Irwin turned his gaze back to Adam and for a long minute just stared. Then he smiled. “Funny, riding bucking horses must take a lot of fearlessness and determination.”
As usual, Irwin had Adam totally confused. “I guess. Why?”
With the smile still on his face, he looked from the picture to Adam and back without a word.
“So you drove eight hours to drop in for a visit?” Adam said. Frustration tickled his muscles until he couldn’t sit still. When he jumped to his feet, Tully bounced across the floor, barking at the door again.
Adam picked the puppy up and stroked his ears.
“Rose needs you.” Irwin’s expression didn’t change, but his tone of voice became as cold as an Alaskan snowstorm.
-#-
Lillian slammed her hands on the desktop in frustration then stood so fast her chair raced backward over the hardwood floor. Heads were going to roll, and Mr. Bailey was going to get an earful. He’d assured her Mr. Howell’s money would be deposited in her bank by August first.
Today was August second, and the sum total of her checking account was five hundred and fifty three dollars and seventy-two cents. She’d considered hiring him to manage her money, but not now. All of her assets were going to his competitors, and Bailey could go to hell.
She dug her cell phone out of her purse and dialed the attorney’s office, drumming her fingernails on the desk as she waited. The phone rang six, seven, eight times. She punched the off button with as much anger as the simple move could demonstrate then hit redial. The result was the same.
No answer.
Mr. Bailey’s secretary was going to lose her job over this. The woman was probably reading a romance novel or filing her nails. It was impossible to find good help anymore.
When no one answered the phone the third time, she grabbed her purse and stormed out to her car. She was rich now and these people were not going to treat her like a nobody!
She pulled into the parking garage, into the same spot she’d used the first time she’d come here for the reading of Simon’s will. That notorious day was etched into her brain as one of the worst, and one of the best, of her life.
The sound of her heels on the cement echoed through the garage. She stepped into the elevator then checked her makeup in the mirror before punching the button for the third floor. At first glance, the reception area for Bailey and Anson appeared empty, but as Lillian stepped inside, the receptionist raised her head from behind the desk. She stood and brushed at her skirt. “Can I help you with something?”
Lillian looked around the room. Something was wrong. Pictures that had hung on the walls were piled on the floor, and the desk was bare—no phone, no intercom, no burnished gold nameplate.
“I need to speak to Mr. Bailey.” Lillian resisted the urge to tap her toe, but she couldn’t keep the irritation out of her voice.
“My dear, I’m afraid you’ve missed him,” the woman said as she lifted a box from the floor and set it on the desk.
“What do you mean, missed him?” Lillian stepped closer. Mr. Bailey couldn’t be gone. He had her money. “When will he be back? I’ll wait.” She sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk, crossing her leg and folding her hands in an effort to appear in control.
“Oh, no. I haven’t made myself clear, have I?” The woman grabbed a handful of pens from the drawer and dropped them into the box. “He’s gone on an extended vacation.”
“Vacation?” Lillian jumped to her feet and leaned across the desk. “When will he be back?”
The receptionist’s face flushed pink. She stared into the box for a long moment before looking at Lillian. “I think you’d better talk to Detective Wilson at the Trinidad Police Department.”
Lillian collapsed into the chair, unable to pull any air into her lungs. This was a joke, a mistake. There had to be someone to help her get her money. “I’d like to speak to Mr. Anson then.”
“There’s never been a Mr. Anson. Mr. Bailey made up the name to sound more professional when he first opened this office.”
Lillian could only nod. Her muscles played dead, and her scattered thoughts refused to heel. Her hand shook as the receptionist handed her the phone book opened to the police department’s number.
“Trinidad Police Department. How can I help you?” The woman on the phone was cool, calm and unemotional.
Lillian took a deep breath and tried to gather her thoughts. “Detective Wilson, please. Lillian Keeler calling.” A canned rendition of Barry Manilow’s Mandy flowed through the line as she waited, irritating every brain cell she had left.
“Wilson.” The voice was deep and smooth, inspiring confidence.
“I’m Lillian Keeler and Mr. Bailey has stolen my money.” She knew her tone was demanding and whiney, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t calm her nerves. “I insist you find him.”
The chuckle came through the line loud and clear. “Take a number.”
“What?” This was not going like she’d thought it would. The police were supposed to help her, not mock her.
“You’re the third call this morning. It seems Mr. Bailey took his secretary and everybody’s money and fled to Belize.”
“What?” Panic caused her voice to become higher and louder.
“I said, he took the money in the accounts he managed and went to a country with no extradition policy.”
“I know what you said. I want to know what you’re doing about it.” What was wrong with this man?
“We’re working on it,” he said, with a sigh. “But without the ability to extradite him, you better not hold your breath.”
-#-
Rose was daydreaming, or more accurately, night dreaming, as she headed home after her last show. She often thought her problems through as she drove on this lonely stretch of highway. It would have been dangerous had anyone else been out and about this time at night.
Then again, the only time she’d ever had a problem here was when she’d met Adam.
She should be happier. Finally something was going right in her life. The phone call to Barrett at Arizona State had been the start of a string of emails with the man she’d hoped would become her mentor. They’d discussed physics, and the professor at ASU explained the program offered by the university.
When he’d asked for samples of her work from Stanford, she’d gushed all over him. “I’m such a physics geek. I’ve been your biggest fan for years. “
Dr. Barrett had listened to her babbling with more grace than she deserved then he pushed her to apply for the William S. Bickle Fellowship. Preparing her application took more than two weeks. Administration told her it could take up to six months to receive an answer, and when Barrett called her back less than a week later, she was speechless.
“Ms. Wajnowski?”
“Yes.”
“The fellowship is yours if you are still interested.” His deep voice measured out words slowly.
She could get her doctorate in Physics. Her dream was coming true. She should be over the moon, but when Adam left, he took the part of her that controlled happy.
As she drove through the shadowy night, a new moon tried in vain to cast some brightness on the road. Her life had come full circle. She was back on the lonely highway again, but this time there was a light blazing toward her future. Too bad there was a dark hole where her heart had been.
A movement at the edge of her vision caught her attention. A dark something jumped from the side of the road to a spot in front of her left fender. Her foot slammed down on the brake pedal, but she was too late. The impact threw her forward, her head thumping against the steering wheel. Again.
“Damn,” she cried. “Oh . . . damn, damn, damn.”
She held her head in her hands as sharp jabs of pain ricocheted through her brain. Her seatbelt lay useless, crumpled in a wad beside her, the retracting mechanism broken. For the first time since Adam left, she hadn’t used the darn thing. He’d have chewed her out good, but he wasn't here. He d
idn't care. Her head hurt and her heart hurt and now the tears started falling one after the other.
This was the last straw.
She’d held everything together a week ago when Stevie and Mickie arrived at her house. They’d been so excited they couldn’t finish each other’s sentences.
Lillian had given them the title to the motel debt free. As they waited excitedly, she called Sonja, only to discover the same thing.
She’d just hung up the receiver and was watching the girls in a hug fest when the phone rang. It was Red, calling to let her know he and Tyler now owned the garage.
Stevie phoned the radio station. When she finally got hold of the manager, he confirmed the good news. Lillian had left KTLY to Irwin and Rose with ten percent of the business going to Eddie.
Rose had smiled and hugged and smiled some more, but she had no intention of staying here. There were too many reminders of her time with Adam. She was dog-tired and still mad at Adam for leaving her as she tried valiantly to celebrate with her friends.
Now she’d had a second wreck on the same stretch of road, but this time she was all alone.
She’d kept her heartache bottled up for weeks, but the stab of pain from banging her head caused it to spew out like shaken Coca Cola. She had to take her anger out on something, and since Adam had abandoned her without giving them a chance, he was fair game.
“This is your fault, Adam Cameron. If you’d been here, you would have made me put on my seat belt. Shit, hell, damn,” she cried, but her words held no heat. She climbed out of Miss Cool and leaned on the door, drawing in the cool night air, waiting for her head to stop spinning.
As she regained her balance, she walked around the fender to see what she’d hit.
“No! God, no, no!” Her words echoed through the canyon as she stumbled to the front of the car.
-#-
Adam arrived at the radio station at a quarter past two in the morning. He was running late and was counting on Rose to stay and talk to Irwin for a few minutes as she did most times after her show. Stomping on the brakes in front of the double, glass doors, he slammed the truck into park. Without taking time to turn off the engine, he tucked Tully under his arm and ran to the broadcasting booth. One look into the tiny room told him Rose was gone.
It had taken him five days after Irwin’s visit to get his business in order. Three weeks and five days since he’d left Rose. Three weeks, five days and ten minutes to be too late.
“When did she leave?”
Irwin put his hand over the microphone. “Not long ago,” he whispered. “Tonight was her last show. If you don’t hurry, she’ll be gone.” With that unsettling piece of information, Irwin turned back to his audience without missing a beat.
Adam was down the hall and back in his truck before Irwin swiveled his chair back to the desk.
Gravel peppered the entrance as he jammed his foot into the accelerator and fishtailed toward the highway.
He’d spent every minute since he’d left Rose thinking about her, while his grandfather's voice ran as background noise through his head. You lost it, you loser. You lost it all.
Irwin’s visit had opened his eyes. Irwin had finally gotten it through his incredibly thick skull that he hadn’t lost anything. He’d given Rose away.
Maybe if he got off his ass and went after her, he could win her back. He realized for the first time in his life he loved someone, and that someone was Rose.
Speeding through the black night, he’d have missed the little red car on the side of the road if not for a blinking taillight. He swerved and slammed to a stop. There was Miss Cool with her front end in the ditch and her rear-end in the air.
Adam ran up to the car, looked inside, but it was empty. As he stood, he heard a moan and hurried toward the front of the car.
Rose sat on the ground beside a mule deer doe, its head in her lap. She looked up at him with tear filled eyes and sobbed. “I killed Bambi!”
He untangled her from the animal, pulled her to her feet and into his arms “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.” When she sagged against him, he leaned back and looked into her eyes. “Did you hit your head again? You’ll have a big lump.”
She stiffened and twisted away, staring at him, her hands fisting at her sides. “That’s all you have to say? I kill Bambi, wreck Miss Cool and almost kill myself, and all you have to say is I’ll have a lump.”
“Aw, baby. You have another concussion, don’t you?” he said running his fingers across the darkening bruise on her forehead. “I can’t leave you alone for a minute.”
Rose rounded on him. “What do you mean a minute? You’ve been gone almost four weeks. That’s a month, buster. You’ve been gone a month, and during that month I’ve learned to get along just fine without you.” She brushed back her hair, dusted off her jeans and started to walk toward Tullyville.
Adam caught up with her as she marched down the side of the road and matched his stride to hers.
They walked side by side for a few moments with Rose staring straight ahead, and Adam sneaking a peek every few seconds. The night air was warm and scented by sun baked pine trees and warm rich soil.
He put his hand on her arm, tugging her to a stop. “Where are you going now?”
“I’m going home, and I’m going to pack, and I’m going to Arizona.” She shook his arm off, quickening her steps, trying to out walk him. “I’m going to become a physicist like I should have four years ago.”
“This is sure a nice evening for a walk.” Adam worked hard to keep the smile from his face. “There’s just one thing, though.”
“And what would that be?” Rose looked at him once but didn’t slow her steps.
“You don’t have to walk. I can give you a ride in my truck.”
She shot him a glare guaranteed to halt a lesser man then reversed course, and as she rounded the front of the car, she gasped. “The deer’s gone. I thought I’d killed it, but it’s gone.”
He came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her warm body and kissed the soft spot just below her ear. “You must have just stunned it,” he whispered. “You couldn’t kill anything, Rose.” He turned her and looked into her eyes. “You’re lucky you weren’t still holding the deer when it regained consciousness. Damn thing could have killed you.”
Adam took her hand and led her to his truck. When Rose climbed inside, the puppy jumped in her lap and licked her face. “Oh, by the way, I’d like to introduce you to Tully. Tully, meet Rose.” It was a match made in puppy heaven.
Working around the wiggling puppy, he took the time to make sure her seatbelt was fastened.
“Let me take you home, Rose. You’ve had all the excitement you can handle for one night, and so have I.” As he drove toward Tullyville, he realized, for the first time, that he didn’t dread arriving in his hometown.
When they reached the house, Adam tucked Rose into one of her quilts and gave her a pill left over from the first accident. Tully settled into the blanket at Rose’s feet. He’d had a long day, too.
In minutes, Rose was sleeping like a baby—his baby. He didn’t know what was going to happen next, he just knew he wasn’t leaving her again. Not unless she kicked him out, and even then he’d fight to stay. Determination and fearlessness were the words Irwin had used to describe him, and he was going to do his best to live up to the description.
He’d finally found someone to love, and he wasn’t going to give up easily. He’d have to convince her he’d changed. He’d have to convince her he wouldn’t leave again.
-#-
Rose woke with a splitting headache. Opening her eyes to the dim light, she saw she was in her house, on her own couch, but how she got there and why she was there were a blur.
As she lifted her hand to massage her eyes, a file folder slid onto her lap. Struggling to sit up, she twisted and managed to turn on the light.
A sharp, high-pitched bark from the floor demanded her attention. Reaching over, she pulled the puppy into her l
ap. Tully bounced around, spilling papers, saying hello to Rose in the only way he knew how.
Rose gathered the papers, trying to put them in some kind of order. In her lap lay the pages she’d had taped to the walls of her rental, her dreams for her own home. As she looked through them, she came to two, one-way tickets to Phoenix, Arizona, dated one week from today. One in her name and one in Adam’s.
On the other side of the room, Adam sat in the large rocker watching her.
“What is the meaning of this?” she yelled, waving the tickets at him then the sound of her voice hit her, and she lowered it to a whisper. “How did I get here? How did you get here, and where did you come from?”
“I tried get you before you left work, but you'd already gone. I found you sitting on the side of the road with a deer in your lap. I brought you back here and put you to sleep on the sofa. Then I . . . .”
As he spoke, the events of the night before came rushing back at her in vivid Technicolor. Her heart soared when she remembered the little doe had lived. Just as quickly, another memory sliced through her and her heart crumbled, pain filled and heavy.
She interrupted him. “Where have you been? I could really have used your help, you know.”
As she spoke, Adam crossed the room and sat beside her. He laid his fingers gently over her mouth. Her eyes widened, but he raised one finger on the other hand. “Rose, I need to tell you something. When I'm done, if you want to kick me out, I guess I'll go.”
He slowly moved his hand and waited to see if she would interrupt. When she didn’t, he continued.
“From the time I was a little kid, my grandfather drilled into my head that I was a loser. I screwed up everything I ever attempted, according to him. He was the adult and I believed him. I stole his car and ran away the minute I turned eighteen but I couldn't get far enough away from him and this town.”
Adam stopped, stared across the room at nothing. Tully crawled into his lap and laid his puppy head on Adam’s hand.
“Go on,” Rose whispered.
He looked at her and gave a quick nod. “He never forgave me. I'm not sure why he was always so disappointed. I'm just now figuring out it was his problem, not mine. I think that's why he set this up. It was his way to get in one more kick at me even after he'd died.”
Radio Rose (Change of Heart Cowboys Book 1) Page 28