Adam was gone.
Well, that solved one problem. She wouldn't have to sneak around to avoid him. Her house was her own but that left her with a bigger dilemma. Now she was alone again.
As Rose stared at the words scrawled across the yellow legal pad, her stomach churned. Her gut reaction was to never trust anyone. Distrust had served her well until Adam moved into her life. He was her friend, and she didn't want to lose that relationship.
Maybe it was time to be brave and take a risk. Being alone safeguarded her emotions but didn’t hold much appeal anymore. If she was ever to trust again, Adam was her best chance. If she couldn’t trust his love, love wasn’t in her future.
He’d moved out, and though she couldn’t blame him, she thought they might work it out if he’d given her time. One thing was clear. She didn’t want to lose his friendship.
Slipping her feet into her boots and grabbing her purse, she ran out the door. Miss Cool started the first time Rose turned the key, and she was on her way to the restaurant before she could change her mind.
Swinging the rear door of the restaurant open, she entered the hallway. The first door to the right was the office, and she could clearly hear Adam’s voice coming from that room. She peered in to see him perched on the edge of the desk, his back to the door, a phone to his ear, talking to someone about lettuce. She plopped into the chair and waited for him to finish.
Adam ended the call. As he turned, he caught sight of Rose and he stiffened.
"Shit,” he said. “What is that saying about moving on little cat feet? You scared the . . . What are you doing here?”
"I came to talk to you. I got to thinking.” She held up her hands, but he didn’t return her smile. “I know, not my best talent, but I remembered when I asked you to trust me and you did, no questions asked.”
She stood and walked across the room. “If you say nothing happened with Lillian, I believe you." She looked up at him, and her eyes filled with uncertainty.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Adam strode over to her and pulled her into his arms. She laid her cheek against his chest. "Don't you have anything to say?"
He took a deep breath and pulled her closer. "This is good."
As she stood there enveloped in his warmth, listening to his heartbeat, she felt his muscles tense. Then she heard a woman's voice.
"Oh, I hope I'm not interrupting. I wanted to finish our conversation, but I see you're busy."
Chapter Fifteen
Lillian stood in the doorway, a Mona Lisa smile on her lips.
Rose tried to pull back, but Adam kept his arms wrapped around her. Gazing into Rose’s eyes, he said, "Lillian, you’ve said what you came to say. It’s time for you to go now.”
“We aren’t done discussing the plans for renovations. I have some ideas I'd like to run by you."
"When I need your input, I’ll call. Until then, stay away."
Rose heard the steel in his voice and then an angry hiss before Lillian’s footsteps faded away.
Adam leaned back but didn't release Rose. "She came by to say she was sorry for the way she acted Saturday night. She stayed and asked about how things were going." He looked at Rose as if she might explode.
She had a decision to make. Did she really trust Adam? Just that quick, she knew. It’s time to put up or shut up. "You know how I feel about her so I won’t go into that again. What do you think she wanted?"
Adam shrugged. "I hate to admit it, but I think you may be right about her."
"Why do you hate to admit it? Is it that bad for me to be right?” she asked.
The warmth radiating off him spread over her like her grandmother’s down quilt and gathered low in her belly.
"No, it’s not that. I know what a bastard my grandfather could be and how awful it must have been to work for that old man all those years. I was hoping Lillian and I had something in common and could each come out of this with something for putting up with him."
Rose lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck, pulling him close. "You are a good man, even if you are dense as a rock about certain people. You stick with me, kid, and I'll take care of you.” A short laugh escaped her, but it stopped almost before it started. In a matter of seconds, she was serious as all hell.
“Maybe you shouldn't stick with me. As you have probably noticed, I have a bit of an issue with trust.” She looked down at her shoes. “I want to believe in you.”
“A few months ago I would have told you the last thing on earth you should do is believe in me, but now I want you to do just that,” Adam said.
“I need to tell you some things. I can’t worry about you finding out then leaving.”
“I'm sure you haven’t done anything that would run me off, but go ahead if it’ll make you feel better.” Taking her hand in his large one, he sat in the chair and pulled her onto his lap.
“Okay, here we go. This is my sad story.” She tried to smile but didn't quite succeed. Focusing her gaze on her scruffy brown Uggs, she proceeded to tell him what she hadn't discussed to anyone since her father’s death.
“After my mom died when I was five, my dad was my world. He always told me I could do anything I set my mind to and he encouraged me to go after my dreams. He was the head accountant for a company called Entech. When an accounting scandal erupted, he blamed himself. He committed suicide.” Tears slid down her cheeks. She swiped her sleeve across them and continued. “Between the shock of Dad’s death and the attitude of some people at school, I couldn’t stay. I bought Miss Cool and drove until I ran out of money and luck.”
“That’s how you ended up in Tullyville.” Adam said.
She nodded then continued, hurrying to get the words out. “Physics has always been my first love, and I was good at it. Now all I get to do is talk to crazy people in the middle of the night.” As the old feelings and hurt welled up and spilled forth, a sob tore from her throat.
Adam stroked her cheek but remained silent, letting her tell her story in her own time.
“I miss studying. I miss having a purpose in my life.”
When she stopped and dropped her head into her hands, Adam asked, “And you've been alone here ever since?”
Rose nodded, her dark hair sliding off her shoulder to cover her face. “Ever since my Dad died. He didn't even say goodbye.” She was totally spent. She dropped her head to his shoulder. “Not even a note.”
-#-
Lillian folded herself into her new car. Even the scent and feel of her BMW didn’t erase the anger she felt. She’d been nice for the last time.
More than once, she’d tried to include Adam in her plans. They’d have made a great couple. With her intelligence and his looks and money, the world was theirs for the taking, at least the world around Trinidad. She wasn’t greedy. She’d have settled for that. She could have shown him how to become the power in this town just like his grandfather.
But no. He wanted Rose. God only knew why.
Well, he could have her. Hell, she didn’t need a man screwing up her life anyway. In her experience, men seldom helped and most often hindered a strong woman.
Time for a new game plan. She wrapped her fingers around the leather-covered steering wheel, sat back and smiled. She was going to take it all.
She’d leave that cowboy broke and sorry, very sorry he’d rejected her. If he wanted that mousy low-class woman, he could have her, and they could find their happiness with a mess of kids, living in a singlewide trailer.
Her plan had taken shape by the time she’d reached the driveway to the mansion.
As Lillian pulled into the garage, she knew she only had to keep one business from making a profit, and that business would be the Steakhouse. That was where he’d made it clear he preferred Rose, and that was where she would ruin him.
The morning sun rose above the foothills to brighten the air and warm Lillian’s bare feet as she sipped her second Zebra Mocha. The chocolaty concoction was her one weakness when it came to sweets. She ha
d a figure other women coveted. Looking down, she smoothed the material over her thigh. Her black and white sundress made the most of what she had, and she knew it.
Keeping one eye on the patch of lawn that sloped down to the pond, she enjoyed watching the graceful flight of several Calliope hummingbirds gathering around the feeder. Positioned beneath the red and white striped umbrella on the corner of the deck, she was hidden from sight while waiting to set the elements of her plan into motion.
The morning grew warmer, and she was about to give up for the day when she saw a flash of movement by the fence at the end of the property. She slid behind the lilac bush and watched while two boys scrambled over the stacked stone wall surrounding the property. The scruffy kids belonged to Simon’s neighbors and had been a nuisance of the worst sort. Even though she’d run them off numerous times, they were becoming adept at sneaking up to the pond.
“I’ll call the police if you come back again, you little worm eaters,” she’d yelled the last time she caught them fishing on her property. “You’ll go to jail for trespassing.”
The fact they were back was testament to how seriously they’d taken her threats.
She had every intention of making good on her threats until a way to get even with Adam danced through her mind. In a flash, the grubby boys went from nuisances to the solution to her problems. A smile spread across her face as she watched them sneak up to the old oak stump at the edge of the pond.
They chattered like magpies as they skewered worms onto their fishing hooks. Using the brush along the water’s edge to mask her movements, Lillian moved closer. When she was a few feet away, the bigger one glanced up from his pole, saw her and yelled a warning as he took off. The smaller boy tried to jump off the stump, tangled his feet in the fishing pole and went down in a heap. Lillian grabbed his shirt as the other one sprinted toward the fence.
The one she’d caught was a slippery little devil. He twisted like a fish on a line. “Hold still you little mud rat,” she said, trying to keep his dirty shoes away from her sundress.
She’d raised her voice to get his attention then realized if she scared him, he’d fight harder. Keeping one hand clenched in the collar of his shirt and the other around one of his skinny wrists, she lowered her voice to friendly.
“Calm down. All I want to do is make a deal with you.” She came off as not mad. Close enough.
The kid stopped wriggling and dared to look at her. “A deal?”
She gave him her sweetest smile, the one guaranteed to work on most men.
Not quite a man yet, the boy didn’t seem impressed. “What do ya want?” he said, his voice cracking on a high note as he made one more attempt to escape.
She had a tight hold on his skinny arm with one hand and a wad of his faded blue T-shirt clutched in the other, but she tried once more to appear pleasant. “Do me one favor, and I’ll let you and your buddy fish here until you catch every damn trout in the pond. I’ll even restock it for you.”
The boy stared at her like she was a demon woman. “It’s a trick.”
She took a breath, relaxed and forced herself to appear non-threatening. She had to repeat her message several times before he believed her. “If I let you go, will you stay and hear me out?”
The boy nodded.
She released his arms and crossed her own then dropped them to her sides. She knelt, coming eye to eye with the boy. In a stage whisper she said, “This is a secret joke. Don’t tell anyone but your fishing friend, okay?”
The boy nodded again.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Scotty,” the boy replied. He’d backed away one step but no farther.
“What’s your friend’s name?
“Daniel,” Scotty said.
“Well, Scotty, call Daniel over, and I’ll tell you the secret plans.”
When Scotty yelled at him, Daniel came back to the pond but stood poised to run if this turned out to be a trap.
After she’d sworn the boys to secrecy, she held out a five-dollar bill to each of them to seal the deal. Scotty grabbed the money and stuffed it into his pocket but Daniel refused to take the bill from her hand. She narrowed her eyes and stared down her nose at him. His buzz cut hair had a few days growth and he had a scratch that ran the length of his cheek. What was the little bugger up to? “You don’t want money?”
Daniel turned to Scotty. “Give it back.”
The smaller boy fisted his hands and stuck out his chest, but when Daniel didn’t back down, he shrugged. Digging the wadded money out of his pocket, he held it out to her.
Daniel gave Scottie a nod then looked at her. “We’re worth more than that,” he said simply.
The little scam artists! They were hitting her up for more money. She’d have been insulted by the boy’s actions but they reminded her of herself as a child. “Is twenty enough?”
“Each?” Daniel nodded his acceptance. Scotty bounced on his toes with excitement.
She’d meant ten each, but she was about to come into a great deal of money. Now was not the time to be stingy
The thought of being the chief perpetrators in the joke excited the kids.
She left them fishing and chattering and planning, and made her way back to the house. Life was getting better. As usual, if she waited long enough, a solution presented itself.
-#-
Adam and Rose brainstormed ideas for how to improve the flower shop. It was time to have a live broadcast and let Sonja tell her stories to real people.
A few weeks earlier, Rose had made a proposal to the Tullyville City Council, and they’d agreed that having a Memorial Day celebration was a splendid idea. Now, flags were flying and flowers had been planted in the large pots on each street corner downtown. With a parade ready to begin, a town picnic planned, and a Farris Wheel in the parking lot of the motel, the fun day was ready.
They’d printed off flyers and advertised the event on the radio. With the help of the twins and Mickie’s boyfriend David, they’d finished the remodel of Sonja’s shop. The store was bright and beautiful, a perfect match for its owner.
Profits at the radio station and garage were growing each month. For the first time in years, the motel brought in more than it paid out, and the Steakhouse had a growing clientele.
With two months until the deadline, all they had to do was get the flower shop on line.
Sonja was trembling she was so excited, and Rose had trouble getting her to eat and rest. Once she’d gotten over her nervousness about talking to the public, she was unstoppable.
“It is wonderful when listeners call into the radio to tell me they like my stories,” Sonja said. “But here, if they like them, I’ll be able to see them smile. That is even better.”
“You’ll do great, and the weather couldn't be better if we’d put in a special order,” Rose said. The temperature was in the low seventies, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The streets slowly filled with people wandering through the stores and park and stopping to chat with neighbors and friends.
Resplendent in her costume, Sonja sat in a chair on a small stage David had built. People gravitated toward her, and the area in front of the shop grew crowded.
When Rose stepped up to the microphone, a hush came over the crowd. “Thank you all for coming today. I’d like to introduce Sonja Hegstad, the owner of the delightful flower shop behind us.”
Sonja took the microphone from Rose’s hand, smiled and waved at a tiny girl standing close to her then tapped the end with her finger as she’d seen performers do on television.
“You can hear me?” She looked over the people in front of her, a smile on her face. “Gut. I’ll start with the story called ‘One’s Own Children are Always Prettiest’. My bestefar, my grandfather used to tell me this story when I was a child, very many years ago.” Sonja took a deep breath, let her gaze roam over the crowd then began.
“A sportsman went out once into a wood to shoot, and met a snipe.
"Dear friend
," said the snipe, "don't shoot my children."
"How shall I know your children?" asked the sportsman. "What are they like?" Taking on the character of the sportsman, Sonja deepened her voice and made her shoulders as large as a small woman could.
"Oh!" said the snipe, "mine are the prettiest children in all the wood."
"Very well," said the sportsman, "I won't shoot them; don't be afraid."
But for all that, when he came back, there he had a whole string of young snipes in his hand, which he had shot.
"Oh! Oh!" said the snipe, "why did you shoot my children after all?" As Sonja spoke her voice rose and fell with emotion, and her Norwegian accent became more pronounced.
"What, these are your children!" said the sportsman. "Why, I shot the ugliest I could find!"
"Poor them!" said the snipe. "Don't you know that each one thinks his own children are the prettiest in the world?"
The simple tale told in Sonja’s lilting accent was captivating. Applause rang out as she took a bow, beaming at her audience. Then she took her microphone and settled into her chair to begin the next tale.
Adam and Rose manned the store as Sonja recited her fairy tales. The plan had been for Sonja to talk for fifteen minutes then take a thirty-minute break to prevent her from becoming overly tired.
But someone had forgotten to check out the plan with Sonja. Once she got started, Rose had a hard time getting her to stop talking. She knew hundreds of Norwegian fairy tales, and she was determined to tell them all.
The crowd grew as more and more people poured into downtown Tullyville. The flower store was filled to capacity. Rose rang up one purchase then handed the bag to her customer.
“I’m so glad someone finally opened a local bookstore here in town,” the woman said.
Others in line echoed her sentiment. New and used books flew off the shelves. Floral arrangements and CD's sold well, too.
Adam set up a registry that allowed customers to request hard to find music by local artists. Several signs around the store advertised special orders in both music and books. By the end of the day, it seemed like half of Tullyville had visited Fairy Time Flowers.
Radio Rose (Change of Heart Cowboys Book 1) Page 22