“Nice,” Levetta echoed. A long pause, another exchanged glance.
I sucked in the sweet grass flavor of the barn and exhaled through my nose. Calm, I had to keep calm.
“That was you on that billboard, wasn’t it?” Levetta asked at last.
And there it was, what I’d feared from the minute I’d picked up the two of them and driven ahead to show them the way through the country roads. I’d scheduled this appointment a few weeks back, before the trouble with Heather and my own crazy crush on Adam had started.
Man, what a screw up. Couldn’t I ever learn? In spite of Sue Ann’s thoughts on the matter, I needed to remain single until my business was rock solid. Which meant a forced celibacy of years.
“Pardon?” I asked, even though I’d heard the question with painful clarity.
“The billboard on Elm and Flagship,” Levetta clarified with narrowed eyes. “That was you, wasn’t it?”
These two had to be in their early sixties, yet even they’d heard about that damn billboard.
“Yes, that was me,” I said. I wouldn’t lie to them or anyone else. “But that was taken completely out of context. The message was ridiculous, of course.”
“Of course,” George said, nodding along pleasantly.
But Levetta’s upper lip had curled back to reveal bunny rabbit incisors. She didn’t look happy. Or attractive.
“Still, I’m not sure that’s the kind of thing we want to be associated with,” Levetta said. She sucked her front teeth, then clicked her tongue. “We hired you because we expected the best.”
“We’d heard such good things,” George put in.
“Yes, fantastic things. The Gettelmans told us you were fantastic and God knows their event was flawless.”
“Such a rustic theme,” George agreed.
“But this. I just don’t know,” Levetta said, gesturing to the interior of the barn. “It’s cute and everything, but we expected something a little lower key. And elegant.”
“Elegant, yes.” George bobbled my double chin.
Apparently, there was an echo in the barn today.
“I see,” I replied. I had to blow by this and save the day. Since I hadn’t had new offers for the past couple days, I got the distinct impression that the billboard was the beginning of a disaster for me.
I couldn’t let that happen. Time to pick myself up by my bootstraps and motor forward.
Levetta took a step back, scraping her heel through the hay on the floor. She looked down at it, pulled a sour expression and focused on me again. “You can see why we’ll need to consider other options.”
“Of course, other options are always good. In fact, I’ve got a portfolio in the car we can take a look at. A few design options and venues I picked out in case this one wasn’t to your liking. If you’ll follow me,” I said and beckoned. I strode through the barn, my low-slung heels clicking on the floor. Peep toes hadn’t been the best option for today.
The Wilkes took their time about following me to the car and once they reached it, they didn’t seem happy to be there. George adjusted his coat with a flourish, then wandered off to the Audi and proceeded to check his tire pressure. Was it wrong to wish he’d split the pants of his Gucci suit?
Levetta folded her arms, flashing a TAG Heuer watch.
I brought out my leather portfolio and opened it up. “If you don’t want to go with a red and white theme, there are plenty of other options,” I said, flipping through the pages and settling on a picture of a cool-themed setting.
It looked Bahamian and the serenity seeped off the page.
Levetta did another tongue click. “I’m not sure.”
“And for venues,” I said, turning the plastic sleeve in the file, careful not to crinkle the pages. “I’ve got several that might interest you. The Greysolom Ballroom might do.”
“Hmm.” Levetta Wilkes tapped her wrinkled cheek, right beside her eye.
All moisture fled from my mouth. I grasped a bottle of water from the cup holder inside the car, then unscrewed the cap and took a dainty sip. I swished the water around, forcing it between my teeth, behind my lips, and swallowed.
I didn’t like the liquid bitterness. It tasted of fear.
Defeat.
“I don’t like this. I’m sorry,” Levetta said with a shake of her coiffed head.
Disappointment punched me right between the eyes. This had never happened to me before. Outside of the night Carter Jenkins tried to assault me and the death of my parents, this was the worst feeling I’d ever had.
I inhaled a deep breath and didn’t let my smile falter. I would remain calm and friendly. Professional. Blake would tell me to suck it up and grow a pair. How I wished my capable and supportive brother was here with me now. But he’d been playing hockey in the European league all year and I rarely saw him. Hell, I rarely even got a phone call letting me know he was alive since he’d been on the road so many time zones away. After hearing the rumors, I was surprised he hadn’t already shown up on my doorstep with reinforcements as we both kissed my career goodbye.
“How about I return to my office and make a few changes,” I suggested. “A different selection.”
“No, thank you. I think we’ll explore other avenues,” Levetta said, breaking eye contact to look at her husband. George kicked the tires of his Audi, avoiding the conversation. “George, darling, stop doing that.”
“Mrs. Wilkes, I’m sure I can satisfy your decorative needs if you give me a chance to –”
“Oh gosh, enough,” Levetta snapped. “If you are forcing me, to be honest, I didn’t even want to come here today. I’m no longer interested in your services. I refuse to associate with a common tramp. Katherine Jenkins is in my bridge club and she’s simply devastated by your accusations. Her son is a smart, successful, and handsome young man. He’s always being targeted by gold diggers and hangers on. I never expected you to be one of them.”
“Common tramp,” George echoed, then pulled his car keys from his pocket. “Carter’s devastated.”
I stared at the pair of them, speechless. This was worse than disappointment. If the town thought I was some kind of… I swallowed a few times but the lump in my throat containing all the regret in the city of Duluth refused to go down.
Levetta Wilkes grumbled under her breath as she hurried back to the Audi. They disappeared into its cushy interior and roared off down the road, leaving a wake of dust and debris behind their spinning wheels.
In spite of the vehicular fuck you, I stood and stared after them. Except now, hot tears rolled down my cheeks.
Chapter 14
Julia
“You know why this is happening,” I said, perched on one of the chairs behind the counter at Sue Ann’s boutique. My tears had dried long ago. I was still embarrassed as hell and equally determined to make the billboard and everything associated with it disappear. But the damage had already been done. A cannonball had ripped through my life and everything was torn asunder.
Sue looked up from a mannequin nearby. She arranged the arm of a silk dress, a light pink that would be perfect for a wedding – or an anniversary – and sniffed.
“Because Heather McNeal is a psycho bitch?”
“No,” I replied, “well, yes that too, but none of this would’ve happened if I’d stayed away from Adam in the first place. Heather wants him back. Maybe he wants her back.”
Sue Ann shook her head and placed her fists on her hips. She glared at me then at the mannequin, sharing her displeasure between her best friend and the silken item of clothing that just wouldn’t hang right.
“What aren’t you telling me, Julia? You’re acting like something happened between you and Adam. Something I don’t know.” She flopped the sleeve again before uttering another word. “Why do you think you deserve to be punished for talking to a guy? A devilishly attractive guy, might I add. One who really seems to dig you.”
“Because he fled from my house the last time I saw him,” I said, jabbing my fi
nger in mid-air. “I made a horrible mistake and asked him about Heather. We’d been bantering and drinking coffee. I was nervous and the question just popped out.”
Sue returned a wink and a middle finger salute. “Heather McNeal has never liked you, babe, this is adding insult to injury. It won’t matter whether you and Adam have a thing or not –”
“Who said we have a thing?”
“Oh come on,” Sue Ann mused, rolling her eyes. “I wasn’t born yesterday. And besides, he’s totally into you too.”
“He is?” My heart beat into my throat and stayed there. “How do you know?”
“A best friend always knows. Besides, you should’ve seen how crazy he got about you after the whole thing with Carter. He was so tender.” She walked back to the glass counter and leaned her elbow on it, a dreamy look making her jaw slack. “What a guy.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“Whatevs,” she said and threw her hands in the air to make a perfect W. “It totally means he likes you. He also cracked Carter in the jaw. And it’s just in the way he looked at you at the bar that night. Like he couldn’t get enough. Trust me when I say this doll, I’ve seen that look before and it only leads to good things. Good things which are very, very bad.” She snapped her gaze to my face, a naughty twinkle in her eye.
“Adam aside,” I said, then took a breath because it wasn’t easy putting Adam aside, not in my thoughts and not in real life. “I’ve got a major problem. Even though the billboard’s gone, it still might ruin me and Heather is angry as hell about me asking her to leave my house.”
“We’ve got to find out who’s done this and stop them,” Sue Ann said, balling her hand into a fist and shaking it. “We won’t let them ruin you. I’m just having a hard time figuring out if it’s Carter or Heather.”
“I don’t think offense is the best option right now,” I said and hung my head, avoiding eye contact. “My business is already being affected. The Wilkes called me a common tramp and walked off the proposed site of their anniversary party.
“And I thought you were tough as nails like a true Cameltoe fan,” Sue Ann uttered, “Adam’s brethren would be ashamed.”
“Caribou.” I had to laugh at Sue Ann’s deliberate gaffe to lighten the mood. “Seriously, it can only make matters worse. Heather’s that kind of woman. If I try to hit back, she’ll pound me harder. And I don’t want anyone caught in the crossfire, particularly not my business.” I moaned and gripped my forehead. “Or my family. I so did not ask for any of this.”
“Yeah, it’s not like you can help falling for hunky Adam.”
“Stop,” I said, but I couldn’t help smiling. Sue Ann’s quips always made my day. She meant well, even if she went about it the wrong way on occasion. “Besides, we don’t know that it’s actually her. I mean, she was at my house when the whole billboard thing was happening. There’s no way she got out of there in time to make the call, pay money and have it put up after our disagreement.”
“Unless she planned it in advance,” Sue suggested. “If she was already on the way to your house when this happened then the word about Adam being seen with you had made it to Heather in plenty of time for her to make the billboard happen. Plus, money can make just about anything happen that quickly. But let’s just say it’s not Heather. Then who?”
“Carter? Some unhappy former client or rival? I have no idea. At least, I don’t have enough of an idea to go out there and start pointing fingers.” I sighed, at a complete loss. Too many people had the motive and opportunity for me to laser in on the perpetrator with assurance.
“What about swinging fists?” Sue Ann replied, jabbing the air. She looked like a miniature version of Muhammed Ali.
The bell above the door tinkled and Heather McNeal strolled into the boutique with her nose in the air. Sue Ann’s eyes widened. “Speak of Satan incarnate,” she whispered so only I could hear her.
Heather circled around the counter and shifted in next to me, standing right in front of the cash register. She’d strode right up to us in her platform heels and impossibly tight jeans and dropped the white gold box with pink ribbon in front of our faces. “Yeah, I’d like to return this.”
“And a warm welcome to you too, Heather,” Sue Ann said.
I would’ve nudged Sue, but the transparent counter gave my game away. I certainly didn’t want Heather “Can’t Keep my Pants On” McNeal to know I hated her guts.
“I want to return this,” Heather repeated, cold as a kiss from a fish. “It doesn’t fit.”
Sue Ann’s curiosity was clearly peaked. She undid the ribbon, opened the box, then took out a rumpled scarf. The exact same one Mark Spencer had bought the previous week. Sue Ann flashed a grin at the sight of it, looked at me then back to her newest patron.
“Do you have a receipt?” Sue Ann asked.
“No, I don’t,” Heather snapped. “It was a gift.”
“And a lovely one. I have no idea why you’d want to return it,” Sue Ann said, her expression blank of emotion. “And frankly, I’d rather not ask. Hmm, but, unfortunately, Heather dear, I can’t exchange or refund without the receipt.”
Sue Ann started folding the scarf neatly, making ready to place it back in the box.
“I don’t want it,” Heather said, pursing her lips and looking me up and down. Studying my outfit, no doubt.
“Store policy, I’m afraid. I can’t make an exception, even for you,” Sue Ann said, shutting the box and sliding it back to Heather. She nudged the woman’s hands with the creamy cardboard. “Have a lovely day.”
A vein in Heather’s temple flickered and pulsed. “Sue Ann, the –”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Chamber of Commerce and all that. If that will be all?” Sue Ann waved toward the door. In that moment, Sue Ann became my hero.
Mirth and terror mingled in my belly, and I hiccupped a laugh.
Heather narrowed her eyes at me before spinning on the spot and marching out of the door. She left the box on the counter.
“That went well,” Sue Ann said pleasantly.
“No good will come of all this, Sue Ann,” I said at last. “We’ve just poked a hibernating bear, and I’m really afraid.”
Chapter 15
Adam
I perched on the end of the examination table and shifted on the weird mattress they’d put on top of it. The one with the roll of crinkly and stiff white paper on top. I despised doctor’s offices, because they always brought back memories. Specifically, the time me and Blake had decided it would be a good idea to try skiing off the top of my father’s snow covered roof.
I’d ended up with a broken arm, Blake with a sprained ankle. Fucker had always gotten off easy. I smiled at that, but my smile failed a second later. What would Blake say about my “friendship” with Julia? Blake had always been the typical tight-assed, super-protective older brother. He’d probably grab me by the scruff of the neck and pop me in the jaw.
“Adam, it’s good to see you again,” Doctor Jansen said, holding the door to the room open with his palm flat against the wood.
“I can’t say the same for you, doc,” I said in a terse tone. “Although that has nothing to do with you personally.”
Dr. Jansen chuckled and entered, shutting the door behind himself and dragging his heels along the carpet. “It could be worse, you could be in a hospital bed right now. You got off easy for a tangle with a semi.”
“Yeah. But if I’d stayed there a day longer, I would’ve lost my damn mind.” Unless Julia had been there in my room with her invigorating scent and equally enticing body. My ribs still hurt and I was tender in the wrong places, but anything was better than hospital time with a tube coming out of my arm, pumping all kinds of weird fluids into me.
That shit just wasn’t natural.
The doctor stopped beside the exam table, holding a stethoscope. He smiled broadly and I breathed in a longsuffering sigh. This shit reminded me of my knee injury, the second worst day of my damn life. Losing my pa
rents had been tragic. Heather fucking Mark had been repulsive. Losing my career? Well, I didn’t even have a word for that shit show.
“This is just a routine checkup to make sure everything’s going okay,” Dr. Jansen soothed as he checked my heartbeat in multiple places. “That was a nasty accident.”
Jansen wanted more detail. It seemed everyone in Duluth wanted to know why, how, whether I’d done it because of Heather. How did everybody know everything about my fucked up life so damn fast? I wouldn’t allow my troubles to become a show for them. Already, Julia had been dragged down by the lower cast of assholes who despised me. I’d probably never forgive myself for it. One thing was for damn sure I’d spend the foreseeable future trying to make it up to her, if I could just figure out how. I’d spent last night flopping on my mattress like a carp on the shore of Lake Superior since I’d fucked up everything.
“Pulse is good and strong,” the doc said, removing the stethoscope from his ears and placing it around his neck. “How are you feeling? Do you want to see someone to talk this whole thing through? I understand an accident of this magnitude can be quite traumatic. Especially, when it’s on top of… other things.”
“No,” I replied too quickly. “Harry’s already spoken with the courts and the driver of the other car. I’m attending a few meetings. Something about controlling my drinking. Thing is, Doc, I don’t have an issue with drinking to excess and I never have. That night – well – it had some extenuating circumstances.”
Dr. Jansen nodded as if he knew exactly what I referenced. Even if the man knew that Heather had fucked my only sibling, he had no idea how that felt. Like a skate blade to the skull.
“Yes, of course, but there’s a difference between doing what needs to be done for the law, and doing what needs to be done for you, personally. You understand?” The doc set to work examining my knee. He wasn’t an Ortho, but I’d asked him to test the mobility just to get an idea if any of this shit had set me back on my rehab.
“If I needed head shrinking, I sure as hell won’t get it for a car accident. Shit, I’ve been through worse.” Then I realized my choice of words was unprofessional. “Sorry, Doc.”
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