by Kay Correll
“I guess maybe he is. I mean, he is with her, and he’s holding her in that one photo.”
“I’ve been such a fool. Worried I’m going to hold him back, that I’m going to hurt his career. I thought he… well, I thought he felt something for me. He said he did. I know he’s an actor, but I didn’t think he was acting with me.” A dull ache flowed through her.
“I’m sorry. I guess I misread his intentions toward you, too, and I’m normally a really good judge of character. I’m sorry I ever set up that meeting with you and him at my cottage, and I’m sorry I helped you sneak over to The Pink Lady.” Merry walked over and gave her a hug. “His eyes light up when he looks at you, and you seemed happy when you were with him. I guess I was just way, way off base. I didn’t know he’d hurt you like this.”
She pulled out of the hug and walked over to the window, staring up at the sky. “Well, at least I found out before I got in any deeper. I’m glad he didn’t come over and talk the other night. It’s just as well. I would look even more the fool.” She whirled around to face Merry. “You know what? I’m over him. I’m over the media. I’m over having a constant security detail. I’m over all of this.”
“Somehow I think it’s going to take more than brave words for you to put Rick Nichols behind you.”
Whitney closed the door behind Merry and crossed to the backroom to finish up the necklace for Viola. The sooner she finished, the sooner she could send it over to Rick and be done with him.
Her phone rang, and she glanced over at it, half-expecting it to be Rick. She grabbed it off the counter. “Willie, hi.”
“Hey, sis. Just checking in.”
All of a sudden, she needed her overprotective, always-on-her-side big brother. “It is so good to hear your voice.”
“What’s wrong? I can hear it. Something’s wrong.”
“No, I’m okay.”
“And yet, you’re lying to me. Spill it.”
“I’m really okay. I just… well, I kind of did go out with Rick Nichols for a bit, but it’s over now.”
“The guy you kissed but insisted you weren’t seeing? Ashley showed me some photos of him and Shawna Jacobson in New York. I guess he’s gone from Indigo Bay, huh? Good. I didn’t trust the guy.”
“He’s coming back to town for his grandmother’s birthday party. At least I think he is.” Maybe he was too tied up with Shawna in New York to come back? Would he actually miss Viola’s party?
“Hope he stays away.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter if he comes here or stays there. I’m not seeing him again.”
“I’m sorry, sis.”
“Don’t be. Your little sis made a fool of herself, but I’m fine. Really. I am. I’m ready to just get back to my normal life.”
“I’m sorry he hurt you.”
“I’d have to care about him for him to hurt me. Right now I’m just furious with him and furious with myself. But don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” She said the words with as much bravado as she could muster, then hung up the phone and stared at the necklace. She would be fine. She’d finish the present and send it over to The Pink Lady with Mitch. There really was no reason to have Mitch hanging around anymore. She wasn’t going to see Rick again. She was over him.
Totally over him.
Chapter 19
Rick drove straight to Whitney’s cottage from the airport. He couldn’t wait to see her and didn’t want to risk going to The Pink Lady first and being guilted into staying there instead of seeing Whitney. It had been three days without seeing her, and he was so over that. A few random texts back and forth. They needed to talk. This forced exile to New York had been lousy timing. He and Whitney need to talk. And not by text and not over the phone.
He pulled his car onto the crushed shell drive. He frowned when he didn’t see Mitch by the door. Maybe she was still at the shop? But he hadn’t seen Mitch outside Coastal Creations when he’d driven past, which made him think she was already at home.
Mitch hadn’t called him like he usually did if they were headed back to her house…
Wait.
He snatched his phone from his pocket. He still had his phone in airplane mode. He flipped it on and saw several texts from Mitch.
Miss Layton insists she doesn’t need me anymore.
She insists I leave. And I have your grandmother’s present. She gave it to me to give to you.
Miss Layton says there is no need for my services. What do you want me to do?
I can’t follow her if she doesn’t want me to, but I’ll hang around until I hear from you.
Why had Whitney decided she no longer needed Mitch? Rick slid out of the car and crossed the distance to the door of the cottage in a few rapid strides. It didn’t escape him that a reporter lounged across the street and snapped a photo of him.
“Whitney? You home?” He called through the door when she didn’t answer. He grabbed his phone and dialed her number. It rang and went to voicemail. “Whitney, I’m back in town. Where are you? What’s up with you sending Mitch away?”
He scowled, ended the message to Whitney, and dialed Mitch. “Mitch, what’s going on? Where’s Whitney?”
“She sent me packing, boss. I can’t force her to use my services.”
“I know that, but why did she send you away?”
“She didn’t say. She just said there was no reason for me to be her security person any longer.”
“I don’t know what happened to make her change her mind.” He looked over at the reporter and turned his back on him. “You have any idea what happened?”
“No. Her friend Merry came to see her, then left a while after that. Then Miss Layton came out and told me to leave. I hung around for a few hours across the street, waiting to hear from you. After I didn’t hear back, she left the shop, came across to tell me not to follow her, and walked off.”
“Okay, I’ll see if I can figure it out. Don’t leave town though. Let me find out what happened. Let me see if I can straighten this out.”
“Sure thing.”
He slid his phone back in his pocket and slowly walked to his car. He glared at the reporter taking photos of him and turned on the engine. It roared to life, and he pulled out of the drive with a spray of crushed shells.
He’d no idea where to even begin to look for her. Maybe Merry’s house or Sweet Caroline’s? Or maybe she was avoiding him. He had canceled on her at the last minute, and Christina had been really tough on her.
He pulled up to a stop sign and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.
Where was she?
Whit sat at Merry’s kitchen table, sipping a glass of wine. “I sent Mitch away. It’s so nice to not have him following me around everywhere. Nice enough guy, but, still… I’m not really a needs-a-bodyguard type of person, am I?”
“You think Rick will argue with your decision?”
“He’d have to talk to me first, and I’m not planning on letting that happen. He made his choice when he went to go see Shawna. I’m done with him.”
“If you say so.” Merry looked doubtful. “But I’m totally annoyed with him right now on your behalf.”
A hard rap at the front door made them both turn in unison. “I’ll go get it. It’s probably Austin. He said he was coming over this evening.”
“I should go.” Whitney started to get up.
“No, stay. He can join us for a drink.”
Merry got up and went to the front room. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m looking for Whitney.”
She heard Rick’s voice and set down her glass abruptly, looking around the kitchen for a way to escape.
“She doesn’t want to see you.”
“Why not? What happened? I know I canceled dinner plans with her—”
“As if that is even a tenth of the problem,” Merry accused him.
“Is she here? Let me talk to her.”
“Go away.” Merry slammed the door.
“Whitney, I’m going
to stand here at Merry’s door until you talk to me.” Rick’s strong, loud voice filtered through the closed door.
Merry stalked back to the kitchen. “He’ll leave soon.”
“I don’t know. He’s awfully stubborn.” She pushed back from the table. “I’ll go send him away myself. Tell him I don’t want to talk to him. I’m not the one who did anything wrong. I shouldn’t have to hide from him. He needs to just leave me alone.”
“Or I could call the police and say I have a disturbance outside my door.”
“With my luck, that would end up in the news, too. No, I’ll go send him away.” She got to her feet. “I’ll be right back.”
“You need to leave.” Whitney’s eyes flashed with anger as she stood in the open doorway.
“Why won’t you talk to me? What happened? Are you this angry I canceled our dinner plans?”
“You mean after I’d already made dinner? No, of course not. And Mitch enjoyed your dinner very much.”
“I can see you’re angry. What happened?”
“Oh, maybe it’s because you lied to me. Said you were going to meet your agent. Only you actually went to go see Shawna. I don’t like being made a fool.”
“I didn’t go to see Shawna. I did meet up with my agent, and the director for the new movie, and Shawna’s agent and her. It was a business meeting.”
“That’s not what it looked like in all the photos out online.”
Rick frowned. “What do you mean? We went to an out-of-the-way place for the very reason I didn’t want any publicity.”
“Well, it appears someone saw you.”
He jerked his phone out and punched up one of his social media accounts. Sure enough, there were photos of him and Shawna. He scrolled through them and scowled. Weirdly enough, there weren’t any with their agents and the director. “I don’t know how someone found us. It must have just been dumb luck. I told you there is nothing between Shawna and me.”
“How about that photo where you’re holding her in your arms?”
He looked down at his phone and searched more photos. Sure enough, there was a photo that looked like he was embracing Shawna. “I… I don’t know… wait. She stumbled when we were leaving the restaurant and I caught her from falling. This has to be when this photo was taken.”
“If you say so.” She didn’t look convinced.
“Look, there’s nothing between Shawna and me. I’ve told you that.” He took a deep breath. “If you don’t trust me… well, then I guess there really isn’t anything between you and me… because I can’t care about someone who doesn’t believe me.”
“I just…” She bit her lip. “People I care about… they leave me. It’s hard to trust that you won’t. Especially after seeing those photos of you and Shawna.”
He looked at her, her blue eyes clouded with doubt. “I was all in on this. Ready to see where this was taking us. I haven’t felt this way about someone… since, well, I don’t know how long. I’m falling for you. I’m not afraid to admit that. I realize you have doubts, and I don’t blame you. But I need you to trust me for this to work.”
He took a step back. “I understand this is hard for you. You’re afraid I’ll leave you. But you’re giving up, and deciding I’ll leave, before you’ve even given us a chance. If you want to try to see where all this is heading, you let me know. And I hope you do want to give us a chance. But only if you can truly let yourself trust me, otherwise we have nothing.”
“So did you send him packing?”
“I… he said he actually went there for a business meeting, not to meet up with Shawna. He said it was pure business.”
Merry frowned. “Did you believe him?”
“I want to, but… he’s an actor. Maybe he’s acting with me?” Whitney sank into the chair across from her friend. “His eyes said he was telling me the truth… but, I don’t know.”
“I’m inclined to believe him if he says it was a business meeting with all of them. Because if he’s telling the truth, then my belief in my innate sense of knowing whether a person is a good person remains intact.”
“Well, we certainly don’t want to blow your theory on your ultimate ability to judge people, do we?” A small grin tugged at the corners of her mouth.
“What did he say about the photo where he was holding Shawna?”
“He said she tripped and he caught her.”
“Awfully coincidental that someone caught that on film.” Merry bit her bottom lip. “But I guess there are always reporters looking to snap a photo of them since they’ve starred in so many movies together.”
“He actually looked hurt that I didn’t believe him. I just don’t know…”
“What does your heart say?” Merry eyed her over the top of her wine glass.
“My heart says I care about him. I just need to sit down and figure out if I trust him. I need to figure out if I’m ready to take a chance with him.”
Chapter 20
“Whitney, dear. It’s Viola.”
Whitney set down her coffee cup, surprised to hear from Rick’s grandmother. “Good morning.”
“I wanted to extend you an invitation to my party tonight. You are coming, aren’t you?”
“I… well, I wasn’t planning to.”
“I wish you would. I spoke with Richard this morning and I know things aren’t… well, they are a bit rocky between you two right now. I just want to say that Richard is one of the most honest men I’ve ever known. And I know he cares about you. I understand if you don’t want to deal with how complicated a relationship would be with Richard, but… well, I’ve always said that love is worth all the sacrifices.”
“Viola, I—”
“You don’t have to give me an answer. Just know that you are welcome at my party and I’d love to see you there. You do what you feel is right for you. I wish you only the best.”
“Thank you.” She clicked off her phone, picked up her coffee, and walked over to the door to the deck. The sun rained down beams of light that danced off the waves. She opened the door and took a step outside, no longer thinking about reporters or photos or anything except for one thing.
Rick.
Suddenly she knew what she had to do.
Whitney took a deep swallow, squared her shoulders, and walked up to the security person outside The Pink Ladies.
“Name?”
“Whitney Layton.”
The man ticked off her name from the list and smiled at her. “Have a good time.”
She walked under the massive tent teeming with people. Glamorous people dressed in trendy outfits, laughing and talking. Her simple blue dress seemed plain in comparison, but she didn’t care. She walked into the middle of the crowd.
“Whitney, what are you doing here?” Christina put a hand on her arm and stopped her. “I didn’t know you were on the guest list.”
She didn’t miss the disbelief in Christina’s voice.
“Viola called and asked me to come.”
Christina frowned. “Well… isn’t that… peculiar?” She turned and disappeared into the crowd without a word.
Whitney continued threading her way through the groups of people, not knowing one single soul but determined to continue on in her mission.
“Whitney, Whitney.” The twins came rushing up to her and threw their arms around her waist. “You came to the party. Grandmere said she asked you.”
“It’s good to see you two.” She hugged the girls, glad for friendly, familiar faces—even if they were six years old.
Taylor tugged Allison’s arm. Or was it Allison tugged Taylor’s arm? “Come on, Uncle Rick is over there. Let’s take Whitney over to him.”
The twins grabbed her hands and led her over to the far end of the tent. Rick was standing looking out at the bay, the soft breeze tossing his hair. He looked lost in thought.
“Uncle Rick, look who Taylor and I found.” Allison pulled her closer to Rick.
He turned then and saw her. In spite of her good intentions
, she froze, standing there looking at him like a fool.
“Hi.” He only said the one word.
“Hey, Allison, let’s go get some soda.” Taylor tugged on her twin’s hand. The twins disappeared into the crowd.
He stood there without saying another word. She swallowed. “I… Viola invited me.” She shifted uneasily on her feet. “She… I…”
She took a step closer and placed her hand on his arm. “Rick, I’m sorry I didn’t believe you. I am. I think… well, I think I was afraid to believe you. Afraid to admit I care about you.”
He still stood silently. The moments ticked by in slow motion. Was he going to answer her? Say anything? Her heart pounded in her chest.
“Rick, I do care about you.” She looked up into his endless blue eyes. “And I trust you. Completely. I’m done running away from whatever this is between us.”
“You’re sure? Sure you trust me?”
“I’m positive.”
Then his heart-stopping, take-her-breath-away smile spread across his face. He leaned down and kissed her. “I’m very glad to hear that. And, Whit?”
“Hm?” She wanted him to kiss her again.
“I’m falling for you. I’m actually a bit besotted by you.” He reached out and touched her face.
She covered his hand with her own.
“Grandmere uses that word. Besotted. It’s a great word, don’t you think?” He grinned at her.
“It is a great word.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed him.
Christina appeared beside them with a deep frown etched on her face. “Richard, I need you for a minute. Come with me. You’ll excuse us?”
Rick leaned over and whispered in her ear. “I’ll be right back.”
She watched as Rick and his sister disappeared into the crowd.
Christina stopped, and Rick practically ran into her back. “Hey.” He steadied himself.