“I’m scared.”
“Don’t be. Promise me you’re done with all of this for good.”
“I promise.”
He smiled. “That’s all I ever need.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Driving around town with an entire trash can full of prescription pills, which belonged to Violet Waterbury, didn’t feel quite right. What if he got pulled over? What if he happened to crash his car? The what-ifs were piling up.
Where did he think he was going to take them to get rid of them? He couldn’t just walk through the front door of the hotel with the trashcan full of bottles. That was a bit suspicious. He couldn’t dump them where anyone could see them.
Seriously, he was at a loss and he’d promised he’d be back in an hour. That even cut out the thought that he could take them out to Eric’s house, if he could even find the place.
Then Pearl popped into his head. He’d head over there and see what she had to say. At times like this he wished he had his sister’s ‘emergency mother kit’ in the van. He could guarantee she had a big trash bag in that.
Kent parked in front of Pearl’s store. He quickly climbed from the van, with the trash can, and hurried inside.
He wished he’d looked in the window first. There stood at least six people looking through racks of dresses. And by the wide eyes on two of the ladies, they’d recognized him.
Pearl moved to him and then her eyes too grew wide.
She put her arm around his shoulders and grinned. “In the back room,” she commanded and hurried him away. He then heard her tell the other ladies, “Sequin find. You can never have enough sequins in old medicine bottles, right?”
The women all laughed as Kent ducked into the small room where Pearl had a table, two chairs, a small refrigerator, and a microwave.
It was ten minutes before she hurried into the room and shut the door.
Kent stood from the chair at the table. “I’m so sorry. I should have looked to see if you had customers. I didn’t think to…”
“Are these her pills?”
“Her mother’s pills, but yes. This is all of them.”
Pearl walked over to the trash can and began pulling out the bottles and reading the labels. “This is like a freaking pharmacy. What was wrong with that stupid woman?”
“Bethany?” His voice rose in offense.
“No, her stupid mother. I never liked that woman. My dad tried to get us to, but I didn’t like her. When Bethany was six, I asked him to keep her here after they had come for a visit. Stupid Violet was probably trying to scam money. She probably got it too. Poor Bethany, I remember her having marks on her.”
Kent reached for Pearl’s hand, stopping her from taking another bottle from the trash can. “Marks?”
“Hand marks on her arm,” she said and he let go. “As if someone grabbed her arm—often.”
Bethany hadn’t mentioned that and he assumed it was just normal behavior for her mother to do that. Why mention it?
“She promised me this was over,” he said. “I’m taking her away for the week. This is all she had and she already had it in the trash can. I think that means she’s ready to move on.”
“She’s going to need more help than you or I can give her,” Pearl pointed out.
“Maybe. But we’re her first line of defense. We leave tonight and will be back next Wednesday.”
“Okay. You keep in touch with me. Have her call me every day. Get her help if she needs it and…”
Kent gathered Pearl’s hands in his. “I love her. I meant it when I said it. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is ever going to happen to her again.”
“We have to protect her.”
“We are.” He kissed her on the cheek and gave her hands a gentle squeeze. “I have to get back to her. Can you make these disappear?”
“Like a Vegas magician.”
“Good enough.”
Kent returned within the hour he’d promised. Susan was home now. She was wiping her eyes from visible tears when she answered the door.
“Everything okay here?” he asked.
“We’re having some tea and laughing so hard we’re crying,” she said as she walked him to the kitchen.
There sat Bethany and another woman who were both wiping away tears, just as Susan had.
Bethany stood and kissed him gently on the lips. Then she turned toward the other woman. “This is my sister Audrey.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” she said, still trying to catch her breath.
“Looks like you girls are having a nice time.”
Bethany rested her hand on his chest. “We are. A very nice time.”
“I still have to pack. Why don’t I leave you and your…”
“No,” she said softly. “I’m ready to go. My bag is by the door.”
“I’ll go put it in the van,” he said and she nodded.
He shut the front door behind him after he’d picked up her bag. He wondered what had spurred her decision to not stay and chat with the women. It should have been a good thing to stay and bond with her sister, he thought.
As he opened the side door to the van, Bethany walked out of the front door, and closed it behind her.
She was smiling. It was about time he saw that smile without having to have coaxed it out of her.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”
She walked toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He gathered her close.
“I want to be with you. You have no idea how good I feel right now.”
“I’m glad.”
“How long of a drive do we have?”
“Well, I have to go check out of my hotel, and then we have just shy of four hours.”
She nodded with a smile. “What kind of radio does this thing have in it?”
He cringed. “AM, FM.”
“iPhone hook up?”
“It’s that old,” he said shaking his head.
“Okay then.” She nipped his lips with a gentle kiss. “How about in two hours we pull over so I can have fifteen minutes of yoga?”
He crinkled up his nose at that. “Really? You want to do yoga during the trip?”
“Would you trust me if I told you that it helps me keep my food down if I’m focused. If I tell you that I won’t get restless if I stretch. If…”
“Anything you want, sweetheart. As long as you’re with me the rest of the week you just tell me what you need.”
“I want you to introduce me as Bethany Walker.”
He eased back slightly. “Bethany Walker?”
“I’ve decided that if I’m going to toss away Bethany Waterbury then I should be the other me,” she giggled when she said it. “Audrey came up with the idea.”
“You told Audrey?”
“And Susan.”
“You’re recovering by leaps and bounds.”
She rested her head against his chest. “Baby steps.”
“Those sound good to me.”
Within the hour, Kent was checked out of his hotel and they were on their way. Bethany had found some radio station with music he’d never heard before. If it wasn’t country, Kent hadn’t been exposed.
She was seated next to him. If she had a headband of daisies around her head, she’d have been the perfect embodiment of a 60’s child of love, he thought. She was breathtaking.
“You should watch the road,” she said tucking her bare feet up under her skirt.
“Sorry. Distracted by your beauty.”
She laughed easily and the pink glow in her cheeks made him happy. This release for her wasn’t going to be so hard, he decided.
Two hours into the drive, he found a park where they could park and she could do her yoga. The backdrop was perfect with the evening sun.
Though she had tried her best to convince him to do yoga with her, he insisted that he’d much rather watch her. It proved to be the better choice. Watching her beautiful body bend and move in a fluid dance was breath
taking.
The drive took more than four hours with their stop half-way and then a necessary dinner break.
Kent watched as Bethany searched the menu for a meal. Even though she settled on a salad, he thought that was a step in the right direction. There was no gorging yourself on a salad. Not that he could imagine anyway.
When they finally checked into their hotel, it was nearly nine o’clock. It was then he noticed Bethany’s fidgeting.
“Everything okay?”
“Yep. I feel good. Just have a lot of energy.”
He gave her a small nod. “What do you want to do with that?”
It didn’t take but a moment and she was jumping into his arms, her legs wrapped around his waist, and his balance compromised, dumping them both onto the bed.
“This is a fine idea,” he said as she took him under with a kiss as he unbuttoned his shirt.
At some point, he’d have to seriously consider if this was the best method to keep her clean and sober, but for now it seemed like a perfectly legitimate way.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kent had three signings in South Carolina in two days. They would be very busy and he had given it a lot of thought. Bethany was used to being busy. Downtime for the past few months wasn’t her style.
She’d talked about some of the brighter sides of her career and living in Hollywood during their four-hour drive. He wasn’t sure she even realized she was opening up to him as much as she was.
She’d worked on movie sets, even if she wasn’t in the cast. It seemed she had a good eye for detail and the set designers let her help out on more than one occasion.
She was the face of Esquire Denim Company too. He hadn’t known that, but then he’d quickly realized he’d never heard of the company.
On a laugh, she’d told him it had gone under before it had started, but it was a good experience.
There had been a lot of table waiting at restaurants. Retail was not her favorite job choice and she didn’t enjoy pizza delivery either.
No matter what job it was, though, Bethany had always seemed to have more than one at a time.
“I’m going to introduce you as my assistant,” Kent said as he checked his tie in the mirror outside the first bookstore.
“That makes you sound important.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?”
“Okay, Mr. Black. What does your assistant have to do?”
He pushed his hair around with his fingers and closed the mirror. “Just do what you did at the book signing at the Garden Room.”
Her smile faded. “So I’ll be right there with you?”
“Yes, and your name is Bethany Walker, so no one will recognize you.”
“Just because that’s my name doesn’t mean…”
“Trust me. The minute you tell them you’re not her that will be that.”
She took in a deep breath. “Okay then. Miss Walker is here to serve you.”
He felt the heat move into his cheeks and she must have noticed because she rested her hand on his thigh and gave it a squeeze. “Later, Mr. Black.”
Kent hadn’t quite realized the scope of Bethany’s acting ability. While he’d been talking to the store manager, Bethany had dismissed herself to look around.
She’d worn another long skirt today, not quite as bohemian as the one she’d worn on their drive, but flowy. As the manager got Kent set up at his table, she’d managed to sneak away to the bathroom, pin up her hair, and now she had glasses?
“Where did you get those?” he asked when she returned from the restroom.
“Little boutique next door had them. They’re fake, but cute, don’t you think?” She adjusted them with her fingers.
“You look studious.”
“I look like an assistant.”
He laughed and gave her hand a squeeze as the first people walked through the door and the line began to form. It was time, for just a few hours, to not think about Bethany, but to think about himself. This was what made his life so easy and so free. He had to focus now on his readers.
Bethany handed him books, open to the specific page he preferred to sign on. She’d run to Starbucks and brought him back a drink. She’d even talked to his sister when she’d called and told him he’d call her back. It would be interesting to see what each of them thought of the other after a few brief moments on the phone.
He was an hour into his signing before someone walked up to the side of the table and tapped Bethany on the shoulder. “You’re Bethany Waterbury.”
Kent was quick to turn in his seat, but Bethany placed her hands folded in her lap and smiled at the man. “That is a huge compliment, but no. I’m not her.”
“You have to be.”
“Again, thank you. She’s beautiful. I’m Beth Walker,” she said shortening her name and holding her hand out to shake the man’s hand.
He studied her and shook her hand. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I could have sworn you were her.”
“I get that a lot, actually.”
He nodded and walked away.
“Beth?” Kent whispered.
“My mother would never let me shorten it. She’s not here is she?” she asked. She picked up another book with a smile and handed it to him for the next person who came to the table.
Bethany felt free with her plastic glasses and her new name. This was the most uplifting moment of her life. How was that possible? Beth Walker, assistant to Mr. Kent Black. Oh, God, it was as if she’d died and gone to heaven.
When the manager of the store came by the table in his second hour, he knelt down next to her and asked if they’d like sandwiches from the deli down the mall. She very professionally gave him their orders and even that was uplifting.
In the course of the day, a few more people had asked her about being Bethany Waterbury. She had a calm ease about her telling them that wasn’t her.
By the time Kent’s signing was over, her fear of being seen with him was gone. No one could touch her as long as this man was with her.
When they reached his van, she pulled him to her and kissed him as hard as she could.
“What was that for?”
“For giving me my life back.”
He narrowed his gaze on her. “One day of giving out a fake name behind fake glasses isn’t going to solve anything.”
“No, but my heart is so full right now. Your sister said I sounded beautiful too, by the way.”
“She’d be right about that.”
“Anyway,” she said pulling her hair from the knot on her head. “I’m ready to be Beth Walker. Susan said I could design floral arrangements for her. I could be your assistant. I don’t have to be that person I was before.”
“Is that what you want? You want to give it all away?”
“It’s not worth fighting for, Kent. Bethany Waterbury was more fake than Beth Walker could ever be.”
“I’m not sure of that name change,” he said nipping her nose with a kiss. “We may have to talk about that.”
He walked around the side of the van before she could ask him about that. Before he got into the van, his phone rang and he answered it as he started the engine.
“I promise to read you a story tonight,” he said as he backed out of the parking space. “You want a story about a dinosaur? Okay, I’ll find you a dinosaur story.” He nodded as he listened. “Two more weeks. Yes, then I’ll push you on the rope swing.”
Kent finished his call and set the phone in the cup holder. Bethany said, “I don’t want to ask, but who was that?”
“My nephew. I read to him almost every night. Tonight he wants dinosaurs.”
“That’s precious.”
“You have to read to kids early to get them into reading. Studies show that it helps.”
“Yes, and he has parents, but you take the time to be in his life even when you’re not there with him.”
He shrugged as if it were no big deal. “He’s important to me. They all are.”
Betha
ny sunk into her seat and gazed out the window. She couldn’t help but wonder what that would be like—to have been that important.
Kent decided that the best place to get a dinosaur book would be at the store he had a signing at in the morning. The owners always liked when you were a patron too.
Bethany walked, hand in hand, with him down the aisles. “Do you read to your nieces too?”
“When they sit still long enough.”
“Maybe you should get them a book.”
He smiled and gave her hand a squeeze. “Pick one.”
“Oh, this Frozen one is a must. If they are little girls, they have to love Anna and Elsa.”
“That’s the one with the snowman, right?”
She laughed. “Yes. It’s very cute.”
“You watch Disney movies?”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “Every chance I can get.”
He’d have to remember that.
They met with the owner, purchased a dinosaur book and a Disney Princess book, and headed back to the hotel room where his computer chimed before he could even get settled.
When he logged in, his sister’s face appeared on the screen.
“I have a little boy who can’t wait for his story,” she said.
“I bought a new book. Bethany bought one for the girls too,” he said yanking her in front of the computer screen. “Cassie, this is Bethany.”
His sister smiled. “Hello.”
“Hi,” Bethany’s voice cracked. “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Likewise.”
A little head moved into the view of the camera and a moment later his nephew was on his mother’s lap.
“Who’s that?” He pointed at the screen and right in Bethany’s direction.
“This is Bethany.”
She waved as his nephew wrinkled up his nose. “Is she your girlfriend?”
“How do you know about girlfriends?” he asked and then nodded. “Yes, she’s my girlfriend.”
Stargazing (The Walker Family Book 2) Page 14