by Addison Cole
Roy rubbed a hand over his jaw and lifted his brows. “So, you find a bit of decay, some crumbled mortar. Son, how many times has a poorly built foundation ever gotten the best of you? You’re a Cross. You find the best parts of everything, and you breathe life into them. It’s who you are at your very core. Nothing behind those bricks is strong enough to change that. The question is, are you strong enough to face it? I believe you are.”
Grace’s fingers slid into Reed’s, offering silent support. Reed thought about how they’d hidden their relationship and how much potential angst they’d saved by doing so. They could have challenged those old rivalries and they could have spent their senior year of high school arguing with their friends. His answer didn’t come easily, but it came just the same. “Sometimes just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Come on. I assume Meggie’s already inside? Let’s go check out our next project.”
Inside the lobby, Reed was as awestruck as the others, just as he’d been when he’d first seen the multicolored inlaid marble floors and intricate woodwork around the refreshment counter.
“Just like I remember,” Ella said as she wrapped her hand around Roy’s arm and snuggled closer. “It was right here at this counter that your uncle proposed to me.”
“At the popcorn counter?” Reed laughed. “Real romantic, Roy.”
“It was more romantic than roses and diamonds,” Ella said. “He pointed to the soda fountain, which was right there at the time, and asked me what I wanted to drink. I told him it didn’t matter. I’d share whatever he was having.”
“And I said, ‘How about you share the rest of my life with me?’” Roy leaned down and kissed Ella. “If I were able to do it all over again, I’d probably do it just the same way. I caught you off guard and got you to agree to marry me before you had time to think about it. I’d say that’s the biggest win of my life.”
“Oh, Roy.” Ella wrinkled her nose.
“I think it’s perfectly romantic.” Grace squeezed Reed’s hand. “It was on this property that Reed first told me he loved me.”
The look in her eyes told Reed she was remembering that night as clearly as he was. He’d told her he loved her behind the theater, as they lay kissing, naked as the day they were born, beneath a blanket of stars, only moments before they’d made love for the very first time. Afterward, as they lay in each other’s arms, basking in the aftermath, he’d gazed into her eyes and said, I’m going to marry you one day. And he’d meant it.
The heels of Meggie’s boots tapped out a hurried rhythm as she raced out of the auditorium in a red paisley dress belted around her thick waist, with a short jean jacket over it. Her blond hair was gathered on one side in a pretty braid, a few long, wispy bangs framing her rosy cheeks and bright brown eyes.
“Hey, y’all! I’m so glad you made it out. Isn’t this place just to die for! Can you believe the shape it’s in?” Her arms moved animatedly as she spoke. “Gracie Montgomery, get on in here and give me a hug, girl!”
The amusement in Grace’s eyes was priceless as she embraced her old friend.
“Hi, Meg. It’s been a long time,” Grace said. “It’s nice to see you. You look gorgeous.”
“It’s Meggie.” She patted her hair and set one hand on her rounded hip. “Yes, I do look mighty fine, don’t I? After all those years of being thin as a twig, I finally got my groove on. Country livin’ will keep a girl in shape.” She dragged her gaze down Grace’s body, taking in her blousy blue top, skinny jeans, and high-heeled boots. “Looks like the city’s gotten its trendy claws into you.” She waved her hand and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Don’t you worry yourself none. I’m sure Ella can plump up those hips, give Reed something to hang on to. You must not have time to eat with your crazy schedule, Miss Big-Time Producer.” She gave a little whoop and headed back toward the theater, motioning for them to follow. “Wait until you see the auditorium. Reed sure got a steal on this baby…”
Grace looked down at her body as they walked in, and Reed pulled her close and whispered, “You’re perfect, baby. Thin, fat, in the middle, makes no difference. It’s what’s inside that counts.”
“My heart?” Grace said softly.
“Well, I was talking about what’s beneath those clothes, but your heart works, too.” He chuckled, dodging her hand as she swatted at him.
A look of awe came over Grace as she took in the auditorium’s domed ceiling, elaborate chandeliers, and balconies. “This is gorgeous, and it’s in amazing shape. I can’t believe it.”
“It sure is,” Meggie said.
As Meggie ran through the details of the property at breakneck speed, Grace whispered ideas to Reed. “There’s so much you can do here—presentations, weddings, outdoor movies. But you have to crunch the numbers. It’s easy to get carried away and excited, but it takes money to keep a theater afloat. And in a place like Oak Falls, you need to have a niche.”
The more ideas Grace had, the more infectious her enthusiasm became, and by the time they’d toured the whole facility, everyone was tossing out ideas.
“You could have Tweet seats,” Grace suggested.
“I hear they do that in the bigger cities, give away seats so people can tweet during the show and drum up buzz,” Meggie said. “I bet you’d have customers from all the neighboring areas.”
“And a mailer,” Ella offered. “We used to do them for Roy’s company when things got slow. People love to get mail.”
“Yes, but these days email works better, and it’s more cost-effective,” Grace said. “I read about one stage company that put a call out for original material, and they received more than four hundred submissions.”
“That sounds like a job in and of itself, to weed through them.” Reed inhaled deeply.
“Yes, but it also gave the company an identity, a niche,” Grace explained. “They’re now known for producing original plays, and they have an audience of more than thirty thousand loyal followers from all over the world, not just their small town.”
Reed was blown away. “I know very little about running a theater, but you guys are way ahead of me. I still have to do all the work, remember? That’s going to take a long time. I’ve got meetings scheduled next week with subcontractors to discuss the project, and my buddy Graham Braden, a structural engineer, will come down and help me out when I’m ready. But hiring is a long way off, and while I thought I’d hire people to run it, you’re talking about really specific experience. I’m not sure we have that around here.”
“Sure we do.” Ella looked adoringly at Grace. “She’s just living someplace else. But Grace could teach someone.”
“Oh, Ella, I don’t know about that,” Grace said. “But if you start small, I’m sure you can find someone with enough experience to get it off the ground.”
“I know just the person!” Meggie exclaimed. “I had a client, Mr. Mosby, who’s niece was in theater in Chicago. Mr. Mosby said she was talking about moving back to Whisper Creek to be near her mama, who’s been living overseas for the past few years. Her mama had married a rich French man and, well, I guess he found a younger model. Mr. Mosby said she was over the moon about the reunion. Can you imagine? After all those years? Why, I think I’d cry a river if I went that long without seeing my mama…”
She continued talking, but Reed’s mind had taken a detour, and now he was thinking about Frank again. Tension puddled in his gut, seeping through his veins, until his jaw was so tight he stepped away from the group to keep them from noticing.
Meggie followed him and said, “Anyway, if you go that direction, I’d be happy to reach out to Mr. Mosby and connect you two, if you’d like.”
Reed gritted his teeth, trying to temper his frustration. Why couldn’t he put Frank out of his head? “Thanks, Meggie. I’ll keep that in mind. I think we’ve seen enough. I appreciate you coming out.”
“Okeydokey. I’ll see you at settlement. You just give me a holler if you need me between now and then.” She
winked at Grace and said, “But I’d imagine you’ll be a little busy as long as Grace is in town.”
They headed outside, and after Meggie drove way, Grace said, “Are you okay?”
His gut reaction was to say yes, to shrug off his angst and move on, but the concern in Grace’s eyes deserved the truth. “Just trying to shake off some history of my own.”
“Frank?” she asked. “Maybe you just need to talk to him. Hear what he has to say. He is your father, Reed.”
Reed shook his head and pointed to Roy. “That man is, and always will be, my father.”
“Son, I love you—you know that—but you are one stubborn son of a gun.” Roy held his gaze as he closed the distance between them.
“You want me to talk to that guy?” Reed tried to temper his anger, but it bubbled out in his rising voice. “The guy who turned his back on me? Who tossed me in your laps with no regard for what life plans you had?”
“Hey,” Ella said sharply. “Don’t you go there, sweetheart. The minute you were born, you took hold of our hearts and you’ve never let go.”
“I’m sorry, Ella. I know that,” he conceded. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant—”
“We know what you meant,” Roy said. “And we know how difficult this is for you, because we’re just as tormented by his reappearing in our lives. But he’s your fathe—”
“No,” Reed hollered. “You’re my father. You will always be my father. As far as I’m concerned, he’s just the man who supplied the sperm. No more important than an anonymous donor.”
Sadness washed over Roy as he placed his hands on Reed’s shoulders and spoke solemnly. “No, son. I’m the lucky man who got to raise you. But he’ll always be your father. You can’t deny blood any more than you can deny that a part of your mother lives on in your love of history.”
Reed tried to twist out of his uncle’s grip, but Roy held him too tight. “I’m finally happy and whole, and you want me to put it all on the line for a guy who couldn’t give his own son the time of day?”
“No,” Roy said, hands tightening on Reed’s shoulders. “I want you to think about this long and hard before you run from it.”
“I’ve never run from a thing,” Reed seethed.
Roy’s gaze darted to Grace for only a fraction of a second, but that was long enough for Reed to connect the dots back to when he’d left town after high school.
Roy lowered his hands and said, “You feel whole right now because you think you’re in control and because you have us and Grace and a project to bury your thoughts in. But that anger you’re carrying around will eat away at you worse than anything Frank could ever say. All I’m asking is that you think about talking to him and deal with the anger before it deals with you.”
“I have nothing to say to him,” Reed said tightly.
“You don’t have to convince me, son,” Roy said. “Just ask yourself one question. When you have children of your own, what will you tell them about your father? That he came to talk to you and you turned him away? Are you going to spread your anger to your children? Have them hate the man for what he did to you? Because I sure hope we raised you better than that.”
Ella stepped tentatively toward Reed. “We love you, honey, and we’ll support whatever you decide.”
“Will you?” Reed kept his eyes trained on Roy, who nodded curtly, then headed for his truck.
Chapter Twenty-One
TENSION ROLLED OFF Reed like gusts of wind as he climbed rigidly into the driver’s seat, his jaw working overtime. He started the truck and gripped the steering wheel so tight his knuckles blanched. Grace knew of only one way to tame that type of emotional turmoil—complete and utter sidetracking.
“Do you still have the blankets in the truck?”
He nodded curtly, just as his uncle had.
“Great. Two stops. Pastry Palace and Dempsey’s Overpass.”
Dempsey’s Overpass was a dilapidated covered bridge they’d come across when they were teenagers looking for a private place to park and fool around. The bridge was located down an old country road that hadn’t been in use since the new overpass was built a few miles farther downstream. Below the bridge was a service road, also out of use and blocked with a concrete barrier. They used to drive around that barrier and park down by the water. It was the one place they gravitated toward whenever one of them was in a bad mood.
He pulled swiftly out of the lot, and Grace put her hand on his rock-hard thigh. If she’d been with any other man who was strung this tight, she might worry he’d snap and lash out at her, but not Reed. She didn’t say another word as he drove to Whisper Creek, and by the time they arrived, he was breathing a little easier. He put his hand over hers, locking them together. She leaned against him, glad to feel some of his tension falling away.
When they reached Pastry Palace, she said, “Just pull up out front and I’ll run in.”
He parked by the curb, but he didn’t release her hand, staring out the front window for a long, silent moment before finally lifting her hand and pressing a kiss to her palm. He placed her palm to his cheek and leaned into it, closing his eyes. Grace put her arms around him, and he returned the embrace, holding her so tight, she could feel how deeply he was hurting.
“Sorry, Gracie. I feel like a runaway train when I think of Frank, and I don’t know how to put on the brakes.”
“I know, and I understand. Wait until you see me when a production goes wrong. I’m like the Tasmanian devil, only louder. I get it.”
He kissed her neck, her cheek, and then his mouth found hers, tenderly at first, then frantic and rough, as if he could escape the pain of the unknown through their love. And oh, how she wished he could. She took as eagerly as she gave, wanting to erase his pain. She didn’t care that they were parked on the main drag or that anyone walking by could see them making out. All that mattered was that Reed was her world, and he needed her.
“Why are we here?” he asked heatedly, his fingers tangling in her hair.
She grinned and said, “There’s only one remedy for this type of angst.”
Confusion riddled his brow, and she kissed those worry lines. Then she crawled over him, squeezing in between the steering wheel and his broad chest.
“I like where this is headed.” He flashed a cocky grin.
She gave him a sweet kiss, opened his door, and climbed off his lap and out of the truck. “Try to hold on to those thoughts while I grab provisions.”
A few minutes later, Grace was back in the truck, her hand on his thigh, as he drove toward their destination. His body heat burned through the thick denim. She cuddled closer, feeling a lot like she had all those years ago, completely head over heels with a man who was as easy to read as he was to love. She pressed her lips to his shoulder, breathing him in. When he laced their fingers together, she squeezed his leg.
“Grace,” he said in warning.
He placed his hand on hers. Her heart hammered foolishly, like they were teenagers sneaking out to console each other. As kids Reed had been the salve to her worries, her secret treasure at the end of her days. Now he was her everything. She unhooked her seat belt and went up on her knees as he drove around the roadblock and headed down the old service road toward the river. She hadn’t been down this road for so many years, she didn’t expect recognition to hit her as they ambled along the steep hill. Adrenaline and desire sped through her as she kissed his neck, earning one greedy noise after another. His big hand still covered hers.
He parked by the riverbank and kissed her slow and deep. His masculine scent coalesced with the pungent smell of damp earth, and memories gathered around them like old friends.
“I’m crazy about you, baby,” he said in a gravelly voice. “I remember the first time we came here. We were both upset about having to hide our relationship.”
“We said we’d tell everyone the next day.”
“But the next day was homecoming, and we both thought we should wait.”
They were
breathing hard from the emotional evening and the heat between them, and surely from the memories knocking on their door. Grace took in the old covered bridge standing sentinel against the gray night sky, its weathered wooden boards missing in places, hanging cockeyed in others. The long grass on the hill shifted in the May breeze, bringing a memory, clear as the love between them, of sometime before they’d broken up. A week, a month, she couldn’t be sure, but she remembered confiding in Reed her biggest secret. As much as she’d wanted to go to New York, she’d been terrified of leaving everything she knew and loved behind, despite the fact that Sophie would be going with her and attending the same school. He’d looked into her eyes with the most earnest expression, those dark blue eyes of his giving her courage before he’d even spoken a word. But then his words had given her even more fortitude: You’re the bravest, strongest girl I know. There’s nothing you can’t do, Gracie, and I’ll be cheering you on every step of the way. She’d clung to those words so often, she was sure they had been the shovels that had dug the holes for her roots to begin sprouting in the concrete jungle.
“It was always me and you,” she said as he climbed from the truck.
Reed put his arms around her, pulling her to the edge of the seat and wedging himself between her legs. He buried his face in her chest, holding her tight.
Seconds later he was studying her face. “Why is your heart beating so hard?”
“I just realized how selfish I was when we broke up.”
“Don’t you ever think that, Grace. We both thought I would never leave here, and we both knew you had to.”
“But I was watching out for me,” she said with an apologetic gaze. “It was selfish.”
“All kids are selfish at that age. I was supremely selfish. I’m the one who said I’d never leave, remember? A better boyfriend would have said he’d follow you anywhere.”
He brushed her hair over her shoulders, the anger and tension she’d seen replaced with that serious, loving look that made her insides dip and flip.
