Heartwood

by Catherine Lane

  I can’t do this. She fought down the urge to race back to her truck and drive away like a bat out of hell. As it was, she swallowed hard as she worked up the courage to knock.

  Just as she lifted her hand, the door swung open.

  Dawn, lovely as always, stood just inside, a smile playing at her lips. “You do know that the job’s inside the house, right?”

  Heat rushed across her cheeks, and Dawn bit her lip to kill the smile.

  “I’m sorry. I forget I’m not in Hollywood anymore. Everything doesn’t have to be a quip or a sound bite for the press.” She cupped Beth’s elbow and guided her inside. “You don’t have to be nervous. I don’t bite. And the sooner you come in, the sooner we can get comfortable around each other.”

  Beth’s arm tingled, and her heart started pounding a mile a minute at Dawn’s light touch. She silently counted to ten, trying to calm her nerves as she let herself be pulled into the foyer. It didn’t matter what Dawn said; just her presence was enough to send Beth into paroxysms.

  At the number ten, her heart stopped slamming against her chest, and she was able to look around. Once again, the architectural beauty of the house grabbed her. The early morning sun flooded in through a skylight right above them and gave the small room a golden glow. The Montgomerys had been unbelievably lucky to get such a house.

  “I know. Can you believe how pretty it is in here in the morning? We were really lucky.”

  It was uncanny. How did she always know exactly what Beth was thinking?

  “Can you read minds?” The words popped out before she had really considered the question. She looked down; she couldn’t meet Dawn’s gaze.

  “No, of course not.” Dawn chuckled. “But I can read people.”

  The laugh was so gentle that Beth raised her head back up.

  “That’s different? How?”

  “There’s nothing mystical about what I can do. People’s expressions, how they hold their heads, the way they stand and move. It’s like they’re speaking out loud to me.”

  Beth raised her eyebrows, and Dawn shrugged, an elegant little flip of her shoulders, perfected on a thousand movie screens. “I’ve always been really, really good at it. I had to be, and you’d be surprised what people give away without even knowing.”

  “They do?”

  She met Beth’s gaze and held it. “Do you want to know what you’re telling me right now?”

  Beth’s heart flipped in her chest and started pounding all over again. She couldn’t find a spoken answer; the question, the look—she wasn’t used to having all the focus in the room turned on her. It was unexpected and very intimate. All Beth could do was nod.

  “Okay. You’re telling me that you’d be more comfortable in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in your hands, making a list of what this job might entail. Am I right?”

  “Yes.” Beth’s response was little more than a breath.

  “Don’t look at me like that. I told you it wasn’t magic.”

  “I’m not buying it, because honestly, that’s exactly what I was thinking.” Beth found her voice.

  “Your feet are pointed in the direction of the kitchen. People always aim their feet where they want to really be and give their true feelings away. In fact, your whole body is leaning that way as well, so I guessed you’re a little anxious.”

  “I am. Sorry.”

  “I’ll share a little secret with you. Me too. Don’t forget, this is new for both of us.” She smiled. “Should I go on?”

  Beth nodded.

  “It’s early in the morning, and so I guessed maybe you didn’t have coffee yet or you could use another cup. I’ve already made a pot, so really I took a shot in the dark on that one. And finally, it would only be human nature to wonder what the hell you had gotten yourself into by accepting this job.” Dawn raised a hand toward the kitchen. “After you.”

  Beth’s shoulders dropped as she led the way. The first exchange had gone well; maybe there was hope for her yet.

  The kitchen was a showroom of modern luxuries. Green cabinets of enameled steel gave way to stainless steel counter tops and blended in beautifully with the wood on the floor and around the windows. The white refrigerator with separate freezer doors—Beth had never seen such a thing—looked as if it had been bought yesterday. A shiny copper smoke hood soared over an indoor barbecue, and a large cooking top with a grill added the architectural flair seen so clearly in the rest of the house.

  “Wow,” Beth said as soon as she rounded the corner.

  “I know. Best room in the house. I didn’t read your mind on that one either. It’s just the truth.” Dawn scooted around Beth and picked up a cup next to a pot of coffee on the cooker. “Coffee?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Ten minutes later, they sat at the small breakfast table in the kitchen, and Beth began to understand a few things about Dawn. She liked things sweet and easy. She dropped three cubes of white sugar into her coffee, and when she started to talk about the job, she relaxed completely into her chair.

  “Look, I don’t know what this is either. I hope you’ll feel comfortable keeping the house stocked with groceries and supplies. I’ve even started a list of some of the things I would like.” She gestured to a paper on the counter. “But we’ve hired a cleaning service who will come out when needed, and Jimmy insisted on having dinner delivered, so no real cooking either.”

  “Okay.” Beth let out a breath she hadn’t even known she was holding. She had jumped the first hurdle—she wasn’t a maid.

  “I think your main task, if you’re okay with it, will be just what Jimmy said. To be around so the house isn’t so empty. I think they used to call it a companion in the olden days. Oh, and drive me around. I can drive, but I’m terrible at it. Seriously, a car crash just waiting to happen.”

  Dawn chuckled at herself first, and Beth, sensing it was okay, joined in.

  “So, the weekdays for sure, but maybe the weekends too? At first I thought I would like the quiet. There’s always a ton of people around you in Hollywood, telling you what to do and how to think and act, but here the quiet is just so…still. So can we play Saturday and Sunday by ear?”

  “Yes, of course.” A thrill ran through Beth. This wasn’t at all like when Hank asked her to work the weekends. “I would imagine the pace in Steelhead takes some getting used to. The change must be huge.”

  “Will you help me?”

  Dawn’s lingering gaze cut her to the core. Beth wished she were the one who could read minds or at the very least read her own. It was a jumble in there. Emotions, feelings, and possibilities all turning in on themselves. She had never felt like this with anyone and was beginning to think it wasn’t a simple case of being starstruck. She pushed that last thought away as quickly as she could.

  “Of course, I will.” Her voice was thin and unsure, like a child’s.

  “Great.” Dawn looked away and broke the contact.

  The tension mounting in Beth rode back like a wave.

  Dawn bounced up from her seat. “Come see the rest of the house. You didn’t get to see it all last time you were here.”

  The tour took them all over—the den at the back, a huge wooden porch that ran all the way around the kitchen. Dawn headed upstairs, taking them two at a time, and then bounced on her feet as she waited for Beth to reach the landing. She showed her two extra bedrooms and the huge master in the back before pausing outside a closed door near the stairs. “I saved the best for last. Look!” She swung the door open.

  Beth poked her head inside: a guest room with a daybed along one wall and a desk with a typewriter and stacks of brand-new composition notebooks along the other.

  “Nice office. What work will you do here?”

  “No, it’s not for me. It’s for you.”

  “Me?” She took a step back. Surely she had misunderstood.

  “Yes, you. It’s your writing room. I know lots of screenwriters in Hollywood, and they all say that they have to have a place to write t
hat’s safe and protected from the outside world and a set of books to keep everything organized. You can’t keep writing on pages that can get lost at the drop of a hat. You want to be a serious writer. Right?”

  Beth opened her mouth but couldn’t speak. This was beyond crazy. It was by far the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. But Dawn didn’t even know her. Why would she do such a thing? Beth stepped up to the desk to buy herself a minute and ran a finger along the black-and-white covers of the composition notebooks. Pencils sat neatly by their side, sharpened and ready for use.

  “You did all this for me?”

  “Of course.” She tossed Beth’s question casually aside. “Who else would I do it for?”

  “How do you know I can even write?”

  “I think we’ve already established that I know things. Look at your feet and your hands. They’re trembling. You can’t wait to get into that seat and get started.”

  Beth pulled her hand away from the desk as if it had burned her. It was true, though. Visions of working here already danced in her head. She would have to be more careful around Dawn if she wanted to keep anything to herself.

  “Why would you do all this for me? We just met.”

  “Yes, I know. It’s extreme. Jimmy is always going on about that too. You see I can’t do things by halves. But I also know this, whatever it is…” She waved her hand back and forth between them. “…has to work for both of us. Doesn’t it?”

  “Yes, but…”

  “You need to take but out of your vocabulary. They’re no buts anymore in your writing career. Besides, I plan to take a lot of naps, and since I’m sleeping for two, I thought you should have an activity too.”

  The room and the fact that Dawn had even thought of it were unbelievable. Almost too good to be true. Had she walked into a living fairy tale when Dawn opened the front door?

  “Thank you,” was all she could muster.

  “Isn’t this what friendship’s all about?”

  There it was. Dawn had finally defined the job with one simple word. Friendship.

  How about that?

  After lunch, Beth and Dawn strode deep into the redwoods behind the house. Tall trees towered over them, their branches creating a protective canopy over the green moss and ferns and a little path that disappeared deep into the grove. Afternoon sunlight filtered down among the leaves and dappled their shoulders and heads with an almost magical glow.

  Dawn stretched out her arms and whirled around, spinning in the light. “This is like a fairyland. I can hear the music. The trees are singing.”

  “So you can read plants as well as people?” Beth cringed. Had she gone too far?

  Dawn laughed and patted the nearest tree, a grand giant disappearing into the blue sky. “You don’t need any special skills to know how happy they are here. You probably just have stopped noticing. You’ve lived here all your life, right?”

  “Is it that obvious?”

  “Yeah, it is. Look at you. You walk as if you belong here. Nothing timid about the way you move in the forest. You should move through life like that. You’re more timid in other places, like the real estate office.”

  Was Dawn always watching her? Goose bumps rose all over her body, even on her stomach. Being the center of someone’s focus was crazy and brand-new, but so exciting. She was used to fading into the background, first at home, playing second fiddle to her rowdy brother, and then at the real estate office with Hank. Men tended not to notice her, at least not in the way they looked at other women. That had been okay with her. She had never wanted all the extra attention…until now.

  “How old are you, Beth?” Dawn whirled so close, Beth could see the light sprinkle of freckles across her nose.

  “Twenty-two.” She tipped her head with pride at the number. She felt so mature and experienced walking along a forest path with a gorgeous movie star.

  “Oh, that’s a wonderful age. I wish I were twenty-two again. Young enough to believe that anything is possible.”

  Beth studied this gorgeous creature beside her. Dark Wayfarer sunglasses hid her eyes, but there wasn’t a line or wrinkle on her face. Her complexion was clear and flawless all the way down to the thin strand of pearls that circled her neck. Beth’s gaze lingered where the pearls ran over her clavicle, and she fought down the urge to run a finger down its soft curve.

  “How old are you?” She pulled the hand into a fist at her side.

  “Old enough to mind the question.”

  “Sorry.” The heat ran all the way down her neck and spread along her chest.

  “Don’t be. Age is a deep, dark secret in Hollywood for women.” Dawn linked her arm with Beth’s.

  Her embarrassment eased, but still her tongue was tied.

  Dawn pulled her close. “Do you want to know an even better secret?”

  Beth leaned in to her, basking in her forgiveness, and nodded.

  “Jimmy tells everyone that he was just strolling by that coffee shop in Hollywood after high school one day when a casting director from Warner’s rushed out and begged him to sign with them.”

  “I’ve heard that story. Everyone has.”

  “But here’s the thing. It didn’t happen like that at all.”

  “No?”

  “God, no. Jimmy cut morning classes and took two busses for a month straight to get to that shop by lunch. He knew the casting directors ate there, and he begged them every day to give him a screen test. The restaurant even posted a waiter at the door to fend him off, but he always found a way in. He even climbed in through the trash chute once. Finally, Paul Hanley said he’d bring him into the studio just to get Jimmy off his back. None of them thought he had much talent, but you know Jimmy. He doesn’t let an opportunity pass him by. He got in front of that camera during the screen test at the studio, ripped his shirt off, and the rest is history. With someone that handsome, no one really cared if he could act. They still don’t.”

  “His movies are really popular.” Beth took a chance and squeezed the arm wound with hers. When Dawn didn’t pull away, happiness flooded through her; she felt as if she were a popular schoolgirl gossiping about the football quarterback.

  “Oh, Jimmy breathes charisma. I’ll give him that. Once he got his foot in the door, he charmed everyone under the sun, even me.” A hint of harshness had crept into Dawn’s tone, and her mouth, just for a second, turned downward. She dropped Beth’s arm and danced up the path.

  Beth raced to catch up. “Is it true, then, that you two met at that screen test for Drop in the Bucket? Did you really take one look at him there and know he was the one?”

  “Oh no. The studio set us up long before that. The real story is that we just happened to be filling out paperwork in the same office one day. An executive from publicity happened to be walking by. Clean-cut boy standing by the girl next door. He thought we looked really good together, and when we tested well, they fabricated a relationship.”

  “But you fell in love, right?”

  “Of course. He’s so handsome; who wouldn’t love him? But there was more to it.”

  “In what way?”

  “In the way that was good for our careers. Alone, we couldn’t catch a break. Jimmy had those Coca-Cola commercials and some bit parts. And me? The studio was on the verge of releasing me.” She licked her lips as if to get rid of the bitterness of that statement. “Together, as a couple, it was a completely different story. Suddenly, we were America’s sweethearts. We got the leads in Drop in the Bucket. I nailed the death scene, and Jimmy just managed to not overact being heartbroken. It did well, and we never looked back.”

  Beth stopped in the middle of the path. “But that’s not what they say in the magazines.”

  “Oh please tell me you don’t read those rags.”

  Beth visualized the stack of tabloids sitting at that very moment on her bedside table. She had pored through them, looking for any tidbit about Dawn, while she waited for the escrow to close. “Sometimes—”

  �
��Well, don’t. They’re all lies.” The bitterness was back, and for some reason now it was directed at Beth.

  “I… I…”

  Dawn closed the space between them with two steps. She reached up to cup Beth’s cheek.

  Her fingers felt light and cool, and Beth couldn’t help herself; she leaned her head into the hollow of Dawn’s palm.

  “You don’t have to read them anymore.” She slid off her sunglasses and met Beth’s gaze. “Look at me. You’ve the real thing right in front of you. Okay?”

  Intensity swirled in the irises of Dawn’s eyes. They played much greener in person than they did in the movies. Standing this close made Beth’s throat close up, and she had to swallow twice before she could get even one word out. “Okay.” Even so, it registered more as a squeak than a sound.

  “That’s my girl.” Dawn patted her cheek with a smile and spun away. They continued the walk as if the moment had never happened.

  As soon as Beth got home, she gathered up all the magazines in her bedroom and dumped them straight into the trash out back.

  Her brother, Sammy, still wearing his football uniform, materialized on the doorstep. “If you’re getting rid of those, I’ll take a few.”

  “No, I’m throwing them away. They’re all full of lies.”

  “You spend one day with a movie star and suddenly you’re a know-it-all?”

  Beth elbowed him aside as she attempted to get back into the house. “What if I am?”

  He grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “Come on, sis. Spill. What’s she really like?”

  “She’s wonderful.” She threw the statement at him like a weapon. It felt good to have the upper hand with him for once.

  “No fair.” He drew the words out in a long whine. “Let me meet her. Please. Just let me drive you out there one day. I don’t have to stay, but I could say hello.”

  “My answer hasn’t changed from the last time you asked. It’s still no.” The last thing she wanted to do was share Dawn with anyone. She wrenched her arm out of his grasp and shook him off.