She was annoyed she’d allowed things to get so bad at the bank that she had nothing left of herself to give now. So many mistakes; so many regrets. Would she ever really forgive herself and move on? The notion of a happy life still seemed so very far out of reach.
Tears threatened and Tanya blinked, purposefully shoving her self-pity into submission. She strode back to the wall and positioned the nail, before banging it in with relish.
Just two short months ago, it would’ve been impossible for her to assess her mistakes rationally. At least now, her mentality was heading in the right direction. One of her illogical thoughts had been believing the only way to prove she was as good a person as Sasha was to leave Templeton, where people sat in judgment day after day.
The need to prove herself worthy had become her obsession—and she’d thought that worth would come from money and success. The belief she would never find either in a small seaside town on the south coast of England took over her entire being. If she could forge a life in the city, wouldn’t everyone have to sit up and take notice when they heard of her triumphs?
She stood back and stared at the painted scene of Cowden Beach, Bart’s cabin and the ocean. Funland had been Sasha’s passion and driving force behind her every action. Money and success had been Tanya’s. She’d left the Cove with her mother, completely consumed with ambition, yet the gnawing doubt cutting off Liam had been the right thing to do when her heart ached so deeply.
She now acknowledged her doubts had been entirely justified.
Tanya walked back to her desk and sat, pulling her to-do list toward her. She would put the hours ahead to good use and concentrate on her business until it was time to meet Liam at Funland.
As she turned to her computer screen, someone knocked on the front door.
Tanya rose to her feet. Ignoring the nerves that took flight in her stomach, she strode forward and unlocked the door, pulling it wide-open.
Leah grinned. “Good morning.”
Tanya smiled and relaxed her shoulders. “Hi. What are you doing here?”
“I’ve brought you a present.” She glanced behind her. “Come on in, sweetheart. Tanya’s bark is worse than her bite.” Leah grasped the young woman’s wrist and propelled her inside before succinctly shutting the door behind them. She stole her arm around the girl’s shoulders and smiled at Tanya, satisfaction gleaming in her eyes. “This is Lucy Walker, your new assistant.”
Lucy raised her hand, her cheeks flushed pink. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Tanya’s sympathy bloomed. The girl looked downright petrified, and Tanya knew only too well how pushy Leah could be when she set her mind on something. Tanya offered her hand to Lucy. “It’s nice to see you again. You probably don’t remember me. You were a lot younger when I last saw you.”
Lucy stepped from Leah’s side and took Tanya’s hand. “I don’t remember you at all, but my brother and sisters do.”
“And I remember them, too. Scott, Bianca and Ella. Right?”
Lucy grinned. “Right.” She glanced at Leah and grimaced. “Leah said you were looking for someone to help out? I could really use a job right now, but if—”
“Uh-uh, no buts.” Leah slid her arm around Lucy’s shoulders. “We leave Tanya to make the decision. So, what do you think?”
Tanya resisted the urge to shake her head. The woman was like a human cannonball. She cleared her throat and smiled at Lucy. “I am looking for someone, so as you’re here, why don’t I interview you now. Do you have time for a quick chat?”
Lucy smiled. “That would be great. Thank you.”
“No problem.” Tanya waved toward her desk. “Why don’t you take a seat, and I’ll be right with you.”
Lucy brushed past her and Tanya looked at Leah. “Do you mind if I speak to you outside?”
Leah grinned, her eyes flashing with what looked far too much like triumph. “Absolutely.”
Tanya walked outside and the midday heat hit like a furnace. She exhaled and pulled the office door closed until it was ajar. She looked at Leah and shook her head.
The woman’s skin was alabaster compared to Tanya’s, and Leah looked the epitome of unruffled cool. She nonchalantly slipped on a huge pair of sunglasses before whipping a wide-brimmed hat from her enormous tote and plunking it on her head. The thing was so big, it wouldn’t have gone amiss at Ascot.
Tanya opened her mouth to speak, but Leah got there first. “So, did you bring me out here to thank me? There’s really no need. I am known about town—”
“For getting involved in things that don’t concern you?” Tanya raised an eyebrow as she fought her smile.
“I’m doing you a favor. Lucy is the perfect person to have working here. She’s hardworking, determined and the locals love her. You’ve said yourself you don’t expect to be welcomed back with open arms. Giving Lucy Walker a job will go a long way to greasing the wheels of acceptance. Now, go back inside and see about Lucy for that job. She’s had trouble enough of her own these past few months and could do with someone like you to guide her. You’re a good fit. Trust me.”
Tanya glanced uneasily toward the office. She wasn’t strong enough to be someone else’s savior. At least, not yet. She faced Leah. “What sort of trouble?”
“Nothing serious, but her daddy breezed back into town last Christmas after a ten-year absence. She isn’t taking to being his daughter again too well. She needs someone by her side who understands about new beginnings.” Leah raised an eyebrow. “And I think that person is you.”
Empathy replaced Tanya’s unease and she sighed. “Fine. I’ll go talk to her, but no promises. I need someone—”
“You need her.” Leah smiled and cupped a hand to Tanya’s cheek, her eyes soft with understanding. “I’ll see you soon, sweetheart, okay?”
As Leah walked away, Tanya raised her hand to the warmth left by Leah’s touch, and released her held breath. How could something so innocent burrow so deeply into her heart when she was supposed to be opening a brand-new business and bringing her sister’s molester to justice?
She had to be stronger than this if she was going to achieve what she had returned to Templeton to do.
When Tanya reentered her office, Lucy was sitting ramrod straight in one of the visitors’ chairs in front of Tanya’s desk, her gaze flitting from one end of the office to the other. Her dark hair was neatly brushed into a ponytail and her slender shoulders were covered with a simple white shirt...her nerves palpable.
Tanya closed the door and walked toward her desk. She smiled. “So, how’s Scott? I’ve yet to see him since I’ve been back.”
Pride lit Lucy’s bright blue eyes. “He’s great. He said you guys knew each other way back.”
“We did. You must have just started secondary school when I left the Cove. It’s no wonder you don’t remember me.” She moved some files to one side and sat. “How old are you now?”
“Nineteen, straight out of school and desperate to work.”
“Want some money of your own, huh?”
Lucy’s smile faltered. “Something like that.”
Awkwardness permeated the room and Tanya leaned forward in her seat, already knowing she would employ Lucy, and hoping the young girl might find the confidence to share her worries, given time. “Right, well, why don’t I ask you a few questions and, if I think you’re right for the job, I’d love for you to start straightaway. Is that okay with you?”
Lucy grinned. “That would be great with me.”
“Then let’s get started.”
* * *
TANYA STOOD OUTSIDE the gates of Funland and stared at the flashing lights surrounding the rides. They danced and blurred in her vision.
Having purposely arrived an hour before the arranged seven o’clock meeting time with Liam, now she was here, she couldn’t summon the courage
to walk through the wrought-iron gates without him. Nerves leaped in her stomach, her counseled breathing methods having completely deserted her.
Forgiving myself is the first step forward.
The mantra resounded in her head, even if she hadn’t managed to heed it yet.
Loud rap music vibrated through her chest and yanked her stretched nerves tighter. Having never shared her sister’s love of Funland and, instead, following her mother’s aloof influence, Tanya didn’t know what it was to love anything or anyone the way Sasha did. Maybe her feelings toward Liam weren’t what she thought they were, either. If someone truly loved, nothing could spook them. They embraced. They enjoyed. They cherished. She had run from Liam, abandoned him in favor of her ambition. What did that say about her ability to love?
Sasha was passionate, strong, impulsive and intuitive, yet her wonderful virtues hadn’t protected her from the molestation she’d suffered inside these gates.
Molestation at the hands of a man yet to be caught. A man who could’ve struck again and again, as far as anyone knew.
Determination licked at Tanya’s insides, forcing its power through her veins. She strode forward with her head held high. As she walked through the fair, she darted her gaze left and right, taking in the small bands of teenagers, the groups of mums and dads with young kids and the steady stream of workers. Some of the men and women manning the rides, stalls and food vans looked to be of the same Romany background as her and Sasha.
She smiled. Tanya didn’t doubt for one minute they’d worked there through her sister’s employment a year or so before. Even though Funland was no longer in their family, Tanya would bet a hundred English pounds Sasha had sold it on the condition its Spanish roots were embraced and reborn.
Strolling deeper and deeper into the fairground, Tanya relaxed as her satisfaction grew. Sasha needed to see this. She needed to come back and see what had happened to her fair. She’d ultimately chosen the love of her life and the future, rather than stay in the past and let it eat her alive. Yet Sasha’s good intentions had lived on without her being the hand that pulled and yanked on the reins to make it happen.
“Couldn’t wait for me, huh?”
Tanya jumped and spun around. She laughed and pressed her hand to her chest. “Liam. You frightened me.”
“You okay?”
“I’m fine. You’re kind of early, too, you know.” She ran her gaze up and down the entire length of his six-foot-one-inch frame. “Wow.”
He frowned. “Wow?”
She went in for a second shameless appraisal and inhaled. From the sneakers on his feet, to his faded blue jeans, which had to be years old, judging by how well they molded his muscular thighs, to the black T-shirt showcasing an impressive set of shoulders and a chest like brick.
A pleasant heat warmed her cheeks. “It’s the first time I’ve seen you out of a suit since I came back. You look...different.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Good different?”
She shrugged, not quite managing to bite back her smile. “You look all right, I suppose.”
He laughed. “Gee, thanks.” Their gazes locked for a moment, until Liam glanced past her shoulder. “So, I’m here. What’s the plan?”
Reluctantly dismissing the image of his seminaked body from her imagination, Tanya nodded ahead of them past the rides to where Sasha’s old office and the warehouse beside it were located. The warehouse had been used to store abandoned or broken machinery, stock for the prize stalls and everything else that needed a temporary home.
She narrowed her eyes. “Follow me.”
They walked across the parched grass, and trepidation danced in Tanya’s stomach, her hands turning clammy. Sasha had given Tanya permission to look for Davidson, but also stressed she wasn’t to expose herself to danger. This step already felt dangerous. Tanya exhaled a slow breath. Once she had something concrete to tell Sasha, she’d call her sister again. For now, there was little point in worrying her.
Liam loved Sasha as much as Tanya did. She just hoped she wasn’t leading him into unknown danger by having him help her.
They moved farther away from the hustle and bustle of the fair. Despite the risks involved, Tanya couldn’t think of anyone better equipped, or as intelligent, to help her. Liam knew the law, and as much as possible, she wanted to do this by the book. She could not risk the tiniest loophole for Matt Davidson to slip through when his day in court arrived.
She worried her bottom lip as her lack of contact with Sasha prodded at her conscience. What if Sasha refused to testify once Davidson was found?
Upon sight of the warehouse, Tanya slowed. This was where Davidson had taken Sasha’s childhood innocence and shaped her adulthood. It was where her sister’s life had veered off on a passionate, self-sacrificing mission that would have ultimately destroyed her if her fiancé, John Jordon, hadn’t come along and shown Sasha how much could be gained by letting go of the one thing she thought she could truly love. Tanya was confident Sasha’s walking away from Funland had saved her sister’s life.
When they were a few feet away from the warehouse’s padlocked double doors, Tanya touched Liam’s forearm. He stopped, frowning as he looked at her. “Are you all right?”
She slipped her fingers from the warmth of his bare forearm and crossed her arms. Doubt of whether she was doing the right thing by involving him twisted inside. She dragged her gaze from the concern in his and stared at the warehouse. “Over three days, Davidson molested Sasha in there. She was twelve years old. I was fourteen. Don’t ask me how I didn’t know. I should have known. Maybe then—”
“Wait. Just wait.” He slid off his glasses, closed his eyes and dug the forefinger and thumb of his free hand into his brow. “That can’t be right.”
“What?” He might as well have slapped or kicked her to the ground. Either would have hurt less than him thinking she might lie about something so horrifying. “You think I’m lying?”
“No, of course not, but...”
“But what?”
He turned his back to the warehouse and faced the fair, gesturing with a wave of his hand. “Sasha wanted this place. She wanted to own every inch of it. It consumed her. It ate at her—”
“Yes, Liam, like acid.” Tanya squeezed her eyes shut. She hadn’t intended to snap, but the words split the quiet air around them. She opened her eyes. “It was an unhealthy obsession. There are no other words to describe what the fair became to her.”
His jaw tightened before he spun away and shoved his hands into his hair.
Tanya inhaled as the fight left her and was replaced with empathy. Hadn’t she reacted the exact same way when Sasha told her about the abuse? Hadn’t she gone from shock, to denial, to out-and-out rage? The fury on Liam’s face and the way he held his shoulders so high and tense told Tanya an identical stream of emotions flooded through him now.
She dropped her arms. “Matt Davidson worked here that summer. It might not have been just Sasha he abused. My mother suspected...” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what my mother did because, ultimately, no one knows where Davidson is. He has to pay for this. God only knows how many other girls he might have hurt.”
He took two long strides toward her, stopping so close the scent of his aftershave bloomed between them and his harried breath teased her lashes. His blue-hot gaze bored into hers. “Are you asking me to find this piece of shit? Is that what you want me to do?”
The moisture drained from Tanya’s mouth to see such pure unadulterated rage in a man she’d thought so calm, collected and in control a few days ago. This was the man she remembered. The man in his midtwenties who oozed fire and frustration, passion and principle, whom she’d always thought should be in a courtroom where he’d reign like a king.
And with her gone...he’d done exactly that.
Her heart beat fast as T
anya clearly saw the man she’d turned away from. Regret twisted like a knife in her stomach. “Yes. I have to do something to help ease Sasha’s pain now, when I did nothing before.”
A muscle clenched and relaxed in his jaw, and the rapid dart of his eyes revealed the haste of his thoughts. He closed them. “You need to keep her in the loop with what you’re doing. She shouldn’t be left in the dark or have her wishes ignored.”
“I will talk to her...in time.”
He glared. “No, she needs to know what we’re doing now. If you don’t tell her...”
Dread seeped into her stomach at the look of distrust in Liam’s gaze. “What?”
He exhaled. “If you don’t tell her, I’m going to worry you are going after Davidson for all the wrong reasons.”
Disappointment and hurt twisted Tanya’s heart as she stared at him. Their gazes locked as she turned over the implication of his words in her mind. If she was looking for Davidson for herself as well as Sasha, then Liam was right, this was wrong. It would be Sasha, not her, who had to stand up in court and relay everything that happened over those three terrible days.
She slumped. “I’ll talk to her.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
He nodded. “Good. And you’ll be staying in Templeton to start over regardless of whether we find him?”
The question jolted her and she flinched. “Does it matter?”
He snapped his eyes open, seemed to hesitate before cupping one hand to her jaw and bringing the other to her waist. Tanya stiffened, shocked into silence by the passion in his gaze so vividly contradicting the gentleness of his hold on her.
He stared into her eyes. “It matters because Sasha’s love for you brought you to this point. Why did she share what she went through after all this time? What happened for you to make it your mission to find the bastard?” He leaned closer and pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead that brought tears to her eyes. He pulled back and looked at her. “I know you and I know Sasha. More than losing your job made Sasha run to your side. Now you want to find Davidson because you think you weren’t there for her when she needed you. If we find Davidson, what then? Will you stay here or move on? I need to know.”
Her Hometown Redemption Page 9