," she said politely.

"I'll do that. My daughter will love that."

"How old?" Taylor asked.

"Five. Going on fifteen," he told her.

"Five. She's in what? First grade?"

"Kindergarten, actually."

"Are they on winter break yet?"

"Today is their last full day. She has a half day tomorrow and then they're off until the 5th of January."

"I can't wait to meet her. I love children," she said almost wistfully as the mention of a little girl was another painful reminder that she didn't have children. Or a husband.

"Do you have any yourself?" he asked with genuine interest.

"Who me? No. I...never really had time, you know?"

She held up the script and said, "This keeps me pretty busy."

She forced a smile then said, "Someday. Maybe."

"Well, take care, Taylor," Burke told her. "I'll see you around."

"Okay. You take care too, Burke," she said before going back to her script.

Anne walked off the bus with him then said, "I can't remember the last time Taylor was so friendly with someone she just met."

"That was friendly? Oh, wow," Burke said then regretting he'd said it.

"I know. Sometimes she can come across as cold or all business, but she's a really wonderful person."

Now it was Anne leaning close.

"Between you and me she's very lonely. Her life is pretty much her work and well, she's very good at it. I think she'd like to have a family, but she never talks about it. Well, not with me anyway."

She put her hand on Burke's forearm then said, "This is between you and me, right?"

"Oh, Scout's honor," he told her.

"Oh, good. Because, unlike my aging boss, I'm not scared off by a band of gold. If you ever want to, you know, get together...call me."

"Um. Sure," Burke said as they traded phone numbers as Taylor had suggested. Burke wasn't about to tell her he'd never want to get together with a woman who could hit on a married man. He just smiled and did his job.

Anne took her phone back and smiled before saying, "It's freezing out here!"

"It gets a lot worse," Burke assured her with a smile. "You need your coat. Better get back inside before you really do freeze."

"Oh, right. But...honestly? I'd rather stay and talk to you although someplace warmer would be preferable," she told him with that look in her eye that said she was interested, wedding ring or not.

"Maybe we'll run into one another again sometime," Burke said as he got ready to leave.

"Oh, you could...bump me...anytime you like," she said flashing him a wicked grin before going back inside the bus.

Once there Anne said to Taylor, "He was so hot!"

Without looking up, Taylor said, "Uh-huh. And so married."

"Married doesn't necessarily mean happily married, you know," her assistant said.

Taylor sat up and realized she'd lived in New York for so many years that hearing something like that not only didn't offend her anymore, it sounded normal. For the first time since she'd left Oregon, she thought about how much this life had changed her and for a few minutes she sat there and thought back on where she grew up and the way she was raised. And for an even briefer moment, Taylor Farris felt deeply saddened and disappointed in herself.

The rebuke didn't even phase her young assistant who'd grown up in New York. Affairs happened all day, every day around her, and if a handsome guy like the mayor of Diamond Rock was interested, she be happy to show him a good time. Anytime.

And that too, was suddenly deeply troubling to Taylor who was experiencing some kind of self awakening.

When Burke walked back inside city hall, Georgia was waiting for him.

"Took you long enough," she told him snidely as the bus drove away.

"You're welcome," he said pleasantly as he stepped around her.

Allie didn't even look up as he went into his office and Georgia, never one for subtly called out, "Someone saw a very attractive young woman doing a lot of smiling and flirting with our mayor next to that bus."

Allie turned crimson but still never looked up.

Georgia walked over to her desk and said, "Don't worry, Allison. Burke Decker's never leaving Diamond Rock, and a girl like that is never gonna live here."

That was as close to friendly as Georgia got these days, and Allie glanced up and smiled at her in a 'thank you, sister' kind of way.

Burke smiled before he closed his door and got back to work.

Georgia started to leave then said, "Have you ever just told him how you feel?"

"Excuse me?" Allie said now quite flustered. "What? Who? Me?"

"No, the mouse in your purse," Georgia said sarcastically but not meanly. "Yes, you. If you don't tell him, how are you ever going to find out if he likes you?"

For once Georgia wasn't being loud and Allie was grateful.

"I've hinted around," she said. "Besides, aren't guys supposed to do the asking?"

"This is 2017, sweetheart. We can tell a man how we feel or ask them out on a date. You're a beautiful girl. Hell, if I was ten years...no, make that twenty years younger...I'd let him know I'm interested. Then again, his father is more my kind of man. Who doesn't love that little touch of gray around the temples, right? Mmm, mmm, mmmm."

Allie was almost connecting with Georgia even though she'd barely said a word.

Georgia slapped the desk them said loudly, "So...tell him! Be a little bold. What's the worst that could happen?"

Allie immediately thought of being publicly humiliated then fired as the worst that could happen, but she decided not to share her fears, and for once, they didn't last.

"Yeah. Maybe I will," she said with a smile.

"There you go, girl. And be confident. No one likes a mealy-mouth, right?"

"Um...no. Of course not," Allie said not sure what a 'mealy-mouth' was. Evidently, it was something bad and she planned on Googling it as soon as Georgia left.

"And who knows? I may just have to tell that hunky chief of police I like his...gun!"

Allie was shocked by the off-color comment then stunned when Georgia smiled and even laughed. She couldn't remember ever seeing her laugh and she rarely even smiled. Maybe love was in the air, and maybe she should strike while the iron was hot—or the love was still floating around or...whatever.

When Burke pulled into the driveway after picking Shay up from school, there was the Taj Mahal of busses parked in his driveway.

"Daddy, why is there a bus at our house?" his daughter asked immediately.

"Well, see the picture of the woman on the side?"

"Uh-huh. She's very pretty."

"Oh. Yes, she is. Anyway, she's a movie star and they're making a movie right here in our town."

"Really?" she said, her eyes wide with awe. "Can I see her?"

Burke laughed politely then said, "No, honey. She's not a pet or something we go look at. She's a person just like you and me."

"But she's famous and on TV, right?"

"Well, I guess she is," he said having never watched a single movie Taylor Farris starred in. "Tell you what. Let's see if we can find one of her movies from On Demand tonight?"

"Can we have popcorn, too?" Shay asked with a bright, happy smile.

"Yes, we can have popcorn," he said knowing he'd give in.

"Yes!" she said as they pulled into the garage.

"Hey! There's the hunky mayor," Anne said to Taylor as the car pulled in.

"Uh-huh," she said still working on her lines.

"And I don't see a wife. Just a rug rat," she said straining to look outside as the car disappeared.

For some reason that comment caught Taylor's attention. She didn't like referring to a child that way but let it pass. More importantly, she didn't want Anne noticing she was interested so she casually stood up, stretched her arms, then took a look out the window. She saw a little girl with long, blonde hair grab her daddy's hand as they went inside their house.

"See. I told you," Anne said.

"She's probably still at work. Not everyone can come home at 4 o'clock, you know," Taylor told her.

An hour later another car pulled into the driveway and Anne got up to check.

"Ah, shit!" she said quietly as Allie drove up.

"Is it the wife?" Taylor asked knowing it was by Anne's reaction.

"Yes. And she's cute, too."

She watched Allie get out of the car carrying some kind of casserole dish then said, "She's not hot like her husband, but she is kind of pretty. In a backwater, small-town sort of way."

"I'm sure he finds her more than attractive enough," Taylor said, whatever curiosity she may have briefly felt now long gone.

"No problem. Three's just more fun," Anne said not seeing Taylor's eye roll. "I'd be happy to do her while her husband the Mayor did me!"

Anne quit watching in time to miss Allie ringing the doorbell, something a wife would never do. Shay ran to the door and when she saw Allie she smiled happily.

"Come inside where it's warm!" the little girl said before turning around and calling to her father. "Daddy, your helper is here!"

Burke was in the kitchen and was wondering what had gone so wrong at work that Allie had to tell him personally.

"Allie. Is everything okay?" he asked not paying attention to the covered dish she was holding..

"Oh, sure. Everything's fine," she said understanding his concerns. "I...I just thought maybe you'd like something, I dunno, different—for dinner."

"What is it?" Shay asked trying to look up into the pan.

"It's chicken casserole," Allie said.

"What's that?"

"I'm sure it's delicious," her father said. "Thank you very much, Allie. This was very kind of you."

"Oh, no problem," she said praying she wouldn't blush again as she tried to muster up the courage she needed to say what was on her mind.

"But you'll have to stay and eat it with us, okay?" Burke told her before she could speak.

"Oh, well...if you insist," she said suddenly feeling very happy and even a little grateful to Georgia for her sage advice.

"Yes! Please stay and have dinner with us," Shay said very grown-up like. "We're gonna watch a movie and have popcorn. You can have some, too."

"Wow. This sounds like a very exciting evening!" Allie said as Burke took the dish then helped her with her coat. "But I'm not sure I can stay for the movie."

"Nonsense!" Burke told her. "Unless you've got a hot date lined up."

Allie felt her cheeks heat up and hated that he could do that to her at her age, but he could and she was now very red.

"No. No date. I don't have a boyfriend," she told him almost demurely.

She pointed to the driveway then said, "Um...Burke? I was just wondering why the movie bus is in your driveway."

"She's a very famous movie star!" Shay informed her. "That's why we're going to watch one of her movies. They're in On Demand and my daddy can find them."

"Oh, I see," Allie said now very confused.

Burke tried to explain and rather than ask questions, Allie accepted his answer at face value as they got the table ready for dinner.

The casserole was very good and something different was much appreciated. The movie, however, was a different story.

Burke found three of Taylor's movies, and they settled on a love story about a girl who goes home to Wyoming and falls in love with a handsome cowboy on a dude ranch. She gives up her life in Los Angeles and finds happiness and true love with her handsome new husband and a year later she's a first-time mother and loving life.

Burke paid no attention to the plot. He couldn't stop looking at Taylor or noticing how beautiful she was. At one point he felt downright silly as he caught himself imagining he was the cowboy. Allie, on the other hand, was fighting back tears the last twenty minutes of the movie as the budding couple had a misunderstanding that seemed to jeopardize everything. But as always, things were cleared up in the last five minutes and with just two to spare, the happy couple exchanged vows out on the open range where they'd first met.

"I don't get it!" Shay said when it ended as Allie dried her tears and Burke was brought back to reality.

"It was a love story, honey," her dad said.

"She really is pretty, but it was so boring," was Shay's take.

"Yes, she's very pretty," Burke said quietly as he was still thinking about Taylor's character. Now he understood why she was in so many of these kinds of movies.

"I should be going," Allie said as she realized that the man she was focused on was focusing on someone else.

"Oh. Sure. Well, we're very glad you stayed, and the casserole was delicious," Burke told her. "Thank you very much, Allie."

"Oh, I'm glad you liked it. It's really easy to make," Allie said he helped put her coat back on. "I could bring you something again...if you'd like."