Against the Wall (Stoddard Art School Series Book 3)

by Lisa A. Olech

  “I’ll call you as soon as I get to LA. Walter is taking care of Shadow, so you don’t have to worry about him. Just remind him the spare key for the point house is in the stupid rock that doesn’t look like a rock by the side door.”

  “Will do.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “You need to stop asking me that.” She forced a smile.

  His cell buzzed again. “I gotta go. I’ll call you.”

  “I’ll be waiting.” She met his gaze and held it as the words soured on her tongue. He wouldn’t know she was lying if she didn’t look away. “Oh, before you leave, could you do me a favor?” Kay fished the letter from Stoddard from her rear pocket. She folded it over so he couldn’t read the letterhead. “The final supply order. I need a quick signature.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “You’re awful quiet.”

  Bear pushed the phone back into his pocket. “Kay’s not picking up.”

  “She probably took the day off. The boss is out of town. Cat’s away and all.”

  “Kay’s not like that.”

  “Oh, honey, everyone’s like that.” Diane pulled her bag out of the overhead compartment. “Come on. I need a drink and a cigarette. We have a two-hour layover here in Chicago. I plan to use my time wisely.” She cranked an eyebrow at him. “In the bar.”

  Bear grabbed his carry-on bag and followed her out of the plane. “Wasn’t the free champagne in first class enough for you?”

  “I think they water it down.”

  “I doubt it.”

  Diane made a straight shot for the smoker’s lounge. Bear stood outside. The enclosed glass cubicle set aside for smokers reminded him of the monkey cage at the zoo. You couldn’t look at them all surrounded in their blue smoked haze without feeling a bit sorry for them.

  He tried calling the inn again. No answer. Where was she? She wouldn’t have taken the day off. Something wasn’t right. He’d sensed it when he said goodbye. He sensed it all the way to Portland and on the flight here to Chicago.

  It wasn’t what she said when he caught up with her at her car. Kay had been nothing but understanding. He expected her to be more upset, but she was great.

  He pictured her with her headphones on, lost in her work. While she was in her zone, maybe she couldn’t hear the phone. Everything was fine. He was worrying for nothing. If he could just shake this uneasy feeling.

  Diane emerged in a toxic cloud. There was an edge to her now that Bear didn’t quite recognize. Still beautiful by LA standards, but there was a hardness. She was almost brittle in the way she walked, spoke, the way she treated their driver and the flight attendants. Had she always been like this? Had he just never noticed? He was certain of one thing, however. She no longer resembled the young, eager design student from USC.

  She slipped an arm through his and tugged him along. “I could use a martini.”

  Sidled up to the bar, Bear opted for coffee, which may have been a mistake. He’d forgotten how bad airport coffee could be. Even the inn’s sludge was better. He took a sip, grimaced at the bitter, acrid taste, and pushed it aside. “What time is the meeting in the morning?”

  “I don’t know, nineish.” Diane rubbed her thumb over a chip in her manicure.

  “Ish? You don’t know? Six hours ago you made it sound desperate.”

  She swirled the olives in her drink. “I never said desperate.”

  “No, you tossed around the words like emergency, urgent, Federal lawsuit, bankruptcy. Any of those sound familiar? Why else would I be sitting in an airport bar in Chicago?”

  “It is urgent.”

  “And I only have to show my face, and then Regency calls off their vultures?”

  Diane nodded and ate her olive. “That’s what Fred Becker said.”

  Bear frowned. “You’re a hell of a lot calmer about this than you were this morning. Why?”

  “Because you agreed to come back with me. Saving the day like the superhero you are.” She smiled at him over one shoulder.

  “Adam Dunbar can’t make the meeting. He’s in court all morning, but he’s agreed to talk to me prior. You have the court order demanding my presence? I’ll want to see it. Adam needs to hear the exact wording, so I’ll know how to respond.”

  Diane flipped a hand. “Sure, sure. It’s at the office.”

  “Wait a minute. You left it at the office?”

  “That’s where we’re heading now, isn’t it?”

  “But you didn’t know for certain when you decided to fly clear across the country to get me.”

  Diane flashed him a smug smile. “I know you better than you think I do, Bear. I never had any doubt that you wouldn’t come back with me. I mean, once I explained everything in person. Come on.” She placed a hand on his knee. “When have you ever been able to say no to me?”

  There was something in the way she said the words. It made the tiny hairs on the back of Bear’s neck prickle. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was, but Diane was right. They both knew one another too well. It was foolish to underestimate her.

  “What’s the name of the judge?”

  Diane blinked at him twice before giving her head a quick shake. “What?”

  “The judge,” he reiterated. “What’s his name?”

  “How should I know?” She took a large swallow of her drink and signaled the bartender to bring her another. “I don’t remember those insignificant details. That’s what I have lawyers for.”

  “Fine.” Bear pulled out his phone. “Give me Fred Becker’s number.”

  “What for?”

  “He can tell me the judge’s name, and tell me what time we’re meeting in the morning, so I can make my flight arrangements back to Maine.”

  She sighed. “Relax. You need to see this through. I may have guessed at the time thing. It might take more than just one meeting. You’d have to stay in LA a bit longer. Would that be so awful?” She stroked his thigh.

  Bear removed her hand. “That’s not what I agreed to, Diane.”

  “Why the hell do you have to rush back anyway? It’s not like the inn is even open yet.” She stroked his cheek. “You look tired. Maybe this could be a blessing in disguise. Get you away for a few days. I’ve missed you. We could spend some time together. Visit some of our old haunts. Do you know I haven’t eaten at Jacob’s since you left? Remember how delicious their paella was the night we were there celebrating your birthday? I’m off carbs, but, yum, I could make an exception.”

  “This isn’t a vacation, Diane. Dragging me across the country to face legal charges is hardly getting away. Do you think the inn will open itself? I’m on a deadline. I have contractors lined up, inspections. I promised you one day.”

  Diane notched her chin and huffed. “And spending time with me would kill you, I suppose? I thought once I got you away from that little backwater town you’d see how ridiculous you’ve been. You don’t belong there. Maine? Give me a break. I mean it’s beautiful, but you don’t move there. You should be with me. In Los Angeles. Coulter Designs needs you back. I need you, too.”

  “Is that what all this is about?” He narrowed his eyes. “If you’re playing me, Diane, so help me…” He lowered his voice and hissed. “Tell me there really is a lawsuit. Tell me you haven’t made this whole thing up in some cockamamie scheme to get me back to California.”

  “Would you be sitting here otherwise?”

  “That doesn’t answer my question. I want the truth. Now.”

  “I have told you the truth. I’ve done nothing else for weeks. I can’t make it without you. If you don’t come back, I’m bankrupt. I’ll lose it all. I need you in California. You’re Coulter Designs. No one cares that I risked everything, sacrificed everything for this company. Built it from a second-hand computer and a slide rule. I thought once I had the name and the company, that would be it. I’d finally get some of the credit, but no. They don’t want me. Never did. They want you, the great Barrett Coulter. Do you know how many times a da
y I heard, Where’s Bear? Can we talk to Bear?” Diane leaned into him and hissed back. “And then I call you and hear how wonderful things are for you in that stupid inn and you’re falling for little miss paintbrush? How do you think it made me feel?”

  Bear’s hands curled into fists. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”

  “We were good once, Bear. I was there for you when everything fell into the crapper. You were supposed to play for the Dallas Cowboys. I was supposed to be a team wife with all those beautiful perks. But it all ended, and who was the one who had to help you after the surgeries? Me, that’s who. Getting you cleaned and dressed. Taking you back and forth to doctors and PT. And then you decide we’re done?”

  “You’re the one who filed for divorce, Diane.”

  “Right, because you didn’t have the balls to do it yourself. We didn’t have a marriage anymore. And I was okay with that because of the business. If we couldn’t be marriage partners, at least we were business partners. But then you decided you’d had enough of that as well. What the hell did you expect?”

  Bear was speechless. The sound of his heartbeat pulsed in his ears. Diane had pulled some crazy shit before, but this was beyond anything he could even wrap his brain around. His back teeth were in danger of shattering.

  Diane turned back and spoke into her drink. “The Regency deal fell apart six months ago. I paid Fred Becker to dance around Adam Dunbar and feed him the continuation story. I was trying to buy time. There haven’t been any commissions since.” She shot him a glance. “It was desperate. I was desperate. I’m sorry I tricked you, but if we’re to find our way back, back to where Coulter Designs used to be, back to one another, we need to be in the same damn time zone.” She drained her drink as the second one arrived.

  “You’re insane.” He was on his feet and grabbing his bag before he wrapped his hands around something else, like her throat.

  “Admit you’re not happy there, Bear. Just be honest with me. You bought the inn to hurt me. Maine was just as far as you could run and still be in the same country. I didn’t want to lose you.” Diane followed him. “When I met Kay, I got more than a little jealous. I’m not proud of it, but there it is. I may have fibbed a little about you moving back to California, but I’d do it ag—”

  Bear spun on her. “You did what?”

  She held her hands up in surrender. “I said, you were considering, just considering coming back.” Her lips thinned. “I may have insinuated that we…you and I…you know.”

  Red rage clouded his vision. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Bear headed back toward the terminal.

  “Where are you going?” Diane called after him.

  “Where do you think?” Bear dodged the other travelers while dialing the inn on his cell.

  “Slow down, will you. I can’t keep up with you in heels!”

  Still no answer. He tried Kay’s number. It went straight to voice mail. He stopped to look at the departure board. Portland Jetport would be the closest airport to Bell Harbor, but they didn’t handle very many flights in and out and it looked like the only flight listed had been canceled. Maybe there was a later flight not yet listed. His second option would be to go to Logan Airport in Boston. Rent a car.

  Delayed notices flashed on two flights headed to Boston. Looked as if flights into Providence were affected as well. The storm they’d been predicting must be worse than they originally thought.

  One Boston flight was still on schedule. It was due to leave within the hour. Bear prayed there was a still a seat. He’d sit in the pilot’s lap if he had to.

  “Bear, I’m sorry.” Diane tugged at his sleeve.

  He shook loose. “Go home, Diane.”

  “If it’s any consolation, I was feeling pretty guilty. I called FTD before our flight left Portland. I sent her a peace offering. The card said Sorry. Signed from you.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I’m sure once you’ve explained what a bitch I am…”

  That prickling sensation was back under his collar. “What are you talking about? What kind of peace offering?”

  “I sent flowers. Come on. What woman can stay mad at the man she loves after he sends her a stunning bouquet of three dozen long-stemmed red roses?”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Kay moved as if she were walking under water while the rest of the world was on fast forward. For the first hour after Bear left with Diane, she did nothing but circle Bell Harbor. The blur of happy tourist’s faces only adding to the shock of what happened.

  Had he been lying to her this whole time? Playing two women? Two coasts? Had Diane not shown up, would he have gone on lying? Let Kay move in with him?

  “Likes having someone warming his bed…”

  What was he telling Diane? Was he lying to her as well?

  “Bear’s told me such stories about all of you.”

  Was she just another colorful character he’d met here? Another worker at the inn he’d joke about not working weekends? A charming, quirky addition to his new life in Maine?

  No, she was a charming, quirky idiot who made the mistake—again—of trusting the words that came out of a man’s mouth. A shaft of pain through her chest stopped her in her tracks. This couldn’t be happening again.

  Not again, not Bear.

  She was so sure this time. She’d been careful. Cautious. After Todd, she’d watched for all the signs, the little avoidances, the occasional trip up, when he couldn’t quite remember one lie from another, body language…another naked woman in the bed.

  Kay slapped a hand over her eyes. No. There had been nothing to warn her off handing Bear her heart on a silver platter. She had no one to blame but herself.

  She still had the letter from Madeline Sullivan crushed in her fist. Bear had been in such a hurry, he hadn’t even read it before he scribbled his signature at the bottom. Kay let out a sob. See, it was easy to get away with a lie. She’d done it too. It was amazing how easy it had been. It had rolled off her tongue and she hadn’t batted an eye.

  But she was an amateur compared to the rest of them. Todd, Claire, Bear. How did they do it? Maybe after a while you just believed all your lies. Perhaps that was the biggest lie of all—the one you convinced yourself was the truth.

  She tore the letter in half. Tears flooded her eyes as she tore it again, and again. There was no way she was going to head down that dark, potholed road. The truth would always scream through the chaos for her. It was the only way she could survive.

  Bear wasn’t her future. The truth was, he wasn’t even her present. She really couldn’t blame him. She was the one who wanted a relationship with no strings. Wasn’t that the agreement?

  He was a job. A job where she forgot the rules about getting involved with clients. A summer’s folly. She’d been foolish and naïve to see it as anything more. The summer might not be over, but the game was.

  She had work to do. A painting to finish. As hard as it was going to be to step into the lobby, she had a professional responsibility to her client—Mr. Barrett Coulter.

  Then what? Hell, she was practically all packed, thanks to her mother. Another wave of pain settled on her. Claire was sick. Dying? Kay couldn’t pretend that wasn’t happening either.

  She did a slow turn there on the sidewalk. Bell Harbor. It had always been her soft place to land. Perhaps this was the biggest lie of them all. There was no soft place. Only children believed pretty pink fantasies. Life was hard. Her heart had the scars to prove it.

  The phone rang again.

  It had started not long after Kay had worked up the nerve to come back into the inn. She didn’t answer it. Her cell rang a moment later. She turned it off. Part of her wanted to unplug the inn’s phone, but each time it rang, it only solidified her resolve.

  She wasn’t leaving until the mural was done, even if she had to work straight through until morning. The last addition before the final wash was placing the new into the old. The inn’s new owner…and his dog, resting in the shade of the inn’s
front porch.

  Over the last few weeks, Kay had taken several candid pictures with her phone of Bear to work with. Looking at them now, remembering when she took them—the afternoon at the lighthouse, one of him talking to Skippy, and one from yesterday.

  She’d taken it in the penthouse, where the fading light of day had fallen across his face. It hurt her heart to look at it.

  The phone rang again, and Kay choked back the tears threatening to wash her out to sea. She added the paint she needed to her palette.

  The image came like water from the end of her brush. Bear lounging on one of the long benches that lined the porch. Dressed in dashing period costume, he sat casually. One arm draped along the back of the bench. Legs crossed in a relaxed pose.

  Shadow sat at his feet. His eyes bright and attentive. His tongue lolling out one side as it had the habit of doing when he was happy.

  It was as if Kay blinked, and there they were. A touch of highlight showing the gleam of Shadow’s coat and it was done. She stood there, brush poised, searching for any small touch she had missed or anything more she needed to add.

  But there was nothing more to add, only one tiny thing to erase.

  Starting at the far end, she began the final wash with a wide brush in one hand and a wiping rag in the other. Brushing on, wiping off, she left it only slightly darker at the edges The whole process took less than two hours, but the effect was even more stunning than she had anticipated. It aged the painting. Softened the brightness. Mellowed the color. Stepping back, it truly appeared that the mural had been painted a hundred years ago.

  It looked amazing.

  Kay swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. Had she finished this one day earlier, she would have rushed to Bear and pulled him into the lobby to show him. He would have loved it. Said so before saying how much he loved her. Lifted her in those strong arms of his and spun her around in the excited way he celebrated each room as it was finished.

  But there was no celebrating. The inn was silent. Even the phone had stopped ringing.

  Kay added a touch of thinner to a dab of classic red. Lying on her belly, she took her liner brush and swept in her signature on the bottom right corner of the far wall.