Bethany held her breath and fought back her fear. No one was going to hurt her again. She was among family now. This was what she wanted.
“I’ll meet you at home,” she said as she picked up her purse and hurried out of the building.
An hour later Bethany sat in her car, parked outside of her sister’s bridal shop. It wasn’t her first choice for stops. She’d actually called her therapist first, but he was out of the office.
Maybe talking to a man wasn’t what she needed either.
This was the first time in her life she was risking emotional failure on needing one of her siblings. Never in her life had she reached out to them for anything.
Pearl had been gracious to her. She’d made it a point over the past few months to include her as much as she could. This was new territory for her sisters and brothers too. They hadn’t been included in each other’s lives. She knew why now. That psychopath Douglas Brant had ruined Bethany’s life long before she’d come to Georgia. Her father had been protecting her by shutting her out.
She stepped out of the car and walked across the street. Pearl looked up when Bethany pushed open the door to the store and a small bell chimed.
She smiled wide as she helped a young bride with a veil.
“I’ll be a few minutes,” she said.
“It’s okay. Do you mind if I wait for you in back?”
Pearls eyes locked on her as if she knew something was bothering her. It was a sisterly thing, Bethany assumed.
“I have bottles of water and soda in the fridge. Help yourself.”
Bethany made her way to the small room behind the counter. She opened the refrigerator and pulled a Coke out. Sitting down at the small table, she contemplated not opening the bottle for nearly a full minute. Her mother’s voice rang in her ears. “No man wants a woman who lets herself go,” she’d say to her whenever Bethany even thought of eating junk food or drinking soda.
Unable to go through with it, she replaced the soda and took out a bottle of water instead.
Pearl glided through the door as Bethany sat back down. Her sister was a sight, she thought. Her blonde hair was in a bun, or a twist—something fancier than what Bethany would do with her own hair. She had bands of pearls around her neck and her wrist and small diamonds in her ears.
Suddenly, Bethany was glad she’d reached for the water. The few strands of red curls that had worked their way out of the band that held her hair up, hung over her eyes. She quickly brushed them behind her ears. It was only then she realized she still had on the red apron from the event.
“So how was the book signing?” Pearl asked as she took a Coke from the refrigerator, opened it, and took a long, satisfying sip that ended with an “Ah!”
“Fine I guess. It’s still going on.”
Pearl pulled out a chair and sat down across from Bethany. “So what’s he like?”
“Who?”
“The author. Kent Black?”
“Nice enough, I guess. He rambles when he talks. Observes too much when he’s in a crowd. Has a dimple in his chin,” she said with a smile and then pursed her lips to conceal it.
“Lydia promised to get me a signed book since I couldn’t be there.” Pearl took another sip of her drink. “So what brings you by? I didn’t have you down for a fitting for the dress Susan picked out.”
“No. I was just needing a sisterly moment I guess.”
Pearl’s eyes actually went moist, she noticed. “Oh,” she said on a small gasp and smiled. “I like that. You look like something is bothering you.”
Bethany opened her water and took a sip. Where did she begin?
“Kent Black is a really nice guy.”
Pearl’s brows lifted. “This is about him? Didn’t you just meet him?”
“I did. And I’m not interested,” she said convincingly. “It’s just that…well…I realized that I’m scared.”
Pearl reached for her hands and held them tightly in hers. “Honey, nothing is going to happen to you. Douglas is locked up.”
“I’m not worried about him.” she sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t want to be who I was anymore.”
Her sister’s grip tightened. “I’m not understanding. You don’t want to be an actress?”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t. I don’t want to be known as Violet Waterbury’s daughter. I don’t want people to look at me and say loved your movies. It came with a price that I’m not happy I paid. I want to be…normal.” Her voice shook and Pearl’s eyes clouded with worry.
“What price did you pay?” her sister asked in a careful tone and Bethany’s stomach began to clench.
“I shouldn’t have come here. I don’t need to drag you into this. I am who I am.” She stood and turned, but Pearl reached for her.
“You’re not leaving. Sit down. Drink your water. I’m going to lock the door.”
“You can’t close your business because your baby sister is in your back room crying.”
“I most certainly can. Now sit.”
Pearl disappeared out of the room and returned only a few moments later with a box of tissue and a plate of chocolates.
“I had a bride bring me these as a thank you. We’re eating them.”
Bethany stared at them as if they were the evil her mother had always spoke about. You’ll regret every bite you have. She’d say before she herself would gorge on something, such as a plate of chocolate, and then purge later.
Pearl picked up one of the candies and popped it into her mouth. “Oh, Lord, that is wonderful. Here.”
Bethany only stared at the plate. “I shouldn’t.”
“Um, yes, you should. We are having girl talk and this is what we do.”
Her hand shook as she reached for a chocolate that was no bigger than the tip of her finger. Slipping it past her lips she let it melt on her tongue as if it were going to be the last thing she ever ate again.
Panic rose in her chest. The very thought of running to the bathroom to throw it up crossed her mind, but she forced down the vile feeling and the chocolate.
“Good, huh?” Pearl bit into another one and let out a moan. “Audrey would die if she knew I had these and hadn’t called her to share them.”
“Will she be mad?”
“No, she’s just got a sweet tooth,” she said on a laugh before she became very serious again. “Now, what’s going on in that head of yours?”
Chapter Seven
Smiling all afternoon was exhausting, Kent thought as he sipped from the glass of water Lydia had brought him. The party was over. The guests had gone. But Kent was too tired to move.
Okay, who was he kidding. He was sort of hoping that Bethany was still there.
She’d left in a near panic when that woman wanted her picture. Shouldn’t she be used to something like that? He wasn’t offended. He’d wanted her autograph too, but he thought that would have been more awkward than their couple of conversations had been.
Lydia was walking toward him with a check in her hand. “Here’s the money collected from the books you brought. I thought I’d ordered enough. I can’t believe we sold your supply too.”
“I’m honored that your friends thought that much of me.”
“I had to turn people away from the luncheon. You’re very talented, Mr. Black.”
“I appreciate that. So does my mother. She’s told me that for years when I’ve torn up entire manuscripts.”
Her mouth fell open. “You’ve done that?”
“You see, I don’t think I’m horribly talented. My mind wanders and a story forms. I write it down and by the luck of the universe, people seem to like it.”
She blinked a few times. “I’ve never met anyone so talented.”
“Thank you.”
She handed him the check and he tucked it into his pocket without looking at it. That would have appeared untrusting.
“I guess I’ll be on my way,” he said fishing his keys from his pocket.
“Are you in t
own a few more days?”
He shrugged. “I go where the road takes me. But, I do like it here. I thought I’d stick around a few more days.”
“I’d like to invite you out to dinner if you’d be interested. Susan and her fiancé, who is my cousin Eric, my brother, and another cousin,” she said with a wave of her hand, “are going to dinner tomorrow. I know they’d love to meet you. If that’s not awkward or anything. I’ll bet you think I’m crazy now.”
He laughed. “I think that sounds nice. The one thing about being an author is I can blend into a crowd. It doesn’t seem that easy for Bethany.”
Lydia clasped her hands. “What happened when she came to help you? She got upset and ran out.”
He felt the hope drain from his body. So she wasn’t there. “She left?”
“Yeah. She was very upset.”
“Some woman recognized her. Asked her for a picture and told her she was as beautiful as her mother was. She didn’t seem to like being recognized.”
“I don’t know her very well. Perhaps there is some reason she doesn’t like that.”
“You don’t know her well? I thought you were related.”
Lydia laughed easily. “I’m related to her cousin, but not to her. The Walkers and the Morgans have a very interesting dynamic. You know, the kind of things books are written about.”
Now he laughed. “Maybe I should stick around and document it.”
“Real life is always stranger than fiction.”
“Very true.” He picked up the book he had on the table. “Would you give this to Bethany? I was hoping she was still here.”
Lydia took it. “I will.”
“And I’d love to have dinner with you and your family tomorrow. What time and where?”
~*~
Bethany’s eyes stung. It had been a long time since she’d cried that much in front of anyone. Was that what sisters were about? Pulling out your deepest, darkest secrets and holding you while you cried like a baby?
She’d had no intention of laying her life out in front of Pearl when she’d gone to her. She’d gone to bitch about her mother and about Hollywood’s rejection—nothing more.
But now it was out there and Pearl knew all of her secrets. In Hollywood, they wouldn’t have mattered. Everyone had the same secrets. In Macon, Georgia—that was another story.
She checked her face in the mirror. Hopefully, she could just run up the stairs and hide out in her room all night. Her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes were pink. The bun on the top of her head had completely given out and her hair was a mess of curls going a million different directions. This was her reality. This was why she’d come to Georgia.
She climbed from the car and headed toward the front door. When it swung open, she let out a yelp.
Eric stood there in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, and his brow furrowed.
“Where in the hell have you been?”
Bethany stopped on the step and simply stared at him.
“Where have you been?” he asked again in his demanding tone.
“I was with Pearl.”
“Susan is sick with worry over you. She said you were coming straight home. You don’t answer your texts or your calls. In light of recent events, you don’t get to have the freedom to just wander where you want.”
Bethany set her jaw and narrowed her eyes on her cousin. “You’re not my father.”
“No, I’m not. I give a damn a whole lot more.”
“I’m twenty-four years old. I can take care of myself. And,” she held up a finger, “I think that recent events prove that.”
“It proves that when someone attacks, you can defend yourself.”
“Well, it seems as though I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time then. I’ll pack my stuff and be out of your way. I’d hate you to worry about me all the time.”
“Don’t you…” he started toward her when Susan pulled him back and walked out onto the porch.
Her eyes were damp and her hair equally as messed as Bethany’s was.
“I was worried. I’m so sorry. I got him all worked up,” she said as she pulled Bethany to her in an embrace that had Bethany gasping for air. “You were upset and out of sorts today. You didn’t come home. I didn’t know what to think.”
“I’m fine,” she finally replied and let her arms wrap around Susan, as Susan wasn’t letting go any time soon it seemed.
When she did pull back she looked her over. “I’m going to worry about you. It’s inevitable. You’re my family now too.”
“I appreciate that. I’m sorry I got upset.”
“It’s okay. You were at Pearl’s?”
Bethany nodded. “I needed my sister.” It felt good to say that and when she did it seemed like her burdens lifted a bit. “It was a long shot, but it worked out.”
“Good. Good,” Susan repeated as she stepped back and wiped her eyes. “I don’t mean to treat you like a lost teenager. But, it would kill me if something happened to you.”
“Nothing will happen. I can take care of myself,” she promised and felt as that her tone conveyed it. She’d been doing it most of her life. Nothing in Georgia could ruin her if Hollywood hadn’t.
Susan nodded and turned to go back into the house. Bethany followed, but was stopped when Eric moved himself in front of her.
“You didn’t answer your phone.”
“It died. I stayed up all night reading and I forgot to charge it.”
“Douglas Brant might be in jail, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some other lunatic out there.”
“I understand,” she said clearly and began to feel the chocolate in her stomach settle. “I’m okay.”
“I’m your family too,” Eric said as she tried to pass him. “I’m here. If you ever need me, I’m here.”
She smiled. “You’ve been the best family I could ask for too. I promise to let you know where I am at all times.”
He nodded as if that was a good enough answer.
It was a promise she would try to keep, but she wasn’t used to people giving a damn about what was going on in her life.
She realized it wasn’t fair to them, her attitude. After all, she’d come in search of family and she got it. Family worried. Family cared. Family loved.
Bethany made her way up the steps and to her room before the rejection of the chocolate finally presented itself.
She hurried to the bathroom and hunched over the toilet.
Family, she thought as she rested her head against the bathroom wall. Family would save her.
She jolted from her position when she heard the knocking on her bedroom door. This certainly wasn’t where she wanted anyone to see her.
Quickly she flushed the toilet, so that it would make a noise and ran a towel over her face.
When she pulled open the door, Susan was standing there. She studied Bethany for a moment.
“Are you okay? You don’t look well.”
“I’m just super tired from staying up so late. I think I’ll call it an early night.”
Susan nodded. “Sounds good. Lydia invited us to join them for dinner tomorrow. Would you like to go?”
It didn’t take but a moment to decide that she did want to go. She wanted to surround herself with family and friends. “I would.”
“We’ll talk about that tomorrow. Here,” she said holding out Kent Black’s book to her. “He gave this to Lydia. It’s for you.”
“Me? Why?”
Susan shrugged. “I don’t know. He was looking for you to give it to you, I guess. Lydia said he seemed sad that you’d left.”
Bethany took the book with a shake of her head. “He’ll forget me by tomorrow,” she said flipping through the pages. “He rambles.”
“So you said.” Susan smiled. “Get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Bethany shut her bedroom door and carried the book to her bed.
She turned the book over and looked at the man on the back cover. Now that she’d met
him, she didn’t think the picture did him justice. There was an easy feel to him, the picture was stiff. His hair didn’t quite comb back the way it did in the photo, no, it looked as though he always had his hands in it. There was no sparkle in his eyes either and in person there was. The dimple in his chin was cute though and that thought had her setting down the book.
Seriously, she didn’t need to think about the man at all. She’d met him. He gave her a book—that was very nice of him. But she didn’t want to think about him in any other way than a static photo on the back of some book she’d decided to read. He’d be moving on from Georgia and heading out to his next thing. She’d still be there trying to piece her normal life together. They were going to make a movie of his book and she was going to consider giving up auditions for good. Maybe she’d seriously consider floral decoration. Susan had mentioned that she was good at it and it would come in handy for the catering business. Pearl might have a use for it too, with bridal bouquets and all.
Staying out of any spotlight seemed like the necessary course if she wanted that normal life.
Bethany opened the book and looked down at what Kent had written.
Bethany, it was a pleasure to meet you. I hope that our paths cross again someday. You’re beautiful and intriguing. I’d like to get to know you better. Sincerely, Kent
P.S. Please call me if you’re ever inclined to talk.
He included his phone number and a little smiley face. Softly she ran her hands over the words he’d written. Would it be so bad to be interested in someone, she wondered. She wasn’t deserving of anyone special though. Behind her smile, wild mane of hair, and yoga poses there was just a messed up woman. No one wanted that.
But there had to be more, right? She looked at his name again. Sincerely, Kent.
Tossing the book to the end of the bed, she fell back onto her pillow. Stick to the path you chose, she reminded herself. Become who you want to be, not who you are, she repeated in her head as she closed her eyes.
Her body was exhausted, but her mind was wandering. She opened the drawer in the nightstand next to her bed and took out a bottle of pills with her mother’s name on them.
Stargazing (The Walker Family Book 2) Page 5