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Lindsey’s head bobbed up from her screen. “Diane!” she shouted.

“I got it, don’t worry,” a voice rang out in front of them.

Damn, where had she come from?Diane was in front of Al with her camera focused on his face. Jeannie had always enjoyed hanging out with Diane. She was a lot of fun, with her arms sleeved in tattoos and blue highlights streaking through her dark hair.

Jeannie shook off her surprise and continued. “Glad you approve, Al. The women’s wardrobe trailer is in the parking lot over there.” She pointed up to the other side of the dunes. “The ladies can use that to change between activities, or just hang out when they aren’t filming. After the litter clean-up, the women break into two groups. The first group will play a game of beach volleyball with Al as the referee.”

Al nodded. “I think I can handle that.”

“The other group will have a sandcastle-building competition, also judged by Al. The evening will end with a barbecue, and the women from the winning teams will get a seat at Al’s table. While they’re having dinner, the prop crew will set up an arraignment scene on the north end of the beach. After dinner, Al and Shane will shoot a quick recap together, and then we’ll move to the arraignment where Al sends two girls home. Any questions?”

No one had any, so the crew dispersed to set up.That went well.Maybe she did have a talent for this kind of thing.

“Nice job,” Al said, reminding her he hadn’t left yet.

“Thanks, but don’t you need to get some makeup or something?”

Al laughed. “Later. The volleyball game sounds like a lot of fun.”

“Mmph,” she mumbled, rolling her eyes. She knew he’d love that. What man wouldn’t?

He leaned in next to her ear. His breath tickled her neck when he whispered, “But I’d like it a lot better if you were the one in the skimpy outfit, and the ball you were chasing after was—”

“And the makeup lady is calling,” she said, laughing and pushing him toward the trailers.

He held his hands up, shrugging as he backed away. “I’m just saying.”

She walked over to her empty director’s chair next to Lindsey and took a deep breath. What was he just saying? And why was he just saying it now, of all times? She shook her head, trying to clear her mixed up thoughts. Today she had an amazing opportunity to help direct the episode, and nothing was going to get in the way of that.

“Let’s do this,” she said, grinning at Lindsey. But instead of the nice comfy seat she was expecting, her world flipped upside down with a loud crash.

“Damn,” Delilah’s face loomed over Jeannie from where she lay on the ground.

“That looks like it hurt,” Desiree said, a wicked gleam in her eyes.

“Where did you two come from?” Jeannie asked, slowly making her way off the ground.

Lindsey looked down her glasses at the pile of wood and canvas that used to be Jeannie’s chair. “Huh.” She wiggled in her chair, testing to see whether her chair would spontaneously fall apart too. But, of course, her chair worked fine. “Just bad luck, I guess. Check with the prop guys. They probably have another one in the trailer.” She shrugged and turned back to her laptop.

“Back to work, people!”

Jeannie’s face burned as she stood up and resolved not to sit again for the entire taping. Tomorrow, she’d call Madame Clarice and schedule an appointment. Sure, the woman pretended to be a fortune teller to scam tourists, but maybe she had a crystal or something Jeannie could use to get rid of the bad juju that seemed to be following her around.

***

“If I wanted to be knocked in the head by a big round ball, I’d jump up and down,” Mercedes said, pointing to her breasts as she pulled Judy away from the sandcastle area and pushed her toward the makeshift volleyball court. Jeannie had wanted Mercedes in the volleyball game because she’d said in her interview that she hated sports. Not that she wanted to make Mercedes look bad in front of Al. It just made for good television.

“It’s fine,” Judy answered. “I’ve read all about volleyball.” She turned to look at the camera. “You too can enjoy a great book about volleyball. Visit your local library and look under the number 796.325.”

The litter clean-up had gone surprisingly well. Most of the women seemed to enjoy it, or if not enjoy, they didn’t complain as much as Jeannie had hoped they would.Expectedthey would. Not hoped. What did she care? Beach habitat was the real winner here.

The volleyball game began with Judy and Paige, the soccer player from Florida, against the twins and Charlene. Surprisingly, the twins played very well, probably because of the whole mind meld thing they had going on. In the end, Judy’s team won, but only because Paige was so competitive that she managed to win almost every serve.

Mercedes and Jazz won the sandcastle competition for their recreation of the Alamo. Jeannie pulled up a picture on her phone and it was surprisingly realistic. Apparently, Mercedes had worked there as a tour guide, so she really knew the place, and Al was a closet history nerd. Leann had tried to use her chef background to create a diner with Iona, but they never stood a chance.

Dinner was hectic. Al had time with the four winners, but of course the four-ish losers weren’t too happy. Especially Iona, who eventually walked over and stole Al for a private one-on-one.

Judy pushed up her glasses. “There’s a few books on etiquette I’d like to recommend to that one.”