Between the Raindrops

by Schussler, Susan

  “Yeah, sure, anything you need. Sarah can show you my room. The dresser is stocked.”

  “Thanks.”

  Sarah snuggled into Will’s chest. He nuzzled his nose into her neck and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her in closer. He squished his eyes together, shaking his head. What am I doing? He kissed her cheek before taking out his phone. Will made a call to his assistant to see what could be done about his luggage, while Sarah called to find someone to fill in for her shift at the clinic on Tuesday. She also called her mom to let her know the plans.

  Both Sarah and Will knew that, whatever the future held for them, they needed to try to be together. It felt so right. They had less than a week to figure out how to make it work—and less than a week to be alone together.

  Back at the house, Kate helped Sarah pack a cooler full of food and beverages to bring up to the lake.

  “Sarah, I understand the whole getting away from the cities deal, but be careful and use your head, OK?” Kate said as she hugged her daughter.

  “I will, Mom. Don’t worry so much.” Sarah smiled at her.

  After reassuring her mother, Sarah headed upstairs to pack some clothes. When she was finished, she dragged her heavy pink duffel bag down the stairs, letting it thump on each step as she walked. Will immediately took it from her when it hit the floor, and effortlessly carried it out to Sarah’s car. Together, they loaded the cooler and bag into the back of Sarah’s red Honda CR-V. Like a gentleman, Will opened the driver’s side door for Sarah to get in, and closed it with care behind her. He could tell she wasn’t used to being pampered, and he wanted to show her how special she was. He jumped into the passenger seat, and soon they were headed toward Interstate 35. After a few minutes, the speed limit jumped to seventy miles per hour, and they were speeding out of the cities.

  Sarah was driving, while Will relished watching her every expression. As an actor, he liked to examine people’s faces, and he didn’t think he would ever get tired of watching Sarah’s. He thought she was perfect. She had a girl-next-door quality about her—beautiful, yet innocent, without expectations—and her emerald green eyes sparkled with a glow he had never seen before. Her alabaster skin was flawless and was such a contrast to her dark, cascading hair. Her lips formed the sweetest smile, and the way she looked out from under her long dark lashes made his heart skip a beat. He could probably lift her petite body with one arm. Yet, she wasn’t meek. She was feisty. She was beautiful, that was for sure, and she didn’t know it.

  “So you get quiet when you’re upset. That’s good to know for the future,” said Will. He had already committed this to memory and was just verifying his conclusion.

  “Yeah, and you run when you get scared?”

  “No, not usually. I guess I’m just a bit protective of those I care about,” he answered with a sigh.

  “I don’t mind you being protective,” she admitted. “Just don’t make decisions that affect us both without talking to me. Please.”

  “I won’t,” he said, entertained by her directness. Just then, Will’s phone vibrated. He checked to see who was calling. “I should probably take this.” Answering the call, he said, “Hey, Remi, what’s up?”

  “I should ask you the same. You are all over the news, Jon. The office has been fielding hundreds of calls. It’s great for business, but I just want to know what’s going on. I feel out of the loop.”

  “I’m on vacation, just enjoying my private time.”

  “Private time? You made the network news. It doesn’t seem too private to me. Who’s the girl?” she demanded.

  “Remi, I don’t want her name all over the press. I really care about her, and I don’t want to ruin her life, so just keep her out as much as possible, OK?”

  “Her name is already out there. A local radio station made a contest out of identifying her, and some students at the university gave her up this morning. It’s all over the Internet. There are interviews with students in her classes on YouTube. Someone even posted a video of her in an elementary school play. She sounds like a good girl—too good—nothing bad so far, anyway. So, Jon, what do you want me to tell them? The engagement is off?”

  “Don’t even joke about that. Tell them that she’s the love of my life.” He smiled at Sarah. “Or tell them nothing. I don’t know. You’re the publicist. That’s what you get paid for. What should we do?”

  “I wish you had told me about the concert. I would have had a lot more press coverage.”

  “That’s why I didn’t tell you,” he confessed. “So, what do we do now?”

  “Well, we could call that radio station. I could set up an interview. It wouldn’t have to be long—fifteen, twenty minutes.”

  “I think our connection is breaking up. The cell service is terrible here. Remi?” He chuckled, knowing that the cell service was more than adequate.

  “Fine, no interview. Regardless, we can’t buy this kind of press. Serenading her at a rock concert? Writing a song for her? You never wrote a song for me.”

  “I never knew you wanted one,” he said jokingly, as if it was no big deal to write a song.

  “Running to protect her at the airport? It’s great publicity. I always say keep them guessing—as long as it keeps your name out there. So I’ll keep quiet for now, and I will do my best to shoot down any nuisances. You stay out of trouble, and don’t punch any Midwestern paparazzi.” She laughed. “I’ll get back to you if anything changes.”

  “Thanks. Later, then,” he said and hung up the call. Before Will could put his phone away, it vibrated again. He glanced at the screen—Isaac, his agent. He definitely didn’t want to talk to him, so he turned off his phone without answering the call. Now he could concentrate on Sarah with no more interruptions. He turned to her and stated rather than asked, “So, beautiful, what a mess we’re in now, huh.”

  “Together, anyway. That’s supposed to make it easier,” Sarah told him. “Your publicist?”

  “Yeah. She’s all right, but a bit annoying sometimes. Some of your classmates ratted you out to the radio station. So the vultures will probably be at your house soon. We should warn your mom.”

  “I already told her what to expect. I think she’s ready. Hey, let’s talk about something else,” said Sarah.

  “What do you want to talk about?”

  “You,” she said. “But first, tell me, when you wrote that song you sang at the concert, did you just recycle it from a past girlfriend? Be honest.”

  “No,” he answered, unable to hide the hurt in his tone. “I started writing it the night we first talked on the phone.”

  Sarah glanced at him with a questioning look.

  “I tinker around on the guitar. It helps me think. I had most the lyrics written before I showed it to Nick. He helped get the melody right, and he wrote all the accompaniments. He really is a music genius.”

  “It was…Wow,” she stammered, shaking her head like she couldn’t believe him.

  “When I called him to get us into the concert, he insisted that we play it at the show. We didn’t have time to run through it before the band went onstage. I was scared to death that it would sound like crap. I guess it was well received, because Nick sent me a text that night asking if I would record it with the band for their next album.”

  “So, what did he text you right before the concert? Was he checking me out for you?”

  Will chuckled with a hint of embarrassment as he fished his phone out of his pocket and powered it up. He manipulated the phone and brought up the old text. He smiled as he reread it, unsure he should tell her what Nick had written. He bit his lip in hesitation.

  “Just tell me.”

  He looked down at his phone. “He said, and I quote, ‘She’s a troll. Let me take her off your hands, mate. Save you the trouble of a brushoff.’” Will spoke in a British accent. “That’s when I knew you were hot.”

  “I can’t believe he said that.”

  “He wouldn’t have said anything if you were actua
lly a troll. My response was ‘Piss off, she’s mine!’ It’s usually best to be direct with Nick, in a language he can understand.”

  “Yours, huh?” she questioned with a giggle.

  “Yep.” His hand tenderly caressed her face, and she pressed her cheek into his palm. “What else do you want to know?” he asked softly.

  “Tell me about your family.”

  “Where do I start?” Will questioned, perfectly willing to share anything with her.

  “Tell me about your dad. What is he like?”

  “Well, Zander is a pretty fun guy. He always has a funny story to share, though his sense of humor is Death Valley dry, and he’s a bit too analytical. He works a lot. It wouldn’t be unusual for him to be working heavily on a project for five months and only come home for twenty days total in that time. We used to spend a lot of time on the sets of his movies when we were kids, Jack and I, especially when he was filming in town.

  “I have some really great memories of Jack from those days. I used to get him into so much trouble, and he would just take it without complaint. I’m pretty sure my parents knew that I had started most of it, but Jack would always get blamed because he was the older brother and he knew better. He was good that way.” Will swallowed hard and paused to get back to talking about his dad. He knew he was going off on another Jack tangent, which seemed to happen more than he liked, and he needed to refocus.

  “My dad always stands up for what he believes and doesn’t take on movies just to make big box office dollars. He prefers smaller indie movies to the huge ones pushed by the big studios, because he has more control over the overall end product. He has done a couple of big ones, though, when he felt a great connection to the story. He tries to be a good person, honest, and gives pretty good advice.”

  Sarah smiled. “What’s the best advice he ever gave you?”

  Will squished his eyes shut. Did I just admit that I listen to my dad’s advice? Furrowing his forehead like he was thinking hard, he said, “He told me to do what it takes to find you.”

  Sarah turned her head to meet his eyes just a second while she was driving.

  “He could see that I was obsessed and wasn’t able to stop thinking about you. So he told me to stop worrying about the consequences and just make it happen. That’s when I sold my soul to the devil to get your e-mail address,” he admitted.

  “The devil?” she questioned with curiosity.

  “Well, she’s not really the devil, but they’re related,” he declared. “At some point, it will probably come back to bite me, though.”

  “What did you have to do?”

  “I talked to the website manager where we usually blogged. I’ve known her for a while, and I know that she tracks her guests by e-mail. The site makes you sign in when you blog so only the real fans will use the site, or so they say. Well, Paris gave me your e-mail address—against policy—and now I owe her. Don’t worry, it was worth it.”

  They sat in silence for a few seconds until Sarah asked, “So what is your mom like?”

  “My mom…hmm. My mom…Well, I guess she’s a little like you—beautiful inside and out, and a bit sarcastic.” Will raised his eyebrows and watched her for a reaction.

  Sarah scowled at him, and he continued.

  “She’s creative and a bit unorganized. She designs special effects. It’s mostly on computer now, but some of it is still done on set. That’s how my parents met. She worked on a movie with my dad, and they got married six months later. When I was young, she only worked part-time doing piecework. She always encouraged Jack and me to be ourselves and was never a momager.” He paused with reverence on his face. “She worked really hard to keep our lives normal. We only had a part-time nanny, and I remember Mom always being around to do the day-to-day stuff, like Little League, soccer, and acting lessons.”

  Sarah looked at him questioningly.

  “Don’t look at me like that. I had acting lessons. It got me where I am today. It’s really not that unusual in Hollywood. I had piano lessons too. The guitar is self-taught, which I’m sure you can tell.”

  Sarah chuckled and glanced at him with an admiring look.

  “I think my mom is having an affair with her personal trainer,” he blurted, wondering why he was telling her this. Something about her made him want to share his every thought. “I don’t know for sure, but they seem really familiar with each other—more than they should be.” Will took a deep breath.

  “It’s been really hard on her since Jack’s death. My dad just threw himself into his work, like I did, but my mom doesn’t function that way. She practically stopped working completely for close to a year when it happened. She just started working full-time again a year ago. My dad’s gone all the time—all the time. I moved back home about eighteen months ago, but still, I’m never there. She was really close to Jack, and his death really destroyed her, destroyed all of us. I know she’s lonely. It wouldn’t surprise me if she was reaching out to someone else. I don’t know, I’m probably imagining it.”

  “You must really love her to be so accepting of her stepping out on your dad,” Sarah noted. “I don’t know if I could be so mature about it.”

  “She’s a great mom and a good person. People make mistakes. I don’t think you can judge someone if you’re not inside their head. How do you know what’s really going on in anyone else’s life? I’m not going to cast a stone,” he said with a sense of righteousness. “Besides, I know my dad can be really self-focused sometimes. My mom’s always been there when I needed her. She helped me get through everything when Jack was killed. She stayed at the hospital with me for those three days, even when we knew he was going to die. After he died, she forced me to keep going—to eat and sleep. She never blamed me for the accident, even when it seemed that everyone else did. She told me, every day, how much she loved me, and I knew I couldn’t hurt myself without it killing her. She kept me alive. Jack was my dad’s favorite, so it took him a while to stop blaming me for the crash. He finally realized that I had done the only thing I could, and he forgave me.”

  “How could he blame you? What kind of dad does that?”

  “He was in the angry stage of grief. It was just how he coped. He got past it.”

  “I can’t imagine what it was like. Tell me about Jack,” she said softly and hesitantly.

  “He outshined me, that’s for sure.” A slight smile broke across his face as he thought of his brother. “He was good at everything, and I wasn’t. He had a tutor and didn’t attend high school because he was working, but he still knew everyone in our school. He was really popular. He never struggled to get in shape, like I did, and he was a fantastic actor. It just came naturally to him. I was always in his shadow. I couldn’t compete. He never rubbed it in my face, though—too much. OK, he rubbed it in my face all the time, but he was still a great brother, and I could talk to him about anything.”

  Sarah chuckled again.

  “Growing up, we fought like all brothers do, but we were together all the time. He taught me how to surf, how to do a back dive, and how to talk to girls.” A corner of his lips turned up, barely exposing his dimple. “He supported me when I gave up acting. He understood my thinking and explained it to my dad for me. He always looked out for me. He was a huge resource when I was having girl trouble. He would have loved you. I wish he could have met you.” Will’s voice softened. “He was pretty concrete when it came to girls and seemed to understand them better than I did.”

  “I wish I could have known him.”

  Sarah gently rubbed her hand on his knee, and he placed his hand on top of hers. They sat in silence for several minutes as they sped down the empty freeway.

  “What kind of girl trouble could you have had?” she asked out of the blue, ending their long silence.

  “Well, since all girls are crazy…” He paused, looking at her out of the corner of his eye and smirking. “Not you, definitely not you. You’re not, are you?”

  She glared at him, daring him
to keep talking.

  “Well, since all other girls are crazy, I had a lot of girl trouble. I wasn’t born this charming. It’s learned.”

  She made a balking noise like she didn’t believe him, and then smiled, encouraging him to continue.

  “I was just as awkward as everyone else in my teens, and I did stupid stuff. A few times, I got in…a little over my head. Jack used to say, if you’re going to be with someone, you need to be with only that one person. Relationships are hard enough, and there is no way that they will work unless you give it all you have to give. I used to get in trouble with that when I was younger. Jack was pretty smart when it came to girls.”

  “So you don’t believe in two-timing anymore?” Sarah asked with a grin.

  “Not at all.”

  Her expression changing to confusion, Sarah asked, “What about your mom?”

  “I didn’t say I condone what she is doing, and I don’t know what she is doing. Besides, I’m not her, and that’s out of my control,” he answered nonchalantly.

  “So just me, then?” she asked.

  “Yep.” The word popped from his lips.

  “That’s good to know,” she said as a big smile spread across her face.

  “Is that OK—just the two of us?” he asked.

  “Yes, I think I would like that.”

  Will studied her. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

  “Are we there yet?” he asked as he continued to stare.

  “Almost. We just have to go through this little town up ahead, and then we’re practically there. Don’t blink, though, or you’ll miss it.”

  They had exited the freeway and were on a paved road headed west.

  “My family always stops at that bait shop there.” She pointed to a stark-white stucco building with gas pumps in front. “Jeff and I used to get a treat from there every time we came up to the cabin. It’s like a general store inside. They have everything. I think my parents used it as a bribe so we didn’t feel so bad about leaving our friends every weekend to come up to the lake.”