What about taking a utility tram up the mountain and getting a shot from there? It would be stunning. Plus, I have a friend who could take you up, and it wouldn't cost a penny because it's not the fancy tourist one.

Let me know if I should put in a call to my friend.

K.

To: Katherine Bloom From: Julia Boudreaux Subject: re: An idea Any tram? And me? Though it really would be a fabulous shot, and it would impress the pants off the Folly.

If you don't mind, could you set it up with your friend?

xo, j

Chapter Sixteen.

Two days later, Julia sped along Mesa Street on her way to Rocco's house. In hindsight she realized that she had been naive to think creating a new life for herself would be easy. Though in truth, she wasn't sure that she had thought too much about it. As usual, she had simply acted. Her life had been about doing, not spending endless hours thinking and analyzing as so many women did. She had always acted, dove into projects without fear. However, she was quickly learning that while steering clear of leopard prints and stiletto heels might try her resolve, steering clear of bad boys was truly testing her determination-or she should say steering clear of Ben Prescott made her wonder if she would ever succeed. He caused her to think. He caused her to analyze.

And now, in order to please Andrew Folly and give her show network-type sweeping shots of El Paso-even if it had to be achieved on a local station budget-she would be getting on a tram. A tram!

Julia couldn't believe she was going to get in some sort of maintenance metal box with plastic windows in order to get an aerial shot of the city. But if that was what it took to get the footage Andrew wanted, that's what she'd do.

Rob wasn't available to work after hours to get the shots until the following week, and that would be too late. And she certainly couldn't ask Todd to do it by himself. Which left her.

Pride, and not just a little bit of stubbornness, ticked through her and she pulled her shoulders back. Of course, underneath the pride was a huge dose of fear. The fact was, the Franklin Mountains were the southernmost tip of the Rocky Mountains. They were big. Huge. Rugged cliffs and craggy crevasses. And there was a long haul between the tram terminal and the top. Fortunately she wouldn't have to get out of the tram, only use the small video camera she would bring along to tape footage on the way up. Once she got to the top, the tram operator promised to bring her right back down.

However, before she could get on the tram, she had to tape the third segment of Primal Guy.

The session was scheduled for that day, with Rob and Todd meeting her at Rocco's house. The photos of the place he had brought to the interview had shown a small cottage with more posters of half-naked women than furniture. Like with Rocco himself, after Julia got finished with his house, she felt certain she'd get some great before and after shots to wow the audience.

Knowing that she had her work cut out for her, she wore a pair of khaki pants, a simple white shirt, a cardigan sweater, and a pair of loafers she had found in the back of her closet. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she saw prim and responsible. She should have been encouraged. But after two weeks of dressing like this, she had to face the fact that the change was only surface deep.

Somehow the change wasn't taking hold on her personality no matter how hard she tried to redo herself. She might look prim and responsible; she might even be acting that way. But she didn't feel prim and responsible in her heart.

She wanted to believe the wildness was just plain hard to tame. But she was afraid that wasn't it. When she looked in the mirror and saw the khaki pants and plain white shirt, she didn't feel prim-she felt empty. And that's what scared her. That's what drained her confidence away. Confidence had always been her anchor. But as she tried to change, tried to be someone else, she didn't feel new and reborn; she felt like someone she didn't know-and didn't want to be.

Running late, she hurried to Kern Place and to the small house where Rocco lived. She cringed at the sight of his front yard. Despite the beautifully manicured late fall lawns on either side of his, Rocco had gravel instead of grass and wrought-iron bars over all his windows. The place looked like a miniature prison.

Todd pulled up to the curb right behind her, Rob behind Todd. Together the three of them stood in the street and surveyed the house.

"Gnarly," Todd announced.

Julia had to agree.

As usual, Rob didn't say much.

"I'll get some potted plants," she said, her mind instantly working on what needed to be done.

"We'll put them mainly around the front door and we'll only do a close-up shot. No wide pans of the

place."

"Yeah, that'll work," Rob agreed. "Good thing the front door doesn't have any bars on it. Which makes no freakin' sense."

They walked up the cement walkway and rang the bell. It took forever for Rocco to appear. But when he did, Julia felt better. He really was the right guy for her show. With his new haircut and his sky blue eyes, he looked like a dashing poet.

"Hey," he said in a single grunting syllable.

"You mean, Hello, Julia. Hello, Todd. Or Good morning, Rob."

The man chuckled. "Yeah, I forgot."

As if to make up for the lapse, he gestured like a gentleman at a ball for them to enter. Julia was

impressed and a little relieved that he had it in him-until she entered the house.

She recognized the posters and all the leather. But he must have cleaned the place up for the photos he had taken.

"Rocco, this place is a disaster."

"Maybe a little. I cleaned before you came."

No question they would get those great before shots. But she had her work cut out for her if she hoped

to get a decent after shot. No wonder he had trouble getting a date.

Julia pulled a deep, fortifying breath. She would scrub and scrape and do whatever it took to clean this place up.

"Okay, let's get started."

Rob set up his camera with Todd doing much of the work now that he'd gotten the hang of the

professional equipment. But as soon as that was done, Todd pulled out his own video recorder.

Smoothing her hair, she smiled for the camera. "We've come to see Rocco Russo's home. The site for

his upcoming big date. But as we can see, no date in her right mind would come within an inch of this health hazard."

Rocco didn't even bother to look sheepish. He smiled for the camera, even flexed his muscles.

Julia broke out in a sweat.

They taped the living room, the dining area off the kitchen, and then both bedrooms.

"All scary," she said to the camera, though she gasped when they came to the single bathroom.

She looked straight into the lens. "I Know What You Did Last Summer wasn't this scary. And we

certainly know what Rocco wasn't doing last summer. Cleaning."

Rob gave her a silent thumbs-up before he ran the camera over the scum in the sink, the hideously dirty and rusty bathtub, the shower curtain that was falling down. And the rot.

Rocco chuckled. "Sorry, babe."

"Cut!"

"What?" he groused.

"You're supposed to have already learned manners. No more babes! We'll have to reshoot that."

They did. And this time Primal Guy smiled and apologized.

Good God, what had she gotten into? But it was too late to turn back now. She only had two weeks left

before Chloe and Sterling returned. Two weeks to finish taping and editing the show and prove Andrew

Folly wrong.

After the opening shots, Rocco departed, already having scheduled to stay the night on a friend's couch.

He was more than happy to vacate while other people did the work.

Julia didn't waste any time. She called up the garden store that had offered goods for promotion and told them what she needed. A pair of large cedar barrels and enough flowering fall plants to fill them. And an assortment of small evergreen plants to decorate the front porch. She didn't want to make the home look girlie, but she needed some sort of decoration on the door. So she had a wreath made of dried autumn leaves, with an assortment of dried autumn flowers and three miniature pumpkins clustered together in place of a bow.

She made the same kind of deal with the neighborhood paint store, a furniture store, and Kabal's House of Rugs.

While she waited for the deliveries, she would clean.

Rob taped it all, while Todd assisted Rob and taped what he could.

Julia retrieved the assortment of cleaning products from home. She pulled on bright yellow rubber gloves with a snap.

"Are you getting all of this?" she asked her crew.

"Every bit."

"Good. I want plenty to choose from when we're editing."

She started in the kitchen. She scrubbed the pans that looked like they could be saved. She threw the rest away. She washed cups and bowls that had who knew what in them. Thankfully Rocco loved fast food and paper plates. Just gathering the wide assortment of paper goods and McDonald's meals, then taking it all out to the trash, made a significant difference in the look of the kitchen.

Next came Soft Scrub, then Mr. Clean on the floors. The kitchen alone took her two hours, but when she was done, Julia didn't remember ever feeling so proud. Blowing a damp lock of hair out of her face, she smiled at the camera. "Just as we did for our Primal Guy, we're cleaning this place up."

The living room was a piece of cake in comparison. Pulling down the posters. Picking up dirty clothes. Mopping, dusting, scraping. She didn't want to think about what it was that needed to be scraped.

Just as she finished the living area, the delivery from the garden store arrived.

The multiple colors of mums made her smile. And the coordinating wreath they had whipped together felt like a sign that it was all going to work.