by Aleah Barley
The bones of the song were strong. It was the voice that had her blushing. High pitched and fast paced. The exact sound that she was trying so hard to get away from.
Nick had reached out to cover his hand with hers as they listened, squeezing her fingers when the bridge played out and a younger Anna sang about summer heat and teenage love.
Hot and damp, Leroy’s breath hit her like a sauna. Platter sized paws rested on the edge of the bathtub. Letting out a long yawn, he forced himself upwards. His head pulled even with her shoulders. His tongue darted out. A wet slab of meat connecting with her chin.
“Come here.... please.” She blew a kiss Leroy’s way. “Into the tub, Big Bad Leroy Brown.” Nothing happened.
“Please.” Her cell phone was less than four feet away. Balanced carefully on the edge of the sink. One phone call was all it would take. Nick would be there in twenty minutes, smiling, more than happy to help. Jemmie was another option. The woman was an expert. An animal control officer used to dealing with all sorts of troublesome dogs, she’d be full of good advice.
Not this time.
Coming back to Mill City, she’d been desperate to stand on her own two feet. To prove to the world—or at least her overwrought agent—that she could live without someone constantly watching over her, taking care of her, and second guessing every move she made.
Maybe she couldn’t deal with the pressures of living on her own without help. Without Jemmie’s friendly advice and Nick’s warm smiles that had her tingling all over. Holding her breath as he brushed up against her, taking her hands in his, showing her how to complete the simplest of tasks.
It didn’t matter. She could handle her own damn dog.
Bang. A noise downstairs made her jump.
She heard a woman’s voice followed by the laughter of children. Screams and squeals followed, the kind of loud noises that wouldn’t dare invade her Los Angeles house with its six-foot fence. Dozen video cameras pointed towards every possible point of vulnerability, and assortment of household staff hurrying about their business.
The place was so orderly and efficient. Sometimes Anna didn’t even feel welcome.
“Anna!” Jemmie called from downstairs.
“I’m up here!” Anna called back.
Footsteps pounded up the long staircase. “Hey, Anna.” Jemmie hooted in surprise. “You’re looking mighty blue.”
“What?” Anna glanced up, confused, and caught her reflection in the mirror. Leroy wasn’t the only one who’d gotten covered in paint. The stuff dripped off her. Thick latex paint clung to her clothes and stuck in her hair.
Two weeks earlier, she’d been famous for her silken skin and clear complexion. Now she just hoped that the color would come out. Not sky blue or royal blue but a bright clear cerulean.
“I tried to paint the front door.”
“Blue?”
“Blue’s a nice color.” The pool house renovation had drawn on for months; at one point her housekeeper had given her a book on spiritual interior design. Blue doors were supposed to keep the ghosts out. Anna’s hand dropped down, scratching Leroy under the chin.
“What are you doing here?”
“I brought Adam.” An awkward pause. “Nick’s working late, and I have to go to my lawyer. So, you’re going to watch Adam after the play-date.” Jemmie nibbled her lip, her voice quivering. “Nick said that he talked to you about it this morning.”
“Sure,” Anna lied. Nick had definitely told her that he was working late, and there might have been something about a play-date between the kids. But, she would be damned if she’d agreed to watch Adam by herself.
Of course, Nick had been naked at the time, lounging in bed, all muscular and firm. She would have agreed to anything at the time.
“Are you sure you can’t take him with you?” she asked.
“To the lawyer’s?” Jemmie laughed. Clear, bright. “I think not.”
“I don’t know—I mean, what am I going to do with the kid?”
“Wash the dog, run in the backyard.” A shrug. “Ask Adam.”
Ask the kid. That was a good idea, one that Anna never would have come up with on her own. She bit her bottom lip. Nerves of steel when it came to walking out in front of a crowd of twenty thousand turned to pudding at the thought of caring for one small boy. Outside the wind was blowing. The old holly’s branches scratching against her bedroom windows.
Downstairs there was a crash. The bang of a door closing or the clatter of a chair tipping over on the hardwood floor. Maybe something more sinister. The workers were gone, spending a long weekend at home in Los Angeles with their families, but their tools were still downstairs. Bags of hammers, boxes of nails, and saws with gleaming teeth. All sorts of things that two young children could get into.
Anna sucked in a breath. “Shouldn’t you check on them?”
“Nah.”
Another crash.
“Are you sure you shouldn’t be checking on them?”
“They’ll be fine.” A moment’s pause, “Are you sure you’re up for this? I could call Nick, tell him to get his butt back here.”
Nick’s butt. That was what had gotten her into all this trouble in the first place. Part of her wanted to say yes, please, but then she’d be giving in. Admitting defeat. Letting down Nick and his butt. Golden skin pulled tight across hard muscle. Another bang.
“I’ll be fine,” Anna tripped out of the bathtub, pushing Jemmie out of the way as she raced down the stairs. Expecting to see the worst.
Chaos. Mayhem. Blood.
Adam and Anne were sitting cross-legged on the living room floor building a castle. Wooden blocks were scattered on the floor around them. The image was quiet, calm.
Positively angelic.
Jemmie had known all along, all the way from upstairs.
The blocks must have come from her house, a quiet activity for the kids to play with while the grown-ups were talking. Still. Even if Anna had known that they were playing with blocks, she still would have run to see if they were okay.
The crash had made her blood run cold and goosebumps stand up on her arms. There was no way she could trust the kids not to get hurt, no way she could trust her own instincts. She could still see the antique pitcher as it crashed to the floor in a thousand pieces the last time she watched Adam.
Jemmie was walking down the steps. The curvy brunette’s body shook with hidden laughter.
“Anne,” she called out to her daughter. Nothing happened.
The girl on the floor kept moving her blocks, manipulating them into tall wooden towers. Dark curls cascaded down over green eyes and delicate features. When she was frustrated, her tongue darted out, licking her lips.
The action so reminiscent of her mother, it made Anna smile. A moment later, the pair was gone, disappearing out the front door.
Anna picked up a block and turned it over in her hands. Breathe in, breathe out. “Okay, Adam.” Stacking the blocks carefully, she forced air into her lungs. “The world is your oyster. I’m sure that there’s something you want to do, right?”
The kid glanced up. Sapphire eyes wide. His hair was pale, his skin freckled. Darn cute, but that didn’t mean anything. If she didn’t know where he came from—how much his father loved him—then she never would have bet that he was Nick’s kid. They were completely different, from their coloring—dark and light—to their cheekbones. Nick’s cheeks were dramatic, sharp. Adam’s were chubby, round, a rosy pink in contrast to his father’s copper tones. Then his mouth pulled wide, his teeth gleamed.
The grin was wild and reckless. It was the exact same expression that his father had used when he’d invited her down to the ravine ten years earlier. The same smile that Nick had used the night before, talking her out of her panties.
“Can we climb the tree?” Adam asked.
Chapter Eighteen
“The holly tree?” Anna’s nose wrinkled up slightly.
The damn holly tree was the start of all her troubles. Every
time she got near it, she came to pieces. Falling onto Nick her first day in town. Crashing the car straight into its trunk. The thing might as well be cursed.
One of the workmen had offered to cut it down a few days earlier. She’d get more sunlight in the living room if the tree’s crooked limbs weren’t pressing up against the window. Saw in one hand, he’d been advancing on the holly with a determined look on his face by the time she’d figured out what was going on. Another few minutes and the tree would have been gone. A pile of toothpicks in the corner of the yard.
Anna had screamed until she was blue in the face. The holly might be cursed, but it was her curse and her damn tree. Papa Billy had planted that tree for her grandmother the same year they’d moved into the house. It was part of her heritage, deep in her bones, just like the house. She’d made it clear in no uncertain terms that no one should touch the tree or the garden. Papa Billy’s garden with all of its lilies, roses, and weeds. Even the overgrown wisteria in the back.
Now Adam wanted to climb the holly tree.
She took a deep breath. “I thought your dad said that you weren’t allowed to climb trees.”
“I’m not allowed to climb trees without a grownup. You’re a grownup.” Adam stood up and smoothed the front of his t-shirt. Black cotton with a cartoon dinosaur on the front. When he looked at her again, his expression was one of utter resolve. “Let’s do this thing.”
Anna bit her lip to keep from laughing. He looked so damn determined, but if she laughed out loud then she may hurt his feelings. “Alright, first we need to go over the ground rules.”
“Ground rules?” Adam was so excited. He was bouncing from one foot to the other. “What ground rules? Dad never says anything about ground rules.”
“Do I look like your father?”
“Nope. Dad is much taller than you. And he’s got dark hair. And he’s a boy.”
“You’ve got that right.” Anna grinned. Adam was still talking to her, but that didn’t stop him from edging towards the door. One step and then another. His gaze locked on something outside the window.
Climbing the holly tree was a perfect activity for a warm summer’s day. But first there needed to be some ground rules.
“You have to pay attention to what you’re doing. No talking about dinosaurs and no teasing Leroy.” What else? “No jumping off the top and—” She dug deep into her memory. “No putting your weight on any thin branches. I’ll be right there. If you have any trouble just say my name and I’ll help you get down.”
“I’m going to be fine.” With a sixth sense, only available to children and dogs, Adam sensed his opportunity and bolted for the door.
Fine. He wouldn’t start climbing until she got out there.
“Leroy!” Anna collected her things. Grabbing her cell phone from where it was resting on the nearby window ledge and slipping her shoes into the canvas sneakers by the front door.
“Leroy!” The mammoth canine meandered down the stairs. Anna wasn’t the only one who was blue. Leroy had managed to spread the paint around. Now instead of a gray dog with blue spots she had a blue dog with gray patches. Anna bit back a grin. Blue looked good on him. “Come on.” She held the door open, careful to keep her fingers away from the still wet paint.
Out in the yard Adam was standing impatiently by the holly tree. Both hands on his hips, he was inspecting every bent branch and gnarled lump searching for the perfect handholds. If he was a gold record artist and the thing in front of him was a 1965 Fender Stratocaster with all original parts, he couldn’t be more entranced.
This wasn’t just playing in the yard. This was serious business. Tree climbing.
“Finally,” Adam said. Reaching up with two skinny arms, he grasped the lowest branch and braced his feet against the tree trunk.
Wiry muscles strained under fair skin that would burn if she let him stay out too long without any sunscreen on. It wasn’t something to bring up now, but it was certainly something to keep in mind.
Tennis shoe clad feet scrambled against the tree trunk. One hand swung up to snag the second branch. Swinging his body around. Adam managed to get one leg over the lowest branch. Straightening up, he pushed himself onto his feet. He’d finally made it. Three feet off the ground.
After the initial ascent, things got easier. The branches were closer together. Adam managed to climb up another foot without pausing.
Suddenly, he was higher up than she’d thought. Another foot or two and Anna wouldn’t be able to help him if he ran into trouble. “Wait a second.” She darted over to stand beside him. “I don’t want you to go much higher, okay?”
“Dad lets me go as high as I want.”
“That’s because he can climb up to help you if you get stuck.”
A long sigh. “I’m not going to get stuck. You worry too much.”
“I worry because I care about you.” Over the past few weeks, Anna had grown closer to Adam. She knew that he was a smart kid, capable of doing almost anything that he set his mind to. But that didn’t mean she was going to stop worrying about him anytime soon. Climbing a tree could be dangerous business. “Just be careful, okay?”
“Fine.” Adam slowed down… a little.
Anna stepped up right beside the tree. Reaching up with one hand. Not touching Adam. Not distracting him. But standing there. Close to him. Secure in the knowledge that if anything happened she’d be there to help him.
Her cell phone started ringing. Darryl. It had been two days since she’d spoken to her agent. Every time he called, she was busy doing something else. Playing with the dog, making love to Nick, or watching Adam climb a tree. He was probably going nuts. They were supposed to be finalizing her set list for the charity concert at the end of the month. It should have been finalized as soon as she got back from Europe, but somehow she couldn’t make herself commit to the same fast paced hits that were her standards.
The phone stilled after a minute. Anna let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
“Anna, are you watching me?” Adam’s voice was loud, brimming with excitement.
“I’m right underneath you, buddy.”
The phone started ringing again. Insistently. Anna’s teeth ground together. Her head started pounding. She really should talk to Darryl.
Glancing up, she blinked in surprise. Adam was higher than she’d thought. Almost even with the roofline. “I think it’s time for you to start down now.”
“Okay.” A nervous laugh.
Maybe Adam wasn’t quite as sure of himself as he seemed. Once he was back on the ground, she’d suggest another activity. Blocks. Drawing. Or she could pour them both a glass of lemonade. They could sit on the front porch stairs, and she could play the old acoustic guitar that she’d found in Papa Billy’s attic.
The guitar must have belonged to her father when he was just a kid. Time and age had mellowed its mass produced tones, giving it a voice like honey that rivaled any of her instruments back in Los Angeles. In the past week, Anna had used it to write half a dozen new songs.
“You want to hear some of my new music when you’re done?” she asked.
“Really?” Adam’s head bobbed up and down eagerly. “Can I? Jemmie says you write the best music.” His hand slipped on a slick branch, but he managed to catch himself. “I know how it could be better,” He announced in all seriousness, the wisdom of the ages coming from a six-year-old’s mouth.
“You could write a song about me. I’m awesome.”
“The awesomest.” Anna agreed. Reaching behind her, she snagged her cell phone from her back pocket and turned off the incessant ringing. She’d definitely call Darryl back later.
For now, it was a beautiful day in Mill City and there were more important things than work.
Standing four and a half feet off the ground, one hand reaching upwards, Adam’s entire body was outlined by the blazing sun.
For a moment, he looked like a figure out of legend, Apollo or Icaraus, reveling in his own youth
and vitality. One foot inched forward, trying to find a better position. And then the other foot moved too.
His body wavered once, his hand dropping suddenly trying to grab at a nearby branch for support. It was too late.
Crack. At the sound, Anna threw herself forward instinctively, reaching out to grab for Adam as he fell towards the ground. Still four feet in the air, the force of his body colliding with hers sent them both tumbling backward onto the ground.
Anna hit first, slamming awkwardly into the mud. Her arms stung. Her knees hurt. None of it mattered. Not when Adam was on the ground beside her, struggling to catch his breath.
“Oh damn, oh hell.” Every curse she’d ever learned came tumbling out of her mouth. Forget ‘sugar’ and ‘by gosh, by glory.’ She scrambled backward to look at the small boy.
“Adam.” She shook his shoulders. “Adam!” Would shaking him help or hurt? It was all her fault. She was supposed to be watching him, but she’d been distracted. She’d distracted him by talking about music.
“I’m okay.” Adam batted her hands. “Don’t worry.” He tried to stand up and fell over again. This time she could see that he was holding his leg awkwardly.
He wasn’t okay.
Her cell phone was on the floor less than a foot away. Still ringing. Grabbing it, she hit the ‘End’ button. Knocking Darryl off the line. Then she dialed, fast. Her fingers fumbling to enter the three familiar digits. 9-1-1.
“Help.” Gasping for air, she swallowed hard. Trying to force out the pertinent details when an operator came on the other end of the line. “I need an ambulance. Now. Adam—“
“Easy, miss.” There was a comforting voice on the end of the line. “Take a breath. I need you to tell me where you are and what happened.”
“Adam fell—he fell out of a tree,” Anna stuttered as she gave the operator the address.
“We don’t need an ambulance,” Adam objected. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t know that! What if you broke something? What if there’s internal bruising? What if—” The possibilities were endless. Anything could have happened, and she was responsible.