Sapphire FallsGoing For It

by Marilyn Brant

  He looked straight into the camera and grimaced at them. “It’s really early. What the hell is this all about, you guys?”

  Blake was the first to answer—with a noisy yawn. “Damn right, it’s early. It’s a bloody emergency intervention. They rarely happen at convenient times.”

  “An intervention—” Trevor began, but Declan cut him off.

  “You were talkin’ crazy last night,” Dec said with a scowl. “Just tell us it was because you were drunk and weren’t in your right mind.”

  “We’d believe that,” Blake interjected.

  “Then we’ll leave you alone and everyone can go back to sleep,” Dec finished.

  “But, seriously, we’re here for you, Trev,” added Geoff. “You should know that. We care.”

  “You care...” Trevor repeated. Then, “What do you mean I was talking crazy?”

  “You were talking about moving to Nashville with this chick you barely know,” Dec explained.

  “The chick in question is a redhead, of course,” Blake clarified, obviously for Declan’s sake. “Bet’cha it was just infatuation talking, not that she isn’t hot...”

  “It’s deeper than infatuation, Blake,” Trevor said.

  “That’s what you said about Shawnda and Sandra, the Kensie twins—remember?” Dec reminded him.

  Trevor shook his head. “It’s a lot closer to love this time.”

  “Love?” Blake said in horror. “Already? You’ve only been gone a week. What happened out there in Nebraska?”

  He didn’t have a chance to answer this before Geoff weighed in.

  “Just don’t make any rash decisions,” Geoff said. “Sometimes, when you feel that, um, special connection with someone, it’s tempting to want to—”

  “Nail her against a wall,” Declan concluded. “We get that. But you don’t move to freakin’ Tennessee.”

  Trevor rolled his eyes, exasperated. “Would it really be the worst thing in the world to relocate because of love?”

  “Relocate out of state? Yes!” Dec insisted. “You’d actually consider moving from the Land of the Blackhawks to the Land of the Predators...for a woman?” He shook his head and muttered something under his breath.

  Trevor couldn’t help but laugh. “I know this has to be hard for you to understand, Dec, but I don’t make my life decisions based on hockey.”

  “That’s a sacrilege,” his buddy, the former professional hockey player, said—and not jokingly.

  His other two friends were grinning at this, though, and Geoff jumped back in next. “Why don’t you tell us a little more about her, Trev. All we know from your texts are that her name is Tina Marie and she’s a singer. What else appeals to you about her?”

  “Aside from her hair color,” Blake added. “I’m assuming she’s a true redhead everywhere, right?”

  “That’s none of your business,” Trevor shot back.

  “But you know the answer, don’t you?” Blake persisted.

  “Screw you, Blake Michaelsen. I remember you when you first met Vicky, and you were all mopey and difficult and frustrat—” Trevor began.

  But Blake just roared with laughter. “Never thought I’d see the day it’d happen to you, man.” Then, to the other guys, “Call off the inquisition, boys. It’s a done deal. Do you see his face?” Blake pointed at the screen. “Hear that defensiveness? He’s already been bitten. Hard.”

  Geoff, who’d been in a long-term relationship for nearly two years, smiled at him through the computer. Declan, who was decidedly single, scowled again.

  “Stranger things have happened,” Blake added. “When you finally meet the right person, Trev, it can be a life changer. But are you really ready to leave Mirabelle Harbor for this songbird of yours?”

  Trevor sighed. “Truth is, you guys, I don’t know what to do. Yeah, we’ve only known each other for a week, but already I’m having an impossible time imagining my life without her in it.”

  “Does she know you feel that way?” Geoff asked. “And does she feel the same?”

  He shrugged. “I haven’t wanted to put pressure on her by asking. I know she’s in the process of making huge changes in her life. I want her to be able to follow her dreams and to be really, truly happy, even if I’m not a part of that equation. But if I can be with her there—or anywhere—I want to be.”

  Blake nodded. “Hear that, guys? That sounds like love.”

  Declan crossed his arms and groaned. “That’s just insane.”

  “Not really,” Geoff countered.

  “She’s not only beautiful and talented,” Trevor told them, “but she’s warm and funny, generous and bighearted. Talking with her makes time disappear. Being with her feels right, like all of the planets are in alignment finally. And when I was watching Olympic basketball players practice, I couldn’t get my mind off of her. I kept wishing I could leave the training facility and go back to being in her arms—and you all know how much I love hoops.” He sighed heavily. “I don’t know what to do.”

  Geoff looked sympathetic. “We can’t be the ones to tell you that, but—”

  “Sure we can,” Dec interrupted. “Come home for a while. See if you still feel the same way after a few months. Maybe invite her up for a visit or go down there and see what she’s been doing. Take it slow because once you get all entangled and committed with a woman—”

  “Shut it, Dec,” Blake said. Then, “Listen, Trev. I’m not usually one to give romantic advice, okay, but, while we’re totally here for you, she’s the one you’re gonna need to talk to about this.” He squinted at Trevor through the screen. “You’re going to need to be really, really honest about how you feel. I know that’s hard when so much is on the line, but it’s necessary.”

  Geoff held up his index finger. “And think carefully before you act. ‘Cause Lillian, for one, is going to be crushed if you go.”

  Trevor winced. “I know, and that’ll suck. Not to mention there’s that little matter of not having a job lined up in Nashville.”

  “Figure out the biggest thing first—where you stand with Tina Marie,” Geoff advised. “And you’ll work out the rest after that.”

  “If, after you talk with her, you end up coming home,” Blake said, “we’ll take you out to Max’s Pub and get you really wasted.”

  “We’ll do that with or without you,” Declan said, “but it would be a hellava lot more fun with you.”

  Trevor laughed. If he followed his heart to Tina’s door and restructured his whole life for the possibility of love, he wouldn’t see his best buddies very often. And even if two out of the three of them fully understood his dilemma, Trevor couldn’t help but feel a sharp pang of loss. These men were like his brothers. A little uncouth sometimes, but every single one of them had his back.

  “Thanks, guys. Really,” he said. “I appreciate everything you’re trying to do. I’m seeing Tina Marie later today, and I’ll keep you posted.”

  He disconnected from Skype, closed up his laptop, and buried his head in his palms. He was just so damned confused.

  There was a light rap on the door. Gram.

  “I heard voices,” she said with a slight smile. “Everything okay, dearie?”

  He shook his head and pointed at his computer. “My friends wanted to talk with me this morning. They’re worried. Think things are moving too fast with Tina, and that’s hard to argue with, but—”

  “But?”

  “But, even though I know I’m not remotely objective about this, every time I’m with her it just feels perfect that we somehow found each other. Genuine and real. Like everything makes sense. I know it probably flies in the face of logic to feel this strongly, this quickly, about anyone, but that’s the truth.”

  She tilted her head to one side, considering. “Logic isn’t the only way to make decisions, though it has its merits.” She paused to study him. “If you intend to use that as your measuring stick, Trev, you’ll need to step back sometimes and question what it is, exactly, that you want in li
fe. Because people can change, sometimes without realizing it’s happening. And what seemed completely logical at one point in time might not be the case anymore.”

  He considered this. And realized that, for him, it was true. His grandmother’s insights reminded him of how he’d been feeling about his journalism career lately and the way his interests had shifted. How invigorated he’d been while pursuing the Colorado Springs story this past week. How there were bigger writing projects he’d been putting on hold because of the daily responsibilities he had at the Gazette.

  He used to love what he did there, and he still enjoyed it but, if he were being totally candid with himself, he was getting a little burned out and feeling more passionate toward other avenues of writing. He’d changed over the past couple of years without even realizing it. Until now.

  He reached over to give his grandmother a hug. “Thanks, Gram. You are both a very smart and a very wise woman.”

  “I know I am!” she exclaimed with a cheeky grin. “And I like to think I’m kinda fun, too. Since we’re talking about romance, want to see some clips from that steamy Italian film we were discussing during the book club? It’s based on the novel we just read, and I remember that your sweet Tina Marie found a few of those scenes rather interesting...”

  Trevor didn’t blush easily, but he could feel some heat rushing to his face now. Still, how could he say no?

  ~*~

  “So, I heard you were really intrigued by the opening scene in L’Amore di Due Uomini,” he teased Tina a little later that morning. “Would ravishing you on the cool marble ledge of the Trevi Fountain make it onto your romantic wish list?”

  She burst out laughing, her hands covering her beautiful face as she nearly doubled over on the sunny Sapphire Falls sidewalk. They were meandering around the festival for their last day together, and as residents prepared for the annual “Mud Run,” the two of them were getting ready for an altogether different sort of journey.

  “Bernadette showed you her favorite movie clips, didn’t she?” Tina said, wiping a stray tear from the corner of her eye.

  “Oh, yes. Yes, she did. Until this week, I’d had absolutely no idea that my grandmother’s tastes ran to the erotic...or that there were so many nontraditional uses for Italian spices, wood-handled spatulas, and cannoli filling.”

  But, though she laughed again, he could see that her tears continued to flow. Tears formed from both amusement and sadness, and colliding together into a heady combination of emotion on her face. She was wrestling with the edges of both extremes.

  Trevor remembered Blake’s advice. Just thinking of his friends gave him the guts he needed to finally say the words in his heart.

  “Tina Marie, I know we mutually agreed this would be a short-term fling. I know conventional wisdom”—not to mention his buddy Declan—“says it’s crazy for people to change their lives around for something as unpredictable as a relationship. And I know there are no guarantees that what we’ve begun here will work long term.” He took a deep breath. “But for all of the words I have at my disposal, and all the phrases I’m used to using, I don’t have an established vocabulary for this feeling.” He motioned between them. “Call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure it’s what most people call love.”

  “You’re not crazy,” she murmured. “I’m pretty sure that’s what it is, too.”

  He blinked at her, feeling a warmth and a certainty about the direction of his life that might have been unfathomable just a few days ago. But he’d be damned if he was going to ignore it. “So, it’s mutual then?” He gazed at her, waiting and hopeful.

  She nodded.

  YES!

  But before he could fully let the elation bubbling inside him take hold, he had to be sure. “You’re not just agreeing with me, right? This is not just me letting my imagination run wild, is it?”

  She very deliberately shook her head.

  He grabbed her, kissed her, and twirled her around, right there on the street corner.

  “Okay. Then I have a big question for you,” he said, the words rushing out of him, spouting like a geyser. “You helped me follow my dream story. You encouraged me to go for it. And, even more, you made sure I got where I needed to be so I could give it my best shot.” He gulped some air. “If I followed you to Nashville, would I be a good supporter for you and your dreams? Or would I be in your way?”

  “Trevor—wait. You’d consider moving to Nashville? For me?” She looked stunned, not unhappy, but more in shock. He wasn’t sure how to read that. Then her expression dimmed. “That’s too big of a sacrifice for you.”

  But he caught a few rays of hope shining back through those tears in her eyes.

  “It’s not.”

  “I can’t expect you to do that, Trev. You’ve got your family in Mirabelle Harbor, your job, your friends—”

  “It’d be a bigger sacrifice to let you go,” he said simply. And he meant it. He just nodded at her, feeling a few tears of his own forming. But he kept nodding and looking deep into her eyes, waiting and watching until he knew she realized the truth of it. He would do that for her—for them—if she’d let him. If she wanted them to be together even half as much as he did.

  For several moments, time stopped for him.

  Then, “Yes,” she whispered. And she said it again, louder and stronger. “Yes! Please join me. We’ll figure out all the details...but, yes.”

  He rushed into her arms—let their lips and their tears and their laughter mingle—as they sealed their excitement and their plans for the future with a soul kiss that went on and on for decades and centuries and epochs. At least that was how it felt to Trevor.

  Eventually, though, they had to get down to business.

  “All right, if we’re going to do this, I need to call my friend Anji in Nashville and let her know there have been a few changes,” Tina said, whipping out her cell phone. “I have no doubt she’ll still offer to let us both stay there for at least a week or two while we get set up and figure out where to live, but I’d better catch her up on you. She’ll have questions!”

  Trevor grinned at her and pulled out his own phone. “And it looks like I need to get ready to move out of Illinois. Got to call my landlord, my family, my friends...and my boss, who’s going to want to strangle me with her bare hands.”

  She paused and stared at him. “Seriously, are you sure you want—”

  “Yes! Yes, I’m sure. You’re what I want more than anything else in the universe, Tina Marie Moran. And I know my people. Once they get over their shock, they’ll all be happy for me. Even Lillian.” Hopefully...

  And, despite a few minutes of grumbling long distance, his boss gave them her most sincere blessing.

  So did Tina’s friends, her aunt and uncle, Trevor’s family, Blake, Geoff, even Declan (though grudgingly), and Gram most of all.

  “I knew you two would be perfect together,” Bernadette cackled gleefully when he broke the big news to her. “I’m incredibly proud of you, Trevor.” Then, after a beat, she added, “Hey, wanna borrow a few of my international romance novels for the trip? You and Tina could share them or even read parts of them aloud when—”

  “I’m good, Gram,” he interrupted. “But thanks... Thanks for everything.”

  ~*~

  On the last day of the festival, Tina Marie and Trevor said farewell (for now) to Sapphire Falls and drove to Mirabelle Harbor for a week, so that he could pack up and she could meet everyone there. Then the two of them caravanned down to Tennessee to start their new life together.

  As they crossed the city limits into Nashville, Trevor signaled to pull off the road, and they both stopped and stepped out of their cars. To Tina, it felt as though they were crossing a threshold. She had hope in her heart, a song on her lips, and a loving man by her side, gazing at this new frontier with her.

  “Hey, she said to him. “What rhymes with happy?”

  He grinned, reached for her hand, and whispered, “Us.”

  ####

&nb
sp; Be sure to check out Blake’s story in YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME and keep an eye out for more books in the Mirabelle Harbor series, including STRANGER ON THE SHORE, coming soon!

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  Other Books by Bestselling Author Marilyn Brant

  Mirabelle Harbor (sexy contemporary romance series, connected characters but stand-alone stories)

  Look for all the books in the MIRABELLE HARBOR series:

  Book One: Take a Chance on Me - Chance & Nia

  Book Two: The One That I Want - Julia & Dane

  Book Three: You Give Love a Bad Name - Blake & Vicky

  Book Four: Stranger on the Shore - Marianna & Gil (coming June 2016)

  ...and more!!

  Stand-Alone Women’s Fiction Novels (contemporary romantic women’s fiction)

  According to Jane

  Friday Mornings at Nine

  A Summer in Europe

  Mystery Novels (coming-of-age romantic mystery)

  The Road to You (YA version)

  The Road and Beyond (an expanded book-club version of The Road to You) (WF version)

  Romantic Novella (sexy contemporary romance)

  All About Us (an Abbott Springs novella)