“You’ve got a stalker?” Wrapping a protective arm over her shoulders, he glanced around the lakefront.
“I wouldn’t call it a stalker, exactly.” She swallowed, noticing Tim seemed angry. “More like an obsessed fan. This trip to Crystal Rock wasn’t on my schedule, so there really isn’t much reason to worry while I’m here.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Tim growled, escorting her to the solarium door. They walked together through the entrance as the automatic doors slid open.
“I’m getting a lot of strange emails and letters and gifts being sent to me. My publicist has someone hired to take care of stuff like that though.”
Tim frowned. “You haven’t even seen what this person’s been sending?”
Emily shook her head no. “I saw the first few letters when they came last year. Once mom hired Ben Bartlett as my manager, he began taking care of those kinds of things for me.”
Tim still didn’t seem reassured. “Shouldn’t you have a bodyguard or something?”
Emily gave him a wry smile. “I’ve been modeling for years. I’m not that famous.”
“But Emily, one day you will be. There’s not a single doubt in my mind.” Tim appeared resigned as they strolled onward.
A voice resounded through the breezeway as they began walking toward the reception. “Tim?”
Emily stared at the people hovering near the end of the hallway. She was pretty sure the man who was calling out was Tim’s father. And the woman standing beside him was...
“Aunt Trish?”
After looking at Tim first and then at Emily, her aunt gave her a mischievous grin. “Your mom’s about ready to call the cops. It’s nice to see you again Tim. Maybe it’s my imagination, but didn’t something exactly like this happen once before?”
Tim grinned, winking at Emily. “Not exactly like this.”
“Ah, hah,” Jack Atkinson said, raising a brow. “What have you been up to, Son? Doing me proud, I hope?”
Smiling at Emily, Tim’s father continued, “It’s good to see you again, Miss Emily.”
“Hi, Mr. Atkinson. Tim said you’re going to be adopting my puppy?”
Jack gazed accusingly at his son. “Tim never told me you were the friend who found her.”
Tim was suddenly looking embarrassed.
“Her?” Emily asked.
“The puppy’s a girl,” Tim muttered. “I didn’t even notice.”
“Probably because you were too busy noticing Emily,” Jack said, giving Emily’s Aunt Trish a roguish grin.
“Dad!” Tim muttered, looking sheepish.
Trish began laughing out loud. “It’s great to see Emily actually enjoying herself again.”
And Emily was; although she knew she was blushing. Had they guessed what she and Tim had been up to? Probably. But she began laughing out loud anyway. After all, her mom was the only one who could spoil this night for her, and if she discovered Emily had met Tim after her performance, she most likely would.
Aunt Trish suddenly became serious. “We figured we’d head you guys off before your mom shows up.”
Emily looked at Tim with regret. She hated to have to say goodbye already. As soon as her mom appeared, it would be time to go upstairs to their suite and finish packing. They would be leaving Crystal Rock early tomorrow.
Staring at Emily, Tim asked, “Give us a minute. Dad? Trish?”
“Sure,” they answered in unison.
As Tim pulled Emily into a dark corner at the end of the breezeway, Jack and Trish strolled together down the hallway to keep a lookout for Emily’s mother.
Tim asked abruptly, “Can we exchange emails?”
She hesitated. “I’ll try to leave something for you at the desk tomorrow before we take off for home.”
“Okay.” He hesitated. “I know it’ll be hard keeping in touch since your mom seems to watch everything you do.”
Emily nodded. “Yeah, she does.”
“Promise me you won’t let her run your life forever?”
Emily blinked. “I’ll try.” Tears were suddenly falling down her face.
“Oh, Em,” Tim said hoarsely, before pulling her close and laying his lips over hers.
Gentle at first, Tim deepened his kiss with a hungry urgency that send shivers down her spine.
Emily’s head was reeling when she kissed him back. As hot little ripples of pleasure shot down to her toes, her bones liquefied, and if Tim hadn’t been holding her so tightly, she would’ve dropped right down to the ground at his feet.
And as their lips blended, sweet satisfaction rippled straight through her very soul.
When Tim broke away, Emily stood there in a trance staring into Tim’s eyes. “Wow,” she finally said breathlessly.
But Tim gave her the most forlorn smile she’d ever seen. “Don’t forget me?”
She answered softly, “Never.”
Tim sighed, reaching for her hand. Without saying another word, they moved slowly down the hallway. Tim gave her a final smile of reassurance when he dropped her hand before strolling along with his father towards the reception.
Emily couldn’t help it when tears began running down her face.
“Aw, Em.” Sighing, her aunt tugged Emily gently into her arms and let her cry to her heart’s content.
When Emily’s tears began to subside, her aunt pulled out a handkerchief from her purse.
“Do you think I’ll ever see him again?” Emily asked, attempting to blot away the tears from her face.
“It’s up to you, Emily. Maybe someday you’ll return to Dragonfly Pointe,” Aunt Trish answered quietly, glancing across the room at Tim’s dad. “But of course you never know what fate might have in store for you.”
As Emily watched Tim walking through the crowd with his dad, she felt an overwhelming sense of regret. She nearly began crying again. She had a feeling that keeping in touch would be nearly impossible.
Chapter Seven
Another six years later.
It was four o’clock in the morning when Emily finally arrived in the town of Crystal Rock. Hoping to be less recognizable stopping for food and gas on her cross-country drive, she was driving a rental signed out under her aunt’s name.
Nothing had been broadcast over the news about Emily Richardson’s disappearance yet, but Emily knew her mom had most likely hired someone to figure out where she was.
Still under her mother’s thumb at twenty-four years old, Emily had finally had enough. She was exhausted and tired of never being allowed to have any say so about her own career, so she’d sent instructions for Ben Bartlett to cancel her scheduled appearances over the next two months.
Eager to come up with material that she would be proud to sing as opposed to forced, Emily’s main objective during this break would be to write new songs.
Her mother didn’t have a reason to suspect Emily was in Crystal Rock since she hadn’t returned for over six years. Her emails and calls were monitored for her own welfare, according to her mother. Through the years, Emily had kept in touch with her aunt by purchasing throw away phones and notepad computers she’d been able to keep hidden for her own personal use.
As far as the stalker she supposedly had? Emily had figured out long ago that it was probably her mother’s ploy to keep Emily even more of a prisoner than she already was.
Yes, she was sad and disillusioned, but most of it had to do with learning that her boyfriend Mark Emory wasn’t the man she thought he was. Emily should have known better. It’d been her mother who had introduced Mark to her after all.
When all the pictures had shown up in the weekly entertainment rags, Emily had refused to believe Mark was seeing someone else. He’d asked her to marry him. How stupid and naïve was she to believe him, when he told her it was work related to be seen with the actress he would be paired with in his upcoming film?
The worst part about it was Emily had alienated one of her few close friends when she hadn’t believed her. Sarah had seen Mark together wi
th this other woman in town at a restaurant when Mark was supposed to be on the other side of the world. He hadn’t tried very hard to hide his affair from Emily.
Emily had managed to grow up fast in the past year. Why had Mark asked her to marry him, she’d wanted to know?
And the answer had been simple—money.
She’d been planning this revolt from her celebrity life in California for the past year and thankfully Aunt Trish had been willing to help her out. First, Emily had hired a lawyer to try to get her financials as well as her contracts disentangled from her mother’s grasp. Emily had never signed anything willingly and she’d actually left town at her lawyer’s suggestion.
Not that she would ever abandon her mother. Emily would gladly give her an allowance.
But enough was enough. It was time for Emily to control her own career.
As well as her life.
Chapter Eight
Waking suddenly, Tim Atkinson jerked upright in the bed. A cool sweat clung to his skin, and reaching for the T-shirt abandoned in the chair beside him, he used it to wipe his forehead.
“Rrrrff, rrrrff.” Obviously concerned, Chloe had immediately rushed over and rested her front paws on the bed near Tim.
“That’s alright girl. I’m fine. Just another one of those stupid nightmares,” he muttered. Reaching over, he scratched the dog’s head behind the ears.
Aside from his nightmares, it might’ve been instinct that’d woke him up, he realized noticing the lights switched on at Trish’s house across the inlet. Since Trish had married his dad five years ago and moved in with him, she’d been renting out her house off and on through the years. It was odd though. Usually, she asked Tim to make sure the house was clean and the water heater was lit before anyone arrived.
She and Dad were away for several weeks, so she must’ve forgotten. He’d better drop over there, he supposed, before heading into work.
“Well, Chloe. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be able to fall back asleep. How about you and me going for an early run?”
“Rrrrff, rrrrff,” she answered, wagging her tail madly.
Tim had been back from Iraq for nearly a year now, but even the quietest sounds made him feel like jumping out from his skin.
The Air Force had been great for him when he’d first enlisted. The hard work and training put him into the best shape he’d ever been in his life. He’d learned how to fly, he’d jumped out of planes and after three years he’d finally made it into the training program for service dogs down in Texas.
But when he’d eventually gone overseas? It’d been nothing like he’d expected. To say he’d been naïve was an understatement. After losing half of his squadron and two of his friends, along with three of the service dogs that Tim had overseen in training, he was a having a difficult time moving forward since witnessing the horrific explosion responsible for their deaths.
When reenlistment time approached, Tim had been informed by Trish that his father had survived a heart attack while Tim had been overseas. Dad hadn’t wanted him to know but Tim made the decision to opt out immediately. It was a sign as far as he was concerned. He just wasn’t sure about his ability to cope going back into active duty after losing his friends. And what if he lost his dad too while he was away? Who knows how Tim would’ve handled not being here for him when his father needed him the most.
But Tim had learned so much from his training experience; he wouldn’t have missed it for the world. After returning home to Crystal Rock, he’d known exactly what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. Well—it’d taken a few months of therapy first.
It’d seemed like a calling, because he’d been able to get a bunch of people on board with him while attempting to raise start-up funds.
He’d only been going at it for a couple of months. But he’d picked out his six most likely candidates from the animal shelter here in town. It was a new idea that he’d had to train strays into service dogs and companions; not only for veterans but for disabled children and adults as well.
Normally dogs from certain bloodlines were chosen because of their dependability and willingness to learn.
But Tim didn’t totally agree it was necessary using only pure bred dogs. He’d grown up with Scamp who’d been loving and dependable and easy to train, and the same could be said for his father’s dog Chloe since she’d been rescued as a puppy six years ago.
He would be extra careful though, and keep a watchful eye on the dogs he was training for any signs of aggression. It was true some breeds could be more susceptible than others.
Chloe had been Tim’s constant companion since he’d returned home to Crystal Rock. Tim figured Chloe could sense the distress and restlessness he was feeling, and since his father and Trish did a lot of traveling around the country in their RV, Dad had asked Tim to watch Chloe for the summer. She was spending more time with Tim than she was with Dad and Trish anyway.
He’d assumed Chloe would’ve been a distraction for the other dogs when it came to their training. Instead she behaved like Tim’s assistant. When Tim was instructing one of the dogs, Chloe would sit and watch attentively. She was like a drill sergeant rounding up whichever dog would try and break the routine.
Tim looked at the time on the alarm clock. It was only six o’clock but the sun was coming up outside. Better to begin his day than spend it thinking too much, he decided, swinging his feet to the floor and standing up from the bed. He slipped into some sweats and a T-shirt before pulling on socks and shoes.
Tim made his way downstairs, grinning as Chloe walked beside him into the kitchen. She seemed afraid to even let him out of her sight anymore. After setting the coffee to brew, Tim reached for the container filled with dry dog food in the lower cabinet. Scooping some into Chloe’s bowl, he watched her quickly chomp it down.
“Ready girl?”
“Rrrrff, rrrrff,” she answered, looking expectantly at Tim.
“That’s your fault. If I were you, I’d want to go outside and do my duty before I ate.” She kept looking at him expectantly. “I’ll bet if I poured that whole container of food into your bowl, you’d eat it all at once. Wouldn’t you?”
“Rrrrff, rrrrff.”
“Dad had you looking like a butterball before I came home!”
She cocked her head, sitting down. “Rrrff?”
“Yes, really.”
On his way through the back doorway, Tim paused rolling his eyes upward. Was he actually having a conversation with the dog?
“Yep, I’ve really lost it girl,” he muttered, waiting for Chloe to follow him outside so he could close the door.
The sun was beginning to emerge from beyond the horizon and the fresh air felt great, Tim thought, jogging along the beach. After running for nearly twenty minutes, he stood for a moment admiring the rainbow of colors glistening across the lake.
He’d made his way around the beach, and was standing near the path leading toward Trish’s house. Normally, he wouldn’t knock this early, but since the lights were on in the kitchen, Tim made his way across the sand and followed the trail up to the house with Chloe running along beside him.
He knocked on the back door. Whoever was here was driving a rental, he noticed, with California plates. Hmm. They’d come an awfully long way.
The back door opened and as Tim turned around his eyes went wide.
It was the last person he’d ever expected to see again.
“Em?”
Chapter Nine
Emily stood gazing at this rough looking guy who seemed to know her name. She stared doubtingly at the long hair and beard, and then her eyes took in his long lean body. He was wearing a gray pocket T-shirt that appeared to be drenched with sweat. Hopefully, she wasn’t opening the door to some kind of lunatic running loose in Crystal Rock.
“Can I help you?”
His eyes met hers. “It’s Tim.”
When she heard an excited yip, she looked hard at the dog that was standing beside him.
Wai
t a minute, she thought. “Atkinson? You’re Tim Atkinson?” she asked flatly.
He nodded slowly.
“What can I do for you?” she asked.
He looked surprised. Well, if he expected her to be happy to see him, he could just forget it. She wasn’t the same gullible fool that she’d been six years ago. There were very few people she trusted anymore. It seemed that the more successful she’d become, everyone she knew had wanted something more from her except for Aunt Trish.
“I probably need to light the hot water heater for you. Plus, I should doublecheck the fuse box to make sure all the power in the house is switched on.”
She held open the door for Tim. Emily wasn’t sure what to do when the dog came scampering in behind him, and she and the dog stared into each other’s eyes.
“C’mon Chloe,” Tim called out.
Still looking at Emily, Chloe answered, “Woof,” before following Tim down the stairs into the basement.
Wait a minute. This wasn’t the same dog that she’d rescued on the beach six years ago? With his creamy coat and tan colored spots, he certainly looked like he was. Or rather she seemed to be the same dog.
Chloe? This was the closest Emily had come to smiling during the last year. It was an appropriate name because she’d grown into a pretty dog with a fluffy coat and beautiful markings.
A few minutes later, Tim climbed up the staircase while Chloe followed closely behind. For a moment, Tim hesitated glancing Emily’s way. “The hot water heater’s going, and you’ve got power now through the entire house. Usually Trish calls me and I pick up a few basics like bread, coffee and milk for whoever’s renting the place. She must have forgotten.”
“Well, there are some groceries in the fridge. Maybe she had someone else bring them over? My visit to Crystal Rock is supposed to be a secret.”
Tim nodded, giving her a thoughtful look. “I’ve been forgetting to bring my cell phone along when I go into work. Maybe she couldn’t get a hold of me since I haven’t been home much.”
Emily quelled the urge to ask where he was working. Judging by his appearance, he probably was managing his father’s business again. What a shame. She knew he’d had bigger dreams.
A Kiss Upon A Star Page 6